<p>Big Ben is a volcanic massif that dominates the geography of Heard Island in the southern Indian Ocean. It is a composite cone with a diameter of approximately 25 kilometres. Its highest peak is Mawson Peak, which is 2,745 m above sea level. Much of it is covered by ice, including 14 major glaciers which descend from Big Ben to the sea. Big Ben is the highest mountain in Australian Territory, except for those claimed in the Australian Antarctic Territory. A smaller volcanic headland, the Laurens Peninsula, extends approximately 10 km to the northwest, created by a separate volcano, Mount Dixon; its highest point is Anzac Peak, at 715 m.</p><br>
<h2>Volcanic activity</h2><br>
<p>Volcanic activity at the cone has been known since 1881. An eruption occurred in 1993. Satellite images detected eruptions during 2000. On 2 February 2001, observations from Atlas Cove, 15 km NW of Mawson Peak, showed plumes up to 1 km high over the volcano. Satellite images showed hotspots at various times from 2003 to 2008, and during September 2012. A further eruption was reported on 2 February 2016, and was recorded by scientists who happened to be in the area on an expedition. Big Ben does not endanger humans because Heard Island is uninhabited.</p><br>
<p>Greektown is a historic commercial and entertainment district in Detroit, Michigan, located just northeast of the heart of downtown, along Monroe Avenue between Brush and St. Antoine Streets with a station on the city&#39;s elevated downtown transit system known as the Detroit People Mover. Greektown is also situated between the Renaissance Center, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. The district is dominated by Greek-themed restaurants and includes St. Mary Roman Catholic Church, Second Baptist Church, the Athenium Suite Hotel, and the Greektown Casino-Hotel within its boundaries. The district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The district is often the site of the Greek parade in March.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The area known today as Greektown was first settled in the 1830s by German immigrants, who created a primarily residential neighborhood in the area. However, in the earliest years of the 20th century, most of the German residents began moving from the neighborhood into areas farther from downtown. As the Germans left the area, new Greek immigrants moved in, spurred by Theodore Gerasimos, the first documented Greek immigrant in Detroit. The newly arrived Greeks established businesses in the neighborhood.</p><br>
<p>By the 1920s, the area was becoming primarily commercial rather than residential, and the Greek residents began moving out; however, the restaurants, stores, and coffeehouses they established remained. The next thirty years brought a melange of immigrants to the few residential spaces left in the neighborhood. Redevelopment in the 1960s led to the neighborhood becoming more commercialized to provide space for municipal buildings and parking.</p><br>
<p>Realizing the culturally significant neighborhood was at risk, Detroits Greek leaders banded together. With the help of the Mayors office, the streetscape and building exteriors were improved, and additional street lighting was installed. The neighborhood threw a Greek festival in 1966, timed to coincide with Fourth of July celebrations. The festival was a success, and was continued for years until turnout grew too large. By that time, Greektown was firmly established in Detroit. The Greektown Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.</p><br>
<p>only three full-fledged Greek restaurants remain in Greektown. The neighborhood is a popular restaurant and entertainment district, having many restaurants that serve authentic Greek cuisine, as well as one of the citys three casinos, Greektown Casino. Certain buildings on Monroe Street are themed to resemble the Parthenon, Pegasus, and other forms of Greek architecture. Greek music is also played on Monroe Street throughout the day. Well known restaurants include The New Parthenon, The Golden Fleece, Laikon Cafe, Cyprus Taverna, Pegasus Taverna, Pizza Papalis, and Fishbones Rhythm Kitchen Cafe. The Detroit People Mover has a station at the Greektown Casino on Beaubien Street between Monroe Street and Lafayette Boulevard.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Greektown is featured in the video game Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition (2005).</p><br>
<p>In the American cable TV series Low Winter Sun (2013), the Detroit Police precinct is located four blocks from Greektown (this is reiterated thrice in season 1, episode 4), and Maya and Damon "kick up" tributes from her bar and from their drug and prostitution earnings to Skelos, Greektown&#39;s main crime lord. Seeking to gain independence from Skelos, Damon opens a blind pig outside of Greektown, where he kicks up to Reverend Lowdown (season 1, episodes 3 and 4).</p><br>
<p>Ratón Pass is a elevation mountain pass on the Colorado-New Mexico border in the western United States. Ratón is Spanish for "mouse." It is located on the eastern side of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains between Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, New Mexico, approximately 100 miles  northeast of Santa Fe. The pass crosses the line of volcanic mesas that extends east from the Sangre de Cristo Mountains along the state line, and furnishes the most direct land route between the valley of the Arkansas River to the north and the upper valley of the Canadian River, leading to Santa Fe, to the south. The pass now carries Interstate 25 and railroad tracks.</p><br>
<p>The pass is a historically significant landmark on the Santa Fe Trail, a major 19th-century settlement route between Kansas City, Missouri and Santa Fe. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 for this association.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1821, Captain William Becknell laid the path of the Santa Fe Trail through the pass. In 1846 during the Mexican–American War, Stephen W. Kearny and his troops passed through the pass en route to New Mexico. During the Civil War, it was the primary path into New Mexico since it avoided Confederate raiders. It was later developed into a toll road by Richens Lacey Wootton.</p><br>
<p>In the 20th century the Pass became the route of USA Route 85 and later Interstate 25 between Denver and Albuquerque. The road at the pass is at an elevation of 7834 feet above sea level, and therefore is subject to difficult driving during heavy winter snowfalls.</p><br>
<h3>Railroad route</h3><br>
<p>In the late 19th century, it was used by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway as the railroad&#39;s primary route through the mountains. Along with the Royal Gorge in Colorado the pass was one of the focal points for the 1878-1879 Railroad Wars between the AT&SF and the smaller Denver and Rio Grande Railroad. The route over the pass required gradients of up to 3.5%, with a tunnel at the highest point of the AT&SF, at 7588 feet above sea level. The tunnel is entirely within New Mexico, with its northern portal only a few feet south of the Colorado border.</p><br>
<p>BNSF, which absorbed the Santa Fe railroad in 1996, and Amtrak continue to use this route. However, following completion of the Belen Cutoff in 1908, the majority of freight traffic was diverted over the Cutoff, which has gradients of no more than 1.25%. Amtrak&#39;s Southwest Chief passenger service between Chicago and Los Angeles, continues to use Raton Pass (one train daily in each direction). In 2012, there was not enough freight traffic for BNSF to maintain the line up to the standards required by Amtrak for continued intercity service. This problem has placed the future of rail transportation over Raton Pass in jeopardy.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The pass was part of a Townes Van Zandt song "Snowin on Raton". During a live performance, Townes commented how he liked playing a show in Colorado because he didnt have to explain what Raton was.</p><br>
<p>Raton Pass is mentioned in C.W. McCall&#39;s (Bill Fries) song "Four Wheel Cowboy", from his album Wilderness. "Four Wheel Cowboy" also appears on his compilation release titled; The Best of C.W. McCall.</p><br>
<p>Clint Black makes reference to the Raton Pass in the song "The Goodnight-Loving" from the album "Put Yourself in My Shoes."</p><br>
<p>The Davis Mountains, originally known as Limpia Mountains, are a range of mountains in West Texas, located near Fort Davis, after which they are named in honor to Jefferson Davis. They are a popular site for camping and hiking and the region includes Fort Davis National Historic Site and Davis Mountains State Park. The historical and architectural value of the fort, along with the rugged natural environment of the park are a significant destination for tourism in Texas.</p><br>
<h2>Origin, geology and vegetation</h2><br>
<p>The mountains are of volcanic origin composed of strata associated with eruptions of the Trans-Pecos Texas volcanic field 35 million years ago. The highest peak in the Davis Mountains is Mount Livermore at 8,382 feet, and is the fourth highest peak in Texas.</p><br>
<p>Vegetation in the mountain range is similar to some other sky island ranges in west Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and northern Mexico, and includes montane grasslands, pine-oak woodlands and isolated stands of ponderosa pine forest at higher elevations.</p><br>
<h2>Conservation</h2><br>
<p>Since 1996, The Nature Conservancy has acquired 33,000 acres (130 km²) in the mountain range, along with conservation easements on 70,000 acres (280 km²) more. This parcel is open to the public at specified times.</p><br>
<h2>Facilities</h2><br>
<p>McDonald Observatory is accessed by Spur 78 from State Highway 118. Spur 78 is the highest state maintained road in Texas at 6,791 feet near the summit of Mt. Locke where the older telescopes of the observatory are located. Spur 77 branches off from Spur 78 providing access to the newer research equipment atop Mt. Fowlkes.</p><br>
<h2>Texas Separatist Standoff</h2><br>
<p>The Texas separatist organization known as the Republic of Texas has its origins in the Davis Mountains. On April 27, 1996, the leader of the group, Rick McLaren, staged an attack on his neighbor&#39;s house and demanded that he cede his property to the Republic of Texas. This led to 300 state troopers surrounding his house with him, his five followers, his wife, and the victims of the attack inside for close to a week. Ultimately, one follower was shot in the standoff and McLaren was arrested and imprisoned for the equivalent of a life sentence.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The Dom is a mountain of the Pennine Alps, located between Randa and Saas-Fee in the canton of Valais. With its 4,545 m summit it is the third highest mountain in the Alps and the second highest in Switzerland, after Monte Rosa. The Dom is the main summit of the Mischabel group , which is the highest massif lying entirely in Switzerland.</p><br>
<p>Although Dom is a German cognate for dome, it can also mean cathedral and the mountain is named after Canon Berchtold of Sitten cathedral, the first person to survey the vicinity.</p><br>
<p>The former name Mischabel comes from an ancient German dialect term for pitchfork, as the highest peaks of the massif stand close to each other.</p><br>
<h2>Geographical setting</h2><br>
<p>The Dom is the culminating point of a chain running from the Schwarzberghorn on the south, at the intersection with the main chain of the Alps (Alpine watershed), to the Distelhorn on the north and ending above the town of Stalden. The chain lies entirely in the district of Visp.</p><br>
<p>The two valleys separated by the range are the Mattertal on the west and the Saastal on the east. The towns of Randa and Saas-Fee lie both six kilometres from the summit (to the west and the east, respectively). The elevation difference between the summit and the valley floor is 3,150 metres on the west side (Randa) and 3,000 metres on the east side (Saas-Grund). On the Mattertal side, the Dom faces the almost equally high Weisshorn and, on the Saastal side, it faces the Weissmies. The Dom is the highest point of the Saastal and the second highest mountain of the Mattertal after Monte Rosa.</p><br>
<p>Since the Dom is not on the main Alpine chain, the rivers flowing on both the west and east side of the massif end up in the same major river, the Rhone, through the Mattervispa and the Saaservispa. The Dom is the highest mountain in the Alps with this peculiarity.</p><br>
<p>The Mischabel group includes many subsidiary summits above 4,000 metres. To the north lies the Nadelgrat, composed of the Lenzspitze, the Nadelhorn, the Stecknadelhorn, the Hohberghorn and the Dürrenhorn. The Nadelgrat is easily visible from the north and gives the massif its characteristic pitchfork appearance. The second highest peak of the massif, the Täschhorn to the south, culminates at 4,491 metres, and south of it, is the characteristically flat summit of the Alphubel. In total, eight summits above 4,000 metres make up the Mischabel massif. Other important peaks of the massif are the Ulrichshorn and the Balfrin. The Dom has a western shoulder (4,479 m) and an eastern shoulder (4,468 m).</p><br>
<p>Generally, areas above 3,000 metres are covered by glaciers, the two largest being the Ried Glacier situated at the foot of the Nadelgrat and the Fee Glacier, at the foot of the Dom itself, below the east face.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The massif is almost entirely composed of gneiss from the Siviez-Mischabel nappe. The latter is part of the Briançonnais microcontinent and is located in the Penninic nappes. The Dom is a depositional mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing history</h2><br>
<p>The first ascent was made from the Festigrat (north-west ridge) by the Reverend John Llewelyn-Davies with guides Johann Zumtaugwald, Johann Krönig and Hieronymous Brantschen on 11 September 1858.</p><br>
<p>The first ascent of the western ridge (above the Festikinlücke) was made in 4.9.1878 by Mrs E. P. Jackson and Percy W. Thomas with the guides Aois Pollinger, Josef Truffer, Josef Marie Biner, Josef Imboden and Josef Lengen of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais. They traversed the west face to reach the Festigrat before arriving to the summit. The first complete ascent on the western ridge was made later in 1882 by Paul Güssfeldt and guides Alexander Burgener and B. Venetz. The direct route on the west face was first ascended in 1962.</p><br>
<p>The 1000-metre-high east face above Saas-Fee was climbed in 1875 by J. Petrus, A. and W. Puckle and L. Noti.</p><br>
<p>A route on the south face was first made in August 1906 by Geoffrey Winthrop Young and R. G. Major, with the guides Josef Knubel and Gabriel Lochmatter of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais. According to Young it was more dangerous than the south-west face of the nearby Täschhorn, which they had climbed two weeks earlier.</p><br>
<p>On 18 June 1917, Arnold Lunn, a pioneer ski mountaineer, and Josef Knubel of St. Niklaus in the canton Valais made the first ski ascent of the Dom, by the Hohberg Glacier (north flank).</p><br>
<h2>Climbing routes and huts</h2><br>
<p>Despite its considerable height above the surrounding valleys, the Dom can be climbed quite easily, as the normal route does not present major difficulties. It is however a demanding 3,100-metre ascent with objective danger in the upper part. Cable cars and other facilities are located only in the Saas-Fee area on the east side of the mountain, from which all the routes are difficult.</p><br>
<p>The easiest way to the summit starts from Randa, where there is a railway station (1,407 m) served by the Matterhorn Gotthard Bahn. From Randa a trail leads to the Dom Hut (2,940 m), which also crosses the Europaweg near the Europa Hut. Climbing the mountain requires an overnight stay. Most popular sleeping sites are the Dom hut and the camping place one hour higher from the hut. The hut needs to be booked in advance and is not free to use like the camping place. The normal route starts from the hut and goes on the Festigletscher glacier towards the Festijoch pass (3,720 m). Then it follows the Hohberggletscher glacier to the summit above the north face. The Festigrat, traversed on the first ascent, is the north-western ridge going directly from the Festijoch to the summit. It is preferred by climbers who wish to avoid the long slopes of the north flank.</p><br>
<p>The Mischabel Hut, on the east side below the Lenzspitze, is generally used for the ascent of lower summits in the district, such as the Nadelhorn, Lenzspitze, and other peaks on the Nadelgrat.</p><br>
<h2>Views from the normal route</h2><br>
<p>File:RoyLindmanDomRanda 001.jpgDom hut</p><br>
<p>File:RoyLindmanDomRanda 003.jpgThe Dom from above the hut with the Festigletscher glacier</p><br>
<p>File:Dom Glacier.jpgOn the Hohberggletscher glacier below the north face</p><br>
<p>File:RoyLindmanDomRanda 006.jpgView towards east on the top</p><br>
<p>File:Dom summit.jpgThe summit</p><br>
<p>Fiskardo  is a village and a community on the Ionian island of Kefalonia, Greece. It is part of the municipal unit of Erisos. It is the northernmost port of Kefalonia, a short distance from Ithaca. Fiskardo has a small and diminishing fishing fleet. The coast around Fiskardo is mainly rocky with numerous pebble-beached coves. The port serves ferry routes to the ports of Frikes  and Lefkada. It is 5 km north of Vasilikades, 24 km north of Sami and 32 km north of Argostoli. Cephalonia International Airport is 61 km to the south, by road . The community of Fiskardo consists of the villages Fiskardo, Evreti, Katsarata, Matsoukata and Tselentata.</p><br>
