127 Fun Facts About Minnesota

What is the capital city of Minnesota?

Saint Paul is one of Minnesota's 'Twin Cities' and serves as the state capital. It is located on the east bank of the Mississippi River.

What is Minnesota's best-known state nickname?

Minnesota is widely known as 'The Land of 10,000 Lakes,' a nickname that highlights its vast number of lakes, though the actual count is even higher.

In what year did Minnesota officially become the 32nd U.S. state?

Minnesota was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state on May 11, 1858, following several territorial organizations.

What is the highest natural point in Minnesota?

Eagle Mountain, in northern Cook County, rises 2,301 feet, yet the state's lowest point on the shore of its great northeastern lake is only 13 miles away.

Which Minnesota city hosts the Mall of America, one of the largest US malls?

The Mall of America in Bloomington, just south of Minneapolis, covers about 5.6 million square feet and ranks among the largest shopping malls in the United States.

Which famous medical institution has its main campus located in Rochester, Minnesota?

Founded in Rochester in 1864 by English immigrant William Worrall Mayo, it grew into Minnesota's largest private employer.

What is the official state bird of Minnesota?

Common Loon calls echo across the state's many lakes; it was designated in 1961 and also appears on the state seal and the Minnesota quarter.

The Mississippi begins its journey from its headwaters at which Minnesota body of water?

Lake Itasca, located within Itasca State Park, is recognized as the official source of the Mississippi River.

What is the official state flower of Minnesota?

The showy lady's slipper orchid, adopted in 1902 and protected since 1925, is illegal to pick or uproot anywhere in the state.

What does Minnesota's state motto, 'L'Étoile du Nord,' mean in English?

'L'Étoile du Nord' is a French phrase that translates to 'The Star of the North,' reflecting Minnesota's status as the northernmost contiguous state in the U.S.

Which body of water forms Minnesota's northeastern border and is also its lowest elevation point?

The shoreline sits at 601 feet, and the state's highest point is only 13 miles away; the lake also gives Minnesota a water boundary with Michigan.

Which million-acre Minnesota wilderness adjoins Ontario's Quetico Provincial Park?

The Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW), located in the Superior National Forest, is a vast wilderness renowned for its water-based recreational opportunities like canoeing.

The name 'Minnesota' comes from a Dakota word usually translated as what?

Minnesota comes from the Dakota Mní Sóta, usually rendered 'clear blue water' or 'sky-tinted water'; the 2024 state seal carries the phrase Mni Sóta Makoce, the Dakota name for the land.

Which Minnesota city is nicknamed the 'Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas'?

Duluth got 'Zenith City of the Unsalted Seas' from newspaperman Thomas Preston Foster in an 1868 Fourth of July speech; its Aerial Lift Bridge spans the ship canal into the Lake Superior harbor.

The Minnesota Historical Society, dedicated to preserving the state's history, was founded in what year?

The Minnesota Historical Society (MNHS) was established by the territorial legislature in 1849, nearly a decade before Minnesota achieved statehood.

Which of these U.S. states does NOT share a border with Minnesota?

Illinois sits across Wisconsin and Iowa from Minnesota; the land neighbours are Wisconsin, Iowa and the two Dakotas, plus Manitoba and Ontario to the north, with a water boundary with Michigan across Lake Superior.

The Mall of America was built on the former site of what important Minnesota landmark?

Both the Vikings and the Twins played there until 1982, when they moved indoors to the Metrodome.

Which professional sports league features the Minnesota Wild?

The Minnesota Wild is the professional ice hockey team representing Minnesota in the National Hockey League (NHL).

The Guthrie Theater, a prominent regional theater, is located in which Minnesota city?

The Guthrie Theater opened in Minneapolis in 1963 and moved in 2006 into a Jean Nouvel-designed three-stage building overlooking the Mississippi River.

Which waterway, flowing towards Hudson Bay, forms most of Minnesota's western boundary?

