Minnesota Trivia & Tidbits - Page 16

Looking for Minnesota trivia? Try our list Minnesota little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

From 1856 to 1914, Stillwater (pop. 15,878) was a terminus for log drives on the St. Croix River. The logs were mostly white and Norway pine floated downriver to sawmills.

first appeared: 5/6/2001

On June 10, 1970, David Kunst left his hometown of Waseca (pop. 8,651) for a walk around the globe. He returned Oct. 5, 1974, having walked 14,500 miles for the adventure of it.

first appeared: 4/29/2001

Quarries that began operations in 1886 near Ortonville (pop. 2,021) are now the nation’s third-largest granite producer.

first appeared: 4/22/2001

More than 2,000 rock carvings near Jeffers (pop. 409) constitute the state’s largest group of petroglyphs. The ancient images, representing humans, animals, and weapons, were created by people between 3000 B.C. and 1750 A.D.

first appeared: 4/15/2001

Actress Jessica Lange was born in Cloquet (pop. 11,126) on April 20, 1949. She has acted in more than 20 movies, including Tootsie, Cape Fear, A Thousand Acres, and Rob Roy.

first appeared: 4/8/2001

In 1898, a farmer near Kensington (pop. 287) found a 3-foot-high stone inscribed with strange letters that, according to some, tell the tale of eight Swedes and 22 Norwegians who visited the area in 1362. The Kensington Stone is on display at the Runestone Museum in Alexandria (pop. 8,295).

first appeared: 4/1/2001

Three interstate highways that pass through the state are about the same length. Interstate 90 is 276 miles long, while both I-94 and I-35 are 260 miles in length.

first appeared: 3/25/2001

Kaleva Hall in Virginia (pop. 8,782) was built in 1906 by members of the Finnish Temperance Society to provide immigrants from Finland with a social outlet other than saloons, which were common in the area.

first appeared: 3/18/2001

Hibbing (pop. 17,305) is the birthplace of the Greyhound Lines bus company, founded by Swedish immigrant Carl Wickman in 1913. The first rides, between the city’s firehouse and a saloon, cost 15 cents each way, or 25 cents for a round-trip.

first appeared: 3/11/2001

Each fall, Worthington (pop. 9,901) hosts the Great Gobbler Gallop in which a locally raised turkey races against an entrant from Cuero, Texas. Both towns dub themselves the Turkey Capital of the World.

first appeared: 3/4/2001

Lake Superior’s port of Two Harbors (pop. 3,558) handled 13.2 million tons of iron ore in 1998, all of it shipped to U.S. steel mills.

first appeared: 2/25/2001

After several failed attempts to find the source of the Mississippi River, Henry Schoolcraft finally established it in 1832 as Lake Itasca, southwest of Bemidji (pop. 12,993).

first appeared: 2/18/2001

Grand Portage was the first European settlement in the state. The National Park Service operates a replica of the 1764 outpost, and many tourists take tour boats from the harbor to nearby Isle Royale National Park on Lake Superior.

first appeared: 2/11/2001

—At Pipestone National Monument near Pipestone (pop. 4,359), Native Americans still quarry the red pipestone to shape into pipe bowls and other objects. The stone is also called catlinite after early 19th-century artist George Catlin.

first appeared: 2/4/2001

—Baseball Hall of Fame member Roger Maris, born in Hibbing (pop. 17,305) in 1934, was the first major league player to surpass Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season.

first appeared: 1/28/2001

Quackery is on exhibit at the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices in Minneapolis. Curator Bob McCoy has assembled the nation’s largest display of such devices in the United States.

first appeared: 1/21/2001

The longest system of cross-country ski trails in the state—more than 150 miles—is found north of Grand Marais (pop. 1,373).

first appeared: 1/14/2001

The state’s highest point, Eagle Mountain, is 2,301 feet above sea level and 13 miles from Lake Superior, the state’s lowest spot.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

Since 1973, 103 American hockey players, coaches, and administrators have been inducted into the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth (pop. 3,869).

first appeared: 12/31/2000

Since 1934, more than 300 weddings have been performed in an underground chapel in Niagara Cave, south of Harmony (pop. 1,052). The cave's temperature is 48 degrees and features a 60-foot waterfall.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

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