<p>Fiskardo is also the name of the two kilometre long bay in which the port is located. Fiskardo and the dense forest in the surrounding area have been declared areas of great natural beauty and are protected under Greek law. In recent years a small tourist industry has developed, centred on luxury villas in the area around the village.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Fiskardo has been identified with the ancient town Panormos, mentioned by the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus. In late 2005, when building a shopping complex close to the harbour in Fiscardo, workers discovered a plaque dating back to ancient Greece which gave thanks to the people of Panormos from the people of Athens for allowing them to hunt in the area. In late 2006 construction workers building a new hotel near the centre of Fiskardo stumbled upon a perfectly preserved Roman-era grave complex filled with gold jewellery, glass, clay pots and bronze artefacts. The complex measures 26 by 20 feet and is the shape of small house. Inside, five burial sites were found including a large vaulted grave and a stone coffin, as well as gold jewellery, pottery and bronze offerings. Archaeologists found gold earrings and rings, gold leaves that may have been attached to ceremonial clothing, as well as glass and clay pots, bronze artefacts decorated with masks, a bronze lock and copper coins. On a nearby plot, archaeologists also discovered a remarkably well-preserved theatre with their stone back rests still in place. Other excavations have uncovered remains of houses, a baths complex and a cemetery, all dating to Roman times - between 146 B.C. and 330 A.D. The Greek Culture Ministry said at the time that the find is unique. “Nothing else like it has ever been discovered on any Ionian island," said a ministry spokesman. “The site was missed by grave robbers and was untouched when opened. It is so perfectly preserved that the 2000-year-old ancient door still swings open smoothly on stone pivots.”</p><br>
<p>During the time of Frankish (Norman) dominion in Greece, the village was renamed Fiskardo after Robert Guiscard, Duke of Apulia and Calabria and founder of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies who died at the Atheras beach in 1085. In the 18th century, the port became the commercial harbor of Erisos. Unlike most of Cephalonia, Fiskardo escaped from destruction by the 1953 Ionian earthquake and it has kept its original architecture. In Fiscardo lived the poet and writer Nikos Kavvadias (1910-1975).</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>The Litani River , the classical Leontes , is an important water resource in southern Lebanon. The river rises in the fertile Beqaa Valley, west of Baalbek, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea north of Tyre. Exceeding 140 km in length, the Litani River is the longest river in Lebanon and provides an average annual flow estimated at 920 million cubic meters. The waters of the Litani both originate and flow entirely within the borders of Lebanon. It provides a major source for water supply, irrigation and hydroelectricity both within Southern Lebanon, and the country as a whole.</p><br>
<h2>Southern flow</h2><br>
<p>After heading south parallel to the Syrian border, the course of the river bends dramatically westward. Near this bend, the Litani comes within five km of the Hasbani River.</p><br>
<h2>Qasimiyeh</h2><br>
<p>The portion of the river flowing west is called the Qasimiyeh. The Qasmieh-Ras-el-Aïn region, irrigated from the river&#39;s lower reaches from main irrigation canals, to south and north, is one of the largest irrigated areas in the nation, consisting of 32.64 km², shared among 1257 irrigating farmers, who concentrate on citrus crops and bananas (Raad 2004). For the entire stretch of the Qasimiyeh as it flows into the Mediterranean Sea, the Litani River remains nearly parallel to (and about 29 km north of) the Israeli-Lebanese border. 10 km north of Tyre, the river is crossed by the ancient Leontes Bridge. In June 1941, the mouth of the river was the site of an attack by British commandos and Australian troops on Vichy French forces that became known as the Battle of the Litani River.</p><br>
<h2>Litani River Dam</h2><br>
<p>Qaraoun, an artificial lake of 11 square km, was created by the Litani River Dam, 60 meters high and 1,350 meters in length, which was completed in 1959. A spillway of 6503 meters carries the water to the underground station where generators produce a maximum of 185 megawatts of electricity, the largest hydroelectric project in Lebanon. The dam was intended eventually to provide irrigation for 310 km² of farmland in South Lebanon and 80 km² in the Beqaa Valley. The office is at the southern (dam) end of the lake on the left side. The lakeside has a hotel and a number of restaurants specializing in fresh trout.</p><br>
<h2>The Litani River Authority</h2><br>
<p>The Litani River Authority (LRA) was formed in 1954 to facilitate the integrated development of the Litani River Basin. Shortly after its formation, the LRA engaged in a massive hydroelectric development project that tapped the 850 meter head potential between Lake Qaraoun and the Mediterranean. This development has brought about major hydrological changes to the Litani River Basin, where the flows from its upper reaches above Lake Qaraoun, referred to as the Upper Litani Basin (ULB), are diverted through a system of tunnels, ponds and plants, to meet the Mediterranean several kilometers north of its original natural tailwater. These changes have resulted in the effective hydrological separation between the ULB and the Litani lower reaches.The advent of a protracted civil strife in the 1970s followed by a prolonged occupation in the 1980s that lasted into the 1990s, have plunged the country into disarray, freezing development and investment in infrastructure. The subsequent return to normal conditions has encouraged the LRA to initiate several major water diversion projects from the ULB worth hundreds of millions of US dollars.</p><br>
<p>Little Tobago  is a small island off the northeastern coast of Tobago, and part of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago.</p><br>
<p>The island supports dry forest. It is an important breeding site for seabirds such as red-billed tropicbird, Audubon&#39;s shearwater, brown booby, brown noddy, sooty and bridled terns. A few pairs of white-tailed tropicbirds are also nesting here.</p><br>
<p>Little Tobago is also a good site from which to see birds which breed on neighbouring small islands, including red-footed booby and magnificent frigatebird. The latter species is frequently seen harassing the tropicbirds, boobies and terns.</p><br>
<p>A few species of reptiles have been recorded on Little Tobago. Among them are lizards such as Green Iguanas, Giant ameivas (Ameiva atrigularis), Rainbow whiptails, Antilles leaf-toed geckos, Turnip-tailed geckos, Ocellated geckos (Gonatodes ocellatus), Moles geckos (Sphaerodactylus molei), Allens bachias (Bachia heteropa alleni), and snakes including Boddaerts tropical racers (Mastigodryas boddaerti) and Olivers parrot snakes (Leptophis coeruleodorsus).</p><br>
<p>Among the more conspicuous of the invertebrate fauna on the island are large terrestrial hermit crabs.</p><br>
<p>The sea between Tobago and Little Tobago is shallow, and glass-bottomed boats enable the attractive corals and brightly coloured tropical fish to be seen on the crossing. It is a popular area for snorkeling and diving, especially on Angel Reef in front of Goat Island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1909 Sir William Ingram introduced the greater bird of paradise (Paradisaea apoda) to the island in an attempt to save the species from overhunting for the plume trade in its native New Guinea. About 45 juvenile birds were introduced to the island. After Ingram&#39;s death in 1924 his heirs deeded the island to the Government of Trinidad and Tobago as a wildlife sanctuary. The birds survived on the island until at least 1958 when they were filmed by a National Geographic crew. There are no reliable records after 1963 when Hurricane Flora hit the island and the population is presumed to be extinct.</p><br>
<p>The Rajang River  is a river in Sarawak, Malaysia. The river is located in northwest of Borneo and it originates in the Iran Mountains. The river flows approximately 563 km into Kapit, and then to the South China Sea, making it the longest river in Malaysia.</p><br>
<p>Some of the important tributaries are the Balui River, Katibas River, Ngemah River, Iran River, Pila River, Balleh River, Bangkit River and the Kanowit River.</p><br>
<p>Malaysia&#39;s largest and tallest (160m) hydro electric project, Bakun Hydro Electric Dam Project, is located on narrow Bakun Fall of Balui River</p><br>
<h2>Environmental history</h2><br>
<p>During the Pleistocene epoch or Mesolithic period about 10,000 years ago, there was a 5 degrees Celsius drop in the global temperature. At mountaintops, rain became snow which accumulated as huge icy sheets (such as on Mount Kinabalu in Borneo), thus making a break in the global hydrological cycle. Due to lack of water discharge into the sea, there was a 120-meter drop of sea levels from the present time. The South China Sea dried up, exposing the Sunda Shelf and previous deep trenches became huge ancient rivers called the North Sunda River.</p><br>
<p>The Asian mainland, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Java were connected to Borneo via the landbridge of the exposed Sunda Shelf. The North Sunda River provided vital connection to the north, Baram and Rajang rivers in Sarawak to the east and Pahang River and Rompin River to the west of the massive land mass.</p><br>
<h3>Evidence</h3><br>
<p>Freshwater catfish from the Mekong River in Vietnam and Chao Phraya River in Thailand migrated and mated with those in the Baram and Rajang rivers in Sarawak, exchanging genetic material about 10,000 years ago, showing these river systems were connected. After the Holocene global temperatures increased, the landbridges and the Sunda River were inudated and the catfish populations were isolated. However, their genetic motives are still in the DNA as an evidence of the previous connections of Rajang River to other rivers in Indochina and Borneo.</p><br>
<h2>Mouth</h2><br>
<p>Bruit Island is situated inside the Rajang Delta, with a light house at the Sirik Point.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<h3>Mammals</h3><br>
<p>A total of 30 species of mammals are recorded along the Rajang basin in 2004. The mouth of the river is the only place where the dolphins can be sighted. Totally protected mammals include gibbon, langurs, black giant squirrel, slow loris, and tarsier. Civets, otters, bats, treeshrew, and primates are also included under Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998. Wild pigs and deers are the most frequently hunted animals by the locals while primates can be hunted incidentally.</p><br>
<h3>Birds</h3><br>
<p>122 species of birds were sighted along the Rajang basin in 2004. 21 species were recorded along the mouth of the river while 96 species were recorded in Hose Mountains and 88 species at Lanjak Entimau which are located in the interior of Sarawak. The only endemic species of birds located at Rajang basin is Dusky munia which is found abundantly in paddy fields. Other species of birds which are commonly found along the Rajang basin are: Pacific swallow, Little spiderhunter, and Asian glossy starling. 20 species of birds (mainly eagles, egret, kingfishers, woodpeckers) are protected while 7 species of birds (mainly Hornbill and Pheasant) are totally protected under the Sarawak Wildlife Protection Ordinance 1998.</p><br>
<h3>Fish</h3><br>
<p>A total of 164 fish species has been recorded at the Rajang basin in 2005. Empurau (Tor tambroides) and Semah (Tor douronensis) fish are considered popular fishes among the locals. Empurau fish is still found breeding near the upper tributaries of Rajang such as Balleh River and near the Bakun Dam.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<p>The biggest town by the river is Sibu, some 60 kilometers upriver from the mouth of the Rajang. The next major settlement upriver is Kanowit built on the mouth of Kanowit River at the bank of Rajang River, approximately 174 kilometers from the coast of South China Sea and about an hour boat ride from Sibu, followed by Kapit as the last major town on the river. Other towns which located at its banks are Sarikei, Bintangor, Song and Belaga.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>The town of Sibu can be assessed by oceangoing vessels for 80 miles (130 km) while an additional 100 miles (160 km) of the river can be assessed by shallow-draft craft. The remaining parts of the river which leads into the Sarawak interior can only be assessed by small canoes. Speedboats and longboats are the major form of transport between Kapit and Belaga. Transportation above Belaga to Balui River requires longboats. Rajang River also serves to transport logs down the river.</p><br>
<h2>Trade</h2><br>
<p>Rajang Port Authority (RPA) is the main regulatory body to coordinate the trade activities of all the 5 river ports along the Rajang river. RPA serves to provide maintenance, adequate and efficient port services for all users of the ports. It is located at the Sibu port operation centre (2&deg;17&prime;23.8&Prime;N latitude, 111&deg;49&prime;23.6&Prime;E longitude).</p><br>
<p>The 5 river ports along the Rajang river (arranged by their distances from the river mouth) are:</p><br>
<p>Tanjung Manis (30 km, maximum Gross register tonnage (GRT): 32,000 tonnes, mainly for handling logs and timber products)</p><br>
<p>Sarikei (49 km, maximum GRT: 3,000 tonnes, mainly for handling agricultural products and consumer goods around Sarikei area)</p><br>
<p>Bintangor (66 km, maximum GRT: 2,500 tonnes)</p><br>
<p>Sibu (113 km, maximum GRT: 10,000 tonnes, mainly for handling timber and agricultural products)</p><br>
<p>Sungai Merah (Near Sibu, 116 km, maximum GRT: 2,500 tonnes, mainly for handling fuel oil products)</p><br>
<p>Sibu and Sungai Merah can be assessed via a shorter route through Paloh river where the distances from the mouth of the river can be shortened to 82 km and 92 km respectively.</p><br>
<p>In the year 2012, RPA recorded a total revenue of RM 30.1 million although its total cargo throughput went down from 5.0 million to 3.2 million tonnes from the previous year.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>Pandaw River Cruise was started on 1 July 2009 in order to boost tourism activities along the Rajang River. It was a nine-day cruising starting from Express Wharf Terminal of Sibu to Pelagus Rapids Resort in the rural interior of Sarawak. The tourists can go hiking and visiting long houses and towns during the ride. However, this programme has been terminated in March 2012 because of logistical and operational difficulties. During 2017 Visit Sibu Year, longhouse visits along the Rajang River was promoted as an ecotourism product. Crocodiles which are living by the river banks became the mascot for the event.</p><br>
<h2>Logjam disaster</h2><br>
<p>On 6 October 2010, heavy rain in Putai and Nungun in upper Baleh is reported to have caused a massive landslide that brought logs and debris down into the Baleh river, tributaries above Kapit, and then into the Rajang river. It was estimated that the volume of the logs and debris had exceeded 300, 000 m. This logjam had also affected the Igan river. The log debris, stretching 50 km long, had reached Sibu on 8 October. The logjam had caused transportation difficulties for the people living alongside the river and dead fish were also seen on the river.</p><br>
<p>Sarawak environment and public health minister, Datuk Seri Wong Soon Koh claimed that the logjam disaster had never happened before in such a large scale. However, land development minister, Datuk Seri James Masing claimed that similar incidents did happen before and he blamed the disaster on indiscriminate logging by irresponsible logging companies. Meanwhile, Sarawak state forest director, Len Talif blamed the logjam solely on the increased concentration of rain during that period. The state&#39;s chief minister, Abdul Taib Mahmud had advised the people of Sarawak not to accuse anyone for the causes of this logjam and he assured that the state government will probe into this matter.</p><br>
<p>As on 2 November 2012, Global Witness in a report entitled "In the Future There Will Be No Forests Left", revealed that the logging operation of Interglobal Empire, a subsidiary of WTK group of companies, in the logging concession T/3476 was responsible for the landslide into Melatai River which subsequently blocked the Rajang River. Taib Mahmud daughters, namely Jamilah and Hanifah Taib are substantial shareholders of WTK and Taib&#39;s brother Tufail is the director of one of the major WTK subsidiaries.</p><br>
<h2>Water quality</h2><br>
<p>Logging operations are rampant on the upstream of Rajang river. A major study conducted along the Rajang river from May to December 2004 found out that the main channel of the Rajang river was turbid except for smaller tributaries. The water transparency was about 4 cm to 5 cm at that time. Based on Taxonomic richness index, the stretch of upstream river between Kanowit and Belaga river is recovering from logging 15 to 20 years ago with the exception of Penaan river because the local community uses toxic chemicals to capture fish. The stretch of river downstream from Lebaan to Selalang river is considered unclean.</p><br>
