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Place Name
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Minnesota
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Place Status (Type)
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state
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Capital is
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SAINT PAUL
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Population
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4,609,548 (1995)
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Location
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Minnesota, United States, North America
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Latitude
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46°29'N
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Longitude
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94°04'W
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Minnesota
, state (
86,943 sq mi/225,182 sq km; 1995
est. pop. 4,609,548), N central U.S., in the Great Lakes region,
admitted as the 32d state of the Union in 1858; 
Saint Paul; 46°29'N 94°04'W. St Paul and its twin city
Minneapolis are 2d-largest and largest cities, respectively.
Bloomington (suburb of Minneapolis) and
Duluth (in
NE, on L. Superior) are other major cities. Except for Alaska, Minn. is
the northernmost of all the states (reaching lat. 49°24'N). Minn. is
bounded on the N by Canada (Man. to NW, Ont. to N and NE), on the E by
L. Superior (forms boundary with Mich. and part of Wis.) and Wis. (the
St. Croix and Mississippi rivers form most of border), on the S by
Iowa, and on the W by S.Dak. and N.Dak. The climate is humid
continental. Winter locks the land in snow, and spring is brief;
summers are warm. Prehistoric glaciers left marshes, boulder-strewn
hills, numerous lakes, and rich, gray drift soil stretching from the N
pine wilderness to the broad S prairies. State referred to as “Land
of 10,000 Lakes.” In the E part of the state are mts. from which iron
ore is decreasingly extracted. The Vermilion and Cuyuna ranges
(discovered in 1884 and 1911) are virtually depleted, and the once rich
Mesabi iron range (1890) has seen major decline because of the
depletion and environmental restrictions; all 3 mining districts
are in N and NE. As richer ores diminished, new methods were developed
to use lower-grade ores such as taconite. In spite of the decline,
Minn. led the nation in iron ore production in 1988. Granite (from St.
Cloud) and sand and gravel production are also among the largest in the
country. S of the iron country, famous for its former boom towns, lie
rolling hills. In the S and the W are prairies, the fertile farming
country of Minn. Wheat, once paramount in the fields, has yielded its
preeminence to corn, soybeans, and livestock. The state is a leader in
the production of creamery butter, dry milk, cheese, and sweet corn. In
the early 1950s mfg. displaced agr. as the major source of income in
Minn. Major industries in the state include the mfg. of processed
foods, electronic equip., machinery, paper prods., chemicals, and
stone, clay, and glass prods. Minn. also pioneered the development of
computers and other high-technology mfg. Printing and publishing are
also important. Reforestation and the use of smaller trees for pulpwood
have helped to keep timber as one of Minnesota's assets, even though
the “big woods” of the early 19th cent. have been to a large extent
recklessly felled. The state is roughly 30% forestland and has
Chippewa Natl. Forest in N center; Superior Natl. Forest in NE,
including Boundary Waters Canoe Area; Voyageur Natl. Park on Rainy L.,
on Can. border. Numerous state forests, especially in N; Richard J.
Dorer Memorial Hardwood State Forest in SE. The days of logging in
Minn., immortalized in the stories of the legendary Paul Bunyan and his
prized possession, Babe the Blue Ox, were brief, but they helped build
a number of large fortunes, such as that of Frederick Weyerhaeuser.
Mountainous in NE along North Shore (Arrow Country, referring to
triangular shape of NE corner); lowest point is L. Superior
(602 ft/183 m), shared by the cos. of St.
Louis, Lake, and Cook. Highest point is Eagle Mt.
