Who is The Russians from On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 and what is their importance?

Early in the journey the traveling party spends a Sunday in the locale of a large Russian settlement, and they attract the attention of the local immigrants. The Russians are quite fascinating to Laura Ingalls Wilder who describes their dress and behavior in detail and at considerable length. The Russians don't speak much English and communication is therefore limited. The Russians brings gifts of fresh milk and fresh-baked biscuits. The biscuits are, curiously, transported inside of a Russian woman's blouse and held against her bare skin.