Itäoja
63.7501N 24.5288E Sievi
The two-storey Itäoja cabin was built in the early 1920s. The ground floor accommodated 25 workers. The foreman had a kitchen and a bedroom of his own. There was room for 25 men also on the upper floor. In addition, a room for six people had been reserved for locomotive crew and foremen. The cabin hostess served food to the lumberjacks from a so-called life hatch. The stable was intended for 40 horses. In the area, there was also a sauna, a locomotive shed for one locomotive, and a place where locomotives got water and wood. The locomotive shed was destroyed in a fire. The relatively large Itäoja cabin needed a cabin host to maintain order, and one such was Paksu-Jaakko, still remembered for his strong sermons. The Itäoja cabin has been moved to Raahe, where it serves as a veteran cottage. So-called Haara (junction) was located near Itäoja: here the railroad diverged into two, one route leading to Lestijärvi and the other to Sievi. The fastest loaded train came from Haara to Eskola in less than an hour.
Stories
“The Itäoja cabin is so far the largest of our workers’ cabins. It has two storeys. They say it easily accommodates fifty men and additionally foremen and locomotive crew in their own rooms.” (Ojakangas: Aurinkomutka 2012)
“The locomotive men were in that tiny ground-floor room of the cabin. But they stayed up almost all night because they had to keep the locomotive warm and have the cargo ready for the morning.” (Interview with Otto Häkkilä 29 August 1995, Eskolan Metsärata)
Photos
Itäoja
Itäoja stables
Haara
Horse power