(2,301 ft/701 m), Cook co., only
13 mi/21 km from L. Superior. Another great
resource of Minn. is its water, which has been extensively developed
near industrial centers. The state has more than 10,000 lakes, many of
which create chains of lakes; numerous streams and rivers. The rivers
feed 3 major river systems: the Red R. and its tributaries in
the W run N to Hudson Bay; the streams that run E into L. Superior are
part of the St. Lawrence R. System (Atlantic Ocean); and the
Mississippi flows S from its humble beginning in L. Itasca, gathering
volume from the waters of the Minnesota and St. Croix rivers and others
before leaving the state. Other rivers include Big Sioux R. and
Missouri R., both part of Mississippi R. system. Locks and other
improvements enable barge traffic to pass around the Falls of
St. Anthony to reach upstream beyond Minneapolis. Duluth, at the
western tip of L. Superior, has the largest inland harbor in the U.S.;
W head of navigation of Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System. With
the completion of the Saint Lawrence Seaway (1959) and a
marine terminal, the city became a key port for overseas trade. In 1991
it handled almost 41 million tons/45 million metric tons of
cargo. Archaeological evidence indicates that Minn. was inhabited long
before the time of the Mound Builders. A skeleton (“Minnesota
Man”), found in 1931 near Pelican Falls, is believed to date from the
Pleistocene epoch, c.20,000 years ago. Much important archaeological
information concerning the early inhabitants of N. Amer. has been found
in Minn. There are some experts who argue on the basis of the
Kensington Rune Stone and other evidence that the 1st Europeans to
reach Minn. were the Norsemen; that Fr. fur traders came in the
mid-17th cent. is undeniably true. Other traders, explorers, and
missionaries of New France also penetrated the country. Among these
were Radisson and Groseilliers, Verendrye, the Sieur Duluth, and Father
Hennepin and Michel Aco, who discovered the Falls of St. Anthony (the
site of Minneapolis). At the time the French arrived, the dominant
groups of Native Americans were the Ojibwa in the E and the Sioux in
the W. Both were friendly to the French and contributed to the
fur-trading empire of New France. Minn. remained excellent country for
fur trade throughout the Br. regime that followed the Fr. and Indian
Wars and continued so after the War of 1812, when the Amer. Fur Company
became dominant and the company's men helped to develop the area. The
E part of Minn. had been included in the Northwest Territory
and was governed under the Ordinance of 1787; the W part was joined to
the U.S. by the Louisiana Purchase. Further exploration was pursued by
Jonathan Carver (1766-1767), Zebulon M. Pike (1805-1806), Henry
Schoolcraft (1820, 1829), and Stephen H. Long (1823). Only after the
War of 1812, however, did settlement begin in earnest. In 1820, Fort
St. Anthony (later Fort Snelling) was founded as a guardian of the
frontier. A gristmill established there in 1823 initiated the
industrial development of Minneapolis. Treaties (1837, 1845, 1851, and
1855) with the Ojibwa and the Sioux, by which the U.S. govt. took over
Native Amer. lands, and the opening of a land office at St.
Croix Falls in 1848 initiated a period of real expansion. In 1849 Minn.
became a territory. The Missouri and White Earth rivers were the W
boundary. A land boom grew as towns were plotted, RRs chartered, and
roads built. Attention was turned to education, and the Univ. of Minn.
was started in 1851. The school, with its many associated campuses,
exerts a great influence on the cultural life of the state. The
building (1851-1853) of the Soo Ship Canal at Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.,
opened an E water route for lake shipping. The Panic of 1857 hit Minn.
particularly hard because of land speculation, but difficult
times did not prevent the achievement of statehood in 1858, with St.
Paul as the capital and Sibley as the state's 1st governor. The pop.
had swelled from 6,000 in 1850 to more than 150,000 in 1857; by 1870
there were nearly 440,000 inhabitants. Chiefly a land of small farmers
(mainly of Br., Ger., and Irish extraction), Minn. supported the Union
in the Civil War and supplied much wheat to the Northern armies. During
the war years and afterward, the Sioux reacted to broken promises,
fraudulent dealings, and the encroachment of settlers on their lands
with violent resistance. A Sioux force under Little Crow was defeated
by H. H. Sibley, virtually ending Native Amer. resistance. Meanwhile,
settlement boomed, aided by the Homestead Act of 1862. Later in the
cent. came immigrants from Scandinavia—Swedes, Norwegians,
and Finns. Lumbering, which had begun in 1839 with a sawmill on the St.
Croix, became paramount, and logging camps were established. Fortunes
were made quickly in the 1870s and 1880s as the RR pushed W. A boom in
wheat made the Minn. flour mills famous across the world and brought
wealth to flour producers such as John S. Pillsbury. Farmers, however,
suffered from such natural disasters as the blizzard of 1873
and insect plagues from 1874 to 1876. To these were added the miseries
that accompanied the downward trend of the natl. economy, and Minn.
became a center of farmers' discontent, expressed in the Granger
movement. The opening of the iron mines gave new impetus to
Minnesota's economy but also created discontent among the laborers.
They joined forces with the farmers in the 1890s in the Populist party,
one of several 3d-party movements that challenged the Republican
party's traditional leadership in Minn. Ignatius Donnelly was one of
the Populists' most powerful figures. Renewed agrarian discontent led
to the founding of the Nonpartisan League in 1915. Farmers and laborers
joined forces again in 1920 in the Farmer-Labor party, which was
dominant in the 1930s. The Republicans returned to power in 1939 with
the election of Harold Stassen as governor. In 1944 the Farmer-Labor
party and the Democrats merged. The most successful leader of the new
party, the Democratic Farmer Labor party (DFL), has been Hubert H.
