The road to Poussu was completed in 1888. In the 1950s, a new settlement was created along the road Kuparivaarantie with front-line farms.
Poussunkoski brought livelihood
From the end of the 19th century, logs were floated down Poussunkoski. To make this easier, the rivers were renovated and cleared of stones, so the water started to run down the rapids too quickly. A dam was built in Poussunkoski to slow down the flow. In the 1920s, a lot of logs were sold from Poussu, and the farmers got out of debt.
Another benefit of the rapids was the sawmill, watermill and fulling mill established on its edge in 1922. The watermill was an impeller mill where grain was brought from all over Kuusamo. Along with it, sawmill operations were started around 1930, but fulling, or making sarka, was never started. The operation continued until the war and even after that it was renewed and expanded. A fire destroyed part of the company in 1949. The rapids also supplied electricity to the households in the Poussu village.
The Poussunkoski mill burned down for the second time in 1954, and its operation ceased once and for all, when the mill’s shareholders sold their shares to Pohjolan Voima.
Rivers were still cleared in the 1960s. The last logs floated down the Poussunkoski was in 1970. In Iijoki, log floating stopped completely in 1988.