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MINNESOTA  Conference; Lutheran General Council; Regular Baptist; Presbyterian; Congregational; and Protestant Episcopal.

Transportation.—The railroad mileage of the State is about 9,000. The lines having the longest mileage are the Great Northern, 2,100; Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie, 1,131; Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, 1,233; and the Northern Pacific, 1,021.

Finance.—The total revenue of the State for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1919, was $32,493,164. while the total expenditures were $33,689,641. The balance at the beginning of the year was $8,153,000 and at the end of the year was $6,986,513. The State has no bonded debt.

Charities and Corrections.—The State Board of Control has control over 13 of the charitable and correctional institutions. Among these are the St. Peter State Hospital, the State Hospital at Rochester, the State Hospital at Fergus Falls, State Asylum at Onaka, State Asylum at Hastings, and schools for the feeble-minded, deaf, and blind at Faribault.

State Government.—The governor is elected for a term of two years. Legislative sessions are held biennially beginning on Tuesday after the first Monday of January, and are limited to 90 days each. The Legislature has 67 members in the Senate and 131 in the House. There are ten Representatives in Congress. The State government in 1920 was Republican.

History.—The site of the present State of Minnesota was first visited by a French exploring party under Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan priest, who ascended the Mississippi river as far as the Great Falls. By the treaty of Versailles in 1763, this region was ceded to Great Britain, and in 1766 it was explored by Jonathan Carver, a native of Connecticut. In 1783 the Northwest Territory, including Minnesota, E. of the Mississippi, was ceded to the United States. No attempt was made to extinguish the Indian title till 1805, when a purchase was made of a tract of land for military purposes at the mouth of the St. Croix, and another at the mouth of the Minnesota river, including St. Anthony's Falls. In 1827 a small tract of country between the St. Croix and Mississippi was ceded by the Indians to the United States, and lumbering operations commenced upon the St. Croix. The Territory of Minnesota was established, and the government organized in 1849. It embraced nearly twice the area of the present State, its W. limits extending to the Missouri and White Earth rivers. In

1851 the Sioux ceded to the United States all their lands in the territory between the Mississippi and Big Sioux rivers and in 1858 Minnesota was admitted to the Union. That portion of the State lying E. of the Mississippi belonged originally to the &ldquo;territory N. W. of the Ohio,&rdquo; while that portion W. of the Mississippi was included in the territory known as the Louisiana Purchase. In 1862 the Indians attacked the frontier settlements, and in a few days killed about 800 settlers. In consequence the Sioux and Winnebagoes were removed from the State, and their lands opened to settlement.  MINNESOTA RIVER, a river in the United States, which flows through Minnesota and falls into the Mississippi 5 miles above St. Paul; length, 470 miles.  MINNESOTA, UNIVERSITY OF, a coeducational, non-sectarian institution in Minneapolis, Minn.; founded in 1868; reported at the close of 1919: Professors and instructors, 976; students, 7,451; volumes in library, 280,000; income, $4,337,094; president, Marion Le Roy Burton.  MINNOW, or MINIM, in ichthyology, Leuciscus phoxinus, common all over Europe; its average size is about three inches. It is generally found in the same streams with trout, swimming in schools. Known also as the minim. Also a popular name in the United States for the small fishes of many genera of Cyprinidæ.  MINOR PROPHETS, THE, so-called from the brevity of their writings, are 12 in number, viz., Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi.  MINORCA, the second largest of the (q. v.), lying 25 miles N. E. of Majorca; length, 28 miles, average width, 10 miles; area, 293 square miles; pop. about 45,000. Its coast is rocky and inaccessible, but broken by numerous inlets, and its surface low, undulating, and stony. Its productions and climate are similar to those of Majorca, though the soil is less fertile. Chief towns, Port Mahon and Ciudadela (8,000). The island is remarkable for its great number of ancient megalithic remains (called talayots) and its stalactite caves (at Prella).  MINOS, in Greek mythology, a ruler of Crete. During his lifetime he was celebrated as a wise lawgiver and after his death he was made, with Æacus and Rhadamanthus, one of the judges of the infernal world. Also another legendary King of Crete, who forced Athens to