Embarrass, a railway station and post office in the fertile valley of the Embarrass River (named by French fur traders because of the difficulties it presented to canoeists), is in Embarrass Township, whose population of 652 includes only two persons who are not Finns.

The first white visitors were fur traders who paddles along the Embarrass River to and from their posts. For many years the valley lay uncultivated and unoccupied, and even in 1895 there were only two men living on the site of the future Embarrass.

Among the foreign born who migrated to the mining regions for work were many Finns. Some did not like mining, and others were eager to farm; so, attracted by the similarity between the valley and their homeland, a group left the mining communities and settled along the Embarrass River. Here they homesteaded, cutting the dense forests of pine and draining the cedar swamps. Embarrass Township was organized in 1905, but there is till no incorporated village.

The chief industries are farming and logging. Certified seed potatoes raised here are among the best in the Minnesota Arrowhead. Dairying and chicken and turkey raising are carried on extensively. A considerable amount of pulpwood is shipped from this section.

With the coming of so many Finns, Embarrass naturally took on many of the characteristics of Finland. The buildings of the small farms that do the valley are roofed with birch bark weighted down by slender poles. To build a haystack, a pole three or four inches thick and from 15 to 20 feet long is driven into the ground, and around it a log "flooring" is laid. When the hay is stacked on this floor reaches a height of from 12 to 14 feet, mountain ash or alder twigs, attached to the pole, are pulled over the stack to hold it in place. These "gumdrop" haystacks give the valley a foreign appearance.

An essential part of each Finnish farm is the sauna, or bathhouse. Usually a log structure, 8 x 10 feet, it is considered of such importance that often it is built before the house itself. Steam for the bath is generated by dousing hot stones with water. Soap and brushes are used vigorously, and in many cases the bather swishes himself with cedar boughs to stimulate perspiration. The bath is completed with a pail of cold water or, for the more hardy, a plunge into a snowbank.

Some of the older Finns still practice native handicrafts. Wool-felt boots for wear inside rubbers are made. They are pressed and pasted on a foot-shaped mold, and are black, white, or gray because no dye or substitutes are used. These are sold at the Embarrass Cooperative Store.