MINNESOTA 3829 MINNESOTA 



Resources and Industries 



Minerals. Minnesota has entirely within its 

 borders the most valuable iron ore region, so 

 far as known, in the world. This is the Mesaba 

 Range, in Saint Louis County, which seems to 

 contain an almost unlimited store of this most 

 useful of the metals, and has been known to 

 produce in a year the vast total of 38,000,000 

 tons. The Vermilion Range, near by, is also 

 rich in iron ore, and the Cuyuna Range further 

 southwest has been developed more recently. 

 In all, Minnesota produces about two-thirds of 

 the iron output of the country. Most fortunate 

 is the location of these valuable mines, for they 

 are not far from Lake Superior, and their yield 

 is easily transported by water to the various 

 Great Lake ports. Much of the growth of Du- 

 luth has been due to its iron-shipping industries. 



All the other mine products of Minnesota 

 amount in annual value to only a small frac- 

 tion, sometimes only about one-sixteenth, of 

 the iron yield. The most important of them 

 are clays and building stones ; among the latter, 

 granites, sandstones and limestones are pro- 

 duced in considerable quantities. In the south- 

 western part of the state, in Pipestone County, 

 there is a deposit of stone which is of peculiar 

 interest. It is a red pipestone, found nowhere 

 else in the United States in any quantities ; and 

 from it the Indians of these western regions for 

 many centuries made their calumets (which 

 see), or ceremonial pipes, which were smoked 

 to ratify any important agreement. 



Forests. Originally Minnesota was one of 

 the most heavily-wooded of the states, and to- 

 day, despite long-continued cutting, the forest 

 area is still large. In the highland region of the 

 north the evergreen forests are still almost as 

 dense as in the olden days, and Minnesota pro- 

 duces more white-pine lumber than any other 

 state; but the "Big Woods" of the Sioux In- 

 dians, that extensive forest of maples, oaks and 

 other hardwood trees which stretched almost 

 across the state just north of the center, has 

 been very much thinned out. No other state 

 makes so many laths as Minnesota, and among 

 the manufactured articles the lumber and tim- 

 ber products rank second in importance. 



There have been, at various times, disastrous 

 forest fires which have swept great regions, and 

 the loss to the state has been shown in the de- 

 creased output of lumber. In order to prevent 

 such catastrophes as far as possible, strict for- 

 estry laws have been passed and the office of 

 state forester has been created, but that these 



measures have not been entirely effective may 

 be seen from the fact that there were in 1910 

 over 900 forest, fires which swept over more than 

 1,000,000 acres of wooded land. Within recent 

 years, however, these forest fires have been very 

 greatly reduced. 



Agriculture. This is the chief occupation of 

 the people, and over fifty-three per cent of the 

 land of the state is in farms. For the most part 

 these are of considerable size, the average be- 

 ing 177 acres. It is an interesting fact that, ac- 

 cording to the census of 1910, the foreign-born 

 farmers outnumber the native-born by about 

 7,000. 



The chief crops are the cereals, among which 

 wheat ordinarily holds the first place both in 

 acreage and value. Minnesota ranks second to 

 North Dakota in the production of spring wheat. 

 Oats and corn are of increasing importance, 

 while in the production of barley Minnesota 

 surpasses all the other states. The hay and for- 

 age crops make up about one-eighth of the 

 total crop value, and potatoes and flaxseed are 

 of considerable importance. Apples are grown 

 successfully in the southern part of the state, 

 and strawberries and raspberries are raised in 

 large quantities in the neighborhood of Minne- 

 apolis and Saint Paul. 



Though not one of the foremost live-stock 

 states, Minnesota has a large number of cattle, 

 and its dairy industries are of rapidly-increasing 

 importance, amounting in a year to almost 

 $40,000,000. 



Game and Fish. Minnesota, once a paradise 

 for the huntsman and the angler, is still the 

 home of great numbers of prairie chickens, par- 

 tridges and quails, and is visited by flocks of 

 ducks, teal, geese and brants during their au- 

 tumn journey southward from Canada. In the 

 forest regions the deer, elk and moose are still 

 found, and pelicans, gulls and other fish-catch- 

 ing birds seek a place of refuge in the islets of 

 numerous lakes. Game is protected in the state 

 by stringent laws, administered by the Game 

 and Fish Commission. Perch, pike, bass, white- 

 fish, sturgeon and lake trout are important 

 game fish; the fisheries are replenished from 

 the State Fish Hatchery at Saint Paul and the 

 United States Hatchery at Duluth. 



Manufacturing. The manufactures of the 

 state depend almost entirely upon its own raw 

 materials, and not, as in the case of Massachu- 

 setts, for instance, upon imported raw mate- 

 rials. A considerable proportion of iron ore is 



