Dana Richter grew up in Montgomery, Minnesota and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in biology from Saint Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Richter relocated to the Upper Peninsula in 1983 and completed doctoral studies in forest biology with an emphasis in mycology. Following his doctoral program, Richter became a research scientist and adjunct associate professor at Michigan Tech’s School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science where he worked for 26 years. Richter has been active in the Audubon Society since 1979, serving as president of the Copper Country chapter since the mid-1990s, was a founding member of the Keweenaw Land Trust, has served as a board member of the Friends of the Van Pelt Library. In 2016 Richter was named Michigan Tech’s Research of the Year.

The Finnish Farmers Association was officially established by nine Finnish men, who served as the organization’s first trustees, on March 26, 1914. Under the leadership of these initial directors, the group sought to improve its knowledge and agricultural ability, emphasizing scientific techniques, pricing strategies, bargaining methods, familiarity with laws affecting farmers, and fraternal cooperation among the farmers.

Finnish farmers gathering together to promote their agricultural interests was hardly new to Houghton County, however. The association followed the precedent set by a group of men who had gathered at Salo in 1905 to incorporate the Finnish Farmers’ Milling Company. On Boston Creek, they constructed what a later writer hypothesized to be the first water-driven grain grist mill in Houghton County; there, they would “grind and manufacture all kinds of grain, flour, and feed,” per their Articles of Association, and sell the fruits of their labors. At its peak, the mill--which operated only in the autumn and early spring, as water levels permitted--could grind forty barrels of flour in a day for its customers. The mill operated successfully until the 1930s. Electrically-powered mills had emerged as a more convenient alternative, providing the opportunity for farmers to grind their crops at all times of the year. When the term of incorporation of the Finnish Farmers’ Milling Company expired, its directors filed to dissolve the company on September 15, 1937.