much, or even more, rain falls in summer as in both autumn and
winter, and the summer rains, together with the long summer days,
are very favourable to a rapid growth and early maturity of crops.
Nearly the whole state is usually covered with snow during the
greater part of winter, and the mean annual fall of snow varies
from about 52 in. at points in the north-east to less than 25 in. in
the south-west. In most localities the prevailing winds are north-west
in winter and southerly in summer, but at Duluth, on the shore
of Lake Superior, they are south-west during November, December
and January and north-east during all other months.
Soil and Minerals.—The surface drifts of the greater part of the state, which are almost wholly of glacial origin, have provided Minnesota with a remarkably fertile soil. It consists largely of a dark brown or black sandy loam, finely comminuted, the richness of which in organic matter and mineral salts induces rapidity of growth, and the strength and durability of which render it capable of a long succession of crops. This soil prevails throughout the southern counties and the Minnesota and Red River valleys, in which sections cereal crops predominate. Toward the east central part of the state there is a somewhat less fertile sandy soil, which is devoted more largely to potatoes and similar crops. The non-arable north-east portion of the state is covered with a coarse granite drift. Underneath the surface are beds of sand, gravel and clays, the last affording material for the manufacture of brick, tiles and pottery. The rock formations of the state furnish building stones of great value.
Minnesota ranked first among the states in 1902 in the production of iron ore. Although the iron ranges in the north-east had been explored about 1860 and were known to contain a great wealth of ore, it was not until 1884 that mining was actually begun on the Vermilion Range. Since that date the development of iron mining in Minnesota has been remarkable, and the increase both in volume and value of the output has been practically uninterrupted. Eight years later (1892) the much richer Mesabi Range, the most productive iron range in the world, was opened up; it soon surpassed the Vermilion in its output, and by 1902 the product was nearly ten times greater. The ore, which in many places is found in an almost pure state, is at or near the surface and the process of mining is one of great simplicity and ease. The quality of ore in the two ranges differs somewhat, that mined from the Vermilion Range being a hard specular or red haematite, while that taken from the Mesabi Range, largely red haematite, is much softer and in many localities quite finely comminuted.
Agriculture.—The principal industry of Minnesota is agriculture. Large areas of swamp lands in the central and north central parts of the state once counted non-arable have been drained and reclaimed. There were in 1900 154,659 farms aggregating 26,248,498 acres, of which 70·3% was improved land; the total value of farm property was $788,684,642 an increase in value of $373,983,016, or more than 90%, for the decade 1890–1900. The value of domestic animals on farms and ranges was $86,620,643 The total value of farm products for the year 1899 (census of 1900) was $161,217,304. Geographically the wheat-raising area extends across the entire south of the state—the Minnesota Valley and the Red River Valley—the rich glacial loam of which renders it one of the most productive wheat regions in the world. Other important crops in the order of their value are oats, hay and forage, Indian corn, barley, flax-seed, potatoes, rye, grass seeds, wild grass, clover, beans, peas, and miscellaneous vegetables and orchard products. Both fruit-raising and dairying interests are centred principally in the southern half of the state.
Manufactures and Commerce.—The extraordinary numbers of utilizable water-powers, the unusual transport facilities affording ample means of reaching the great markets, and finally the proximity to the raw materials of manufacture, have made Minnesota of great importance as a manufacturing state. The federal census showed for the decades 1880–1890 and 1890–1900 an increase in the number of manufacturing establishments from 3493 in 1880 to 7505 in 1890, and 11,114 in 1900. During the same period the capital invested increased from $31,004,811 in 1880 to $127,686,618 in 1890 and $165,832,246 in 1900, and the value of the manufactured products increased from $76,065,198 in 1880 to $192,033,478 in 1890 and $262,655,881 in 1900. The wonderful development of Minnesota as a flour-producing state began with the introduction of improved roller processes after 1870. Minneapolis is the chief flour-making centre of the world, and the cities at the “Head of the Lakes" (Duluth, Minnesota, and Superior, Wisconsin, considered industrially as one place) constitute the second largest centre. The towns of the Red River Valley, which are nearer to the great wheat belt, give promise of developing into great flouring cities. Next to flour, lumber and timber products rank in importance. Other manufactures of importance are butter, cheese and condensed milk, packed meats and other slaughter-house products, steam railway cars, foundry and machine-shop products, linseed oil, malt liquors, planing-mill products, sash, doors and blinds, boots and shoes, and agricultural implements. As compared with other states of the Union Minnesota ranked third in 1900 and fifth in 1905 in lumber; sixth in 1900 and fifth in 1905 in cheese, butter and condensed milk; eighth in 1900 and in 1905 in agricultural implements; and fourteenth in 1900 and eighth in 1905 in planing-mill products.
