Its motto: Star of the North.

Its nicknames: Bread and Butter State, Gopher State, North Star State.

Cool Forests, Fertile Farms, and a Multitude of Lakes

The waters of Minnesota — from the Mississippi and other major rivers to a multitude of streams, lakes, swamps, and bogs - have determined much of the state's destiny. The paths of glaciers, the courses of rivers, and the locations of lakes large and small have all influenced where people built their homes, towns, and cities, where they planted crops, developed industries, spent their leisure time, and even buried their dead.

Some 10,000 years ago, the glacial ice that bulldozed its way across the land deposited tons of rich, virgin topsoil. From the 1850's to the early 1900's, news of this bountiful soil, ideal for farming, attracted swarms of Scandinavians, Germans, and other immigrants seeking a new life. The Nordic newcomers — whose icy homelands prepared them for the cold winters — flourished and multiplied, as evidenced today by the proliferation of blond, fair-skinned folk in Minnesota.

The agricultural way of life continues, and it explains a great deal about the nature of Minnesotans. Thrifty, practical, plain-spoken, cautious — these are traits assigned to Minnesotans both on and off the farm.

Rich farmland is not the only legacy of the ancient glaciers. Their enormous bulk gouged out pits that became the myriad lakes Minnesota is famous for. It is a land of lakes where one out of six people owns a boat, one out of three has a fishing license, and nearly everyone spends at least some part of the year relaxing by a lake.

Northern Minnesota grows about three-fourths of the world's native wild rice, and the southern part of the state produces over a dozen varieties of apples.

In 1858 Minnesota became the 32nd state.

(”The USA Diversity of 50 States”)