Near Bigelow in Nobles County, Minnesota — The American Midwest (Upper Plains)
Welcome to Minnesota ⎯⎯⎯ The Minnesota-Iowa Boundary
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 19, 2014
1. Welcome to Minnesota (marker east side)
Inscription.
Welcome to Minnesota, also, The Minnesota-Iowa Boundary. .
Welcome to Minnesota (marker east side) . . . . Known to her citizens as the North Star State or the Gopher State, Minnesota has never claimed to be the Land of the Giants. But two famous American giants do hail from Minnesota. The giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan cut the pine forests to the north that helped build America's towns and cities, and the Jolly Green Giant towers over the south's lush corn, vegetable, and soybean fields, a part of the midwest's fertile farm belt., Like its neighbors, the thirty-second state grew as a collection of small farm communities, many settled by immigrants from Scandinavia and Germany. Two of the nation's favorite fictional small towns , Sinclair Lewis's Gopher Prairie and Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon , reflect that heritage. But the vast forests, the huge open pit iron ore mines, and the busy shipping lanes of Lake Superior attracted different settlers with different skills and made Minnesota a state of surprising diversity., Best known for its 15,000 lakes, Minnesota has some 65 towns with the word "lake" in their names, not counting those whose names mean "lake" or "water" in the Chippewa, or Dakota Indian languages. There are also 13 "falls", 10 "rivers", 5 "rapids", and a smattering of "isles", "bays", and "beaches". Even the state name itself means "sky colored water" in Dakota. The mighty Mississippi River starts as a small stream flowing out of Minnesotas Lake Itasca, and a Minneapolis waterfall called Minnehaha inspired "The Song of Hiawatha", even though Longfellow never actually visited the falls his poem made known to every schoolchild., Minnesotans are proud of their state's natural beauty and are leaders in resource conservation and concern for the quality of life.,
The Minnesota-Iowa Boundary (marker west side) . . . . Today the borders between states in the American union seem firmly fixed, but in the 19th century setting boundaries was an important part of the statehood process. Most of Minnesotas boundaries were eventually defined by rivers and lakes, but its southern border is a straight line determined entirely for political reasons in the United States Congress., After 1838 the area now known as Minnesota was a part of two territories , Wisconsin Territory east of the Mississippi River and Iowa Territory between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. When Iowa prepared to join the union in 1844, its constitutional convention voted to set the new states northern boundary along the line shown above, including the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers., But Congress had other ideas. The admission of new states into the Union in pairs, one free and one slave, had by this time become an unwritten rule. In order to keep the balance, Congress favored a smaller state of Iowa to allow for the formation of at least two more free states from the former territory. Iowa's northern border was thus fixed on the latitude of 43.30, and when Iowa became a state on August 4, 1846, the future state of Minnesota's southern boundary was set even before the Minnesota Territory was organized. The important river confluence area, which would later be settled as St. Paul and Minneapolis, remained well north of the boundary line.
Welcome to Minnesota (marker east side)
Known to her citizens as the North Star State or the Gopher State, Minnesota has never claimed to be the Land of the Giants. But two famous American giants do hail from Minnesota. The giant lumberjack Paul Bunyan cut the pine forests to the north that helped build America's towns and cities, and the Jolly Green Giant towers over the south's lush corn, vegetable, and soybean fields, a part of the midwest's fertile farm belt.
Like its neighbors, the thirty-second state grew as a collection of small farm communities, many settled by immigrants from Scandinavia and Germany. Two of the nation's favorite fictional small towns Sinclair Lewis's Gopher Prairie and Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon reflect that heritage. But the vast forests, the huge open pit iron ore mines, and the busy shipping lanes of Lake Superior attracted different settlers with different skills and made Minnesota a state of surprising diversity.
Best known for its 15,000 lakes, Minnesota has some 65 towns with the word "lake" in their names, not counting those whose names mean "lake" or "water" in the Chippewa,
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or Dakota Indian languages. There are also 13 "falls", 10 "rivers", 5 "rapids", and a smattering of "isles", "bays", and "beaches". Even the state name itself means "sky colored water" in Dakota. The mighty Mississippi River starts as a small stream flowing out of Minnesotas Lake Itasca, and a Minneapolis waterfall called Minnehaha inspired "The Song of Hiawatha", even though Longfellow never actually visited the falls his poem made known to every schoolchild.
Minnesotans are proud of their state's natural beauty and are leaders in resource conservation and concern for the quality of life.
The Minnesota-Iowa Boundary (marker west side)
Today the borders between states in the American union seem firmly fixed, but in the 19th century setting boundaries was an important part of the statehood process. Most of Minnesotas boundaries were eventually defined by rivers and lakes, but its southern border is a straight line determined entirely for political reasons in the United States Congress.
After 1838 the area now known as Minnesota was a part of two territories Wisconsin Territory east of the Mississippi River and Iowa Territory between
Photographed by Cosmos Mariner, August 19, 2014
2. The Minnesota-Iowa Boundary (marker west side)
the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. When Iowa prepared to join the union in 1844, its constitutional convention voted to set the new states northern boundary along the line shown above, including the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers.
But Congress had other ideas. The admission of new states into the Union in pairs, one free and one slave, had by this time become an unwritten rule. In order to keep the balance, Congress favored a smaller state of Iowa to allow for the formation of at least two more free states from the former territory. Iowa's northern border was thus fixed on the latitude of 43.30, and when Iowa became a state on August 4, 1846, the future state of Minnesota's southern boundary was set even before the Minnesota Territory was organized. The important river confluence area, which would later be settled as St. Paul and Minneapolis, remained well north of the boundary line.
In addition, it is included in the Minnesota Historical Society series list. A significant historical date for this entry is August 4, 1846.
Location. 43° 34.012′ N, 95° 39.113′ W. Marker is near Bigelow, Minnesota, in Nobles County. It can be reached from U.S. 59 (State Highway 60) Ύ mile north of 300th Street (County Highway 6), on the right when traveling north. Marker is located in front of the Travel Information Center at the Minnesota Rest Area. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Worthington MN 56187, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in Southwest Minnesota. It is also in the American Midwest and in the Corn Belt. Globally, it is in North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once Ruperts Land, the territory of the Mississippian Culture, and the Louisiana Purchase.
Credits. This page was last revised on December 12, 2024. It was originally submitted on October 12, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida. This page has been viewed 4,649 times since then and 415 times this year. Photos:1, 2, 3, 4, 5. submitted on October 12, 2020, by Cosmos Mariner of Cape Canaveral, Florida.
