157th Anniversary of Minnesota Statehood

157 years ago, Minnesota became the 32nd state of the United States on May 11, 1858. It first became a territory of the United States in 1849. Then it submitted an application for statehood to President James Buchanan in January, 1858. However, distracted from a controversy about statehood of Kansas, Congress did not act on the application for several months before finally approved it. The state was created from the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and part of the Wisconsin Territory. The name "Minnesota" was originated from a Dakota word meaning "clear blue water." The state is known as the "Land of Ten Thousand Lakes" due to its large number of lakes.

Postcard US-2269166 from Minneapolis, MN shows Minnehaha Falls, one of the most photographed sites in Minnesota with 850,000 visitors every year, at Minnehaha Park in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The park was designed by landscape architect Horace W.S. Cleveland in 1883, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969 as the Minnehaha Historic District.

Lake Okeechobee

Postcard US-3223053 to Switzerland shows a satellite image of Lake Okeechobee in Florida, the second largest freshwater lake contained entirely within the contiguous 48 states in the U.S. Lake Michigan is the largest.

For the largest lakes of the all 50 U.S. States by area including freshwater and saltwater lakes, if the area accounted for the lake includes the area partially in Canada or Mexico, Lake Superior is the largest while Lake Okeechobee ranks tenth.

Okeechobee covers 1,900 square kilometers or 730 sq miles, with an average depth of 3 meters or 9 feet. It is the headwaters of the Everglades wetland ecosystem.

Chung-cheng Lake in Meinong, Taiwan

This postcard from a private swap shows the Chung-cheng Lake (中正湖) in Meinong District, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, Republic of China (ROC). A man-made lake originally built in 1748 known as Jhongjun Pi (中圳埤), it was renovated into a reservoir between 1916 and 1920 during the Japanese occupation. With an area of 21 hectares or 52 acres, the lake had a capacity to furnish water for irrigation of over 130 hectares or 321 acres of farmland. It was also used for fish farming. After World War II, the lake was renamed to Chung-cheng Lake in 1956, after Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石: October 31, 1887 – April 5, 1975), also known as Chiang Chung-cheng (蔣中正) who was the leader of the Republic of China between 1928 and 1975. A pavilion was also built in the lake in honor of Chiang. However, there have been petitions to change the name of the lake to Meinong Lake (美濃湖) since 1996, in protest of Chiang's role in the 228 Massacre. On a side note, many statues of former president Chiang Kai-shek have been vandalized across the island around the 68th anniversary of the 228 Incident on Saturday, February 28, 2015.

While the lake capacity for water supply has been diminishing due to sediment built-up since the 1957 Meinong flood, it becomes part of the largest wetland ecosystem in the area that hosts a large number of migratory birds during the winter months from October to March next year. More than 60 bird species have been spotted around the lake. A wooden boardwalk around the lake was completed last November to accommodate nature lovers.

Schöne Grüße aus Daun

Postcard DE-3495274 was a nice greeting from Daun, Germany. It shows die Dauner Maare, a group of three volcanic lakes 2.5 km  (1.6 mi) to 3.5 km (2.2 mi) southeast of Daun’s town center. The main town of Daun has only about 5,000 permanent residents. It is known as a spa town and the mineral water springs in the surrounding area, due to the volcanic geological features in the area. Daun is home to the Eifel-Vulkanmuseum, a museum dedicated to provide information about volcanic and other geological phenomena in Eifel and world wide, using interactive computer models to explain the exciting and complex geological processes including both physical and chemical processes. 

Dolina Triglavskih jezer

Postcard SI-98149 from Slovenia shows the Dolina Triglavskih jezer (Triglav Lakes Valley) in the Julian Alps in Slovenia. It is a rocky hanging valley above the tree line between the sheer sides of Mount Tičarica and Mount Zelnarica southwest of Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia and the highest peak of the Julian Alps at 2,864 meters or 9,396 feet.

The valley is also called the Seven Lakes Valley, although there are actually ten lakes in the valley. The lowest lake Črno jezero (Black Lake) is at 1,294 meters or 4,245 ft above sea level; the highest Jezero v Podstenju (Podstenje Lake) has an elevation of 1,993 meters or 6,539 feet. Each lake has a color varying from green, blue, brown to black.