The Red River of the North flows north through Lake Winnipeg toward Hudson Bay and forms the Minnesota–North Dakota line; Fargo-Moorhead and Grand Forks-East Grand Forks straddle it.

How many Dakota men were hanged at Mankato in December 1862 after the six-week Dakota War?

It remains the largest mass execution in US history; Governor Ramsey had put a $25 bounty on Dakota scalps.

Which isolated corner of Minnesota is the only part of the lower 48 states north of the 49th parallel?

The Northwest Angle, in Lake of the Woods County, sits north of the 49th parallel because of a 1783 treaty mapping error; by road it is reached only through Manitoba.

By 1900, Minneapolis mills led by Pillsbury and Washburn-Crosby ground what share of the nation's grain?

By 1900 Minneapolis mills, powered by St. Anthony Falls, ground 14.1 percent of the nation's grain; Washburn-Crosby is the ancestor of General Mills.

Which Minnesota-based company is the largest privately owned company in the United States?

Carlson, another private Minnesota firm, is the parent of Radisson Hotels; Target, 3M, UnitedHealth and General Mills are among the public giants.

The nation's first indoor shopping mall opened in which Minnesota suburb?

Southdale Center opened in Edina in 1956 as the nation's first fully enclosed, climate-controlled shopping mall, designed by Victor Gruen.

Aviator Charles Lindbergh spent his boyhood in which Minnesota town on the Mississippi?

Charles Lindbergh grew up on a farm at Little Falls; the boyhood home of the 1927 solo transatlantic flier is now a state historic site.

In 1984, Minnesota was the only state carried by which Democratic presidential nominee?

Walter Mondale, a Minnesotan, carried only his home state and the District of Columbia in 1984 as Ronald Reagan won the other 49 states.

What hyphenated suffix does Minnesota's state Democratic Party carry in its name?

The DFL was formed in a 1944 merger of the Democratic and Farmer-Labor parties, and Hubert Humphrey was its great early figure.

Which former professional wrestler was elected governor of Minnesota in 1998 on the Reform Party ticket?

Jesse Ventura, previously mayor of Brooklyn Park, won the 1998 governor's race on the Reform Party line with about 37 percent of the vote in a three-way contest.

Which Minnesota governor was Kamala Harris's running mate in the 2024 election?

Tim Walz, a DFLer who became governor in January 2019, was chosen by Kamala Harris as her running mate in August 2024; the Harris–Walz ticket lost to Trump and Vance.

What was unusual about both of the Twins' World Series wins, in 1987 and 1991?

The home team won every game in both the 1987 and 1991 World Series: the Twins took all four at the Metrodome each time, while the Cardinals and Braves won only at home.

Which Minnesota Lynx forward was named WNBA Most Valuable Player in 2014?

Maya Moore, the Lynx's first overall pick in 2011, was WNBA MVP in 2014 and won four titles with Minnesota in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.

How many of the twenty players on the 1980 'Miracle on Ice' US Olympic hockey team were from Minnesota?

Twelve of the twenty 1980 'Miracle on Ice' players were Minnesotans, among them Neal Broten and Mike Ramsey; the US Hockey Hall of Fame is in Eveleth.

Which sport, done behind a boat, is said to have originated in Minnesota?

Water skiing was invented in 1922 by 18-year-old Ralph Samuelson, who rode two pine boards behind a motorboat and used a long clothesline as his tow rope.

Which Minnesota native won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature?

Bob Dylan, born Robert Zimmerman in Duluth in 1941, won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature 'for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition'.

Prince died in April 2016 at his Paisley Park home and studio in which Minnesota city?

Paisley Park, Prince's home and recording complex, opened in 1987 in the southwestern suburb of Chanhassen; he died there on April 21, 2016, and it opened as a museum that October.

Peanuts creator Charles Schulz grew up in which Minnesota city?

Charles M. Schulz, born in Minneapolis in 1922, grew up in St. Paul, where his father ran a barbershop at Selby and Snelling avenues.

