We live in a great state; some of us would put up a strong argument that where we live in upstate Pennsylvania, is the best part of the state. Having stated that, there is a lot to be learned about Pennsylvania and there are resources available to anyone free of charge.
I am looking at the publication “Hello Pennsylvania, a Quick Tour of the Commonwealth,” printed by the State House of Representatives. There are all sorts of interesting facts in this and other publications that you can access at any State Representative office. Locally we have Matt Baker’s office in Troy and Tina Picket has an office in Towanda.
First question for you: what is the number one cash agricultural crop in Pennsylvania? I guessed wrong on this one. Answer is mushrooms. Most folks know that the Mountain Laurel, which is in full bloom right now, is our State Flower. Do you know what breed of dog is our State Dog? How about the State Beverage, State Insect, State Fossil, State Ship, State Locomotive?
Are you starting to get curious about the answers to the two above questions and some more listed below? Then get going to your State Representative’s office and get this publication.
Water: Pennsylvania is cooled by 739,200 acres of lakes, ponds, reservoirs and streams; key seaports at Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Erie; and four major river systems – The Allegheny, the Susquehanna, The Delaware and the Ohio. With waterways so abundant, it is no surprise that Pennsylvania has 57,000 bridges.
Land: More than half of Pennsylvania consists of green space, woodlands, and state parks which attract 35 million visitors each year. Valley Forge was the nation’s first state park, established by the House of Representatives in 1893. The rest of Pennsylvania’s green space – more than 8 million acres, consists of field and pasture. Get your copy of this publication and learn more about Pennsylvania.
Jim Collins is an outdoor writer for this newspaper. To contact him, email jimcollinsinsurance@frontiernet.net; or write to him at Outdoors With Jim Collins, 87 Windfall Road, Alba, PA 16910.