Welcome to Minnesota
Posted by: 
BruceS
N 43° 30.941 W 093° 21.192
15T E 471453 N 4818143
Historical marker located in rest area on north bound side of I-35 as entering Iowa.
Waymark Code: WMHB3
Location: Minnesota, United States
Date Posted: 07/14/2006
Views: 154
"Welcome to Minnesota
Known to her citizens as the North Star State or the Gopher State, Minnesota has
never claimed to be the Land of the Giants. But two famous American giants do
hail from Minnesota. The giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan cut the pine forest of the
north that helped build America's towns and cities, and the Jolly Green Giant
towers over the south's lush corn, vegetable, and soybean fields, a part of the
midwest's fertile farm belt.
Like its neighbors, the thirty-second state grew as a collection of small farm
communities, many settled by immigrants from Scandinavia and Germany. Two of the
nation's favorite fictional small towns -- Sinclair Lewis's Gopher Prairie and
Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon -- reflect that heritage. But the vast forests,
the huge open pit iron ore mines, and the busy shipping lanes of Lake Superior
attracted different settlers with different skills and made Minnesota a state of
surprising diversity.
Best known for its more than 15,000 lakes, Minnesota has some 65 towns with the
word 'lake' in their names, not counting those whose names mean 'lake' or
'water' in the Chippewa or Dakota Indian languages. There are also 13 'falls,',
10 'rivers,' 5 'rapids,' and a smattering of 'isles,' 'bays,' and 'beaches.'
Even the state name itself means 'sky colored water' in Dakota. The might
Mississippi River starts as a small stream flowing out of Minnesota's Lake
Itasca, and a Minneapolis waterfall called Minnehaha inspired 'The Song of
Hiawatha,' even though Longfellow never actually visited the falls his poem made
known to every schoolchild.
Minnesotans are proud of their state's natural beauty and are leaders in
resource conservation and concern for the quality of life" ~ marker text