Attractions

Logging tradition

The early part of the 20th century was an age of large logging projects in Savukoski. Memories of this period can be found from the terrain, attractions and tales.

The interesting history of Finnish loggers

Logging as an industry landed to Lapland in the late 19th century. In the 1930’s logging employed approximately 20 000 men. The logging sites provided jobs for the people of Savukoski for decades. Many people also came from the south to work in logging. The last logging site ended in 1988 in Sotataipale and the transportation of logs in Kemijoki river ended in 1991.

Nuortti’s machine savotta in 1913-1916 was the first machine savotta in Finnish history. With the help of American crawler locomotives, logs were transported from the wilderness onwards. The father of savotta was the Kemiyhtiö’s Hugo Richard Sandberg whom the people called “Samperi”. One of the Samperi’s locomotives is in Tulppio, the other is in the forest museum of Rovaniemi. 

The working conditions of the loggers inspired the so called “fat rebellion”, which started from the Värriö savotta in 1922. These days the logging activities are a sport. One of the best in the field, Juha Julkunen, lives in Savukoski.

Savotta sights in Savukoski
  • Samperi’s locomotive in Tulppio
  • Samperi’s walking trail
  • Monument for the lanssi of Lattuna (1957)
  • Camp of Kuusikko-oja in Savukoski village (currently unavailable)   
  • The old savotta camps of Reutuvaara and Alatammi
Attractions

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