Here is part 7 of 25 Interesting Facts About USA series.
1-5 Interesting Facts About USA
1. Many people who own high end and exotic cars register them in Montana to avoid sales taxes in their home state. – Source
2. In 1916 a miscalculation of Montana’s population led to 40,000 men being drafted into the First World War, which was about 10% of the state’s population. – Source
3. Missoula, Montana has a whole “underground city” tunnel network that was used for bootlegging and prostitution rings that is still accessible today. – Source
4. The 4th largest state in USA, Montana, only has one area code. – Source
5. The gold prospectors of Yogo Gulch, Montana would notice “blue pebbles” in their stream, but ignored them for 16 years before a cigar box of them was sent by regular uninsured mail to Tiffany’s, and found to be part of a huge deposit of very high quality sapphires. – Source
6-10 Interesting Facts About USA
6. There is a glacier in Montana that is named after the tens of millions of now extinct grasshoppers that can be found trapped within the ice. – Source
7. South Dakota is the only state in the union to abolish Columbus Day and rename it Native American Day. – Source
8. The tallest structure in the western hemisphere is a TV Tower in Blanchard, North Dakota and this is what it looks like when they have to change a light bulb on it.
9. On January 22, 1943, the temperature in Spearfish, South Dakota, changed from -4°F to 45°F in just two minutes, setting a world record. This was caused by a Chinook wind, which increased the temperature eventually up to 54°F before dying down, dropping the temperature back to -4°F. – Source
10. North and South Dakota are two different states because they couldn’t agree on where the capital should be. – Source
11-15 Interesting Facts About USA
11. The most expensive fossil ever sold was Sue the T Rex, a 40-foot 80% complete specimen discovered in South Dakota in 1990. She was sold at auction to Chicago’s Field Museum for $7.6 million. – Source
12. In the 1910s/20s a wolf spent 9 years massacring livestock in the town of Custer, South Dakota. He evaded hunters, traps, and poison. He kept two coyotes as servants/lookouts. When he was finally killed the government issued a press release. – Source
13. When North and South Dakota were admitted to the US, President Harrison asked the Secretary of State to shuffle the documents so no one would know which was admitted first. – Source
14. The word “Idaho” is completely meaningless. The lobbyist who suggested the name lied about it being a Shoshone word for “gem of the mountains” and congress didn’t bother verifying the claim. – Source
15. The Idaho traffic code allows for bicycles approaching a stop sign to slow to a “reasonable speed” but does not mandate a full stop. This is commonly known as the “Idaho Stop.” – Source
16-20 Interesting Facts About USA
16. When Mt. St. Helens erupted, the blast was heard in British Columbia, Montana, Idaho, and California. However, the blast was not heard in Portland, Oregon only 50 miles away. – Source
17. Only one person has ever been executed by the state of Wisconsin. The public execution was so graphic and horrible that Wisconsin abolished the death penalty two years later. – Source
18. In 1950, residents in Mosinee, Wisconsin held a mock Communist invasion which had concentration camps, a purged library, and inflated prices. The mayor, seemingly unaware of the plan, died due to the excitement. – Source
19. In Michigan, you are never more than 6 miles from a natural water source. This is due to Michigan’s nearly 65,000 inland lakes and ponds. You are also never more than 85 miles from one of the Great Lakes. – Source
20. Michigan has a bottle deposit of 10 cents, instead of the usual 5 cents. Their recycle rate is 97%, compared to 70% of states with bottle deposits, compared to 33% for states without any deposit laws. – Source
21-25 Interesting Facts About USA
21. M-185 on Mackinac Island, Michigan is the only state highway in US where no motorized vehicles are allowed. Travel is only by bicycles, horses or on foot. – Source
22. An anonymous donor pays for the college education of every student in Kalamazoo, Michigan. – Source
23. Lake Michigan gets so clear after winter’s ice melts that you can actually see shipwrecks in the depths from the air. – Source
24. A boy scout in Michigan tried and nearly succeeded in building a nuclear reactor in his mom’s shed using smoke detectors, antique clocks, Tin foil, and camping lanterns (amongst other things). – Source
25. The worst school mass murder in U.S. history was in Bath, Michigan in 1927, when Andrew Kehoe killed 45 people, 38 of whom were children at an elementary school. – Source
