The Great State of Minnesota was birthed on the backs of farmers and laborers who built towns, industries, futures, and empires harvesting natural resources and then doing the value added manufacturing to supply the world with products and food.
The Northland was founded by tough as nails lumberjacks and sawmillers that still to this day supply the world with lumber products and paper. The Iron Range started with the discovery of iron ore that was the steel that powered the tanks, guns, and ships to victory in WWII and still makes the decks of todays aircraft carriers. The discovery of copper and rare metals makes this area the future of materials for high tech industry. The farms of SE Minnesota has always been a farming area high in dairy density that can to this day be found every time you open a gallon of Kemps milk or a carton of Land O Lakes butter. Southern and Central Minnesota and the row crop bounty was given additional value with the growing industry of pork, beef, and turkey feedlot operations that send their products around the world where Hormel, JBS, Cargill, or Jenni-O products are found in the grocery carts. The wheat and beets of the Red River Valley made Minneapolis the one time milling capital of the world, and General Mills, Gold Medal, Pillsbury, and Crystal Sugar household names to this day on multiple continents. Duluth grew on the backs of laborers and local industries making products and loading ships of flour, ore, lumber, paper, meat, and other manufactured goods to go thru the Great Lakes to the world.