The free-flowing Oulujoki river was busy with activity from the moment the ice melted up until well into the autumn. It carried large numbers of thick logs, salmon fishers, travellers and oblong, narrow tar boats.

The journey from the tar-burning lands of Kajaani, which is located far inland, to the port of Oulu was not only long but also risky. One tar boat could carry nearly 30 tar barrels, and with each of them holding 125 litres of tar, the cargo would weigh many tonnes. The crew of a tar boat consisted of a coxswain and rowers. Sometimes authorised local rapidsmen were hired to guide the boats through the worst rapids, but there were those who preferred to steer their boats without assistance from start to finish.

The journeys were not without accidents. For example, on 9 June 1900, a tar boat guided by rapidsman Siikanen was descending the rapids at Merikoski at good speed. It was reaching the end of a long and arduous journey. There were just the last swells to get through and they could head over towards Toppilansalmi sound and Tervahovi – which was actually to burn down once again exactly one year from then, but Siikanen was unlikely to have had any premonitions about that.

Then, by Lassinkallio rock, a log sprang out of the log jam and capsized the boat. The tar men saved themselves by jumping onto the log raft, but the tar barrels, which had been on their way to merchant Iisakki Ravander, floated down the river with the current.

Tar manufacture and transport was done not only by virile men, but also by women. Women took part in building tar pits, and stories are even told of certain daring rapidswomen. They included Kaija Kanttura, as well as the lady of the house at Mannermaa, who guided boats down to Oulu all the way from Vaala in the 1860s and 70s.

Travelling on tar boats offered opportunities for inland inhabitants to experience a bustling town. They might exchange the payment they received for the tar for salt, fashionable foreign fabrics or a pocket watch, for example. One or two coins were probably spent at the pub, too. The northern tar capital also offered a better dating market than the sparsely populated mainland, and it was not rare for the boats undertaking the tough upstream journey homeward to carry back a whole lot of broken-hearted romantics.

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Sources:

Hyttinen, Marika 2021: Ajan multaamat muistot: Historiallisen arkeologian tutkimus Oulun

Pikisaaren pikiruukista, ruukkiyhteisöstä ja maailmankuvasta 1640-luvulta 1890-luvulle. Historical Association of Northern Finland. (PhD thesis)

”Tervan perintö” documentary. Oamk student assignment, 5/5/2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kygQBjtrOw0

"The Journey of Tar" -documentary. Northern Ostrobothnia Museum, Oulu Museum and Science Centre. 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyN0xl4ueE4

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Photo: Feiring, Karin, Finnish Heritage Agency.

Augmented reality: "Turkansaari Tervaveneet" (https://skfb.ly/6UCUr) by Juha M is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).