The History of Saariselkä 

The fells of Saariselkä are in fact old feet of ancient mountains which, 2000 million years ago, were about four kilometres high. The area is located above the timber line, and the climate is clearly warmer compared with more southern areas. In the beginning, the fell-area east of Suomu river was called Saariselkä, but after the Union of Public Servants started to use the name "Hiking Center of Saariselkä" the name Saariselkä covered both the highlands of Rautu fells and the holiday area. However, in official land documents the area is known as Kaunispää.

The history of Saariselkä is connected with the beginning of gold-panning in the area. Tourism is a much more recent phenomenon. In 1865 even the bailiff Konrad Planting returning from an inspection trip of Utsjoki through Törmänen to Sompio stayed overnight at the bank of Lutto, at the foot of Kaunispää fell. Planting carried always a pan with him in order to search for gold wherever he went. Spending the night at Lutto he also tried panning and found traces of gold. Three years later gold was found at the river Ivalo, which caused a real gold-rush. The first claims at Saariselkä were laid in 1871. Johan Alfred Piponius (a geodesy student) digged at Lutto at a place nowadays called Paraspaikka. Juho Niilonpoika Kyrö from Kyrönkylä (present Ivalo) digged at Laanioja. However, the first permission to search for gold was given the previous year to Fetisov (honorary citizen of St. Petersburg). He was represented by a bourgeois Dimitri Sekestoperov. (Finland was a grand duchy of Russia at that time)

At the turn of the last century a new gold-rush took place. And it was that gold-rush which gave birth to Laanila-Saariselkä area. In 1902 the mining company Prospektor started to construct a carttrack from Sodankylä to Laanila. Next year the job was finished, and later on the road was completed as far as Liinahamari. The first car may have reached the slopes of Kaunispää in 1914. In 1902 the first building was constructed at Saariselkä. It was the headquarters of Prospector company. The buildings were located where today lies the base of the Forest Research Institute. After Prospektor had given up mining operations its headquarters became a country hostel called Laanila for decades.
In 1930s among others a Swedish group Boliden searched for gold at the river Lutto. The biggest nugget of Finland was found by Eevert Kiviniemi at the river Lutto on 25 September 1935. The nugget weighed 329.9 grams.

Tourism started in the middle of 1920s when Heikki Kivekäs, known also as a gold-digger, planned to build a Health Spa at the bank of the river Lutto near Tammijärvi. However, the financer skipped the project, and the construction was never finished.

Laanila Guesthouse (Laanila Country Hostel), which was the first accommodation company at Saariselkä, was burnt by the Germans at the end of World War 2. A log cabin was built at the top of Kaunispää (it is a souvenir shop today). The association Friends of Lapland's Children was found on Uuno Hannula's (governor of Lapland) initiative in 1948 in order to support the health care of children and to organize camps in a healthy fell climate. The building site was piled at the same place where Piponius dug gold. The buildings were finished in early 1953. The main building burnt down completely five years later.
The Union of Public Servants had constructed rooms for its members since 1955. The buildings saved from the fire and the renting rights as well were sold to the Union of Public Servants in 1959. Friends of Lapland's Children started to build a new hut at the bank of Piispanoja at Laanila. The association could not keep the hut and it was sold to the Lapland district of the Mannerheim League for Child Welfare. It was also renamed as Laanihovi. In 1975 the hut was bought by the Finnish Travel Association and in 1983 by the Union of Public Servants.

From the buildings of Children's Association still remains Luttotupa, which is owned by the Forest Research Institute and Laanihovi with its hotel restaurant, which has become famous thanks to its skiing boot dance parties.
Plans were started in the middle of 1960s to make Saariselkä a new kind of tourism center, construction and extension work was started in the 60s and the 70s and it still continues. A licence to sell alcohol was first given to Laanihovi in 1969 and to Blue Room in 1973.

The chapel Kiilokappeli was built in connection with Tievatupa in 1978. In 1996 the Ecumenic Chapel of Saint Paul was built. Urho Kekkonen National Park was founded in 1983.