Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XI.djvu/621

 MINNESOTA 603 1,855 in Holland, 35,940 in Norway, 20,987 in Sweden, and 2,162 in Switzerland. The den- sity of population was 5 ! 26 to a square mile. There were 82,471 families with an average of 5-33 persons to each, and 81,140 dwellings with an average of 5 '42 persons to each. The increase of population from 1860 to 1870 was 155-61 per cent., being a greater percentage of increase than that of any other state except Kansas. The number of male citizens 21 years old and upward was 75,274; of persons from 5 to 18 years of age, 142,665 ; attending school, 96,793. There were 12,747 persons 10 years of age and upward unable to read, and 24,413 unable to write ; of the latter, 5,558 were of native and 18,855 of foreign birth ; illiterates, 7*99 per cent, of the population 10 years old and over ; number of illiterates 21 years of age and upward, 18,484, of whom 8,195 were males and 10,289 females. The number of paupers supported during the year ending June 1, 1870, was 684, at a cost of $66,167. Of the total number (392) receiving support June 1, 1870, 126 were natives and 266 foreigners. The number of persons convicted of crime during the year was 214 ; in prison at the end of the year, 129, including 73 natives and 56 foreign- ers. The state, contained 103 blind, 166 deaf and dumb, 302 insane, and 134 idiotic. Of the total population 10 years old and over (305,568), there were engaged in all occupations 132,657; in agriculture, 75,157, including 20,277 laborers and 54,623 farmers and planters ; in profes- sional and personal services, 28,330, of whom 620 were clergymen, 8,556 domestic servants, 13,037 laborers not specified, 449 lawyers, 402 physicians and surgeons, and 1,754 teachers not specified; in trade and transportation, 10,582 ; and in manufactures and mechanical and mining industries, 18,588. The total num- ber of deaths from all causes was 3,526, being 0-802 per cent, of the population. There were 459 deaths from consumption, being 7"7 deaths from all causes to 1 from that disease ; 177 from pneumonia, 19 '9 from all causes to 1 from that disease ; 112 from diarrhoea, 108 from cholera infantum, and 103 from whooping cough. The number of deaths reported by the state authorities in 1872 was 5,228, or 1-035 per cent, of the population. Of the whole number of deaths, 36-07 per cent, were from zymotic diseases, 13-50 constitutional, 18-61 lo- cal, 10'04 developmental, 4-72 violent deaths, and 17-04 unknown. The excess of births over deaths was 9,734. At the beginning of 1875 there were 5,973 Indians reported in Minnesota, who were settled on reservations in the central and northern parts of the state. They consisted of seven bands of Chippewas, with three agencies at White Earth, Leech lake, and Bed lake. These Indians have schools and are for the most part occupied in agriculture. Lying nearly at the centre of the continent and occupying the most ele- vated plateau between the gulf of Mexico and Hudson bay, Minnesota forms the water- shed of the three great river systems of North America : that of the Mississippi, which flows S. to the gulf of Mexico ; that of the St. Law- rence, which, connected with the chain of northern lakes, has an easterly direction to the Atlantic ocean ; and that of the Red river of the North, flowing N. to Winnepeg lake, which has its outlet in Hudson bay. A group of low sandhills in the N. E. part of the state, formed by huge deposits of drift overlying a local out- crop of the primary and metamorphic rocks, and called Hauteurs des Terres, forms the di- viding ridge between the Mississippi and Lake Superior. The Heights of Land rise by scarce- ly perceptible slopes from the general level, in no instance higher than 1,680 ft. above the sea, which is not more than 600 ft. above the aver- age elevation of the country. These hills are commonly flat at the top, varying in height from 85 to 100 ft. above the surrounding wa- ters. The principal group of these drift hills is subdivided into several ramifications. A prominent spur extends southerly from the Itasca crest of the Mississippi for perhaps 150 m., known as the Leaf mountains and the Coteau du Grand Bois of Nicollet, and forms a low dividing ridge between the waters of the Mississippi and Eed rivers. The crest of the dividing ridge between Lake Superior and the Mississippi is not more than 1,400 ft. high; and the highest of the trap summits north of the lake is but 1,475 ft. Generally the sur- face of Minnesota is an undulating plain, with an average elevation of nearly 1,000 ft. above the sea, and presents a succession of small rolling prairies or table lands, studded with lakes and groves, and alternating with belts of timber. Two thirds of the surface slopes S. E. with the waters of the Mississippi, the northern part of the state being nearly equally divided between the alluvial levels of the Eed river valley on the northwest and the broken high- lands of the northeast, which are mainly drained by the precipitous streams which flow into Lake Superior and the Rainy lake chain. The Mississippi river rises in Lake Itasca in the extreme western elbow of the Heights of Land, and flows S. E., 797 m. of its course belonging to Minnesota, of which 134 forms the E. boun- dary ; it is navigable about 540 m. within the state. The Minnesota traverses the lower part of the state in a S. E. and N. E. direction, and after a course through the state of 450 m. falls into the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, 5 m. above St. Paul; it is navigable about 300m. The Red river of the North rises in Elbow lake, flows through several lakes, running in a S. W. direction, and then turning N. forms the W. boundary for 37.9 m. ; it is navigable about 250 m. The St. Croix rises in Wisconsin, forms 129 m. of the E. boundary, and falls into the Mis- sissippi ; it is navigable for 53 m. In the N. E. part is the St. Louis river, which falls into Lake Superior, and is important as the first link in the chain of lakes and rivers of the St. Law- rence system ; and in the S. W. are the head