Rautiaisen mylly - old watermill
The Rautiaisen mylly is a free rest stop for hikers on the Vienan reitti. In addition to the actual functioning stream mill, the mill has a mill sauna for resting or staying overnight, as well as a campfire site, toilet, log cabin and ready-made firewood. You can take water from the Rautiainen stream. We recommend boiling it.
Nearby is Koljattijärvi lake, where you can fish for perch, pike and other lake fish. A general fishing permit is sufficient for bait fishing, and fishing and angling are allowed for everyone.
The road to the mill starts from Malahviantie road, a distance of about 500 m. The mill road is passable. After crossing the Rautiainen creek (bridge), the Vienan reitti continues from the mill towards Kevättijärvi lake and from there to Ylivuokki.
History of the Rautiaisen mylly
According to family lore, during the famine years, a tramp named Rautiainen had offered to dig a water canal for the flour mill the region needed, for a pittance. The only tools the digger, who had been equipped with were an iron-tipped wooden shovel and a wooden stick. It is known that Rautiainen was a strong man who used the frogs and snakes he caught on the spot and cooked over the fire as supplementary food.
At the end of the Great Partition (land reform) in 1878, the mill buildings and the surrounding mill plot became the joint property of the Harju, Vänkä, Hevosvaara and Salmijärvi houses. The milling business has been lively and has been used by people other than the actual owners. In 1918, the so-called Malmi expedition (500 men on their way to Viena Karelia) stopped for a break at the Rautiaisen mylly.
During the Winter War, both Finnish and Soviet ski patrols used the mill as a base. In February 1940, a four-star Soviet soldier was killed near the mill's sauna. He was buried next to the sauna. Other Soviet soldiers killed in action are buried in the ground nearby.
The mill was restored in 1945 and in 1996-1999 the mill, which had already deteriorated, was restored under the Kainuu Environmental Centre's restoration programme.