I found this time-lapse video of a two-day hiking tour at the Triglav Lakes Valley on Youtube. The climbers made stops at Black Lake, at the beginning of their journey; at Big Lake next day, the largest and deepest lake also called Kidney Lake with an elevation of 1,831 meters or 6,007 feet; and near Green Lake at 1,988 meters or 6,500 feet, named after the algae living in the lake.

 

West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou

Postcard CN-1291364 from China shows West Lake (西湖), a freshwater lake in Hangzhou, eastern China, that has inspired famous poets, scholars and artists since the 9th century. There are numerous temples, pagodas, pavilions, gardens and ornamental trees, as well as causeways and artificial islands.

It was inscribed on the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2011 as the West Lake Cultural Landscape of Hangzhou, comprising the West Lake and the hills surrounding its three sides, described as having "influenced garden design in the rest of China as well as Japan and Korea over the centuries" and reflecting "an idealized fusion between humans and nature."

De Alde Feanen National Park

Postcard NL-2466145 from the Netherlands shows the Alde Feanen National Park, located in Friesland Province, the Netherlands. It is part of the Natura 2000, an ecological network of protected areas in the European Union. There are at least 450 plant species and 100 bird species in the morass, lake, forest, peatland and meadow ecosystems.

Lake Como at Bellagio

Postcard IT-238410 came from Italy today. It shows Villa Melzi d'Eril by Lake Como at Bellagio in Italy. The villa features English style gardens built in harmony with the lake's banks, surrounded by high mountains. In Las Vegas, the design of Bellagio Hotel and Casino was infleunced by the Lake Como town of Bellagio in Italy, highlighted by the famous dancing water fountain synced with music on a man-made lake at its front gate.

Inverhuron Provincial Park, Canada

Inverhuron Provincial Park is located on the shores of Lake Huron by the small village of Inverhuron, Ontario in Canada. Postcard CA-364103 shows the beautiful Inverhuron Beach and rare Great Lakes San Dune Ecosystem. 

The park first opened in 1956 with 351 campsites. However, with the construction of a nuclear power plant, Ontario Hydro purchased the park from the Ministry of Natural Resources in 1973 and limited the park as day-use only for safety and security concerns. After the Bruce Nuclear Development closed and the power plant decommissioned in 1998, safety concerns were minimized. On July 8, 2005, the park re-opened as an overnight camping site.

Chicago

Chicago

Postcard US-2343342 arrived yesterday shows an aerial view of Adler Planetarium in the front and the Field Museum of Natural History and the John G. Shedd Aquarium in the background, by Lake Michigan. What special about the postcard is the two 8-cent se-tenant stamps issued on August 2, 1971 to commemorating a decade of space achievements.

The stamps feature the Earth, the Sun, the Lunar Module, the Lunar Rover and astronauts on the Moon. The first day covers were postmarked at two different post offices in Houston, Texas and Huntsville, Alabama where the two tracking stations were located.

Lake Tahoe

Lake Tahoe

In comparison with Lake Baikal, Russia discussed yesterday, Lake Tahoe, located along the border between California and Nevada in the United States, is also a large freshwater lake. At a surface elevation of 1,897 m or 6,225 ft, Lake Tahoe is the largest alpine lake in North America. With a depth of  501 m or 1,645 ft, it's the second-deepest lake in the United States. The deepest lake in the United States is Crater Lake in Oregon at 593 m or 1,945 ft; and the deepest lake in the world is Lake Baikal in Russia at 1,642 m or 5,387 ft.

Lake Tahoe is ranked as the 26th by volume in the world at 151 cu km while Lake Baikal is the largest with a volume of 23,600 cu km. Lake Tahoe was formed about 2 million years ago. It is relatively young, compared to Lake Baikal's age at 25 million years.

Although Lake Tahoe is known for its great clarity, the clarity of the lake had been decreasing historically, with the rate of decrease slowing. Furthermore, the lake's clarity has increased from 2011 to 2013. We hope this trend will hold.

Postcard US-2193280 showing Lake Tahoe was received on April 25, 2013.