A letter from Rocklin, California, January 20, 1880

Finnish Temperance Hall in October rain in Rocklin California

When I've traveled around many places where Finnsh immigrants settled down in America, I have visited California twice. In the late 1800s six "nesting places" for Finnish immigrants formed in this state: San Francisco, Berkeley, Reedley, Rocklin, Fort Bragg and Eureka. Of these, I have visited all but Eureka. The city of Rocklin been my destination twice. When visiting first time, the sun was shining on clear blue sky in the heat of June, during the latter visit the cold October rain whipped me. That rain was certainly a heavenly gift to local residents and the entire state affected by a long-lasting drought. The Finnish immigrants owned several stone quarries in Rocklin. Many of them were successful, and rose to the top positions in Rocklin city administration. My intention is to write a number of blog posts about the Rocklin Finnish community. I will start with the very first article I have found Finnish American Press. It was in the American Finnish Paper (Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti) 02/06/1880. Here you go:

Rocklin, California, January 20, 1880

Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti 02/06/1880

My desire would be to say a word about this small workplace for Finns, because you have not yet seen anything written from here before on Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti's columns. Here is the stone quarry work, in which the Finns have had the courage to start to try their luck. Here are four Finnish quarry employers, some to a larger, some to a lesser quantity. In this place, we are about 20 Finnish people, some of which have been enjoying their good health, but a few have been plagued by fever. I can’t be without mentioning the beauty of this winter here in the western part of the country. Although this is the middle of winter, it is so beautiful weather, I've never seen a comparable, though I have spent the winter in many places in the United States. The snow has not been reflected at all, and will hardly be seen during the whole winter. At Christmas time, there were a few mornings a little bit rime, and the ground was a little bit frozen, but before noon it was already completely molten. It is amazing when it does not rain much water, but sometimes just a result of a great miracle. Around this time, the thermometer has showed about 60 notches in the shade. I wish nothing else but good luck and success to Amerikan Suomalainen Lehti and its readers.

Fred Fall