<p>The Rewa River is the widest river in Fiji. Located on the island of Viti Levu, the Rewa originates in Tomanivi, the highest peak in Fiji, and flows southeast for 145 km to Laucala Bay, near Suva. The Rewa River drains approximately one-third of Viti Levu.</p><br>
<p>The Rewa River is fed by two large tributaries, the Wainibuka and the Wainimala and it is joined by several other rivers of importance before it reaches the sea by a delta of many mouths. It is navigable by small crafts up 100 kilometers from its mouth and its basin is enriched by a deep deposit of alluvial soil. The delta of the river is where several Fijian villages are situated http://fijisun.com.fj/2015/01/14/the-rewa-delta-villages-need-help/. The Rewa River is crossed by the Rewa Bridge at Nausori.</p><br>
<p>Puná Island is an island off the coast of southern Ecuador at approximately 80 degrees west longitude and 3 degrees south latitude. It is located at the head of the Gulf of Guayaquil, south of the mouth of the Guayas River and the city of Guayaquil, Ecuador&#39;s largest city and chief port. It is bordered by Jambelí Channel on the east and Morro Channel on the west, both of which connect the open Gulf of Guayaquil to the narrow mouth of the Guayas River. The total area of Puná Island is 330 square miles. The island is a parish of Guayaquil Canton in Guayas Province.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Battle of Puná, fought on the island in April 1531, was an engagement of Francisco Pizarro&#39;s during the Spanish conquest of Peru. It was fought by the Spanish conquistadores allied with the natives of Tumbez, against their rivals, the people of Puna.</p><br>
<p>The missionary first bishop of Cuzco, Vincent de Valverde, was put to death and eaten there by the islanders on 31 October 1541.</p><br>
<p>Puná Island is where rugby union in Ecuador was first played, in the 1930s, by English merchants.</p><br>
<p>Lochinvar  is a loch in the civil parish of Dalry in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. It is located in the Galloway Hills, around 3.5 mi north-east of St. John&#39;s Town of Dalry. The loch formerly had an island on which stood Lochinvar Castle, seat of the Gordon family. In the 20th century the loch was dammed to form a reservoir, raising the water level and submerging the island with the ruins of the castle. The loch is used for trout fishing.</p><br>
<p>The name Lochinvar is from Scots Gaelic Loch a&#39; bharra (older Gaelic Loch an bharra, the genitive of barr=summit) meaning "Loch on the hilltop". Consequently it is stressed on the last syllable (unlike Lochinver).</p><br>
<h2>Gordons of Lochinvar</h2><br>
<p>The Gordon family arrived at Lochinvar from Berwickshire in 1297. They established a castle, but the date of the ruins on the former island is not known.</p><br>
<p>Sir Robert Gordon of Lochinvar (c.1565–1628) was one of the first to embark in the scheme for the establishment of colonies in North America, having on 8 November 1621 obtained a charter of what was called the barony of Galloway in Nova Scotia. In 1625 he published a tract on the subject entitled Encouragements for such as shall have intention to bee Vndertakers in the new plantation...By mee Lochinvar...Edinburgh, 1625. Lochinvar was created a baronet in 1626. On 12 July 1626 he was appointed a member of the council of war for Scotland and a Commissioner for the Middle Shires, residing at Greenlaw, Crossmichael Parish, Kirkcudbrightshire. His second son, Robert Gordon of Gelston, joined with his father in the plantation of America in the grant of the barony of Galloway in Nova Scotia in 1621. His eldest son, Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar, 2nd baronet, was a supporter of Charles I and a notable Protestant. He was created Viscount of Kenmure by Charles at his Scottish coronation in 1633.</p><br>
<p>"Young Lochinvar" is a key character in Walter Scott&#39;s epic poem Marmion (1808). Although the tale is associated with the historical Sir William Gordon of Lochinvar, 15th-century laird of Lochinvar, there is no evidence for the events described in the poem.</p><br>
<p>New Echota was the capital of the Cherokee Nation from 1825 to their forced removal in the 1830s. New Echota is 3.68 miles north of present-day Calhoun, Georgia, and south of Resaca, Georgia. The site is a state park and a historic site, and is designated as a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>The site is at the confluence of the Coosawattee River and Conasauga River, which join to form the Oostanaula River, a tributary of the Coosa River. It is near Town Creek. Archeological evidence has shown that the site of New Echota had been occupied by ancient indigenous cultures prior to the Cherokee Native Americans, to whom it was a town of theirs named Gansagiyi or Gansagi; they renamed it New Echota in 1825 after making it the capital.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Prior to relocating to Gansagi and building the community of New Echota, the Cherokee had used the nearby town of Ustanali on the Coosawattee River as the seat of their tribe, beginning in 1788. Ustanali had been established in 1777 by refugees from the Cherokee Lower Towns in northwestern South Carolina. In that year, Old Tassel and several other Cherokee leaders were murdered while on an embassy to the State of Franklin. In response, warriors across the frontier increased attacks on European-American settlers, in addition to the Chickamauga Cherokee followers of Dragging Canoe, who were already in the midst of the Cherokee–American wars. Following the murders, Little Turkey was elected chief of the Cherokee. The seat of the Cherokee council was then moved from Chota to Ustanali.</p><br>
<p>New Echota was named after Chota, the former capital of the Overhill Cherokee, which with the region of the Overhill Towns.</p><br>
<p>A common English name for New Echota was "Newtown" or "New Town." These names are still used for the area around the State Park. Later Anglo-American settlers called the area "The Fork" and "Fork Ferry."</p><br>
<p>By 1823 the government of the Cherokee Nation was meeting in New Echota. On November 12, 1825, New Echota was officially designated the capital of the Cherokee Nation. The tribal council also began a building program that included construction of a two-story Council House, a Supreme Court, and later the office (printer shop) of the first Indian language and Cherokee newspaper, the Cherokee Phoenix. Here Elias Boudinot wrote, and Samuel Worcester, a missionary and printer laid out, the first Native American newspaper. Boudinot wrote it in English and Cherokee, using for the latter the new syllabary recently created by Sequoyah, with type cast by Worcester. Private homes, stores, a ferry and mission station were built in the outlying area of New Echota.</p><br>
<p>The town was quiet most of the year, but Cherokee Council meetings provided the opportunity for great social gatherings. During these meetings, several hundred Cherokees filled the town, arriving by foot, on horseback, or in stylish carriages.</p><br>
<p>In 1832, after Congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act, Georgia included Cherokee territory in its Sixth Land Lottery, allocating Cherokee land to white settlers. The Cherokee Nation had never ceded the land to the state. Over the next six years, the Georgia Guard operated against the Cherokee, evicting them from their properties. By 1834, New Echota was becoming a ghost town. Council meetings were moved to Red Clay, Cherokee Nation (now Tennessee). The United States urged the Cherokee to remove to Indian Territory, in exchange for their lands in Georgia.</p><br>
<p>On December 29, 1835, a small group of Cherokee (100–500 Cherokee known as Ridgeites or the Treaty Party who represented only a very small minority of Cherokee) signed the Treaty of New Echota in the home of Elias Boudinot. Signers included Major Ridge, John Ridge, and Andrew Ross, a brother of John Ross, the principal chief. Struggling to preserve some rights for the Cherokee, they agreed to removal in exchange for lands west of the Mississippi River, with the Cherokee to have sovereignty in that western territory. Despite objections from John Ross, who represented the large majority of Cherokee to the US government, Congress ratified the treaty. The following year Ross had the treaty invalidated and settled a new one, but Georgia proceeded before that. The US government encouraged the Cherokee to migrate west and eventually forced them out.</p><br>
<p>In 1838 the USA Army, under the command of Winfield Scott, began the forced removal of Cherokee from the state of Georgia. A Cherokee removal fort was located at New Echota, called Fort Wool. This held Cherokee from Gordon County and Pickens County until their removal. As the first group of Cherokee began their exodus to Rattlesnake Springs, Cherokee Nation (4 miles south of Charleston, Tennessee), the Cherokee from counties south and east of the area also were housed here.</p><br>
<h2>New Echota Historic Site</h2><br>
<p>After the Cherokee were removed, their capital remained abandoned for more than 100 years. Much of New Echota disappeared, though some of the houses continued to be used. Most notable was the house of Samuel Worcester, called "the Messenger," a missionary to the Cherokee. When its landowners deeded land to the state for preservation, the Worcester House, the largest remaining structure, had been vacant for two years. The wear of the elements in that brief time was apparent.</p><br>
<p>In March 1954, the archeologist Lewis Larsen from the Georgia Historical Commission and five men were sent to oversee the work of excavating New Echota. The team uncovered evidence not only of the Cherokee settlement in New Echota, but also of earlier American Indian cultures. They asked the National Park Service archeologist Joe Caldwell and two more workers to join them for the next two months as they continued excavation. The group recovered a Spanish coin dated 1802, crockery, household wares, bootery remains, a small quantity of lead, and 1700 other artifacts. They identified 600 items as having belonged to the Cherokee. In addition to the standard finds and remains of many buildings, Larsen and Caldwell astonished the world by discovering much of the type once used to print the Cherokee Phoenix.</p><br>
<p>On March 13, 1957, following the news of these archeological finds, the State of Georgia authorized reconstruction of the town of New Echota as a state park. They reconstructed such buildings as the Council House, the Supreme Court, the printer shop, a building of the Cherokee Phoenix, a common Cherokee cabin representing a home of an average family, and a middle-class Cherokee home, including outbuildings. Vann&#39;s Tavern, owned by Chief James Vann, is a restored building, with modern nails and replacement wooden parts. It was relocated from Forsyth County, Georgia (Chief Vann owned 14 taverns across the state of Georgia), as the original New Echota Vann Tavern was destroyed. The park contains the site of the former Elias Boudinot house, which serves as a memorial to Boudinot. The Worcester House was restored to its 19th-century condition. Together the buildings of the complex form an open-air museum.</p><br>
<p>Other sites are not open to the public, as they are now on private property. Across from the New Echota park are two farmhouse sites formerly owned by white men who had married Cherokee women. These sites are now part of the Gordon County golf course.</p><br>
<p>The New Echota Historical Park was opened to the public in 1962. Inside the office of the Cherokee Phoenix were displayed 600 pieces of type which had been used for the first American Indian newspaper. Later some type was moved to the museum and research facility which was built by the park. The Newtown Trail is a 1.2 mile interpreted trail that takes tourists to Town Creek (inside the center of New Echota), where the majority of the Cherokee had camped when the Council was in session. In 1973, the Department of Natural Resources, also known as Georgia State Parks and Historic Sites, took over New Echota Park and continues to operate and maintain this historic site.</p><br>
<p>The site is designated as a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>Litochoro  is a town and a former municipality in the southern part of the Pieria regional unit, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it has been part of the Dio-Olympos municipality, of which it is the seat and a municipal unit. It is located at the base of Mount Olympus, on the western shore of the Thermaic Gulf. The first recorded mention of Litochoro is in an account of a visit by Saint Dionysius  to Mount Olympus in the 16th century. The town is a popular destination for those wishing to climb Mount Olympus as almost all climbing routes begin to the southwest of the town.</p><br>
<h2>Geography and information</h2><br>
<p>Litochoro is located 22 km S of Katerini, 90 km SSW of Thessaloniki, 58 km N of Larissa and 420 km WNW of Athens, on the eastern slopes of Mount Olympus, of mythological fame as the home of the twelve gods of Olympus. Two important ancient sites are located in the neighbourhood of Litochoro. Dion with its large archaeological park and a museum is located about 8 km to the north. Leivithra with its acropolis and the Leivithra Park is about 9 km to the south. The municipal unit has an area of 169.632 km.</p><br>
<p>Pine, cedar and fir trees of the forests of Mount Olympus lie to the southwest and northwest. Much of the land around Litochoro, in particular to the South, remains uncultivated. Farmland is predominant to the North. Litochoro has several restaurants and cafeterias.</p><br>
<h2>Facilities</h2><br>
<p>Litochoro has schools, banks, a post office, a harbour, a sports centre, a town hall, a hospital, a museum, a concert hall, a gym, shopping facilities and squares. There are two main churches: Agios Nikolaos in the centre and Agios Dimitrios in the North. Litochoro has one of the most traditional cemeteries of Greece, known as Agios Athanasios, in the north of the town.</p><br>
<h2>Places of Interest</h2><br>
<p>The Alexandreion</p><br>
<p>Located beside the highway (GR-1/E75), the is an impressive building devoted to Alexander the Great. Visitors will get informed about his life and his military campaign.</p><br>
<p>The Nautical Museum</p><br>
<p>At Agios Nikolaou 15, on the first floor, resides the. Rather unknown, the village has a long to tell.</p><br>
<p>The old Monastery Agios Dionysios</p><br>
<p>At an altitude of 850 m, beside the Enipeas gorge, built a monastery. Founded 1542, its name was Agia Triada, what means Holy Trinity, later changed to the name of the Saint. Plundered and burned several times in its history, it received the final blow from German troops in April 1943.</p><br>
<p>The new Monastery Agios Dionysios</p><br>
<p>After the old monastery was destroyed, the monks moved to the Metochion three kilometers outside of the village and made the place their new monastery.</p><br>
<h2>Settlements</h2><br>
<h3>Pláka</h3><br>
<p>An extended coastal area known as Pláka or Pláka Litochorou (Πλάκα Λιτοχώρου) is located east of the town of Litochoro, spreading from the foot of Olympus to the Thermaic Gulf and extending from Leptokarya in the south to Gritsa in the north. The E75 highway passes through the area of Plaka to the south of Litochoro. The coast mainly consists of sandy beaches with seaside resorts as well as hotels, campsites, restaurants, and beach bars (which mostly operate during the summer season from June to September). In the area of Plaka there are private residences, luxurious villas, and cottages.</p><br>
<h3>Gritsa</h3><br>
<p>North-east of Litochoro (North from Pláka) the coastal area continues, known by the name Gritsa or Limenas Litochorou extending from Pláka in the south to the community of Variko in the north. Sandy beaches can be also found here but the tourist facilities are much less than Pláka&#39;s. Yet here are some cottages and a luxury hotel (Dion resort). Gritsa is also the port of Litochoro, even though its capacity is restricted.</p><br>
<h2>Access and transport</h2><br>
<p>Since the 1960s Litochoro has been served by an interchange with GR-1/E75 to its east. In the mid-1990s, parts of the Greek national road from Athens to Thessaloniki were upgraded to motorway standard. Litochoro is on the Northern stretch of this 6 lane dual carriageway, 90 km from Thessaloniki. Its nearest beach is 5 km to the east.</p><br>
<p>There is a regular bus service to Katerini and a local train service (3 trains daily in each direction) to Thessaloniki and Larissa, where there is an interchange with the main line to Athens. Because Litochoro railway station is about 6 km away from Litochoro and 1 km from the nearest bus stop, people wishing to take the train often take the bus to Katerini and take the train from there. Taxis are to be found in abundance.</p><br>
<p>Litochoro acquired some fame during the 1999 NATO war in Yugoslavia when allied naval forces arrived on the beach of Gritsa; an action which provoked a reaction by the town&#39;s Communists and many people took part in it. The event was broadcast live on CNN International.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<p>The Kenney Gym and the Kenney Gym Annex are two buildings located at 1402-06 Springfield Avenue in Urbana, Illinois, on the campus on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Although the two buildings have been physically connected since 1914, they were built separately. They were jointly added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986 under the name Military Drill Hall and Men&#39;s Gymnasium.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The one-story building now known as the Kenney Gym Annex, the easternmost of the two structures, was built in 1889-90 as the Military Drill Hall and was designed by Nathan Clifford Ricker. The interior was converted for use as a gymnasium in 1914, at which time it became known as the Annex to the Mens Gym building next to it. The conversion preserved the buildings large column-free open space, which had been a necessity for military drilling. An eastern addition was made to the building in 1918.</p><br>
