1. Alaska
   Hawaii
2. New Mexico
   Texas

Danish explorer Vitus Jonassen Bering first "discovered" Alaska in 1741, when he saw it on a voyage from Siberia. This might be a no-brainer, but the fishing and seafood industry is the state's largest private industry employer. The state of Rhode Island could fit into Alaska 425 times!

1. Texas
   Utah
2. California
   New York

Texas is also commonly called The Lone Star State. The King Ranch in Texas is bigger than the entire state of Rhode Island. Texas is the only state to enter the United States through a treaty rather than through territorial annexation.

1. Virginia
   Arizona
2. Utah
   Texas

The major cash crop of Virginia is tobacco. Many people who live there earn their living from the tobacco industry. Six presidents' wives were born in Virginia: Martha Washington, Martha Jefferson, Rachel Jackson, Letitia Tyler, Ellen Arthur, and Edith Wilson.

1. Alabama
   Kentucky
2. Louisiana
   Florida

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, hosted the 1983 Special Olympics Summer International Games at LSU. Since 1835, the New Orleans & Carrolliton Line is the oldest street railway line that is still in operation. Louisiana is the only state that still uses the Napoleonic Code in its state law.

1. Tennessee
   Utah
2. Texas
   California

The Copper Basin is so different from its surroundings it can be seen by astronauts in space. This drastic landscape was caused by 19th-century mining practices. There are more horses per capita in Shelby County than any other county in the United States.

1. Oregon
   North Dakota
2. New Mexico
   Florida

The name Punta Gorda, which translates to "fat point" in Spanish, was given to a Florida city because part of Punta Gorda cuts into Charlotte Harbor. The harbor itself is unique, as it is the point where the Peace River connects with the ocean.

1. Wisconsin
   Delaware
2. Washington
   Oklahoma

The Amateur Softball Association of America, which is a volunteer-driven, non-profit organization in Oklahoma City, OK , started in 1933 and is now the strongest softball organization in the country. The National Cowboy Hall of Fame is located in Oklahoma City.

1. Utah
   Idaho
2. Iowa
   New Mexico

Idaho's hot springs are located in Lava Hot Springs and are world famous. Hell's Canyon is the deepest gorge in America. Birds of Prey Wildlife Area in Idaho has the world's most dense population of nesting eagles, hawks, and falcons.

1. New York
   Rhode Island
2. Hawaii
   Florida

Hawaii is the only US state that grows coffee. The Hawaiian Islands are the tops of the biggest mountain range in the world. Volcanoes that lived under the ocean, then erupted thousands of years ago, are what formed the islands of Hawaii.

1. Delaware
   New Mexico
2. Alaska
   North Dakota

North Dakota is the leading producer of sunflowers in the United States. Most of the pasta made in America comes from the durum wheat that is grown in North Dakota. In 2012, North Dakota was voted the best-run state in the United States.

1. New Jersey
   New York
2. California
   Florida

North Jersey is the car theft capital of the world - there are more cars stolen in Newark than any other city, or even the 2 largest cities, NYC and LA, put together. New Jersey has the densest system of highways and railroads in the U.S.

1. California
   Nevada
2. Kansas
   Arizona

The first black woman to win an Academy Award was Hattie McDaniel, who was from Kansas. She won the award for her role in "Gone with the Wind." Barton County is the only Kansas county that is named for a woman - the famous volunteer Civil War nurse, Clara Barton.

1. Washington
   Kansas
2. Utah
   Arizona

Seattle has the first revolving restaurant in the United States, which is only the second revolving restaurant in the world. It is part of the Space Needle, 500 feet above sea level. The Space Needle opened in 1961. Washington state produces more apples than any other state

1. Virginia
   Pennsylvania
2. Maine
   Nebraska

In Wilton, Maine, there is a cannery that imports and cans only dandelion greens. Maine is the only U.S. state that has only one syllable. Maine is also the only state that shares its border with only one other state. Augusta, Maine, is the most eastern capital city in the United States.

1. South Carolina
   Texas
2. New York
   New Mexico

The first American chess tournament was held in New York City in 1843. The longest toll road in the United States is in New York - it is 641 miles long. Dairying is New York's most important farming activity, with 18,000 cattle farms.

1. Idaho
   Michigan
2. Kentucky
   Florida

Michigan's local stone, which is called the Petoskey, is the official state stone. It is found along the shores of Lake Michigan. The painted turtle is Michigan's state reptile. The Indian River has the largest crucifix in the world. It's called the Cross in the Woods.

1. Minnesota
   South Carolina
2. Kentucky
   Texas

The Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, is the size of 78 football fields -- 9.5 million square feet. Minneapolis has the oldest continuously running theater, Old Log Theater, and the largest dinner theater, Chanhassen Dinner Theater, in the country.

