Summary:
Essi Liimatainen, Karihaara’s steam-powered sawmill and community (1873–1890)
The first water-powered sawmills were built in Europe in the 13th and 14th centuries. In Sweden and Finland, the first sawmills were built in the 14th century and grew significantly in number over the next 100 years. Multi-bladed ring saws soon replaced single-bladed ring saws. With the advent of the technology that made it possible to use steam instead of water to power the saws, the amount of sawn timber grew dramatically. In Finland, it became easier to create steam-powered sawmills when the Russian tsar and the grand duke of Finland, Alexander II, launched a waste reformation programme to improve living and trade conditions. He abrogated laws prohibiting the use of steam power and made it easier to start companies. Finland soon became an excellent place to establish sawmills. The raw materials and suitable sites along the river were plentiful, as was the peasant labour needed for rafting and construction.
There were already several water-powered sawmills along the Kemi River when the first steam-powered sawmill Laitakari was established in 1862. The second steam-powered sawmill was established at Karihaara in 1873, at which point it was the second largest in Finland and superior to other sawmills in the area. A Norwegian company, Holst & Fleischer, and Gothenburg’s commercial company established the Karihaara sawmill. They sent Mr Terje Olsen to Kemi to scout along the Kemi River for a suitable location for a sawmill and to obtain permission for the harvesting timber. The sawmill operated under Norwegian control for a short period between 1873 and 1890. The so-called “Golden age” of the Karihaara sawmill lasted only until 1877 when the sawmill went bankrupt for the first time. After that, the sawmill did not operate for several years until it was bought in an auction by Mr JN Fleischer in 1886. His intention was to lease the sawmill to the bourgeois and other sawmills in the area. However, this move was not profitable and the sawmill was sold to a local commercial house that already possessed almost every other sawmill in the area. The bankruptcy of the sawmill had several results, including a reduction in the cost of timber and generous use of funds by Mr Olsen. He had several costly projects, including a luxurious rafting centre, Konttinen, in the town of Rovaniemi. According to local reports, Mr Olsen’s spending habits were wasteful, including lavish salaries, champagne and cigars and luxury food items. He even offered to build roads at his own expense as gifts.
The sawmill’s machinery, construction materials and other goods, such as office supplies, were imported from Norway. The ship Lindesnaes transported the cargo, including dozens of Norwegian professionals, to Kemi in 1873. In the beginning, all of the sawmill’s professionals were Norwegian; Finnish workers were only used at the lumberyard or in other duties that called for physical strength rather than technical knowledge of how to operate the sawmill. The use of the Finnish workforce, which also included some women and children, increased in the following years. The Norwegians built several houses close to the sawmill; local Finns referred to these houses as “honour town”. Some of the Norwegian employees brought their families to Finland and several children were born there. The co-existence of the Norwegian community and the town of Kemi were not completely problem-free. Local reports claimed that town of Kemi was constantly full of drunken Norwegians who fought the Finns and caused chaos. The golden age of Karihaara’s sawmill resulted in lavish salaries and secure jobs for the locals in the area. The easy money available resulted in a “gold rush”, with people travelling hundreds of kilometres to Kemi in the hope of finding work. The salaries on offer were unheard of and the sawmill bought everything that locals had for sale. The town of Kemi flourished and several new houses were built. Even several newspapers in the southern parts of Finland took notice. Mr. Olsen was considered a local treasure. Locals later referred to this golden age of the sawmill as “the Olsen era”. Mr. Olsen later founded a sawmill in Russia but it too went bankrupt. He then moved to Stockholm were he spent the rest of his life as a relatively wealthy merchant.
