Maine by the numbers:
Population: 1,294,464 (2002 estimate)
Largest city, by population: Portland, 64,249
Population of Augusta, Maine's capital: 18560 (2000 census) Smallest municipality, by population: Hibberts Gore, 1
Size, in square miles: 33,215
Miles of public highways: 21,000
Number of coastal islands: 2,000
Length of coastline, in miles: 3,500
Acres of forest: 17 million
Height of Katahdin, Maine's tallest mountain, in feet above sea level: 5,268
Number of people who visited Maine state parks, in 2000: 2.3 million

And the state fossil is...

Every state boasts its most popular flora, fauna, gemstones and, yes, even fossils. Here are Maine's:

Gemstone: Tourmaline
Cat: Maine Coon Cat
Animal: Moose
Motto: Dirigo (I lead)
Tree: White Pine, adopted by the Legislature of 1945.
Emblem: White pine cone and tassel (Pinus strobus, linnaeus)
Bird: Chickadee (Parus atricapillus) Adopted by the Legislature of 1927.
Fish: Landlocked Salmon
Insect: Honeybee
Fossil: Pertica quadrifaria **
** Pertica quadrifaria is the scientific name of a primitive plant that lived about 390 million years ago during the Devonian Period. Its fossilized remains were discovered in 1968 in the rocks of the Trout Valley Formation in Baxter State Park near Mount Katahdin. (From the Maine Geological Survey, Maine Department of Conservation)

Did you know?

At 33,215 square miles, Maine is nearly as big as the other five New England states combined. (For those of you not from New England, those states are Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island.)

Maine at one time was a part of Massachusetts. It entered the union as its own state in 1820, becoming the 23rd state admitted to the United States of America, although its northern borders were not finalized until 1842.

Need to know:
Capital: Augusta
Governor: John Baldacci.
Sales tax: 5 percent
Lodging and prepared foods tax: 7 percent

Airlines serving Maine:
Business Express: 1-800-345-3400
Colgan Air: 1-800-272-5488
Continental Express: 1-800-525-0280
Delta Airlines: 1-800-221-1212
United Airlines: 1-800-241-6522
US Air: 1-800-428-4322

Driving distances to Portland from:
Boston: 111 miles
Hartford, Conn.: 201 miles
New York City: 328 miles
Washington, D.C.: 568 miles
Chicago: 1,053 miles

Driving distances from Portland to:
Augusta: 57 miles
Bangor: 129 miles
Bar Harbor: 162 miles
Bethel: 66 miles
Millinocket: 199 miles
Rangeley: 118 miles
Caribou: 299
Fort Kent: 313

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