Garrison Keillor's radio show A Prairie Home Companion first aired in which year?

A Prairie Home Companion first aired on Minnesota Public Radio on July 6, 1974, from Macalester College in St. Paul, with Garrison Keillor hosting its Lake Wobegon tales.

The Minnesota State Fair is famous for its butter sculptures of whom?

Seed art, the birthing barn and the 'fattest pig' contest round out 'The Great Minnesota Get-Together'.

Spam sold in the Americas is made in Dubuque, Iowa and which Minnesota town, nicknamed "Spam Town USA"?

Austin, home of Hormel Foods since 1891, makes Spam and hosts the Spam Museum; Khrushchev credited the canned meat with feeding the Red Army.

Spencer Silver accidentally discovered the Post-it note's weak adhesive in 1968 at which Minnesota company?

At 3M, Spencer Silver spent years pitching his 'solution without a problem' before colleague Art Fry used the weak adhesive to mark his hymnal; Post-it Notes went national in 1980.

Which University of Minnesota apple, released in 1991, became the official state fruit in 2006?

Honeycrisp was once slated to be discarded, then earned the university more than $10 million in royalties before its US patent expired in 2008.

The Kensington Runestone, dug up in Minnesota in 1898, purports to record Scandinavian explorers in which year?

The Kensington Runestone's inscription is dated 1362; philologists judged it a 19th-century forgery as early as 1899, but Alexandria displays it in its Runestone Museum.

By what unflattering name, after a tavern keeper, was Minnesota's future capital known before 1841?

Pierre 'Pig's Eye' Parrant ran the tavern; Father Lucien Galtier built a chapel on the bluff and told settlers to use its name instead.

Which novelist, later famous for The Great Gatsby, was born in Minnesota's capital city in 1896?

F. Scott Fitzgerald, born in St. Paul on September 24, 1896, revised This Side of Paradise at his parents' Summit Avenue home and was named after distant relative Francis Scott Key.

Which intercity bus line began in 1914 carrying miners around Hibbing?

Greyhound traces to 1914, when Carl Wickman began driving iron miners between Hibbing and Alice in a seven-passenger Hupmobile; the Greyhound Bus Museum is in Hibbing.

Which building's self-supporting marble dome is the only one larger than Minnesota's State Capitol dome?

St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican is the only one larger, and the gilded 'Progress of the State' quadriga of four horses above the Capitol entrance was inspired by a sculpture at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

Which architect of the Woolworth Building and US Supreme Court designed the Minnesota State Capitol?

Cass Gilbert, a St. Paul architect who later designed the Woolworth Building and the US Supreme Court, won the 1895 competition for the Capitol over 41 other entries.

Saint Paul's Winter Carnival began in which year, after a New York reporter called the city 'another Siberia'?

1886 saw civic boosters answer the insult with ice palaces and a mythical royal court led by King Boreas, whose rule is overthrown each year by Vulcanus Rex.

Roughly how tall was St. Paul's 1986 Winter Carnival ice palace, then the tallest ice castle ever built?

The 1986 centennial ice palace rose about 129 feet (128 ft 9 in), a world record at the time; the 1992 palace later topped it at roughly 166 feet.

Which chemical and cleaning-products giant is headquartered in Minnesota's capital city?

Ecolab, founded in 1923 as Economics Laboratory to sell the Absorbit carpet cleaner, grew from its capital-city headquarters into a global supplier of water-treatment and hygiene products.

The company behind Scotch tape moved its headquarters from St. Paul in 1962 to which suburb?

3M left St. Paul for a new campus in Maplewood in 1962; the firm had begun in 1902 at Two Harbors as a failed corundum-mining venture before turning to sandpaper and adhesives.

At the 2020 census, the population of Minnesota's capital city was closest to which figure?

That makes it the state's second-largest city, and the smaller half of the Twin Cities pair that anchors a metro area of more than three million people.

