Palojärvi This Finnish village is situated along the Enontekiö to Kautokeino road, 12 km from the Norwegian border, north of the coniferous forest border line and about 26 km north of Hetta.
Houses are situated by the west shore of Palojärvi Lake, which lies north to south and is 4 km long and 2 km wide. The lake frozes early to the strength for skating, usually by mid-October. Palojärvi has been a permanent dwelling place since the end of the 19th Century. Antti Juhaninpoika and Antti Antinpoika Karisto presumably took up residence in Palojärvi immediately after the second half of the 17th Century. Palojärvi had already been an old fishing site for people from Palojoensuu since the 16th Century. At the beginning of the 19th Century Heikki Erkki Juhani Baas (from Palojoensuu) also settled down in the village. The village includes three old farmhouses: the oldest being Palojärvi farmhouse, half of which has now been altered to become Anttila’s farmhouse, then there is Palovaara crown farmhouse and finally Erkki’s own cottage, built at the turn of the century. To the south of Palojärvi is the old Sami summer village, where it is still possible to see the remains of campfires and Lapp tepees called "kota". The II World War did not destroy Palojärvi village, because the Germans retreated via Näkkälä towards Kautokeino. Northwest from Palojärvi, in the lapp summer village of Salvasjärvi, is situated an old reindeer seperation paddock. A new one has just been built along the main road.
Sources of livelihood in the village in former days included livestock management, with every house owning one or two cows. This practice was abolished however, at the end of the 1960’s. The largest source of livelihood in the olden days was reindeer husbandry, still practised in the village. Sami costumes are knitted for domestic purposes and small potato lands are farmed for own usage. In 1961 work began on the Hetta to Kautokeino road and a sand road was completed by 1962, which was surfaced with oil gravel in 1963. Later the road was widened to make way for lory and truck transportation of fish and other products from/to Norway.
Sights in PalojärviPalojärvi Lake:
Magnificent sandy landscape.
Palojoki River:
This small paddling river winds its way through Tarvantovaara Wilderness Area to village Palojoensuu, where it joins the mighty Muonio River.