Article: 'Old believers' choose Minnesota to keep religious, cultural traditions.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. _ When Lyle Bjelland returned to Minnesota after 30 years in Oregon, he knew the cheap farmland and undisturbed peace of Polk County would appeal to the ``old believers.''

His efforts to attract the Russian Orthodox families he had met near Portland, Ore., to Fosston and Erskine, Minn., have led to the influx of about 10 large families to the area so far, with about 25 more soon to follow. The migration resulted from Bjelland's repeated invitations for the ``traditional'' Russian descendants to visit his small Minnesota community.

Because of concerns about urban sprawl reaching their private colony in Oregon, the ``old believers'' began ...

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