Tom Sukanen

There are many legends surrounding Sukanen and many versions of his life story, with perhaps the best known versions being a biography by Lawrence 'Moon' Mullen; a play, The Shipbuilder, by Ken Mitchell; and a novel, Dustship Glory, by Andreas Schroeder. During the research phase of this project several new truths came to light that until now have either been omitted or erroneously recorded, and since the film was shot, even more of the story has surfaced that did not find its way into the film.

a replica of what Tom's immigration card would have looked like,
based on old records (actor Don Wood in the photo, image by Chrystene Ells)

What is known about Tom Sukanen was that he was a Finnish shipwright from the Ostrobothnian region of Finland, who in the early 1900's immigrated to North America. He first went to Minnesota, where he married and fathered four children. When the great Canadian prairie wheat farming industry began recruiting homeseteaders, the story goes, Tom walked 600 miles north to Saskatchewan, where he began building a home for his family, who waited in Minnesota for the farm to be completed.

By all accounts, within a few short years he had become a highly successful and wealthy Saskatchewan wheat farmer. He was also an inventor; he reportedly built various machines from scratch, including a camera, a sewing machine, a hand-powered tricycle, and even a threshing machine for the community. He was reported to be a huge man, capable of lifting and even throwing various heavy things including truck axels and railroad rails.

pencil drawing of Tom by Chrystene Ells, taken from one of only three photographs
of him that have surfaced

According to the legend, after six years Tom went back to Minnesota to bring his family home, only to find that his wife had died and his children were scattered irretrievably to various foster homes. He returned home and soon thereafter, as the duststorms took over the wheat farms and the Depression hit, with nothing left in Canada for him, Tom came up with a plan to return home to Finland in his own ship. He cashed in his savings, tore down the homestead buildings, and began building a massive steam-and-sail ocean going steel ship on his prairie farm. His plan was to construct her in parts, haul her to the South Saskatchewan River 17 miles away, float her on rafts to Hudson Bay, assemble her and complete the rigging, then steam and sail back to Finland.

photo of the hull donated by Elmer and Helen Sukanen, circa 1930-40

A decade later, Tom had built a magnificent steamship, the Sontiainen, but in the process had alienated himself from his neighbours, who successfully conspired to have him committed to the North Battleford Mental Hospital in 1943. Tom died soon after his arrival and was buried in the hospital cemetary. The ship's cabins and anything that would burn or could be used elsewhere was taken away and the keel and hull were vandalized until they were two steel hulks on the prairie. Eventually the hull was turned into a granery.

Some decades later, in the 1970's, a group led by Moon Mullen rediscovered the keel and the hull, hoisted them onto flatbed trucks, and brought them to what is now known as the Sukanen Pioneer Village Museum south of Moose Jaw. They were raised up and partially restored, and a white boxy structure was built on top of them as a place to house the few other artifacts that had surfaced. Later Tom's body was exhumed and moved to the museum, and he now rests next to the ship.

Tom's grave next to the ship at the museum. It is incorrectly labeled 'Dontianen' in this picture; it has since been corrected and reads 'Sontiainen' (photo by Raul Viceral)

Interestingly, several family members have stepped forward to clarify some aspects of the story that have been incorrectly recorded for so long. It was always believed that Tom had met his wife in Minnesota; the story goes that she was a young girl of Finnish descent whose father had died and left her a farm, which Tom took over when he married her. According to Tom's wife's relatives in Finland, however, the two had married in Finland and had a child there before Tom left for America. The wife and child followed once Tom had become somewhat established, perhaps in Minnesota, so when he left again for Saskatchewan it was a repeated pattern.

Some people have mentioned that Tom was a socialist, and some of the old letters that surfaced after shooting was done on the film seem to indicate that he was indeed, and was possibly involved in the unionization of the mines in Minnesota. There are family stories that he had even been jailed over his union organizing, and of at least one fire where his house burned down; one of his daughters carried the burn scar on her neck all her life. His wife apparently was not dead when he went home for his family, but in an insane asylum, perhaps because her children had been taken away from her after the fire. Tom's son Taivo, later named John Forsythe by his adopted parents, died, not as a child of influenza as the legends say, but many years later in California from a genetic kidney disease, possibly after a rather wild life. As Tom was a 'criminal' and his wife was insane and his house was gone, the state took the children and they were adopted by their foster parents. If this is the life Tom saw when he was released from jail, no wonder he headed north.

The question of whether or not Tom was crazy is not nearly as interesting as the question of who he was, and what it was about him and his life that led him to build an amazing steamship on the Canadian prairie. Sisu - the death of Tom Sukanen follows him from childhood to the grave and beyond in search of his soul. There is much more to the story than any of Tom's biographers, including Chrystene, have been able to uncover, and even some of these new discoveries will have to wait for the next storyteller.