<p>The Kenney Gym, the two-story building to the west, was built in 1902 and was designed by Nelson Strong Spencer strongly influenced by Rickers design for the drill hall. It was originally called the Mens Gymnasium but was renamed the Men&#39;s Old Gym when Huff Hall opened in 1925. In 1974, it was named after Harold Eugene "Hek" Kenney, a former UIUC wrestler, coach, and administrator in the early 20th century.</p><br>
<p>Prior to the opening of Huff Hall in 1925, Kenney Gym housed the Illinois Fighting Illini mens basketball team. It was also home to the womens volleyball program from 1974 until 1989 and the men&#39;s wrestling team until those teams moved to Huff Hall.</p><br>
<p>From 1919 to 1925, Kenney Gym played host to the state finals of the Illinois High School Association boys&#39; basketball tournament.</p><br>
<h2>Current use</h2><br>
<p>Kenney Gym Annex is a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena which is the practice facility for the Fighting Illini mens and womens gymnastics teams.</p><br>
<p>The building is also used by University Laboratory High School in Urbana, located two blocks east of Kenney Gym on Springfield Avenue, as their gym for high school volleyball and basketball, along with their physical education program.</p><br>
<p>Oak Island is on the Atlantic Ocean coast in Brunswick County, North Carolina located just north of the South Carolina border. A barrier island, it contains the towns of Oak Island and Caswell Beach, Fort Caswell  and a United States Coast Guard station co-located with the Oak Island Lighthouse. Roughly 12 miles long, the island averages about one mile wide, Approximately 7000 people live on it year-round, a number which can balloon to over 40,000 during the summer.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Roughly halfway between Wilmington, North Carolina and Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, Oak Island is the easternmost of the South Brunswick Islands formed in the late 1930s by the construction of the Intracoastal Waterway(ICW) which was dredged from Southport, NC at the mouth of the Cape Fear River through coastal sounds and marshes to the Little River in South Carolina. Elevations range from sea level to a 50’ high knoll on the west end of the island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>While Native Americans most likely used the island for fishing, the first permanent settlement took place in the 1830s on the island&#39;s east end at Fort Caswell. Now utilized as a religious retreat and conference center, during the Civil War the fort defended Confederate positions on the North Carolina coast and subsequently served as an army training ground in World War I and a patrol/ communications base in World War II. In 2013, it was designated as a National Historic District. In 1889, the Oak Island Life Saving Station was built 1/2 mile west of the fort. Still standing today, it features a large lookout tower projecting from its roof. In 1938 it was sold to a private owner and moved directly across the road from its original location near where the current lighthouse stands.</p><br>
<p>By the 1930s the island had blossomed into a vacation resort, as beach cottages began to dot the area on its western half, something which Hurricane Hazel brought a temporary halt to in 1954 as it washed away some 350 buildings on or near the ocean front. The island quickly recovered and development continued anew with the towns of Long Beach and Yaupon Beach being incorporated in 1955; in 1999 they were jointly incorporated into the Town of Oak Island. In 1958 the Oak Island Lighthouse became operational while the Town of Caswell Beach was incorporated in 1975 coincident with the completion of the 18 hole Oak Island Golf Club.</p><br>
<p>Along with this increasing level of development came strident demands for reliable access to and from the island. When the ICW was completed a draw bridge initially provided this service. Destroyed by a barge strike in 1971, a new high rise bridge began to be constructed almost immediately and opened for traffic in 1975 (interim service included a ferry and pontoon bridge). A second high rise bridge to the island was completed in 2010.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>In October 2016, the eye of Hurricane Matthew passed almost directly over the island inflicting flooding and in some areas extensive damage to the dune system.</p><br>
<p>The North Carolina Baptist Assembly is a Christian retreat owned and operated by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, the state&#39;s largest denomination. The grounds of the retreat, on the eastern end of Oak Island, is the former site of Fort Caswell, a military base that was occupied by various branches of the USA armed forces for most of the period between 1836 and 1945. Most people still call the Baptist Assembly Fort Caswell.</p><br>
<h2>Fort Caswell</h2><br>
<p>The original fort, named after former governor Richard Caswell and completed in 1836 at a cost of $473,402, was fortified with both brick walls and large earthworks in a pentagonal design. Fortified with over 61 gun emplacements, it guarded the mouth of the Cape Fear River, and was a key in the defense of Wilmington an important port 20 miles upriver and, at the time, the state&#39;s largest city. When the issue of secession was debated in 1861, it was seized twice by a group called the "Cape Fear Minutemen", who were subsequently ordered by Governor John Willis Ellis to return it to the keeper of the fort, the only man stationed there by the USA Army at the time.</p><br>
<p>When the state finally seceded, the new Confederate Army made it, along with nearby Fort Fisher, the key to arguably the most elaborate defensive system in the world at the time (Fort Fisher guarded the other inlet to the Cape Fear River). This system, along with swift blockade runners, kept Wilmingtons port open longer than any other. No fewer than six plans were devised to capture the fort, but its imposing defenses and the Frying Pan Shoals just offshore deterred them; the Union Army then diverted its attention to Fort Fisher. After a massive Union assault captured Fort Fisher on January 15, 1865, orders came to spike Fort Caswells guns, burn the barracks, and explode the magazines. On January 17, the magazines were ignited, exploding approximately 100,00 pounds of powder (reports at the time state that the blast could be heard as far as 100 miles away in Fayetteville). As a result of the explosion, one whole wall of the fort was destroyed. Amazingly, at no time during the Civil War was any soldier stationed at Caswell killed by enemy fire; however, several died of disease and one deserter was executed by firing squad. The loss of the Confederacys last port was a major factor in Robert E. Lees decision to surrender at Appomattox.</p><br>
<p>The USA Army built a full military reservation on the site in the 1890s, complete with coastal artillery batteries, but would be abandoned after World War I. Most of the buildings at the Assembly were built at this time, as well as the sea wall. From 1937-1941, it was unsuccessfully converted into a resort, with the gun emplacements used as swimming pools (two artesian wells, producing hot mineral water, were used to fill the pools). In 1941, the Navy purchased the fort for use as a small anti-submarine base during World War II.</p><br>
<h2>The North Carolina Baptist Assembly</h2><br>
<p>Because of the influx of visitors during summer youth weeks, young adults and college students are hired to live and work at the assembly; they are known as the summer staff. Many of the current full-time employees and administration started out as summer staff in years past.</p><br>
<p>The facilities, which include housing and program buildings such as Hatch Auditorium, are also used by non-Baptist church and educational groups. It can accommodate over 1,000 people at a time. It still occasionally houses military personnel who have been stationed at the Sunny Point Military Ocean Terminal, a military port north of nearby Southport, during conflicts such as Operation Desert Storm.</p><br>
<h2>Fort Caswell Historic District</h2><br>
<p>Fort Caswell Historic District is a national historic district. The district encompasses 43 contributing buildings, 2 contributing sites, and 23 contributing structures associated with the former Fort Caswell.</p><br>
<p>It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2013.</p><br>
<p>The Mission Inn, now known as The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa, is a historic landmark hotel in downtown Riverside, California. Although a composite of many architectural styles, it is generally considered the largest Mission Revival Style building in the United States. Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is a member of Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.</p><br>
<p>The owners are Duane and Kelly Roberts. Kelly serves as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the Mission Inn, overseeing its daily operations.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The property began as a quaint adobe boarding house called "The Glenwood Cottage", built by engineer/surveyor Christopher Columbus Miller and on November 22, 1876, the Miller’s took their first paying guest. In February 1880, Millers son Frank Augustus Miller purchased the hotel and land from his father. It blossomed into a full-service hotel in the early 1900s due to Californias economic citrus boom and warm weather, attracting wealthy travelers and investors from East Coast and Europe. In 1902, Miller&#39;s son Frank Augustus Miller changed the name to the "Glenwood Mission Inn" and started building, in a variety of styles, until he died in 1935.</p><br>
<p>Miller&#39;s vision for the eclectic structure was drawn from many historical design periods, revivals, influences, and styles. Some are Spanish Gothic architecture, Mission Revival Style architecture, Moorish Revival architecture, Spanish Colonial style architecture, Spanish Colonial Revival Style architecture, Renaissance Revival architecture, and Mediterranean Revival Style architecture. With one section over another, addition upon addition, the result is a complicated and intricately built structure. It contains narrow passageways, exterior arcades, a medieval-style clock, a five-story rotunda, numerous patios and windows, castle towers, minarets, a Cloister Wing (with catacombs), flying buttresses, Mediterranean domes and a pedestrian sky bridge among many other features.</p><br>
<p>During the 30-year construction period, Miller traveled the world, collecting treasures to bring back to the hotel for display.</p><br>
<p>The St. Francis Chapel houses four large, stained-glass windows and two original mosaics by Louis Comfort Tiffany in 1906. The windows were salvaged from the Madison Square Presbyterian Church and the chapel purpose built to house them. The Mexican-Baroque styled "Rayas Altar" is 25 feet tall by 16 feet across, carved from cedar and completely covered in gold leaf. For his "Garden of Bells," Miller collected over 800 bells, including one dating from the year 1247 described as the "oldest bell in Christendom."</p><br>
<p>In 1932, Frank Miller opened the St. Francis Atrio. The "Famous Fliers&#39; Wall", added by Miller’s son-in-law DeWitt Hutchings, was used to recognize notable aviators, including Amelia Earhart. On March 20, 1942, World War I ace Eddie Rickenbacker was honored at the Inn, becoming the fifty-seventh flier added to the monument. Today, 151 fliers or groups of fliers are honored by having their signatures etched onto 10 in copper wings attached to the wall.</p><br>
<p>Frank Miller died in 1935 and the Inn continued under the management of his daughter and son-in-law, Allis and DeWitt Hutchings, who died in 1956. The Inn then went through a series of ownership changes and some of its older rooms were converted to apartments and used as dorms for UC Riverside. In the early 1960s, St. John&#39;s College considered buying it as a location for its western campus but abandoned negotiations when John Gaw Meem donated land in Santa Fe.</p><br>
<p>The hotel was later acquired by the Carley Capital Group and was closed for renovations in 1985 at a cost of $55 million. Newly discovered structural problems cost more than expected and caused the company to fall behind on loan payments to a New York bank. This caused work on the nearly completed hotel to be halted, just weeks before its planned opening in December 1988 as the Omni Mission Inn. In December 1992, the Inn was sold to Duane Roberts, a Riverside businessman and lover of the Inn. Roberts completed the renovations and it was reopened to the public shortly thereafter.</p><br>
<p>Today, the AAA Four Diamond Historic Mission Inn Hotel & Spa continues to reflect the original splendor initiated by founder Frank Miller, under the ownership of Kelly and Duane Roberts. The hotel offers multiple upscale dining options, fitness center, Conde Nast award-winning Kelly’s Spa, outdoor pool, and museum.</p><br>
<p>The Roberts have garnered numerous awards and accolades in the 25 years they have owned The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa. They have also created popular seasonal celebrations such as the Festival of Lights, and the Pumpkin Stroll.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>With its widely varying styles, the Mission Inn was designed by multiple architects. Frank Miller selected Arthur B. Benton to design the original building. Miller chose Myron Hunt to design the Spanish Wing added to the rear of the main building. He later hired G. Stanley Wilson to design the St. Francis Chapel. Wilson also added a rotunda featuring circular staircases and a dome.</p><br>
<h2>Notable guests</h2><br>
<p>For 140 years, the Mission Inn has been the center of Riverside, host to USA Presidents, celebrities, a number of seasonal and holiday functions, as well as occasional political functions and other major social gatherings. Pat and Richard Nixon were married in what is now the Presidential Lounge, Nancy and Ronald Reagan honeymooned there, and eight other USA Presidents have visited the Inn: Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Gerald Ford, and George W. Bush.</p><br>
<p>Social leaders who have stopped at the Mission Inn include Susan B. Anthony, Henry Ford, Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Henry Huntington, Albert Einstein, Joseph Pulitzer, William Randolph Hearst, Hubert H. Bancroft, Harry Chandler, Booker T. Washington, Helen Keller and John Muir.</p><br>
<p>The list of entertainers who have toured the Inn is extensive. Lillian Russell, Sarah Bernhardt and Harry Houdini were early visitors to Frank Miller’s hotel. Other guests have included actors such as Ethel Barrymore, Charles Boyer, Eddie Cantor, Mary Pickford, Ginger Rogers, Bette Davis (who was married at the Inn in 1945), W. C. Fields, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Spencer Tracy, Fess Parker, James Brolin and Barbra Streisand, Raquel Welch and Drew Barrymore. Other celebrities such as Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Glen Campbell, Merle Haggard and Tears for Fears have stopped by.</p><br>
<p>The Inn continues to be a getaway for notable individuals to this day. Arnold Schwarzenegger has stayed there during his tenure as Governor of California and the Osbournes have also paid a visit in the past few years.</p><br>
<h2>Popular culture</h2><br>
<p>In 1909 Carrie Jacobs-Bond wrote the lyrics for her famous song "A Perfect Day" while staying in the Mission Inn. For many years the Mission Inn&#39;s carillon played "A Perfect Day" as the last tune each evening. In 2016, the Mission Inn announced the return of daily performances of "A Perfect Day" as part of its commitment to preserve the history of the hotel.</p><br>
<p>American author Anne Rice so enjoyed the Inn she incorporated it into her 2009 book Angel Time. The book is the first in Rices Songs of the Seraphim series, which tells the story of Toby ODare, an assassin with a tragic past, who uses the Mission Inn as his refuge.</p><br>
<p>The Inns unique architecture and ambiance have attracted many film makers. Film shoots at the Inn include 1938s Idiots Delight with Clark Gable, 1969s Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here with Robert Redford, 1975s The Wild Party with Raquel Welch and James Coco, Billy Wilders 1981 comedy Buddy Buddy with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, 1988s Vibes with Jeff Goldblum, 1977s Black Samurai with Jim Kelly, and 1998&#39;s The Man in the Iron Mask with Leonardo DiCaprio.</p><br>
<p>Eddie Money filmed the music video of "Think I&#39;m In Love" at the Inn.</p><br>
<p>The Sliders season 3 episodes 16 and 17 ("Exodus", parts I and II) were shot extensively in the Mission Inn, which played as a military base.</p><br>
<h2>Seasonal events</h2><br>
<h3>Festival of Lights</h3><br>
<p>What began in 1992 as a small holiday lighting ceremony has turned into what USA Today’s 10Best.com coined the "Best Public Lights Display" in the United States. The event was created by the Roberts as a gift back to the community. The entire hotel illuminates with over 4.5 million twinkling lights, 200 animated figurines and holiday characters, the world’s largest man-made mistletoe, fresh fallen snow, 19&#39; live noble fir Christmas Tree, and gingerbread village. The annual tradition event commences the day after Thanksgiving. The Inn features an opening-night ceremony and fireworks. The Festival of Lights culminates on January 6 every year in honor of the birthday of the Inn’s Owner, Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, Kelly Roberts.</p><br>
