the summers in Southern Finland. Farther north, around Duluth (at the latitude of Paris) winter comes at about the same time that it does in Central Finland, except that near the shores of Lake Superior "Indian summer" weather still comes late in the fall. There is about the same amount of snowfall as in Northern Finland; frequently it all falls within a few days, and drifts 8 to 10 feet high are not uncommon. Spring usually begins at about the same time it does in Southern Finland, but it changes more rapidly into summer, and into a slightly warmer summer.

The length of the growing season varies considerably between the northern and southern sections of the state. In the north, in the area of the Lake of the Woods, it is limited to about 100 days, while in the southeastern corner of the state it is as high as 160 days. The annual rainfall is adequate but not excessive, averaging about 25 inches per year, half of which falls during the growing season. The hours of sunshine also favor the growing season, into which the majority of the 2,604 hours of annual sunshine are concentrated.'

It is evident that Minnesota has developed through geological phases similar to those of Finland. Minnesota's northeastern area apparently was fashioned 500,000,000 year ago. The iron ores of the Mesaba area have been in their present location about 200,000,000 years, from the time when volcanic formations along the northern shore of Lake Superior took shape. There dinosaurs lived, and disappeared, about 25,000,000 years ago. During the last 500,000 years, the area has gone through four ice ages. During those glacial periods there was formed the huge Agassiz Lake, which covered most of what is now Minnesota and which left behind it what is now the fruitful Red River Valley. 2

The southwestern part of the state is a gently rolling plain, dotted with hardwood forests and numerous lakes and rivers with crystal clear waters, while the north and northeast have more uneven terrain which was once covered with dense timberland. The extreme northeast has remarkable iron ridges, reaching down to Zenith City (Duluth) and the shores of Lake Superior. There are over 10,000 lakes, covering 3,600,012 acres. 3

In the Minnesota landscape, nature has been generous and even lavish. There are broad fields of grain and tall corn, and here and there shady patches of woods and handsome homes

1. Lindquist, Maude L. and Clark, James W. Minnesota: The Story of a Great State. N. Y. pp 20-21.

2. Nute, Grace Lee. The Voyageur's Highway.

3. Minnesota. A pamphlet prepared by the Immigration Service in St. Paul and translated into Finnish by J. W. Lähde, New York Mills, Minnesota, 1908. p. 3.

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