Which park in Minnesota's capital city is home to a free zoo, a glass conservatory and a Japanese garden?

Como Park's Victorian glasshouse dates from 1915, and admission to both the zoo and conservatory is by voluntary donation.

Where does Minnesota rank among US states by total area?

Minnesota's 86,936 square miles rank 12th among the states by total area, though it is only the 22nd most populous.

How many Minnesota lakes are larger than 10 acres, according to the state?

The Minnesota DNR counts 11,842 lakes of 10 acres or more, so 'Land of 10,000 Lakes' undersells it.

Minnesota has the largest US population of which African immigrant community?

It also has the second-largest Hmong community in the country.

Minnesota has the second-largest US community of which Southeast Asian people?

Hmong refugees, US allies in the Laotian 'Secret War', began resettling in Minnesota in the mid-1970s; only California has a larger Hmong population.

Minnesota's record low of −60°F was set in 1996 in which town?

Tower, in St. Louis County north of the Iron Range, recorded −60°F on February 2, 1996, Minnesota's all-time low; nearby Embarrass often posts the coldest daily readings.

Minnesota's record high temperature of 114°F was recorded in 1936 in which city?

Moorhead, across the Red River from Fargo, hit 114°F on July 6, 1936, in Dust Bowl heat; Beardsley had matched that figure in 1917.

Outside Alaska, Minnesota has the nation's largest population of which predator?

Minnesota's roughly 2,700 timber (gray) wolves form the largest population in the lower 48 states; the species was never fully wiped out of the state's northern forests.

Which enormous glacial body of water formed in northwestern Minnesota 13,000 years ago?

Glacial Lake Agassiz, larger than all the Great Lakes combined, covered northwestern Minnesota as the ice sheet retreated; its flat lakebed became the fertile Red River Valley.

Which Minnesota iron range, the state's largest, was opened by the Merritt brothers in the 1890s?

The Mesabi Range, opened by the Merritt brothers in the 1890s, became the largest iron-ore deposit in the United States; the Vermilion shipped first, in 1884, and the Cuyuna followed in 1911.

Which conifer has been Minnesota's official state tree since 1953?

The red pine, also called the Norway pine despite being native to North America, became Minnesota's state tree in 1953; it dominates the sandy soils of the northern forests.

How many federally recognised Native American reservations are in Minnesota?

Minnesota has 11 federally recognized reservations: seven Ojibwe, including White Earth and Fond du Lac, and four Dakota, including Shakopee Mdewakanton and Prairie Island.

At the 2020 census, the Twin Cities ranked where among US metropolitan areas by population?

The Minneapolis–St. Paul metropolitan area counted about 3.69 million people in 2020, ranking 16th among US metropolitan statistical areas.

Which is the largest lake lying entirely within Minnesota's borders?

Red Lake, whose Upper and Lower basins together cover about 288,800 acres, is the largest lake entirely inside Minnesota; Mille Lacs is second.

Minnesota's largest city is nicknamed 'City of Lakes' for having how many lakes within its limits?

Minneapolis, the 'City of Lakes', holds thirteen lakes within its limits, among them Bde Maka Ska, Harriet and Nokomis, plus the Mississippi, creeks, wetlands and waterfalls.

Which nickname did Minneapolis earn from its 19th-century milling boom?

Minneapolis earned the name Mill City as the flour-milling capital of the world from about 1880 to 1930; the Mill City Museum opened in 2003 in the ruins of the Washburn A Mill.

Downtown Minneapolis links about 80 blocks with what kind of enclosed walkways?

They give access to second-floor shops and offices, handy in winter.

Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis holds what distinction on the Mississippi River?

Saint Anthony Falls is the Mississippi's only natural waterfall; its power drove the sawmills and flour mills around which Minneapolis grew, and a concrete apron replaced the crumbling ledge in the 1870s.

At which Minneapolis nightclub did Prince famously perform?