<h3>Ghost Walk Riverside</h3><br>
<p>Each year before Halloween the hotel participates with Ghost Walk Riverside, a fundraiser for the California Riverside Ballet. The Othersiders featured the hotel in a 2009 episode.</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>The hotel, which occupies an entire city block, has 4 restaurants, a day spa and 239 guest rooms (nine rooms designated as presidential suites). It is a National Historic Landmark, a California Historical Landmark, and Riverside City Landmark #1. The hotel&#39;s aesthetic charm makes it a frequent subject for local artists.</p><br>
<h3>Dining</h3><br>
<p>The hotel features four award-winning restaurants and two lounges.</p><br>
<p>Duane&#39;s Prime Steaks and Seafood Restaurant is a AAA Four Diamond award-winning, fine dining restaurant. Bella Trattoria, a small Italian bistro located on the adjacent Main Street pedestrian walking mall, serves Southern Italian Cuisine.</p><br>
<p>Las Campanas Mexican Cuisine & Cantina features authentic Mexican cuisine and signature margaritas in a landscaped garden. The Mission Inn Restaurant has dining inside the restaurant and on the Spanish Patio, with views of the hotels clock tower and ornate four-story courtyard. The Presidential Lounge features live music and signature cocktails. Ten USA Presidents have visited this space, previously reserved as a Presidential four-room apartment. 54° at Duane’s is a wine bar adjacent to the renowned Duanes Prime Steaks and Seafood, which features more than 7,000 international bottles, including varietals from the Roberts’s own Oregon winery.</p><br>
<p>The Mission Inn has a French chateau themed wine tasting room, featuring the Irvine & Roberts Family Vineyards collection wines, a retail shop and private dining room.</p><br>
<p>Casey&#39;s Cupcakes, a confection boutique, offers gourmet cupcakes in a Parisian café setting with a Hollywood twist.</p><br>
<h3>Kelly's Spa</h3><br>
<p>Ranked among the top ten Conde Nast Travelers Top 50 Hotel Spas in the USA, Kellys Spa features a variety of restorative treatments throughout its 12 private treatment rooms, nail salon, two therapeutic bath suites, eucalyptus steam room, heated pool, hot tub, and appointed private, poolside Tuscan Villas.</p><br>
<h2>Mission Inn Museum</h2><br>
<p>The Mission Inn Museum promotes the cultural heritage of the Mission Inn. Visitors are led on guided tours that highlight the inn&#39;s architecture, stained glass, furniture, art, textiles and other cultural resources. Permanent exhibits feature the history of the inn and its founders, and the museum offers changing exhibits and educational programs.</p><br>
<p>Treak Cliff Cavern is a show cave near Castleton in Derbyshire, England. It is part of the Castleton Site of Special Scientific Interest and one of only two sites where the ornamental mineral Blue John is still excavated .</p><br>
<p>The cave comprises two sections, the Old Series, discovered by lead miners in the 18th century, and the New Series, discovered during blasting in the 1920s. Only the Old Series contains Blue John, but the New Series is well decorated with flowstone, stalagmites and stalactites. Three human skeletons and flint implements from the Neolithic era were found in a small cave nearby in 1921.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Treak Cliff, the hill in which the cavern lies, is composed of Carboniferous Limestone; the steep eastern slope of the hill is thought to have been the edge of a reef on the margin of a tropical lagoon. This reef was then raised above sea level by an uplift in the Earth&#39;s crust and was subsequently eroded, forming a boulder bed on the slopes. This was subsequently overlain by deltaic river sediments, which formed the shale and Millstone Grit sandstones that still overlay the limestone to the north, and on top of those the Coal Measures formed, until the limestone was deep beneath the surface and subject to high temperature and pressure. Major earth movements at the end of the Carboniferous period reversed this subsidence, and the rock layers were raised to form an anticline, the top of which was eroded away. Surface streams, on meeting the limestone, percolated through cracks and weaknesses and started to dissolve the limestone to form caverns. The stream that formed the New Series once flowed into the lower end of Winnats Pass, whereas the stream that formed the Old Series lost its headwaters to the predecessor of the modern Odin Sitch as it cut down through soft shales. There is no modern stream in the Treak Cliff Cavern, but percolating water from the cave has been dye-tested and found to emerge at the Russet Well beside Peakshole Water near Peak Cavern in Castleton, taking between 13 and 20 hours to travel the distance.</p><br>
<p>Since their original formation, the caverns have been decorated by the formation of flowstone, stalagmites and stalactites. Two stalagmite samples from the Aladdin&#39;s Cave section of the Treak Cliff Cavern have been found, by means of radioactive dating, to date back 111,000 years, proving the cave itself is much older. The formations in Treak Cliff are variously stained orange or red by iron, white by lead and occasionally green or blue by copper. Some of the stalactites have been distorted by variations in the flow to form twisted structures known as helictites.</p><br>
<h3>Blue John</h3><br>
<p>Trace elements from buried sediments, percolating rain water, and trapped sea water meant various inorganic ions were present within the porous rock, among them chlorine, fluorine, sulphate, calcium, barium, lead, zinc and even uranium. Organic material from the decomposing bodies of marine animals in the sediments formed hydrocarbons, precursors of oil and gas. At high pressure a hot mineralised fluid formed and was forced into fractures and other voids in the rock. From this fluid, catalysed by the hydrocarbons, compounds such as galena (lead sulphide, PbS), sphalerite (zinc sulphide, ZnS), baryte (barium sulphate, BaSO4) and fluorspar (calcium fluoride, CaF2) were precipitated as solid crystals. At Treak Cliff the mineralised fluid was particularly rich in fluorine and 99% of the deposited mineral is fluorspar (technically, fluorite is the pure crystal and fluorspar the industrial name for the impure substance as mined). The exploitable deposits of fluorspar are known as "rakes", "scrins", "flats" or "pipes" depending on the size and shape of the voids in which the crystals were deposited.</p><br>
<p>At Treak Cliff and nearby Blue John Cavern, the fluorspar is uniquely banded, ranging from blue-black to white. The exact cause of the coloration is disputed, but it seems that the formation of Blue John requires a rare combination of porous limestone containing a little hydrocarbon, small traces of radioactive elements, an impervious layer to prevent the mineral fluids and hydrocarbons from escaping, a high concentration of fluorine ions, and variations in conditions during the crystallization process to form the banded colours. The rarity of this combination of conditions explains the scarcity of Blue John.</p><br>
<p>Because of the attractive banding, and the rarity of the mineral, Blue John has commercial value and ornaments made from it are much sought after by collectors. Historically, as well as from Treak Cliff and Blue John Cavern, veins of the mineral were also worked from Old Tor Mine and another mine in Winnats Pass, and also from mines near Windy Knoll and Odin Mine, towards Mam Tor. Limited opencast extraction of Blue John took place on the top of Treak Cliff during World War II, and an incident of unofficial and illegal extraction from Old Tor Mine in the 1970s led to that mine being closed by order of H.M. Inspector of Mines, leaving Treak Cliff and Blue John Cavern as the two remaining sources of new stocks of the mineral. Both caves have a policy of supplying raw Blue John only to shops within Castleton, so the few outlets selling it elsewhere rely on old stocks.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Old Series is thought to have been discovered in about 1745–50 by miners seeking lead ore, and is known to have been a source of Blue John by the 1750s, at which time it was known as Millers Mine. Extraction continued throughout the 19th century, including some opencast working on the hilltop above. There is no historical evidence of the caves being shown to the public during this period, though the nearby Blue John Caverns were opened to the public in around 1800 and extended around 1843.</p><br>
<p>Demand for fluorspar increased during World War I and much ornamental Blue John was extracted for use as flux in blast furnaces and in the chemical industry. In 1921 miners discovered the remains of three human skeletons dated to the Neolithic period in a nearby cave close to the surface. A little later, in 1926, miners blasting with explosives discovered an extension to the natural cavern, a section well decorated with stalactites: the New Series.</p><br>
<p>Commercial mining ended shortly after 1926 but in the 1930s miners returning to retrieve stored Blue John discovered a new, easier route into the New Series. This encouraged the development of the cave as a tourist attraction and the landowner entrusted John Royse, whose father and grandfather had been agents for Blue John, to adapt it for public display. It opened to the public at Easter 1935. Named sections within the show cave include the Witchs Cave, the Fossil Cave, Aladdins Cave, Fairyland, the Dream Cave and the Dome of St Pauls. Some of the formations have also been given names, according to their perceived resemblance to other objects, such as the Stork, which forms part of the caverns corporate logo, and the adjacent Ram&#39;s Head, both within the Dream Cave.</p><br>
<h3>Lost Vein</h3><br>
<p>In 1945 the management of the cavern was taken over by the Harrison family who still operate it. The outgoing tenant John Royse, who was close to retirement, reported he had discovered a significant and previously unknown source of Blue John in the cave. Royse intended to return with the 19-year-old Peter Harrison but died before he could describe the location. The lost vein, concealed by wooden battens, a piece of carpet and a layer of clay, was rediscovered in 2013 by John Turner, Peter Harrisons grandson. At current rates of extraction the find is expected to last for at least a decade. The discovery prompted a visit by the BBCs Countryfile programme later that year.</p><br>
<h3>Ridley Vein</h3><br>
<p>In 2015, another vein of Blue John was discovered close to the tourist route by a miner experimenting with a new method of exploration using a specialist chainsaw. The first new source for 150 years, it was named the Ridley Vein after its discoverer.</p><br>
<p>Tomb WV23, located at the end of the Western Valley of the Kings near modern-day Luxor, was the final resting place of Pharaoh Ay of the 18th Dynasty.</p><br>
<p>Discovered by Giovanni Battista Belzoni in the winter of 1816, its structure is similar to that of the tomb of Akhenaten, with a straight undecorated, descending corridor, leading to a "well chamber" that has no shaft. This leads to the burial chamber, which currently contains the reconstructed sarcophagus. It had originally been found smashed into numerous fragments. The tomb had also been desecrated in history with many depictions of Ay&#39;s image or name erased from the tomb wall paintings.</p><br>
<p>Its decoration is similar in content and colour to that of Tutankhamun (KV62), with a few differences. On the eastern wall there is a depiction of a fishing and fowling scene, which is not shown elsewhere in other Royal tombs, being normally shown in burials of nobility. The tomb is also well known for its scenes of a hippopotamus hunt.</p><br>
<p>The Manasquan River is a 26.5 mi waterway in central New Jersey. It flows from central Monmouth County, beginning in Freehold Township, to the Atlantic Ocean, where it empties between the communities of Manasquan and Point Pleasant via the Manasquan Inlet. It widens greatly as it nears the ocean, making it ideal for boating, and is a very popular recreational area of the Jersey Shore. The Manasquan River and Inlet is the unofficial northernmost terminus of the Intracoastal Waterway.</p><br>
<p>The river is the center of a large watershed area that incorporates numerous streams as well as a large man-made pumped (i.e. no direct flow from the river) reservoir in Howell Township; aptly named the Manasquan Reservoir. It also marks the traditional boundary between North Jersey and South Jersey; it separates Monmouth and Ocean counties and marks the border between rich, fertile soil to the north and the sandier soil of the "Pine Barrens" to the south.</p><br>
<p>Situated in the middle of the river east of the New Jersey Route 70 highway bridge and adjacent to the former Point Pleasant Hospital site and Point Pleasant Canal entrance is a sizable island only accessible by boat that is a popular spot for picnics and recreation. The island includes a sandy beach area and even used to have an improvised swingset for youngsters which has been removed by the boro of Brielle, but is mainly covered with trees. The water surrounding the island is deep enough to accommodate boat traffic, and boaters normally beach their boats on the sand while they enjoy a day of relaxation on the island. Today its officially named Nienstedt Island, honoring the family who donated it to the borough. In the 19th century it was known as "Osborn Island". In May 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson spent about a month in Brielle along the Manasquan River. One day Stevenson visited Osborn Island and was so impressed he whimsically re-named it "Treasure Island" after his famous novel Treasure Island (1883) and carved his initials into a bulkhead. This took place five years after he had completed the novel. To this day, many still refer to the island as such.</p><br>
<p>The navigable Manasquan River and its tributaries are crossed by three drawbridges, the Brielle Road Glimmer Glass Bridge, the Route 35 Manasquan River bridge, and the NJ Transit railroad bridge, and one fixed bridge – the Route 70 September 11 Memorial Bridge.</p><br>
<p>The Forestier Peninsula is a peninsula located in south-east Tasmania, Australia, approximately 60 km by the Arthur Highway, south-east of Hobart. The peninsula is connected to mainland Tasmania at East Bay Neck, near the town of at its northern end. At Eaglehawk Neck, the southern end of the Forestier Peninsula is connected to the Tasman Peninsula.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>The peninsula measures about 20 km long by 15 km wide, and is a part of the Tasman municipality. The east coast of the peninsula, facing the Tasman Sea is contained within the Tasman National Park.</p><br>
<p>Located on Forestier Peninsula facing Norfolk Bay, Flinders Bay, 8 km north west of Eaglehawk Neck, was once the site of a convict Probation Station which was established in 1841. The 200 convicts were involved in timber getting and land clearing. The station, beside the mouth of Flinders Creek, was short lived and closed within several years of establishment. The convicts were transferred to the penal settlement of.</p><br>
<p>The peninsula was severely impacted by the 2013 Tasmanian bushfires with significant property damage, particularly in and around the hamlet of Murdunna.</p><br>
<p>Nea Moudania  is the seat of the municipality of Nea Propontida, Chalkidiki, Greece and its main town. The town is located 60 km south of Thessaloniki and is considered to be the financial and commercial center of the regional unit of Chalkidiki. It was built after 1922 by Greek refugees from Anatolia who wanted to give the settlement the name of their hometown , hence the addition of the word nea, which means new in Greek. Nea Moudania hosts the Department of Fisheries & Aquaculture Technology of the Alexander Technological Educational Institute of Thessaloniki. The town also features a harbor which serves as Thessaloniki&#39;s adjuvant.</p><br>
<h2>Sports</h2><br>
<p>POM (Panathletic Association of Moudania) is the only sports club in Nea Moudania, whose football team play in the Delta Ethniki, while the volleyball team play in the A2 Ethniki Volleyball.</p><br>
<h2>Historical Population</h2><br>
<p>Tel Afek, , also spelled Aphek and Afeq, is an archaeological site located in the coastal hinterland of the Ein Afek Nature Reserve, east of Kiryat Bialik, Israel. It is also known as Tel Kurdani.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The site is what remains of the biblical town of Aphik, which is mentioned in the and as belonging to the Tribe of Asher. According to Biblical history, this area was part of Cabul and was given to Hiram I by Solomon as a reward for various services rendered to him in building the First Temple.</p><br>
<p>Remains from the Chalcolithic age, and tombs from the Middle Bronze Age and Late Bronze Ages have been excavated here.</p><br>
<p>Pottery from the Persian, Hellenistic Roman, and the Byzantine eras have been found here.</p><br>
<h3>Crusader/Mamluk era</h3><br>
<p>Pottery from the Crusader times have been found here.</p><br>
<p>In the Crusader era, it was known as Recordane, and in 1154, the mill and village was acquired the Hospitalliers. The Hospitalliers owned the water mills here for a number of years. Between 1235 and 1262 the Hospitalliers had a dispute with the Templars about water rights.</p><br>
