Minnesota's 150th Birthday

Floor Speech

MINNESOTA'S 150TH BIRTHDAY -- (Senate - June 04, 2008)

Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, in May, I joined Governor Pawlenty, Senator Coleman and our Minnesota Congressional Delegation, our State legislators and thousands of Minnesotans in celebrating Minnesota's 150 years as a State.

We are proud to be a State where--in the words of our unofficial poet laureate Garrison Keillor--all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the sesquicentennials are above average.

For 150 years, our State has been built by people who knew they had to work hard, had to be bold, and had to persevere--to overcome the adversities and hardships that confronted them.

Each one of us here is a part of Minnesota's illustrious history. And each one of us has our own story about our Minnesota heritage.

Mine has its roots in the rough and tumble Iron Range, where my grandpa worked 1,500 feet underground in the mines of Ely. He and my grandma graduated from high school, but they saved money in a coffee can to send my dad to college. The little house they lived in all their lives they got when the mine closed down in Babbitt. They loaded it on the back of a flatbed truck and dynamited out a hole for the basement in Ely. The only problem was my grandpa used too much dynamite and the neighbor's wash went down a block away from all the flying rocks.

I told the story up north a while back and some old guy stood up and yelled out, ``As if we don't remember!'' They have long memories up on the Range.

Today is a day to remember that Minnesota is recognized and admired both for our natural beauty and our hard-working people.

We are home to the headwaters of the Mississippi River and to Lake Superior, the ``greatest'' of the Great Lakes.

We are home to native peoples whose history stretches far before our statehood.

We are the State that mined the iron ore for America's ships and skyscrapers.

We are the home to Fortune 500 companies that lead the way in innovation--bringing the world everything from the pacemaker to the Post-It Note.

We are home to hospitals and medical institutions that heal the sick from around the world.

And we are now a national leader in the renewable energy that will power our future.

For 150 years, we have served our country with great honor. Back in the Civil War, it was the First Minnesota that held the line during the Battle of Gettysburg, preventing a breach in the Union lines. The price this volunteer unit paid was the highest casualty rate of any military unit in American history, and today their flag flies here in the Capitol rotunda as a reminder of their bravery and sacrifice.

Now, the Minnesota National Guard's 34th Infantry Regiment--the famed Red Bulls--traces its roots to the 1st Minnesota Volunteers and they continue to honor that tradition of service to country.

On the sports field, we are home to the 1987 and 1991 World Series Champion Minnesota Twins.

It was a Minnesotan, Herb Brooks, who coached the U.S. Hockey Team to the gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics--the ``Miracle on Ice.''

Of course, after years of anguish, my dad, still an avid sports fan, continues to ask if the Vikings will ever win the Super Bowl.

We brought the world music legends from Bob Dylan to Prince to ``Whoopie John,'' the King of Polka from New Ulm.

And speaking of culture, Darwin, MN, is home to the world's largest ball of twine built by one person (my husband made me add the ``by one person!''). He saw a documentary about some other ball of twine.

Then we have our many colorful politicians, from Senator James Shields, who challenged Abraham Lincoln to a saber duel, to Senator Magnus Johnson, whose Swedish accent was so thick that his nickname going into the Senate was ``Yenerally Speaking Yohnson'', to Governor Rudy Perpich and his polka-mass; to Governor Ventura and his feather boa, to Paul Wellstone and his green bus, to two of America's most beloved Vice Presidents.

In fact, I read in a national magazine way back that ours is the only State where parents bounce their babies on their knees and say, ``One day you could grow up to be Vice President.''

But, Minnesota's celebration is not just about our history. It is also about our future. That is why the involvement of young people is so important--especially our young essay winners.

I always think of our State as a ``work in progress.''

We are a State whose people have always believed--despite the cold, the snow, the windswept prairies ..... Despite all that, we have always believed that anything was possible.

We are a State that is defined by the optimism of our people. We look to the future and we believe that--with hard work, education and good values--we can make tomorrow better than today.

I am reminded of an Ojibwe prayer passed down from the ages--the prayer that our leaders and our people make decisions not for their own generation but for those seven generations from now.

That is what that ragtag brigade of Minnesota citizen soldiers did in 1863 when they held the line at the Battle of Gettysburg.

That is what Sigurd Olson was thinking as he wrote about the beauty of our State and this Earth and its stewardship.

And that is what an Iron Range miner was hoping for as he saved those dollars in that coffee can, never dreaming his granddaughter would end up in the United States Senate.

After 150 years, we celebrate the courage and forethought of those who came before us and pray that we can live up to their expectations.

Happy birthday, Minnesota!

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