Good series starting in the Minneapolis paper. Others in the region should do the same.
Water flows through everything Minnesotan: landscapes, lifestyles, history, humor, politics, art, literature, commerce -- culture. Our souls, some would say.
People born here take plentiful lakes and streams as a birthright, and they quickly become the equivalent for immigrants like Mrs. Jaques, an Illinois-born New Yorker who married, in her late 30s, an Aitkin man who would become Sigurd Olson's illustrator. Within months, the newlyweds were off on a three-week canoe trip near the Canadian border. Her travel journal records an overnight conversion experienced by countless newcomers from places less blessed with water, which is most places.
Water images are prominent in the state seal and state song, and it was no surprise when Minnesota's commemorative quarter was struck with a fishing boat and lake-dwelling loon on the reverse. Blue waterscapes are home not only to the state bird but also the state grain (wild rice) and state gemstone (Lake Superior agate). Water is essential to an economy so reliant on tourism, timber, agriculture and myriad recreational pursuits. The Minnesota town that has no lake or river is considered an unfortunate rarity.
Why, then, do we treat this resource so shabbily?
http://www.startribune.com/10089/story/553126.html
Posted by Dave at July 17, 2006 01:51 PM