<p>Two aqueducts, dating from this era, have been excavated.</p><br>
<p>In 1283 it was still part of the Crusader states, as it was mentioned as part of their domain in the hudna between the Crusaders based in Acre and the Mamluk sultan Qalawun.</p><br>
<p>According to al-Maqrizi, it had come under Mamluk rule in 1291, when it was mentioned under the name of Kerdanah when sultan al-Ashraf Khalil allocated the village&#39;s income to a waqf in Cairo.</p><br>
<p>A two-story fortress still stands. A water-powered flour mill operated on the lower floor.</p><br>
<h3>Ottoman era</h3><br>
<p>Incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1517, it appeared under the name Kufrdani in the census of 1596, located in the Nahiya of Acca of the Liwa of Safad. The village was noted as "hali" (empty), but taxes were paid, a total of 1,800 Akçe. All of the revenues went to a waqf. The stair to the tower roof of the mill, and two more wheel-chambers in the southern part of the mill was added in the Ottoman period.</p><br>
<p>In 1881, the Palestine Exploration Fund&#39;s Survey of Western Palestine (SWP) found at Kh. Khurdaneh (east of the mill) only heaps of stones. The name, Kh. Kurdâneh was taken to mean the ruin of Kurdâneh, p.n.</p><br>
<p>In 1900, Gottlieb Schumacher found here markings on the mill which he took to be Phoenician.</p><br>
<h3>British Mandate era</h3><br>
<p>In 1925 a Zionist organisation purchased 1,500 dunums in Kordaneh, from Alfred Sursuk, of the Sursuk family of Beirut. At the time, there were 20 families living there.</p><br>
<p>In the 1931 census of Palestine, Mathanat Kurdani was counted under Shefa-&#39;Amr.</p><br>
<h2>Ein Afek nature reserve</h2><br>
<p>The Ein Afek nature reserve, declared in 1979, covers 366 dunams. An additional 300 dunams were declared in 1994.</p><br>
<p>The highlights of the park include the Crusader fortress and the natural water canals and lake, which draw their waters from the year-long flowing springs of Afek, which are the source of the Naaman river.</p><br>
<p>The River Erne  in the northwest of Ireland, is the second-longest river in Ulster. It rises on the east shoulder of Slieve Glah mountain three miles south of Cavan in County Cavan and flows 80 miles  through Lough Gowna, Lough Oughter and Upper and Lower Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, to the sea at Ballyshannon, County Donegal. For 30 miles from Crossdoney in County Cavan to Enniskillen in County Fermanagh, it is difficult to distinguish the river as it winds its way through interconnected loughs or parts of loughs nestling among the drumlin hills of Cavan and south Fermanagh. The river is 120 kilometres long and is used for fly fishing for trout and salmon, with a number of fisheries along both the river itself and its tributaries. The town of Enniskillen is mostly situated on an island in the river, between Upper and Lower Lough Erne. It is linked to the River Shannon by the Shannon–Erne Waterway.</p><br>
<p>The total catchment area of the River Erne is 4,372 km.</p><br>
<p>The long-term average flow rate of the River Erne is 101.7 cubic metres per second (m/s)</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>The river takes its name from a mythical princess named Éirne.</p><br>
<h2>Angling</h2><br>
<p>The building of hydroelectric power stations at Cliff (near Belleek) and Ballyshannon (work began in 1945 and the first power station was commissioned in 1950) caused famous salmon beats to be flooded and the run of salmon into the Erne has now declined to such a tiny trickle as to be of little angling value, except for the few fish that are occasionally caught below Cliff when the power station is generating. Roach first appeared in the river in 1963 and there was a massive increase in the roach population in 1968. This increase could well have had an adverse effect on trout stocks, which went into decline at that time. Water pollution became a major problem in the 1970s and up to 1987. Since 1987 the pollution problem has been controlled, the roach population has declined dramatically and trout stocks have made a welcome return and provide good angling once more, both on the Erne itself and its tributaries.</p><br>
<h2>Pleasure boating</h2><br>
<p>The River Erne is one of the most popular venues in Europe for rental boat vacations. Live aboard pleasure cruisers are available in many locations along the Erne waterway, including Belturbet, Knockniny, Carrybridge, Bellanaleck, Enniskillen, and Killadeas. In addition to the use of the Erne for live aboard boating holidays, sections of the river are used for water skiing, bank fishing, trolling, jet skiing and scuba diving. Boaters are cautioned, by the Original Official Site of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, that Upper Lough Erne is a maze of small islands needing careful navigation, and waves on Lower Lough Erne can reach "open-sea dimensions". It is believed that in 2009 Donald Attig, at 73 years of age, established benchmark records in both endurance challenge and adventure challenge categories, as the first person to complete a single-handed transit of the entire Erne Navigation in an engineless live-aboard pleasure boat. After an official launch by Her Excellency Priscilla Jenna, the ambassador from South Africa, Attig started his engineless transit at the end of navigation marker at Belturbet, County Cavan. He completed the engineless transit at the end of navigation marker Belleek. Previously, in 2007, Mr. Attig and Jack Donovan established similar records by being the first crew to complete a transit of the River Shannon Navigation and beyond in an engineless live-aboard pleasure boat. In 2008 Donald Attig repeated the 2007 feat single-handed.</p><br>
<h2>Ancient ruins</h2><br>
<p>The Erne waterway is home to ancient ruins, both Christian and Pagan, with ruins found in several locations, including: Crom Estate, on the North bank of the Upper Erne channel, Gad Island, near Crom Estate, Devenish Island, Inismacsaint Island, Davy’s Island, White Island, and Boa Island. Many of these locations can only be reached by boat.</p><br>
<p>Boa Island has one of the most unusual pre-Christian statues in Ireland, and Inismacsaint has what is reputed to be the oldest large stone cross in Ireland. Devenish Island has a historical display centre adjacent to its ruins. Visitors sometimes use rental boats and the Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland Activity Map of Lough Erne to locate these ancient sites.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>The song "Buachaill Ón Éirne" is a famous Irish ballad about a young boy from the Erne area. It has been recorded by such groups as Clannad and The Corrs.</p><br>
<h2>Former railway lines</h2><br>
<p>A number of places were once accessible by train along the River Erne, with the once extensive Great Northern Railway and the Sligo, Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway both serving the area.</p><br>
<p>Fernandina Island  is the third largest, and youngest, island of the Galápagos Islands. Like the others, the island was formed by the Galápagos hotspot. The island is an active shield volcano that has been erupting since April 11, 2009.</p><br>
<p>While anchored in Banks Bay, Captain Benjamin Morrell recorded one of the largest eruptions in Galápagos&#39; history at Fernandina Volcano. His ship escaped to safety and his account of the event was preserved.</p><br>
<p>Fernandina has an area of 642 km² and a height of 1,476 m, with a summit caldera about 6.5 km wide. The caldera underwent a collapse in 1968, when parts of the caldera floor dropped 350 m. A small lake has intermittently occupied the northern caldera floor, most recently in 1988.</p><br>
<p>Due to its recent volcanic activity, the island does not present much plant life and has a mostly rocky surface. Visitors to Fernandina Island will be taken to see only the outskirts of the crater for safety reasons. Punta Espinoza is a narrow stretch of land where hundreds of marine iguanas gather in large groups on black lava rocks. The famous flightless cormorant inhabits this island as well as penguins, pelicans and sea lions. Two types of lava flow can be observed, ʻaʻā and pāhoehoe. Mangrove forests also abound on the island.</p><br>
<h2>April 2009 Eruption</h2><br>
<p>The southern flank of the volcano La Cumbre had a fissure eruption that generated flows, which subsided within hours. This is the youngest and westernmost island of the archipelago. It was named in honor of King Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored the voyage of Christopher Columbus. Isla Fernandina supports wildlife that could be threatened by the April 2009 burst of volcanic activity, according to rangers at Galápagos National Park. As the island has no human residents, no settlements were endangered. Park rangers and a passing tourist boat initially observed the volcano at 10:00 p.m. local time on April 10, 2009. A sparse human population in the western reaches of the Galápagos Islands means that volcanic activity is not always observed or reported as soon as it starts. The seismic station at Puerto Ayora, on the nearby island of Santa Cruz, recorded no earthquakes associated with this eruption.</p><br>
<p>The Citadel of Furg, or Arg e Furg, is a citadel from the 12th century, located in Furg Village in Darmian County, South Khorasan, Iran. The citadel was founded by Meerza Muhammad Rafiee Darmiany I .</p><br>
<p>Fork Castle or Mirza Rafi Khan Castle is located in South Khorasan Province, Iran. It has to a great extent has survived deliberate and natural destructive events, and sustained itself despite passage of time. The castle is located in Forg Village.</p><br>
<p>There are different opinions about appellation of Forg. One of them which is more common is the belief that Forg was commonly pronounced Fork among people. In Dehkhoda Dictionary as quoted from Encyclopedia, it has been explicitly mentioned that Fork is the name of the ancestor of a family in Iran, and is an Iranian name. The other version is that Fork was the name of the daughter of "Ryan Konouj", who was an Indian kings. Fork was the wife of Bahram Gour (as stated in Borhan) and/or perhaps it has been taken from Persian "Pour" meaning "son". Some others attribute Fork to the founder of this village, i.e. Mozafar Keyghobad, and based on an inscription on which the year of 307 is written, they infer that as the founder of this village was initially "Pour Keyghobad", it was firstly called "Pourg", and then was changed to Fork and then to Forg by lapse of time. five kilometers from the city of "Darmaian", South Khorasan Province.</p><br>
<h2>Situation and structure</h2><br>
<p>Fork Castle locates on the north side Fork Village at an altitude of 1840 meters on the edge of heights of Darmian Valley leading to Asadiyeh plain. In view of location, it has a good strategic situation, because it has a view of the entire village, farms and roads around its eastern region. The area of the Castle is about 9200 square meters which extends from east to west. The main entrance of the castle is located within the eastern walls, which is also the lowest point of the castle. In general, in the architecture of the castle from the east to the west, three major parts are recognizable. The first part on the east includes a barn, living place of crew, place of keeping cattle and dock warehouse. The second part of the castle, which is in the center of the castle, is located on a higher altitude than the first part and has been constructed at a distance of 50 meters from the place of food and military supplies and place of residing soldiers, and the third part which has the centrality state of the castle has been built in the highest part of the castle on two floors overlooking the entire village and the roads the area. In the eastern part of the castle including entrance, guard towers, water storage and other spaces, it is impossible to discern the purpose of their construction, owing to high rate of their destruction. Due to existence of the remnants of tower and rampart in the middle of the section with the first part, it is likely that this part was the second defensive phase of the castle, so that the defensive layers of the main part of the castle, i.e. Kohandej, is more completed. There is a brick tower with cruciform or lozenge design decorations in the northeast corner of this part which is known as penthouse tower among the people of the village. The third part of the castle located in the utmost west and the highest part of the castle is separated from the second part by two towers and fortified and long walls. The existence of these towers and ramparts shows the great importance of this part. This part is considered as the alcove of castle has more untouched spaces than the previous two parts. The existence of spaces like the vestibule, connecting corridors, stables, food storage, watchtowers and spaces with other applications are the most important specifications of this part; Alcove or citadel consists of two floors of which the upper floor, except the limited area, have been destroyed. The other architectural element is a burrow that has an exit door, and which has been designed for water supply during castle siege or for emergency and clandestine exit.</p><br>
<p>This underground tunnel has many stairs, of which some one hundred ones are now usable. These were being used during the battle between Mirza Rafi Khan with Mir Alam Khan and his son Amir Asadollah Khan, which battle is referred to in Einolvaghaye"… Esmaeil Khan, Atakhan, and their families obeyed and followed; and Afghans with Mirza Rafi Khan, Haji Fathkhan Afghan and Behboud son of Nazarkhan Ghalehgahi erected a burrow on one side of the Castle and escaped at night". In this part the author may have made a mistake. They most likely used the same burrow that had previously been made. Otherwise; digging a burrow in a limited period of time during the war to escape was not possible. One of the key features of the castle is its physical and spatial structure, which follows the topography of its location, and the situation of which distinguishes it from other castles, particularly, mountain fortresses. In spite of the fact that the towers and the ramparts of the castle have provided the required strength to it, its location is not without defect in such manner that the mountains of the west castle are adjacent thereof. Using this weak point by the attackers has also been pointed out in Einolvaghaye. Of course, in respect of the problem mentioned above, it ought to be noted that the location of the castle should be studied within its own time. Perhaps in the era of Naseri (Naser al-Din Shah) in which cannons were vastly used in local wars in the region, this vulnerability of the castle has been revealed, while; in the early periods that these weapons were not common, perhaps it provided the best location. There is not yet an exact and documented comment on the early history of the castle construction. Based on the existing documents and the Book of Divan-e-Lame and local comments, the construction of the building was started on the early 1160AH, during the reign of Nader Shah Afshar, by Mirza Bagha Khan, son of the First Mirza Rafi Khan, and then completed by his son, the Second Mirza Rafi Khan. Being unknown the right time of the construction of the castle has also been mentioned in Divan-e-Lame and said: "But, was it really started the building of the castle by Mirza Bagha Khan and completed by his son, Mirza Rafi Khan (Lame&#39;s grandson) or is it one of the old buildings and these two persons and the former ones, everyone has had a hand in it and made effort to repair and complete it, is something that has not been achieved yet; not based on the written documents and not through oral promise of the elders. Likely, Lame and his father had possessed the castle and it was their lace of residence and administration center and shelter at the time of their affliction and difficulty against attack of the then enemies and princes</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In the Book of Haghayeghol Akhbr Naseri, on the events of the lunar year of 1268, it is said about Mirza Rafi Khan as follows: "In the same year, Mirza Rafi Khan, who was staying in Ghaenat places, started to oppose, General Pashakhan with two legions from city of Semnan and et al and a collective of cavalry and forty cannons were assigned to punish him. Mirza Rafi Khan went to Harat. Zahiroddoleh interceded for him, his crime was pardoned." In Qajar era, a hard conflict occurred between the chief town of Ghaenat and the chief town of "Forg" and "Darmian" which finally resulted in killing Mirza Rafi Khan and occupying the castle. Among the influential lieutenant governors within this time period, we can point out to Mirza Mohammad Baghakhan, son of the first Mirza Rafi Khan, the second Mirza Rafi Khan, the third Mirza Rafi Khan, Mohammad Ebrahim Khan, Abdolali Khan and Aligholi Khan. After the third Mirza Rafikhan having been killed, those of the same dynasty took the responsibility of lieutenant governor in Darmian and Forg. Among the considerable points about Darmians lieutenant governors, is the struggles occurred between this lieutenant governor with Khozeimeh family who were ruling Birjand. These conflicts have also been mentioned in Divan-e-Lame, including partiality of Lames family from Nader Shah and Khozeimeh from Safavids which caused dispute, conflict and competition. These competitions sometimes associated with marriage between the family of Rafiei and Khozeimeh, in this way not only it was trying to make inconspicuous the local conflicts and differences, but also to strengthen relationship and unity between them with other lieutenant governors and elders of the area. In the same way, six daughters of the second Mriza Rafi Khan married with the great persons and lieutenant governors of Birjand, Nehbandan, Fanoud and Noghab. The non-written documents and instruments in respect of the events related to the date of construction or historical and natural disasters that have taken place in this complex are limited and it needs more digging and studies. The only inscription carved on the mortar surface of the water storage of the castle indicates the lunar date of 1217 and suggests that the building was repaired by an artisan named "Abosaeid Jaiki" in the early Qajar era. The studies made on the local history of the region is also greatly in consistency with the dates and the sovereignty of Mirza Bakhakhan and after him, his children and his offspring especially the second Mirza Rafi Khan and the third Mirza Rafi Khan certifies the foregoing matters. However, there is little documented information on the matter that whether the castle had been existed before sovereignty of Rafiei family as the local governors or not. Description of this castle and its situation have been recorded in come historic books and itineraries, for example, Riazi Heravi writes in Einolvaghayeh Book as follows: "Forg Castle is 12 miles away from Birjand and locates around plain and entrance of "Darmian" valley and has a lot of gardens and trees and enjoys a good climate, the castle is on the top of a mountain of which walls and towers have been firmly constructed by mud bricks and its foundation was made by Ajin stone and has two Haji Shir around itself and two embankments each of which diameter is five cubits. The European tourists such as "Doctor Forbes" in 1814 AD, "Colonel Mac GERGER" in 1875, and "Khanykf" and "Blue" have visited the castle and have stated descriptions in their itineraries. Colonel Mac GARGAR also brought about the words of Doctor Forbes in his itinerary titled "A Journey to the Province of Khorasan" as follows: "The castle has been built on the top of a hill at an altitude of 2000 to 2500 feet which could be threatened by the fire load from the highlands of the north and west. A mountain is located in the south and on the other two sides which is away 1200 yards from the peak to the walls of the castle. An interesting point that Mac GERGER said as quoted by Doctor Forbes is: "Three water storages were provided inside the castle which is said that the storage of their water will supply the utility of a great garrison for the period of one year and six months.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological excavations</h2><br>
