Minnesota Trivia Don'tcha Know!

by Brett Ortler

Overview

It’s amazing, outrageous, unbelievable . . . it’s Minnesota!

Minnesota may be known for Paul Bunyan and hot dish, but there’s so much more to the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Did you know that pirates once prowled the Great Lakes or that a series of grasshopper plagues struck the state in the 1800s? From our quirky roadside attractions and odd museums to Lake Superior and the state’s wild weather, this book features the fascinating, funny and strange side of Minnesota.

Book Features

• Entertaining, silly and often surprising facts about everything Minnesota
• Information arranged by topics, such as Weather & Winter, Quirky Minnesota and Minnesota Disasters
• Small blocks of text and full-color photos for pleasurable browsing
• Dozens of little-known tidbits that you’ll have to read to believe!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781591934639
Publisher:	Adventure Publications, Incorporated
Publication date:	08/04/2014
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 6.80(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Brett Ortler is an editor at Adventure Publications. While at Adventure, he has edited dozens of books, including many field guides and nature-themed books. His own work appears widely, including in Salon, Good Men Project, The Nervous Breakdown, Living Ready and in a number of other venues in print and online. He lives in the Twin Cities with his wife and their young children.

Read an Excerpt

There were once pirates on the Great Lakes
When you think of pirates, you probably think of frigates bristling with cannons plying the waters of the Caribbean, but piracy also occurred on the Great Lakes. Of course, the pirates on the Great Lakes were not the flawed-but-admirable figures like Disney’s Captain Jack Sparrow. Just as their Caribbean counterparts were often murderers and slavers, the Great Lakes pirates were often little more than thieves, and the primary loot that they were after was hardly the stuff of the Spanish Treasure Fleet. On the contrary, the pirates of the Great Lakes often raided ships carrying cargo with a distinctively Northwoods flair, especially timber and venison.

“Roaring” Dan Seavey: the most infamous pirate on the Great Lakes
Perhaps the most famous pirate of the Great Lakes was “Roaring” Dan Seavey, an almost legendary figure best known for inciting a mutiny on a merchant vessel, the Nellie Johnson and then leading the U.S. cutter Tuscarora on a week-long chase through Lake Michigan. As you might expect, this tale was immediately embellished by national newspapers, and the existing accounts differ wildly about the details. The New York Times reported that Seavey was taken into custody after a shot was literally fired over his ship’s bow, but this doesn’t actually seem to be the case, as the Tuscarora’s captain’s log indicates that Seavey simply surrendered and was arrested by the U.S. Marshal on board. Seavey later escaped indictment thanks to a favorable grand jury.

“Moon Cussing”: a shady tactic to wreck ships—and steal their cargo
Moon cussing was a tactic that Dan Seavey was no doubt familiar with. “Moon cussers” created fake navigational lights or extinguished existing ones, causing ships to be run aground on rocks or shoals. The pirates would then salvage the cargo from the disabled ships. This technique gets its name because the would-be wreck scavengers “cuss the moon” when its light prevents them from illegally salvaging a wreck in secret.

TRIVIA TIDBIT: The Great Lakes Distillery even named one of their rum varieties after “Roaring Dan Seavey.” They’ve also created a special drink, the “Moon Cusser,” in his honor. Appropriately enough, it is served on the rocks.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Glance at Minnesota (and Minnesotans)

Paul Bunyan, Hot Dish and Other Minnesota Standards

Geology and Climate

Weather, Winter and Natural Disasters

Wildlife

Minnesota’s 10,000 Lakes

Lake Superior

A Sampling of Lake Superior Shipwrecks

Minnesota Disasters

Crime

A Brief Look at Sports

Quirky Minnesota

Bibliography

About the Author