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Article: Minnesota
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MINNESOTA
MINNESOTA.
The state of Minnesota lies nearly at the center of the North American continent. Issuing from one of its many lakes, the Mississippi River rises and flows south to the Gulf of Mexico. On its western border the Red River flows north through Lake Winnipeg to Hudson Bay, and the streams that drain eastward into Lake Superior ultimately reach the Atlantic Ocean. It is a transition zone, divided among northern pine forests, the midwestern corn belt, and the Great Plains. The name Minnesota, derived from a Dakota word meaning "cloud colored water," has become the popular designation "Land of Sky Blue Waters."
Except for a small area in the southeastern corner, the ...