Matti Hakala
Matti Hakala
Matti Hakala was born on December 20, 1903 on his parents' farm in the parish of Ylistaro,in the Southern Ostrobothnia region of Western Finland. In his early 20s, and with a yearning for adventure, he joined the First Field Artillery Regiment Finnish reserve army in Helsinki as a corporal cook. This yearning also led him to Canada in May 1929 and eventually to Red Lake in 1934, where he spent the next 50 years of his life. Hakala is said to have epitomized the strength and universal pioneering spirit of prospectors, miners and lumbermen of Red Lake's history.
Matti Hakala was born on December 20, 1903 on his parents' farm in the parish of Ylistaro,in the Southern Ostrobothnia region of Western Finland. In his early 20s, and with a yearning for adventure, he joined the First Field Artillery Regiment Finnish reserve army in Helsinki as a corporal cook. This yearning also led him to Canada in May 1929 and eventually to Red Lake in 1934, where he spent the next 50 years of his life. Hakala is said to have epitomized the strength and universal pioneering spirit of prospectors, miners and lumbermen of Red Lake's history.