History of Jätkänkämppä
Until the late 19th century, timber was only harvested for domestic use in Finland, but the second half of the century saw the establishment of steam sawmills and the emergence of paper manufacture from groundwood pulp and chemical wood pulp. Intensive logging activities began in Finnish forests, first with axes and later with cross-cut saws. Hundreds of forest workers’ saunas and lodges were erected along the headwater rivers of northern and eastern Finland. Jätkänkämppä at Rauhalahti was one of these lodges. It was erected in the forest administration district of Nurmes and used to be called the Lintumäki Lodge. It provided accommodation facilities for up to 70 lumberjacks. The logs of the lodge were hewn by hand.
The Spa Hotel Rauhalahti got the opportunity to purchase the lodge in 1987, and it was dismantled and transferred to Rauhalahti. When it was reassembled, the separating walls were left out in order to create a large unbroken space. However, the original room arrangement is still visible. The lodge used to have quarters for the lumberjacks, a kitchen, a bedroom for the housekeeper, a room for the horsemen, a room for drying the equipment, and two rooms for the forest foreman, which today function as an auxiliary kitchen and a storeroom.
The first smoke sauna on the grounds of Jätkänkämppä was built from logs of an old storehouse. It was not feasible to transfer the original smoke sauna of the Lintumäki Lodge to Rauhalahti because it was too small for the purpose and the logs had become excessively wet over the years. The first smoke sauna burned down at Easter 1997, and the present sauna was erected in its place within a couple of months. The logs of the present sauna were obtained from various former buildings, and the sauna conforms to modern fire safety regulations.