My home state turned 125 this month. When I was little, you still occasionally met someone who remembered the days when it was Dakota Territory.
Ask me anything. State bird? The ring-necked pheasant, an import from China that was introduced for hunting. My dad often took payment in trade, so we ate pheasant (& buckshot) pretty frequently.
State tree? The telephone pole. That's a joke, at least East River, where I'm from, as most of the trees were planted as windbreaks by the CCC during the Depression. The first time I went to Wisconsin, I couldn't understand why the trees were in such disarray. I had never seen a forest. (The official answer: Black Hills spruce.)
State flower: the pasque, a tiny flower that's first up in the spring. The state Poetry Society's magazine was called Pasque Petals. Motto: Under God the people rule. Capital: Pierre (pronounced "peer").
Shall I go on? There's both a state mineral (pink quartz) & a state gem (agate), a state fish (walleye), sport (rodeo) & animal (coyote). Among its nicknames: The Mount Rushmore State; Great Faces, Great Places; Land of Infinite Variety; and The Sunshine State, which combined with "South" in the name, fooled my poor dad into thinking he was emigrating to somewhere warm and pleasant.
Ask me anything. State bird? The ring-necked pheasant, an import from China that was introduced for hunting. My dad often took payment in trade, so we ate pheasant (& buckshot) pretty frequently.
State tree? The telephone pole. That's a joke, at least East River, where I'm from, as most of the trees were planted as windbreaks by the CCC during the Depression. The first time I went to Wisconsin, I couldn't understand why the trees were in such disarray. I had never seen a forest. (The official answer: Black Hills spruce.)
State flower: the pasque, a tiny flower that's first up in the spring. The state Poetry Society's magazine was called Pasque Petals. Motto: Under God the people rule. Capital: Pierre (pronounced "peer").
Shall I go on? There's both a state mineral (pink quartz) & a state gem (agate), a state fish (walleye), sport (rodeo) & animal (coyote). Among its nicknames: The Mount Rushmore State; Great Faces, Great Places; Land of Infinite Variety; and The Sunshine State, which combined with "South" in the name, fooled my poor dad into thinking he was emigrating to somewhere warm and pleasant.