Humphrey, who was elected to the U.S. Senate 4 times and was Vice
President from 1965 to 1969. Orville Freeman, DFL governor from 1955 to
1961, was Secretary of Agr. from 1961 to 1969. Walter F. Mondale, a
Humphrey protege, was a U.S. senator from 1964 to 1977. He
was elected Vice President as Jimmy Carter's running mate in 1976 and
ran for President in 1984, losing to incumbent Ronald Reagan. Since the
1950s the DFL and the Republicans have vied sharply in contests for
state offices. In the 1970s the Republican party changed its
name to the Independent Republican party. With the exception of 1952,
1956, and 1972, Minn. has voted Democratic in every presidential
election since 1932. The state is governed under the 1858 constitution.
The legislature has 67 senators elected for 4-year terms and 134
representatives elected for 2-year terms. The governor is elected for a
4-year term and may succeed himself. Arne Carlson, an Independent
Republican, was elected governor in 1990. Minn. sends 2 senators and 8
representatives to Congress; it has 10 electoral votes. The state has
been notable for experimentation in novel features of local govt. and
has also been a leader in the use of cooperatives. This phenomenon is
perhaps explained by the cooperative heritage present among its many
people of Scandinavian descent. Credit unions, cooperative creameries,
grain elevators, and purchasing associations were supported by
legislation in 1919 that protected the institutions and instructed the
state department of agr. to encourage them. There are several thousand
cooperative associations. in Minn. serving diversified needs. A nuclear
power plant built by the Atomic Energy Commission is located at Elk
River, on Mississippi R. NW of Minneapolis. Since the mid-19th cent.
the state has become progressively more urban. In 1970 the urban pop.
was ⅔ of the total. Since 1970 dramatic suburban
growth has taken place, especially in the Minneapolis-St. Paul
metropolitan area. Minneapolis-St. Paul Internatl. Airport has become
an important hub for the region. Nearby is the massive Mall of America
(1992), in suburban Bloomington, the nation's 3d-largest shopping
center. Many people come to Minn. for treatment at the famous Mayo
Clinic in Rochester (also hq. of IBM), and surgeons at the Univ. of
Minn. have won recognition for their development of new heart-surgery
techniques. The beauty of Minnesota's lakes and dense green forests
has long attracted vacationers, and the abundant fish in the state's
many rivers, lakes, and streams provide excellent fishing. Also of
interest to tourists are the Grand Portage (in NE) and Pipestone (SW)
natl. monuments, Itasca State Park, in NW (site of the headwaters of
the Mississippi R.), the Minn. Mus. of Mining (near Chisholm), in N,
and the world's largest open-pit iron mine at Hibbing. The
Minn. Symphony Orchestra is nationally known, and a theater in
Minneapolis houses the professional company of Tyrone Guthrie. Many
Minnesotans are of Scandinavian descent; one local tradition is
lutefisk, cod cured in lye, served during the holiday season
at church dinners, attracting thousands of people. Minn. has
contributed important literary figures to the nation, including
Sinclair Lewis, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and O.E. Rolvaag. The economist
Thorstein Veblen and Charles A. Lindbergh were also born in the state.
Minn. has 87 cos.:
Aitkin,
Anoka,
Becker,
Beltrami,
Benton,
Big Stone,
Blue Earth,
Brown,
Carlton,
Carver,
Cass,
Chippewa,
Chisago,
Clay,
Clearwater,
Cook,
Cottonwood,
Crow Wing,
Dakota,
Dodge,
Douglas,
Faribault,
Fillmore,
Freeborn,
Goodhue,
Grant,
Hennepin,
Houston,
Hubbard,
Isanti,
Itasca,
Jackson,
Kanabec,
Kandiyohi,
Kittson,
Koochiching,
Lac qui Parle,
Lake,
Lake of the Woods,
Le Sueur,
Lincoln,
Lyon,
McLeod,
Mahnomen,
Marshall,
Martin,
Meeker,
Mille Lacs,
Morrison,
Mower,
Murray,
Nicollet,
Nobles,
Norman,
Olmsted,
Otter Trail,
Pennington,
Pine,
Pipestone,
Polk,
Pope,
Ramsey,
Red Lake,
Redwood,
Renville,
Rice,
Rock,
Roseau,
Saint Louis,
Scott,
Sherburne,
Sibley,
Stearns,
Steele,
Stevens,
Swift,
Todd,
Traverse,
Wabasha,
Wadena,
Waseca,
Washington,
Watonwan,
Wilkin,
Winona,
Wright,
Yellow Medicine.
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