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As
many cows as humans call WISCONSIN
home. About four million of each eat to
their hearts’ content in this rich,
rolling farmland, which has a higher
proportion of overweight people than any
other state. However, America’s
self-proclaimed “Dairyland” is more than
just one giant pasture. Beyond the massive
red barns and silvery silos lie endless
pine forests, some 15,000 sky-blue lakes,
postcard-pretty valleys and dramatic
bluffs. The state, whose Ojibway name
means “gathering of the waters,” is
bordered by Lake Michigan to the east,
Lake Superior in the north and, to the
west, the Mississippi and St Croix rivers;
only the southern, Illinois, demarcation
is dry.
The
history of Wisconsin exemplifies the
standard formula for westward expansion.
Seventeenth-century French and British
explorers began by trading with the Native
Americans and soon ousted them from their
land. The European settlers who followed –
predominantly Germans, Scandinavians and
Poles – tended to be liberal and
progressive; such major national social
programs as labor laws for women and
children, assistance for the elderly and
the disabled, and unemployment
compensation were rooted here. On the
downside, Joseph McCarthy, the infamous
1950s witch-hunter, was born in Grand
Chute, former headquarters of the
right-wing John Birch Society.
Wisconsin today is best known for its
liquids. The milk from all those
cattle yields cheeses of all kinds, while
the beer, as the song says, is what
made Milwaukee famous. Sparkling
Madison apart, Wisconsin’s other cities –
LaCrosse, Green Bay,
Oshkosh – can veer towards the dull
side, but they’re also clean, safe and
amiable, while its smaller towns can be
distinctive and charming.
Click here to go to Wisconsin
State web site. |