1. Colorado
   Arizona
2. Nevada
   Texas

The Imperial Palace, which is located on the Las Vegas strip in Nevada, has the nation's first off-airport airline baggage check-in service. In Death Valley, the Kangaroo Rat can live its entire life without drinking a single drop of liquid.

1. Montana
   New York
2. Missouri
   Kentucky

Pikeville, which is in Kentucky, leads the nation in per capita consumption of Pepsi-Cola annually. The first American performance of a Beethoven symphony was in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1817... Lucky Kentucky!

1. Virginia
   Rhode Island
2. Pennsylvania
   Texas

Pennsylvania is the first state to list their website URL on their license plate. In 1946, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, could brag about the first home with a computer. Philadelphia was also home to the first Zoological garden in July of 1874.

1. Florida
   California
2. Rhode Island
   New Jersey

More turkeys are raised in California than in any other state in the United States. Totaling nearly three million acres, San Bernardino County is the largest county in the country. The first motion picture theater opened in Los Angeles on April 2, 1902.

1. Wisconsin
   Delaware
2. Kentucky
   New Mexico

There are 7,446 streams and rivers in Wisconsin. If they were placed end-to-end they would collectively stretch 26,767 miles. That is enough to circle the globe at the equator. The first typewriter was designed in Milwaukee in 1867. Noah's Ark in Wisconsin is the largest water-themed park in the U.S.

1. Utah
   Montana
2. Colorado
   Arizona

Montana has the largest migrating elk herd in the United States. Just north of Missoula, the largest population of common loons in the western U.S is nesting. In 1888, Helena, Montana, had more millionaires per capita than any other city in the world.

1. Missouri
   Mississippi
2. Colorado
   Texas

In 1902, while on a hunting trip in Sharkey County, Mississippi, President Theodore Roosevelt refused to shoot a bear that had been captured. This move by Teddy Roosevelt created the world-famous teddy bear. Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935.

1. Pennsylvania
   Indiana
2. Iowa
   Ohio

The first ambulance service was established in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1865. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was from Wapakoneta, Ohio. 50% of the United States' population lives within a 500-mile radius of Columbus.

1. Massachusetts
   New jersey
2. Delaware
   Maryland

There are still 552 original documents pertaining to the Salem witch trials of 1692 that have been preserved. They are stored by the Peabody Essex Museum in Massachusetts. The Fig Newton was named after Newton, Massachusetts

1. Texas
   Kansas
2. Rhode Island
   Illinois

Rhode Island is the smallest state in the United States. It covers an area of 1,214 square miles. North to South is 48 miles and 37 miles East to West. Rhode Island has no county government. It is divided into 39 municipalities, with each having its own form of local government.

1. Pennsylvania
   Colorado
2. Nebraska
   Arizona

Nebraska used to be called "The Great American Desert." Nebraska's state motto is, "Equality before the law." Their state insect is the bumblebee. The Lied Jungle, located in Omaha, is the world's largest indoor rain forest. Nebraska is the birthplace of the Reuben sandwich and Spam.

1. South Carolina
   West Virginia
2. North Carolina
   Virginia

According to the crime index for 1997, West Virginia had the lowest crime rate in the country during that year. West Virginia was the first state to have a sales tax - it started on July 1, 1921. Organ Cave is the third-largest cave in the United States.

1. Rhode Island
   New York
2. Vermont
   Maine

In ratio of cows to people, Vermont has the most dairy cows in the country. Montpelier Is the largest producer of maple syrup in the U.S. Vermont was, at various times, claimed by both New Hampshire and New York.

1. New York
   New Jersey
2. New Mexico
   Illinois

One-fourth of New Mexico is covered in forest. The state has seven National Forests, including America's biggest, which is 3.3 million acres and is called the Gila National Forest. The leaves of the Yucca, New Mexico's state flower, can be used to make rope, baskets, and sandals.

1. Iowa
   Utah
2. Delaware
   Indiana

In Indiana, during WWII, the P-47 fighter plane was built in Evansville, at a center called Republic Aviation. Historic Parke County has 32 covered bridges, making it the Covered Bridge Capital of the world. The Raggedy Ann doll was born in Indiana in 1914.

1. New Mexico
   Utah
2. Delaware
   Texas

Delaware is the only state that doesn't have any National Park System national parks, seashores, historic sites, battlefields, memorials, or monuments. The ladybug is Delaware's official state bug. 11 years after the English Pilgrims landed, the first white settlement was made in Delaware.

1. Utah
   North Dakota
2. Arizona
   Kentucky

Utah birthed the first department store. It is called Zions Co-operative Mercantile Institution and was established in the late 1800s. It is still in operation today as ZCMI. The average snowfall in the mountains near Salt Lake City is 500 inches.

