America's Dairyland is the easily recognized slogan on Wisconsin's license plates. Among the state's credentials for the title are national leadership in dairy production since 1920 and a history of being among the leaders in most milk products since shortly after the first cheese factory was opened in the state in 1864. Although the farm economy in Wisconsin Territory had been based on wheat, the soil became depleted and farmers reluctantly turned to dairying in the Driftless Area in the south. Wisconsin cheese became an international delicacy; malted milk was invented; the development of a butterfat tester, to determine the richness of milk, brought creameries and commercial buttermaking.
When Jean Nicolet, a Frenchman in search of a northwest passage to China, landed on the Green Bay shores in 1634, he found a wooded wilderness laced with the lakes, rivers, and streams left by ice sheets that had begun melting 40,000 years before. Over this network of inland waters trappers had easy access to the trading posts where Wisconsin's vast fur empire developed. Later, ore from the lead mines was loaded at landings along the Wisconsin River for shipment down the Mississippi to St. Louis and New Orleans. Timber from the north pine woods also traveled downstream on the swift currents of Wisconsin's rivers. Along Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, manufacturing and shipping centers gradually grew into cities.
The pioneering Badger State became the birthplace of the Republican party and of the nation's first kindergarten. State income tax, workers' compensation, vocational education, and unemployment insurance originated there during the political era dominated by the progressive La Follette family. Among the nation's leading states in industry, as well as agriculture, Wisconsin is also one of the richest in natural beauty. Within its mitten-shaped outline are nearly 15,000 lakes and thousands of streams. The land of woods and waters, with rolling hills and fertile valleys, is one of America's most popular vacationlands.
The state was named for its principal river, which appeared as Ouisconsin, among other spellings, in the records of early French explorers. The name probably comes from a Chippewa Indian word, usually translated as gathering of waters. Its nickname is the Badger State, from the term applied to Wisconsin lead miners. They were called badgers because, as they reached a new site, they dug into the side of the hill, much as badgers dig in their burrows, and lived underground. Wisconsin's other nickname is the Copper State, a reference to the copper mines in the north.
Wisconsin lies in the north-central part of the United States. It is bounded for 150 miles (240 kilometers) on the north by Lake Superior and by the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. On the east it is bounded by Lake Michigan for 425 miles (685 kilometers). Illinois lies directly south. The Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, which form most of Wisconsin's western boundary, separate it from Iowa and Minnesota. From north to south Wisconsin's greatest length is 300 miles (480 kilometers). Its greatest width is 280 miles (450 kilometers). The total area is 56,153 square miles (145,436 square kilometers), including 1,727 square miles (4,473 square kilometers) of inland water surface. The Great Lakes area adds an additional 10,062 square miles (20,060 square kilometers).
