Red Finns on The Coteau

A historical study of Finnish socialist settlements in the Coteau Hills region of Saskatchewan, located along the South Saskatchewan River between Moose Jaw and Saskatoon. The book traces the migration of Finnish miners from the American Midwest to the Canadian Prairies following the 1907 miners’ strike in Minnesota. It documents the development of two ideologically distinct Finnish communities: the earlier "White Finn" agricultural colony near Dunblane, and the later, more politically radical "Red Finn" settlement near Steeldale, established in the 1920s. The narrative also explores the unique cultural and political character of these groups, culminating in the 1930 mass departure of over 250 Finnish Canadians to Soviet Karelia—a utopian migration known as “Karelian Fever.