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 boundary, with Illinois, 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, Sen. 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 toward the dull side, but they're
also clean, safe and amiable. The smaller towns can be distinctive
and charming.