<p>The Forg Castle has been excavated two times so far. The first time was performed during the restoration operation of the castle in the year of 2001 in order to clarify the situation of plan and map of Kohandej. During the excavation, the spaces such as stable, food storage, underground burrow and corridors connecting different parts of the Kohandej were detected. This monument has been registered in the List of National Works under No. 3450 on March 18, 2001. As stated above, based on the evidences and chronicles, the foundation of the building goes back to Afsharieh era. The attribution of Forg Castle (Mirza Rafi Khan Castle) to Ismailia should be taken with caution because the Ismailia castles have special characteristics, for example, most of them have been constructed in out of the way and mountainous areas in order to be hidden and camouflaged. In the castles Ismailia was putting their followers under military and sectarian trainings and sending them to different regions for assassination of the authorities opposing to their thoughts. The names of those people were in encrypted form, which were sometimes changed too. Acting stealthily, fighting against central government and their local puppet rulers and propagating ideological thought relating to Ismailia sect were the most important tasks fulfilled in the Ismailia castles. The central governments were trying to destroy the fortresses. The architecture and construction of these structures which were being founded with speed and limited resources have been entirely varied from the official governmental castles. As the peak time of the Ismailia sect&#39;s activities coincided with the Abbasid and Seljuk Caliphs and as this sect was removed due to the brutal attack of the Mongol on Iran, it is far-fetched that the overall present structure of Forg Castle would remain safe and applicable from that time through Afsharieh era. Consequently, the greatness and external specifications of Forg Castle differ from Ismailia castles and this castle has not been hidden and has been considered as an official and a visible governmental castle for protection and establishment of security of the region. The Iranian official castles consisted of three Kohandej (place of living the ruler), Sharestan (Place of living of the people of village) and Rabath (farms and gardens) sections since a long time ago. The three parts were connected together in such manner that this specification is observed in Forg Castle. Forg village surrounded the Forg Castle and attached to it since a long time ago, while Ismailia castles were away from the residential and inhabited regions and were lacking those features. Normally, castles were built to resist insurgency and rebellion, were mostly constructed on the top of mountains and in impassable passes, were often without a specified geometrical design or previous plan, and were irregularly built. But the official and governmental castles were being constructed with previous plan and by choosing the right strategic position overlooking the surrounding areas in plains or beside passages and caravan roads and/or on the borders in order to protect, to guard and to provide security to the desired regions. Therefore; the Forg Castle or Mirza Rafi Khan Castle is an official building; and its administrative and governmental nature is clear. It seems that the castle had governmental and official application for protecting surrounding areas and frontier control throughout the history.</p><br>
<p>The New Orleans Mint  operated in New Orleans, Louisiana, as a branch mint of the United States Mint from 1838 to 1861 and from 1879 to 1909. During its years of operation, it produced over 427 million gold and silver coins of nearly every American denomination, with a total face value of over US$ 307 million. It was closed during most of the American Civil War and Reconstruction.</p><br>
<p>After it was decommissioned as a mint, the building has served a variety of purposes, including as an assay office, a United States Coast Guard storage facility, and a fallout shelter.</p><br>
<p>Since 1981 it has served as a branch of the Louisiana State Museum. Damaged by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, after over two years of repairs and renovations, the museum reopened in October 2007.</p><br>
<p>Exhibits include instruments used by some of New Orleans&#39; notable jazz musicians, photographs, and posters, now part of the New Orleans Jazz Museum. The site is also a performance venue for jazz concerts, in partnership with the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park and the private Music at the Mint organization.</p><br>
<p>The Louisiana Historical Center is located on the third floor of the building. The center includes collections of colonial-era manuscripts and maps, and primary and secondary source materials in a wide range of media. It is open to anyone with an interest in Louisiana history and culture.</p><br>
<p>The New Orleans Mint has been designated a National Historic Landmark, and it is the oldest extant structure to have served as a USA Mint. Along with the Charlotte Mint, it is one of two former mint facilities in the USA to house an art gallery.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Antebellum period, 1835–1861</h3><br>
<h4>Background</h4><br>
<p>The rapidly growing United States in the early 1830s experienced a shortage of coins. It is estimated that in 1830 there was one small silver coin (quarter, dime or half dime) per person. Also, production of silver dollars was suspended in 1804 because they were being exchanged for underweight Spanish coins in the West Indies. That left the half-dollar as the largest denomination of circulating coin being minted in the U. S. Foreign coins were being circulated in the U. S. to alleviate the shortage.</p><br>
<p>The Philadelphia Mint had been the only U. S. mint until 1838, when operations began at the first branch mints.</p><br>
<p>In 1832 President Andrew Jackson had vetoed a rechartering of the Second Bank of the United States, an institution which he felt extended credit to northeastern commercial tycoons at the expense of the ordinary frontiersmen of the Old Southwest, a region with which Jackson, a Tennessean, strongly identified. In 1836 Jackson had issued an executive order called the Specie Circular which demanded that all land transactions in the United States be conducted in cash. Both of these actions, combined with the economic depression following the Panic of 1837 (caused partly by Jackson&#39;s fiscal policies) increased the domestic need for minted money.</p><br>
<p>As a result, in 1835 the USA Federal Government established three branch mints: the Charlotte Mint in North Carolina, the Dahlonega Mint in Georgia and the New Orleans Mint. Dahlonega and Charlotte were in gold mining regions and these mints produced only gold coins. New Orleans was selected because of the citys strategic location along the Mississippi River which made it a vitally important center for commercial activity, including the export of cotton from the areas plantations. Large quantities of gold from Mexico also passed through its port annually.</p><br>
<p>In the early 19th century, New Orleans, which was the fifth-largest city in the United States until the Civil War, conducted more foreign trade than any other city in the nation. It was also located relatively near to gold deposits recently discovered in Alabama. While the Philadelphia Mint produced a substantial quantity of coinage, in the early 19th century it could not disperse the money swiftly to the far regions of the new nation, particularly the South and West. In contrast to the other two Southern branch mints, which only minted gold coinage, the New Orleans Mint produced both gold and silver coins, and in much greater quantities and total value, which marked it as the most important branch mint in the country until the San Francisco Mint began minting a large monetary value of gold coins in the mid 1850s.</p><br>
<p>The Mints location occupies a prominent place in civic history. It sits at one of the two River corners of the French Quarter, which had been the entire city, or Vieux Carré, of New Orleans. Under French and Spanish rule this location was home to one of the citys defensive fortifications. In 1792 the Spanish governor, Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, erected Fort San Carlos (later Fort St. Charles) here. The fort was demolished in 1821; and the nearby area was later named Jackson Square in honor of Andrew Jackson. As a general in the United States Army, Jackson&#39;s leadership had saved the city from invading British forces during December 1814 and through January 8, 1815, the date of the famous Battle of New Orleans, the last significant battle of the War of 1812.</p><br>
<h4>Architectural history</h4><br>
<h4>=Design and construction=</h4><br>
<p>The Mint building, which was constructed in red brick, was designed by architect William Strickland in the Greek Revival style, like most 19th-century public buildings in the United States. Strickland was a student of the architect Benjamin Latrobe, a disciple of Neoclassicism who had helped design the United States Capitol building in Washington, D.C. Strickland himself, based in Philadelphia, had already designed the Philadelphia Mint building and the Second Bank of the United States, and would design the Charlotte and Dahlonega facilities, making him the architect of the first four USA mint buildings. Martin Gordon supervised the building&#39;s construction, which was undertaken by Benjamin F. Fox, the master carpenter and joiner, and John Mitchell, the master stonemason and builder.</p><br>
<p>On the north façade the mint building features a central projecting Ionic portico, supported by four monumental columns that are flanked at the ends by square pillars. The top of the portico contains a simple entablature, crowned by a flat roof in front of a simple, unadorned pediment. This entrance, which sits on top of a basement story, fronts the rectangular central core of the facility and is flanked by two large wings of multiple bays of rectangular windows. These wings wrap around the central rectangular core to form a "W"-shaped structure with two square courtyards at the rear. Balconies framed by iron railings and posts adorn the sections of the buildings south façade that adjoin the courtyards. Architectural historian Talbot Hamlin described it thus: "it has those graceful, original proportions so characteristic of Stricklands work. Even today, condemned to a use so different from that for which it was designed, it remains one of the most distinguished of the earlier buildings of New Orleans."</p><br>
<p>On the interior, Strickland placed the grand staircase that connects the three levels immediately behind the portico in the central core of the structure. The floor system is composed of fired-clay jack arches supported on steel I-beams, a common feature of warehouses and other long-span structures. On the second floor, many of the larger rooms, which were used for coining and melting, contain ceilings with beautiful high arches supported by the walls and freestanding piers. The smaller rectangular rooms on the second level (and the basement), such as the former superintendent&#39;s office, also contain these arched ceilings with a single groin vault. The basement formerly contained the boilers inside a brick cage, but now contain museum exhibits devoted to the minting processes as well as the Coin Vault at the Mint, a coin shop.</p><br>
<h4>=Structural problems and repairs=</h4><br>
<p>Strickland did not take into account the swampy lowland and high water table that characterizes the terrain around New Orleans, and so during its career the New Orleans Mint building has encountered numerous structural problems from the shifting soil beneath its foundation. In the 1840s the building was reinforced with iron rods inserted between the floors. In 1854, the federal government hired West Point engineering graduate (and Louisiana native) Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard to fireproof the building, rebuild the arches supporting the basement ceiling and install masonry flooring. Beauregard completed the work in conjunction with Captain Johnson K. Duncan by 1859. During this period, the Mint&#39;s heavy machinery was converted to steam power so a smokestack (since demolished) was built at the rear of the structure to carry away the fumes.</p><br>
<p>Less than two years later, Beauregard would rise to national fame as the Confederate general who ordered the April 1861 assault on Fort Sumter in Charleston harbor, South Carolina, thus beginning the American Civil War. It was during the war that Beauregard would secure his place in American history as one of the Confederacy&#39;s most capable generals.</p><br>
<h4>Early coining operations</h4><br>
<p>Like any other mint the New Orleans Mint was a factory to make coins. Operations at the New Orleans Mint began on March 8, 1838, with the deposit of the first Mexican gold bullion. The first coins, 30 dimes, were struck on May 7. Until it was taken over by the Confederacy in 1861 it produced many different denominations, all of which were either silver or gold: silver three-cent pieces (1851 only), half dimes, dimes, quarters, half dollars, silver dollars, gold dollars, $2.50 quarter eagles, three-dollar pieces, $5 half-eagles, $10 eagles, and $20 double eagles.</p><br>
<p>Many interesting characters served at the Mint during the early years of operation. One was John Leonard Riddell, who served as melter and refiner at the Mint from 1839 to 1848, and, outside of his job, pursued interests in botany, medicine, chemistry, geology, and physics. He invented the binocular microscope. He also wrote on numismatics, publishing in 1845 a book entitled Monograph of the Silver Dollar, Good and Bad, Illustrated With Facsimile Figures, and two years later an article by him appeared in DeBow&#39;s Review called "The Mint at New Orleans—Processes Pursued of Working the Precious Metals—Statistics of Coinage, etc." Riddell was not held in high esteem by everyone, however: his conflicts with other Mint employees were well-documented, and at one point he was accused of being unable to properly conduct a gold melt.</p><br>
<p>Throughout the 19th century the New Orleans Mint was frequently featured in magazines, newspapers and other print publications. Articles discussing and images picturing the Mint, in addition to the one by Riddell noted above, were featured in Ballous Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, published in Boston, and the widely circulated Harpers Weekly.</p><br>
<h3>Civil War and recommissioning, 1861–79</h3><br>
<h4>Secession and Confederate seizure</h4><br>
