On this day in Labor History the year was 1929.
That was the day that Viljo Rosvall and Janne Voutilainen disappeared on their way to recruit workers at a bushcamp during a strike in northwestern Ontario, Canada near Thunder Bay.
They were both Finish-Canadians.
Viljo Rosvall was an organizer for the Lumber Workers Industrial Union of Canada.
The union included many Finnish lumber workers and had ties to the Canadian Communist Party.
Janne Voutilainen was an experienced trapper.
The two men never made it to their destination—the Pigeon Timber Company Camp, located north of Onion Lake.
It was unknown what happened to them until the next April.
Voutilainen’s body was found in shallow water at the edge of Onion Lake.
A few days later Rosvall was found, also drowned, in a nearby creek that emptied into the lake.
The Finnish workers blamed the deaths of the two men on the conservative Finnish camp boss, who oversaw the Onion Lake encampment.
The coroner’s autopsies ruled the deaths accidental drownings.
But many remained unconvinced and suspected foul play.
They questioned how an experience trapper such as Voutilainen could fall through the ice and drown in such shallow water.
Thousands attended the funeral for the martyrs.
The debate over what happened to the two men continues to this day.
An historical marker reads “The mystery surrounding the deaths of Rosvall and Voutilainen endures, sustaining them in public memory as martyrs to the cause of organized labor.”
A headstone donated by the Thunder Bay and District Labor Council was erected in 1993, to honor the graves which had gone previously unmarked.
The deaths of the two men travelling to organize workers remains a mystery of the Canadian labor movement to this day.
September 25 - Martyred for the Vote
September 24 - Banned in Canada
September 23 - Dr. Harriet Louise Hardy is Born
September 22 - The First Farm Aid
September 21 - Fighting Just to Maintain Standards
September 20 - The Fight for Equality
September 19 - The End of My Sweet Jennie
September 18 - The Atlanta Compromise
September 17 - Striking in the South
September 16 - NHL Managers Lock Out Players
September 15 - The Invergordon Mutiny
September 14 - The Murder of Ella Mae Wiggins
September 13 - Attica!
September 12 - The Making of a National Treasure
September 11 - The Christiana Riot
September 10 - Minneapolis Printers Organize
September 9 - The Hanapepe Massacre
September 8 - Defying Nazi Occupation
September 7 - The Federal Employees Compensation Act
September 6 - Jane Addams is Born
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