1. New York
   Kansas
2. Missouri
   Nebraska

Missouri is known as the Show Me State. The first successful parachute jump from a moving airplane was achieved by Captain Berry in St. Louis, in 1912. The most destructive tornado on record occurred in Annapolis. In 3 hours it left a 980-foot wide trail of demolished land and killed 823 people.

1. Florida
   Indiana
2. Illinois
   Vermont

The world's largest cookie and cracker factory, where Nabisco made 16 billion Oreo cookies in 1995, is located in Chicago, Illinois. The Chicago Post Office is the only postal facility in the world you can drive a car through. The Chicago River is dyed green on Saint Patrick's Day.

1. Hawaii
   South Carolina
2. Alaska
   North Carolina

The state dance of South Carolina is called the Shag. The first battle of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Sumter has the largest Gingko farm in the world. The Board of Public Works in Gaffney built an elevated water storage tank in the shape of a peach in the year 1981.

1. Louisiana
   Alabama
2. Utah
   Arizona

Alabama is responsible for introducing Mardi Gras to the western world. People in Alabama built the first rocket that took humans to the moon. A skeleton of a prehistoric man was found in Russell Cave, Alabama.

1. Oklahoma
   Texas
2. Utah
   Arkansas

There is quite a range of elevations in the state of Arkansas, from 54 feet above sea level in the far southeast corner to 2,753 feet above at Mount Magazine. The road to the White House for President Bill Clinton began in Hope, then Hot Springs, Fayetteville, and Little Rock.

1. Alabama
   Georgia
2. South Carolina
   Louisiana

The official state fish of Georgia is the largemouth bass. Georgia was named after King George II of England. Georgia is the United States' number-one producer of three different products starting with P: peaches, peanuts, and pecans.

1. New Mexico
   New Jersey
2. Rhode Island
   Maryland

The United States Naval Academy was founded in Annapolis, Maryland, in 1845. The King Williams School, which opened in 1696, was the first school in the United States.

1. Missouri
   Washington
2. Colorado
   Oregon

Hells Canyon in Oregon, which is 8,000 feet deep, is the deepest river gorge in North America. Eugene was the first city to have one-way streets. Oregon and New Jersey are the only states without self-serve gas stations. Oregon's state birthday is on February 14, Valentine's Day.

1. Wyoming
   Colorad
2. Texas
   Utah

Wyoming has the lowest population of all 50 United States. JCPenney stores were started in Kemmerer, Wyoming. Wyoming leads the country in coal production. In the year 1994, they were producing 3 million tons per week.

1. Texas
   Arizona
2. Washington
   New Mexico

The Arizona trout is found only in the state of Arizona. The saguaro cactus blossom is the Arizona's official state flower. It's flower blooms on the tips of the cactus during May and June. The saguaro is the largest American cactus. The bolo tie is the official state neckwear.

1. New Hampshire
   Rhode Island
2. Vermont
   Virginia

The highest wind speed recorded at ground level was at Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, on April 12, 1934. The winds were three times as fast as those in most hurricanes that have been recorded. The first potato ever planted in the U.S. was at Londonderry Common Field in 1719.

1. Iowa
   Missouri
2. Georgia
   Colorado

Scranton, Iowa, has the oldest water tower still in service. Crystal Lake has the world's largest bullhead fish. Sabula is Iowa's only town on an island. Iowa is the only state with east and west borders that are 100% formed by water - the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

1. Connecticut
   Rhode Island
2. Nebraska
   New Jersey

Connecticut has the oldest U.S. newspaper that is currently still being published - The Hartford Courant, which started in 1764. The first lollipop-making company opened in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1908. George Smith named lollipops after a popular racehorse at the time.

1. Arizona
   California
2. Colorado
   North Dakota

Hundreds of thousands of valentines are re-mailed each year from Loveland, Colorado. The Colorado Rockies are part of the North American Cordillera, which stretches 3,000 miles, from Alaska, through western Canada and the United States, into northern Mexico.

1. South Carolina
   Kentucky
2. Washington
   North Carolina

In 1903, the Wright Brothers made the first successful powered flight at Kill Devil Hill near Kitty Hawk. Wright Memorial at Kitty Hawk commemorates this amazing achievement. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts was founded in Winston-Salem.

1. North Dakota
   South Dakota
2. South Carolina
   North Carolina

Fossilized remains of life from 50 million years ago, arranged in unusual ways, is Lemmon's mark of distinction at the world's largest petrified wood park. Clark is the Potato Capital of South Dakota. Clark is also home to the world famous Mashed Potato Wrestling contest.