For an inland state Minnesota is exceptionally well situated to play a chief part in the commercial life of the country, and various causes combine to make it important in respect to its interstate and foreign trade. It is the natural terminal of three great northern transcontinental railway lines—the Northern Pacific, the Great Northern, and the Chicago, Milwaukee & Puget Sound (the extension of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul system); and the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy and the connecting lines of the Canadian Pacific form lines of communication with the middle Northwest and the Pacific provinces of Canada. Seven navigable rivers within or on the borders of the state—the Red River of the north, the Red Lake River, Rainy River, the Minnesota, the Mississippi, the St Croix and the St Louis[1]—give facilities for transport by water that exert an important competing influence on freight charges; and at the “Head of the Lakes” (Duluth-Superior) many lines of steamships on the Great Lakes, providing direct or indirect connexion with the Eastern and Southern states, make that port in respect to tonnage the first in the United States. This combination of natural and artificial highways of commerce derives an additional importance from the character of the regions thus provided with transport facilities, which renders its cities the principal distributing centres both for the entire Northwest for coal shipped via the Great Lakes, and also for the eastern and middle Western states for the great staples, wheat and lumber, derived either from Minnesota itself or by means of its great transcontinental railways from the neighbouring Northwestern states and Canadian provinces. Iron shipments from the Mesabi and Vermilion ranges, cereals from the Northwest, fruits and vegetables from the Pacific coast, and Oriental products obtained via the great northern railways, are also elements of great importance in the state’s commerce. There were on the 31st of December 1908 8438·73 m. of railway within the state. St Paul and Duluth are ports of entry.
Population.—The population of Minnesota at the first Federal census (1860) after its admission into the Union was 172,023, and by the succeeding Federal enumerations it was: (1870), 439,706; (1880), 780,773; (1890), 1,301,826, excluding Indians (10,096); (1900), 1,751,394; (1910) 2,075,708.[2] Of the total population in 1900, 932,490, or 53·2%, were males, and 818,904, or 46·8%, females; 1,246,076 were native-born; 505,318, or 28·9%, were foreign-born, and 1,312,019 were of foreign parentage (i.e. having either one or both parents foreign-born). Of the 14,358 coloured inhabitants, 4959 were negroes and 9182 Indians, 8457 of whom lived on reservations. The urban population (i.e. inhabitants of cities of 8000 or over) was 26·8% of the total population, as compared with 28·2% in 1890. By the state census of 1905 the population of the principal cities was as follows: Minneapolis, 261,954; St Paul, 197,023; Duluth, 64,942; Winona, 20,334; Stillwater, 12,435; and Mankato, 10,996; by the same census four other cities, all in the mining region in the north-east, had passed the 5000 limit, viz. Hibbing, 6566; Cloquet, 6117; Virginia, 5056; and Eveleth, 5332. The density of population increased from 16·5 per sq. m. in 1890 to 22·1 in 1900. The largest religious denomination in the state in 1906 was the Roman Catholic, with 378,288 communicants out of a total of 834,442 members of all religious denominations; there were 267,322 Lutherans, 47,637 Methodists, 27,569 Presbyterians, 24,309 Baptists, 22,264 Congregationalists, and 18,763 Protestant Episcopalians.
Government.—The state is governed under the constitution adopted on the 13th of October 1857 and frequently amended. By an amendment of 1898 an amendment may be suggested by a majority of both houses of the legislature and comes into effect if approved by a majority of all electors voting at the general election at which the amendment is voted upon; if two or more amendments are submitted at the same election voters shall vote for or against each amendment separately. For the revision of the constitution it is necessary that two-thirds of the members elected to each house of the legislature vote for the call of a constitutional convention, that a majority of all electors voting at the next general election approve the call for the convention, and that the convention consist of as many members as the house of representatives, who shall be chosen in the same manner, and shall meet within three months after the general
- ↑ At International Falls on Rainy River and at Duluth on the St Louis immense water-power is utilized for manufacturing.
- ↑ By the state census of 1905 the total population was 1,979,912 (1,060,412 males and 909,275 females—excluding Indians from the sex classification), of whom 537,041 were foreign-born, 10,929 were Indians, 5113 were negroes, 171 were Chinese, and 50 were Japanese.
