 The late 1840s and 1850s witnessed large @-@ scale immigration from the Eastern U.S. and Europe . By 1860 approximately 80 % percent of Minnesota 's <unk> population came from New York and New England . The state was in fact for a time known as the " New England of the West " . Maine , in particular , contributed a large number of immigrants , probably because of the large number of <unk> in Maine and the growing lumber industry in Minnesota . 
