MN Facts

Minnesota Facts

NAME - Derived from the Dakota word Minisota meaning “sky-tinted waters” of the Minnesota River

ORGANIZED AS TERRITORY – March 3, 1849

ENTERED UNION – May 11, 1858 (32^nd state)

CAPITOL – St. Paul

MOTTO – l’Etoile du Nord (The North Star)

STATE FLOWER – Showy or Pink and White Ladyslipper

STATE GRAIN – Wild Rice

STATE TREE – Norway or Red Pine

STATE BIRD – Common Loon         

STATE FISH – Walleye

STATE BUTTERFLY – Monarch

STATE GEMSTONE – Lake Superior Agate

STATE SONG – “Hail! Minnesota”

STATE MUFFIN – Blueberry

STATE DRINK – Milk

STATE MUSHROOM – Morel

LAND AREA – 86,943 square miles (12^th largest)

WIDTH – 385 miles             LENGTH – 405 miles

POPULATION (2000) – 4,919,479 (rank 21)

DENSITY PER SQUARE MILE – 58.1

LARGEST CITIES –     Minneapolis (382,618), Saint Paul (287,151) Bloomington (85,172), Duluth (86,918) and

                                        Rochester (85,806)

TIME ZONE – Central

HIGHEST POINT – Eagle Mountain (Cook County), 2,301 feet

LOWEST POINT – 602 feet, the surface of Lake Superior

THREE RIVER SYSTEMS – Mississippi, Minnesota and the Red River of the North. Water flows from

Minnesota in three directions – Hudson’s Bay, Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. No water flows into the state.

NUMBER OF LAKES (larger than 10 miles) – 11,842                    

LARGEST LAKE – Red Lake (451 square miles)