First Avenue, the downtown Minneapolis club in a former Greyhound bus depot, hosted Prince's early shows and the concert scenes of Purple Rain; its exterior wall is covered in stars naming performers.

Which of these is one of Minneapolis's major art institutions?

The Walker Art Center, a contemporary-art museum founded on lumberman T.B. Walker's collection in 1927, adjoins the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and its Spoonbridge and Cherry.

In which year did the Mall of America open?

It is the largest mall in the Western Hemisphere.

Roughly how many visitors does the Mall of America attract each year?

The Mall of America draws about 40 million visits a year, the most of any US shopping mall, and employs more than 10,000 people in peak season.

Which Canadian firm, led by the Ghermezian family, developed the Mall of America?

Triple Five Group, the Edmonton-based developer run by the Ghermezian family, built the Mall of America after its West Edmonton Mall and later opened American Dream in New Jersey.

In which year did the Vikings begin play as the NFL's 14th franchise?

The Vikings began play in 1961 as the NFL's 14th franchise; their owners had first signed on as a charter AFL member, then reneged for the NFL offer.

What was the nickname of the Vikings' fearsome late-1960s defensive line?

The Purple People Eaters — Alan Page, Carl Eller, Gary Larsen and Jim Marshall — anchored the Vikings' defense from 1967; Page was the NFL's MVP in 1971.

Before moving to Minnesota, the Twins franchise played as which team?

The original Washington Senators, an American League charter club in 1901, moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Twins; an expansion Senators replaced them in Washington.

Since 2010 the Twins have played home games at which ballpark?

Target Field, an open-air ballpark in Minneapolis's Warehouse District, opened in April 2010 and replaced the Metrodome as the Twins' home.

Which slugger, a former Washington star, led the Twins to the 1965 AL pennant?

Harmon Killebrew, a Senators star before the move, hit 25 home runs for the 1965 pennant-winning Twins; shortstop Zoilo Versalles was that year's AL MVP.

In which year were the Timberwolves founded as an NBA expansion team?

The Timberwolves joined the NBA in 1989 alongside the Orlando Magic, playing their first season in the Metrodome before moving into Target Center in 1990.

Which star did the Timberwolves draft in 1995, sparking eight straight playoff runs?

Kevin Garnett, taken fifth overall out of high school in 1995, led the Timberwolves to the playoffs every year from 1997 to 2004 and was NBA MVP in 2004.

The Wild replaced which NHL team that left for Dallas in 1993?

The Minnesota North Stars, an NHL club since 1967, moved to Texas in 1993 and became the Dallas Stars; the expansion Wild arrived in St. Paul in 2000.

Who coined the name 'Itasca' from a dog-Latin phrase meaning 'true head'?

It comes from veritas caput.

How far does the Mississippi flow from its Minnesota source to the Gulf of Mexico?

The Mississippi runs about 2,340 miles from its Minnesota headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico, beginning as a stream narrow enough to wade across.

What is the name of Paul Bunyan's giant companion animal?

Babe the Blue Ox, the lumberjack's giant companion, stands beside Paul Bunyan in the 1937 statues on the Bemidji lakeshore.

In which year was Spam introduced in the United States?

Hormel introduced Spam on July 5, 1937, the name clipped from 'spiced ham'; World War II rations then spread the canned meat around the globe.

What did the initials of the Scotch tape maker originally stand for?

3M began in 1902 as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, founded by five businessmen in Two Harbors to mine corundum, a venture that failed before sandpaper saved the firm.

The first Target store opened in 1962 in which Minnesota suburb?

The first Target opened in Roseville on May 1, 1962, launched by John Geisse and Douglas Dayton as the discount arm of Dayton's department stores.

General Mills is headquartered in which Minneapolis suburb?

General Mills has been headquartered in Golden Valley, just west of Minneapolis, since 1958; its brands range from Cheerios to Häagen-Dazs.

The University of Minnesota was founded how many years before statehood?

