Stories

Samuli Paulaharju (1930, 15–17) talks about the magnate Esko Tiainen, who lived by Lake Salamajärvi with his large family from the late 1600s to the early 1700s. Tiainen had a house, “a big, age-old chimneyless hut made of round logs and equipped with window shutters”, which was called Tiala. He also had houses elsewhere in Perho, as well as numerous workers. Fish were caught from the wilderness waters and plenty of woodland had been burnt for farming. He also had cattle, even “a hundred horned animals, a thousand wool producers”.  According to local lore, Tiainen manufactured iron from lake ore in his own bloomery. There were several iron gates in Tiala, which also reflects the wealth of the farm. According to Paulaharju’s story, the master of the house and the farmhands worked so hard that upon arriving at the wilderness cabin in the late evening “the farmhands would fall to the floor and the old man would stretch himself on the bench and fall so deeply asleep that once a hungry dog even ate a muddy fur shoe from his foot”. Waking up in the morning, the farmer saw his shoeless foot and cursed the whole break cabin.