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Minnesota is known as the Land of Ten Thousand Lakes, but there are as many as 12,000 lakes in
the state. Where did they come from?
Giant glaciers (sheets of ice) covered the state thousands
of years ago. They ground down the earth and formed lake beds. When the glaciers melted, these
lake beds filled with water. In total, Minnesota's lakes have 90,000 miles (144,841 km) of
shoreline. This is more than the shorelines of California, Florida, and Hawaii combined!
Because the glaciers flattened the earth, flatlands and rolling hills cover most of Minnesota.
There are exceptions, such as the rocky Superior Uplands region in the northeast, where the
glaciers had little effect on the hard rock of this mineral-rich region.
Minnesota's total area
is 86,943 square miles (225,181 sq km), making it the 12th largest state.
Here are some other interesting facts:
- The Mall of America in Bloomington is the size of 78 football fields and has five hundred
stores, an aquarium, and an amusement park inside the mall.
- About two million Minnesota pine trees become Christmas trees each year.
- Minnesotans have one of the longest life expectancies, second only to Hawaiians, in the nation.
- International Falls is considered the coldest place in the continental United States with an
average annual temperature of 36F (2C).
- Two brothers from Minneapolis invented in-line skates because they wanted to practice hockey
during the off-season.
- Lake Itasca is the source of the Mississippi River, which travels 2,552 miles (4,107 km) to the
Gulf of Mexico.
- Many Scandinavians settled in Minnesota. The Minneapolis phone book has more than 25 pages of
Johnsons and nearly as many Andersons!
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