Seven years: the territorial legislature chartered the University of Minnesota in 1851 and statehood came in 1858; the school did not hold college-level classes until 1869.

The Golden Gophers play which rival for the Little Brown Jug?

The Little Brown Jug, college football's oldest rivalry trophy, goes to the winner of Minnesota–Michigan; it began as a water jug Michigan left behind after the 1903 game in Minneapolis.

Which doctor settled in Rochester in 1864 and began the practice behind its famous clinic?

William Worrall Mayo, an English-born physician, moved his practice to Rochester in 1864; his sons Will and Charlie joined him and built it into the Mayo Clinic.

Prince is credited with pioneering which musical style named for his hometown?

The Minneapolis sound, which Prince pioneered alongside bands like the Time, blended funk, rock, pop and new wave, with synthesizers standing in for horns.

In 1984 Prince became the first singer to simultaneously top which three US charts?

In summer 1984 Prince held the number-one film (Purple Rain), album (its soundtrack) and single ('When Doves Cry') at the same time, the first artist to do so.

How old was Prince when he died at Paisley Park in 2016?

Prince was 57, born June 7, 1958; he died on April 21, 2016, of an accidental overdose of counterfeit pills laced with fentanyl.

The Nobel-winning songwriter born Robert Zimmerman grew up in which Iron Range town?

Bob Dylan's family moved from Duluth to Hibbing, on the Mesabi Iron Range, when he was six; he graduated from Hibbing High School in 1959.

Judy Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm in which Minnesota town?

Judy Garland was born Frances Ethel Gumm in Grand Rapids on June 10, 1922, where her parents ran the New Grand movie theater; her birthplace is a museum.

Which Minnesotan served as US vice president from 1965 to 1969?

Hubert Humphrey, the former Minneapolis mayor and senator, was the 38th vice president under Lyndon Johnson from 1965 to 1969 and lost the 1968 presidential race to Nixon.

Walter Mondale served as vice president under which president?

Walter Mondale was Jimmy Carter's vice president, the 42nd, from 1977 to 1981; the pair lost their 1980 re-election bid to Reagan and Bush.

In which year did Amy Klobuchar first take office as a US senator from Minnesota?

Amy Klobuchar, previously Hennepin County attorney, won the 2006 Senate election and took office in January 2007 as the first woman elected to the Senate from Minnesota.

Which state's fair beats Minnesota's in total attendance, thanks to running twice as long?

The State Fair of Texas runs 24 days to Minnesota's 12, so its total gate is larger, while the Minnesota State Fair leads the nation in average daily attendance.

In which year was Voyageurs National Park established?

Voyageurs National Park, Minnesota's only national park, was formally established in 1975 along the Canadian border, four years after Congress authorized it; it is mostly water and reached by boat.

Which Minnesota town displays the largest ball of twine wound by a single person?

Francis A. Johnson wound his twine ball in Darwin over 29 years from 1950; about 12 feet across, it is the largest ball of twine made by one person and sits in its own gazebo.

In which year was the current Minnesota State Capitol completed?

The Capitol opened to the public on January 2, 1905, nine years after construction began; its marble dome is the second-largest self-supporting one in the world.

Best Buy is headquartered in which Minnesota suburb?

Best Buy moved its headquarters to a campus in Richfield beside Interstate 494 in 2003; the chain had grown from a single Twin Cities audio store.

Under what name did Best Buy start out as an audio store in 1966?

Richard Schulze opened Sound of Music in St. Paul in 1966; after a tornado-damage sale in 1981 the chain took the name Best Buy in 1983.

Land O'Lakes is headquartered in which Saint Paul suburb?

Land O'Lakes, founded in 1921 as the Minnesota Cooperative Creameries Association, runs its headquarters from a campus in Arden Hills, north of St. Paul; its butter carried the Indian-maiden logo until 2020.

Ralph Samuelson invented a new sport in 1922 on which Minnesota body of water?

He used two boards and a clothesline behind a boat.

Rollerblade began as a basement business started by which Minneapolis man?

Scott Olson, a Minneapolis hockey player, began assembling inline skates in his parents' basement in 1980 with his brother Brennan and later sold the Rollerblade company.

Tonka toys began in 1946 as a garden-tools company in which lakeside town?

It was originally called Mound Metalcraft.

Wheaties was introduced in 1924 under what original name?

Wheaties debuted in 1924 as Washburn's Gold Medal Whole Wheat Flakes; an employee's wife chose the shorter name, and ad man Knox Reeves coined 'Breakfast of Champions' in 1933.

In which year did General Mills invent Cheerios?

General Mills launched Cheerios in 1941 as CheeriOats, the first ready-to-eat oat cereal; the name was shortened in 1945.

Which Minnesota cookware company trademarked the name 'Bundt' and popularised the pan?

Nordic Ware of St. Louis Park, founded by H. David Dalquist, trademarked 'Bundt' in 1950; the pan took off after a Tunnel of Fudge cake placed second in the 1966 Pillsbury Bake-Off.

Which Minnesota native coached the 1980 US Olympic hockey team to the 'Miracle on Ice'?

Herb Brooks, a St. Paul native and former Gophers coach, guided the 1980 US team past the heavily favoured Soviets 4–3 at Lake Placid before the gold-medal win over Finland.

Which border town is nicknamed the 'Icebox of the Nation'?

International Falls, on the Rainy River opposite Fort Frances, Ontario, won a long trademark fight with Fraser, Colorado, over the 'Icebox of the Nation' title, registered in 2008.

Pipestone National Monument protects quarries of which sacred red stone?

Catlinite, the soft red pipestone named for painter George Catlin, is quarried at Pipestone National Monument only by enrolled members of federally recognized tribes, who carve it into ceremonial pipes.

Grand Portage National Monument preserves a centre of what historic activity?

The fur trade: Grand Portage was the North West Company's inland depot in the 1780s and 1790s, where voyageurs carried canoes past the Pigeon River rapids on the 8.5-mile portage.

Swedish-Americans in Minnesota traditionally season lutefisk with what?

Allspice: Swedish-Americans in Minnesota dust the lye-cured cod with it or serve it in a white sauce, while Norwegian-Americans prefer it plain with melted butter.

Which explorer bargained in 1805 for the land where Fort Snelling would be built?

Zebulon Pike negotiated the 1805 purchase of the site from Dakota leaders; Fort Snelling rose there between 1819 and 1825, and its soldiers built the first mills at Saint Anthony Falls.

Which supercomputer pioneer left Control Data Corporation to found his own Minnesota company?

Seymour Cray left Control Data in 1972 to found Cray Research, whose Cray-1 of 1976 became the archetypal supercomputer; William Norris had formed CDC in 1957 after leaving Sperry Rand.

The 1971 'Minnesota Miracle' reforms under Governor Wendell Anderson overhauled what?

The 1971 Minnesota Miracle shifted school and local-government financing onto state income and sales taxes, cutting reliance on local property taxes; Time put Anderson on its cover in 1973.

What is Minnesota's far southeast called, the only part of the state the last glaciers missed?

The Driftless Zone of southeastern Minnesota escaped the last glaciation, so it lacks glacial 'drift' and shows steep bluffs and streams cut into bedrock, unlike the till-covered rest of the state.

In which year was Itasca, Minnesota's first state park, established?

The state now has 72 state parks and recreation areas plus 58 state forests covering about four million acres.

How many counties does Minnesota have?

Minnesota has 87 counties, from St. Louis County, the largest by area, to tiny Ramsey County, the smallest and most densely populated, which holds the capital.

Which territory, organized in 1836, included both Minnesota and Iowa at its creation?

Wisconsin Territory, created in 1836, reached west to the Missouri River, covering Iowa and Minnesota; Iowa Territory split off in 1838 and Minnesota east of the Mississippi stayed under Wisconsin until 1848.