<p>The New Orleans Mint operated continuously from 1838 until January 26, 1861, when Louisiana seceded from the United States. On January 29, the Secession Convention reconvened at New Orleans (it had earlier met in Baton Rouge) and passed an ordinance that allowed Federal employees to remain in their posts, but as employees of the state of Louisiana. On February 5, 1861, during the proceedings of the Convention of the State of Louisiana in New Orleans, the committee appointed by the Convention to take an inventory on February 1, 1861, of public property in the hands of the officers of the late Federal government reported that the Sub-Treasurer&#39;s vault at the mint contained $483,983 in gold and silver coins. The National Archives records in Rockville, Maryland, indicate the $483,983 consisted of $308,771 in gold coins and $175,212.08 in silver coins. The only gold coin produced in January, 1861 was the $20 gold double-eagle. This means 15,438 $20 gold coins were minted by the New Orleans Mint during January, 1861. Mint coinage records for the $20 1861-O gold double-eagle indicate only 5,000 $20 gold pieces were minted by the Federal Government in January, 1861. This discrepancy is explained in a Numismatist Journal article.</p><br>
<p>In March 1861, Louisiana accepted the Confederate States Constitution and the Confederate government retained all the mint officers. They used it briefly as their own coinage facility. The Confederates struck 962,633 of the 2,532,633 New Orleans half-dollar coins dated 1861. Research suggests that 1861-O half dollars bearing a bisected date die crack ("WB-103") and 1861-O half-dollars with a "speared olive bud" anomaly ("WB-104") on the reverse had been minted under authority of the Confederacy. Confederate officials designed alternate reverse dies which they used to strike their own half-dollars in New Orleans (see image). The exact number of the half-dollar coins struck by the Confederate mint with the alternate reverse is unknown; but only four are known to exist today. One of them, which was sold at auction for a large sum, had once been owned by Jefferson Davis, the only President of the C.S.A.</p><br>
<p>Confederate minting operations continued from April 1 until the bullion ran out later that month. The staff remained on duty until May 31, 1861. After that the mint was used for quartering Confederate troops, until it was recaptured along with the rest of the city the following year, largely by Union naval forces under the command of Admiral David Farragut.</p><br>
<h4>Occupation by Union forces</h4><br>
<p>For many Southern sympathizers, the Mint soon became a symbol of their hatred for the Union occupation. After USA Marines under Farragut had raised the USA flag on the roof of the Mint in April 1862, a professional steamboat gambler named William Bruce Mumford ascended the roof and tore the flag down. He ripped the banner into shreds, and defiantly stuffed pieces of it into his shirt to wear as souvenirs. Union General Benjamin Franklin Butler, the military governor of New Orleans (who was soon to be derisively nicknamed "Spoons" for allegedly pocketing the silverware of New Orleans citizens arrested for treason against the United States), ordered Mumford executed in retaliation. And so, Mumford was hanged from a flagstaff projecting horizontally from the building on June 7, 1862. Mumford&#39;s hanging made national headlines. Jefferson Davis demanded that Butler immediately be executed if captured. The event stuck in the minds of many New Orleanians: eleven years later, in 1873, a visitor to the city named Edward King mentioned it in his description of the structure.</p><br>
<p>The mint reopened as an assay office in 1876. Its machinery was evidently damaged during the war, but because of its importance, unlike the mints at Charlotte and Dahlonega, in 1877 USA Mint agent James R. Snowden asked the superintendent of the office, Dr. M. F. Bonzano, to report on the condition of the facility for minting. Upon receipt of Bonzano&#39;s report, new minting equipment was shipped to New Orleans. The building was refurbished and put back into active minting service in 1879, producing mainly silver coinage, including the famed Morgan silver dollar from 1879 to 1904.</p><br>
<h3>A second chance, 1879–1909</h3><br>
<h4>New Orleans coinage</h4><br>
<p>The refurbishment and recommissioning of the New Orleans Mint was due partly to the fact that in 1878 the Federal government in Washington, D.C. had passed the Bland–Allison Act, which mandated the purchase and coining of a large quantity of silver yearly. The Treasury Department needed additional facilities to do so. It reopened the New Orleans facility primarily to coin large quantities of silver dollars, most of which were simply stored in the building instead of circulated. President Rutherford B. Hayes appointed former Mississippi Senator and governor Henry S. Foote the new superintendent of the mint.</p><br>
<p>During this second period of operation, the Mint also struck dimes, quarters, half dollars, $5 half eagles, $10 eagles and, in 1879 only, 2,325 double eagles. It should also be noted that the New Orleans Mint was used by the Federal authorities in 1907 to coin over five and a half million silver twenty-centavo pieces for the Mexican government as part of the American government&#39;s program of producing foreign coinage. The New Orleans Mint, whose coins can be identified by the "O" mint mark found on the reverse of its coinage, earned a reputation for producing coins of a mediocre quality; their luster is usually not as brilliant as those of other mints, and center areas tend to be flattened and not sharply struck. Thus, well-struck New Orleanian coinage is prized in the numismatic world today.</p><br>
<h4>Social history</h4><br>
<p>But it was also during the mint&#39;s second tour of duty that women began to find work at the New Orleans Mint. Several women workers were sent from the Philadelphia Mint to teach those in New Orleans how to adjust money. About this time, the mint employed forty-four women. Thirty-nine worked as adjusters – employees who weighed the unstamped coin planchets to make sure they were the proper weight before coining. These women would sit at long narrow tables, filing the planchets down to the proper weight, wearing special aprons with pouches attached to the sleeves and the waist to catch the excess dust. Five women served as counters and packers before the coins were shipped to Washington, D.C. Some women were eventually employed at the coining presses.</p><br>
<p>The women worked from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. daily – not long hours – but the working conditions were probably unbearable by modern standards. New Orleans has a warm, wet climate. The process of adjusting, however, required the utmost attention to the scales&#39; balance, and the slightest draft could upset it. The draft could also carry off the silver dust from the coin planchets the women would file. For these reasons the windows and doors were almost always kept shut, resulting in a very hot working environment. Workers relied on water coolers to provide relief from the heat and avoid dehydration. The women mint employees were judged to enjoy better working conditions than many other American women workers in the late nineteenth century.</p><br>
<h3>The mint in the 20th & 21st centuries</h3><br>
<h4>Closure</h4><br>
<p>By the early twentieth century, the USA Treasury had mints operating in New Orleans, Denver, San Francisco, and the main center in Philadelphia, which more than met the demand for minted money. In 1904, the government ceased the minting of the silver dollar, which accounted for the bulk of the coinage the New Orleans branch had been producing since 1879. In 1909 Treasury officials declined to appropriate funds for the mint&#39;s operation, effectively halting subsequent minting activity in New Orleans. In 1911, the New Orleans Mint was formally decommissioned and the machinery was transferred to the main U. S. Mint facility in Philadelphia.</p><br>
<p>Twenty years later, in 1930, Governor Huey Long would rail against this loss when he ran for the office of USA Senator against incumbent Joseph E. Ransdell. In a circular distributed by his campaign to the citizens of New Orleans, Long listed the loss of the Mint as the very first of many complaints against Ransdell&#39;s lengthy service record in the Senate. Long went on to win the election, although he did not take office until his term as governor expired in 1932. At some point, however, the original New Orleans machinery was lost, and, at present, has not been located.</p><br>
<h4>Transformation</h4><br>
<p>After the mint closed, it performed a variety of functions for the Federal government. It was first downgraded to an assay office for the USA Treasury as it had been from 1876 to 1879. Then, in 1932, the assay office closed and the building was converted into a Federal prison, in which capacity it served until 1943. The Coast Guard then took over the building as a nominal storage facility, though in truth the structure was largely abandoned and left to decay until it was transferred to the state of Louisiana in 1965. During the Cold War, when many believed there to be a high risk of nuclear war, the old Mint was considered to be the best fallout shelter in the city.</p><br>
<p>The state agreed to save the structure from demolition on the condition that it be renovated and converted to some new purpose within fifteen years. Between 1978 and 1980 this goal was met. Since 1981, the Mint building has functioned as a museum of its coin production history. Additional exhibitions housed in the facility have been devoted to New Orleans Mardi Gras (since moved to the Presbytere building on Jackson Square), jazz music (a large exhibit and research materials previously in the New Orleans Jazz Museum &ndash; donated by the N.O. Jazz Club), and Newcomb Pottery. All three phenomena have contributed to New Orleans&#39; fame.</p><br>
<p>On the third floor, the Mint houses an archive of maps and documents, including French and Spanish colonial records. Along with the Cabildo, the Presbytere, the 1850 House, and Madame John&#39;s Legacy, this facility is one of five branches of the Louisiana State Museum in the French Quarter.See</p><br>
<p>The Mint building is located at 400 Esplanade Avenue, not far from the Mississippi River.</p><br>
<h4>Katrina aftermath</h4><br>
<p>The mint building suffered significant roof damage from the hurricane. Water entered the building and came into contact with approximately 3% of the New Orleans Jazz collection, portions of which were removed and cared for at Louisiana State University, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, and the Louisiana State Archives.</p><br>
<h2>Coinage produced</h2><br>
<h3>Silver coins</h3><br>
<h3>Gold coins</h3><br>
<p>Fort Gaines is an historic fort on Dauphin Island, Alabama, United States. It was named for Edmund Pendleton Gaines. Established in 1821, it is best known for its role in the Battle of Mobile Bay during the American Civil War.</p><br>
<p>Exhibits include the huge anchor from the USS Hartford, Admiral David Farraguts flagship on which he gave his world-famous command, "Damn the torpedoes – full speed ahead!" The fort also has the original cannons used in the battle, five pre-Civil War brick buildings in the interior courtyard, operational blacksmith shop and kitchens, tunnel systems to the fortified corner bastions, and similar features. A museum details the history of this period, as well as the French colonial presence beginning in the late 17th century. The fort was partially modernized for the Spanish–American War. It is a tourist destination with tours and historical reenactment events. The site is considered to be one of the nations best-preserved Civil War era masonry forts and has been nominated for listing as a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<p>Significant masonry damages have been sustained during hurricanes and tropical storms in the past decade. Though these damages have been largely repaired, the fort continues to be under threat from erosion. The fort sits on the east end of Dauphin Island, only feet from the Gulf of Mexico. Ongoing erosional losses of sand dunes and beach total up to 10 feet per year. For these reasons, the Civil War Preservation Trust placed Fort Gaines on its History Under Siege listing on March 18, 2009. The listing identifies the ten most endangered Civil War battlefields in the United States. Additionally it was placed on the list of America&#39;s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in 2011.</p><br>
<h2>Civil War</h2><br>
<p>Fort Morgan is a historic masonry Pentagonal bastion fort at the mouth of Mobile Bay, Alabama, United States. Named for Revolutionary War hero Daniel Morgan, it was built on the site of the earlier Fort Bowyer, an earthen and stockade type fortification involved in the final land battles of the War of 1812. Construction was completed in 1834 and it received its first garrison in March of the same year.</p><br>
<p>Fort Morgan is at the tip of Mobile Point at the western terminus of State Route 180 (Alabama). It and Dauphin Island, on which Fort Gaines is situated, enclose Mobile Bay. The Alabama Historical Commission maintains the site.</p><br>
<h2>War of 1812</h2><br>
<p>After the departure of the Spanish from Mobile in April 1813, the Americans built an earth and wood redoubt on Mobile Point, ultimately naming it Fort Bowyer after Col. John Bowyer, who completed the construction before leaving in 1814. In September 1814 the fort withstood a British naval and land attack, known as the First Battle of Fort Bowyer. The British returned in February 1815 after their defeat at the Battle of New Orleans and again launched an attack that became known as the Second Battle of Fort Bowyer. This time they were successful, with its American garrison surrendering the fort. Before the British could continue their attack towards Mobile they received word that the Treaty of Ghent, ending the war, had been signed on Christmas Eve, 1814. When word of the treaty&#39;s ratification arrived shortly thereafter, the British withdrew. The site was a logical one for a more substantial fort that could defend itself from landward and protect the entrance to the bay, leading to Fort Morgan replacing Fort Bowyer.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>After the War of 1812, the USA began a program to strengthen its seacoast defenses. As part of this program, in 1818 the USA contracted with Benjamin Hopkins of Vermont to build a large masonry fort on Mobile Point after a design by Simon Bernard, who had been a military engineer for Napoleon. However, Hopkins died a year later in a yellow fever epidemic, having accomplished little. The next contractor, Samuel Hawkins of New York, died in 1821, before accomplishing anything on the project. The Army turned the task over to the Corps of Engineers under Capt. R.E. De Russey. Using slave labor, DeRussey was able to make some progress before he took ill in 1825 and turned the work over to his deputy, Lieut. Cornelius Ogden. Ogden completed the work in March 1834 and turned the fort over to Capt. F.S. Belton, commander of Company B, 2nd US Artillery. This unit remained at the fort for about a year and a half before its transfer to Florida to assist in the Second Seminole Indian War.</p><br>
<h2>Civil War</h2><br>
<p>Eight days before Alabama seceded from the Union, Col. John B. Todd took four companies of Alabama volunteers and captured the fort before dawn on 3 January 1861. The Confederates then proceeded to strengthen the defenses of Mobile Bay. The key point was the Main Ship Channel opposite Fort Morgan as this was the only approach where the water was deep enough to permit major warships to pass. To defend this area, the Confederates placed 18 of the fort&#39;s heaviest guns (including two 7-inch Brooke rifles and two British-made 8-inch Blakely rifles), so that they could bear on the Channel. They also built redoubts and trenches east of the fort to impede further any attack via land. Lastly, they complemented the land defenses with a small flotilla consisting of the ram Tennessee, and three gunboats, Morgan, Gaines and Selma, all under the command of Admiral Franklin Buchanan.</p><br>
<p>During the war, Fort Morgan provided protective fire for blockade runners. All 17 vessels that ran out of the Bay eluded capture, as did 19 of the 21 that attempted to enter. Union soldiers were observed in the Sand Island Lighthouse, spying on Fort Morgan, and the fort fired on the position destroying the lighthouse.</p><br>
<p>During the Battle of Mobile Bay, Union naval forces under Admiral David G. Farragut were able to get past Fort Morgan and enter the Bay. They captured Tennessee and Selma, sank Gaines, and captured Fort Gaines. This freed the Union land forces under Gordon Granger to besiege Fort Morgan. During the siege, the wooden roof of the Citadel, a ten-sided barracks located in the center of the fort used to house the enlisted men, caught fire and the structure was badly damaged. Rather than restore it, post-War crews used the ruins as a brick source for repairing the fort. The remains of the Citadel were razed in the 1880s for use as a breakwater. After two weeks of bombardment from sea and land, Major Richard L. Page, commander of the fort, felt compelled to surrender. He did so on August 23, 1864, after first spiking the fort&#39;s guns.</p><br>
<p>Once the fort was in Union hands, the Union used it as a base for reconnaissance raids, and then as a staging area for the Battle of Spanish Fort and the Battle of Fort Blakely, which occurred days before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox.</p><br>
<h2>Late 19th century</h2><br>
<p>During a renovation project in the 1870s, the fort received 12 200-pounder Parrott rifled cannons. Eventually, however, the US Government abandoned the fort, letting it fall into disrepair. Then under the presidency of Grover Cleveland, Secretary of War William Endicott chaired the Endicott Board, which led to a program of building new, concrete batteries. Between 1895 and 1900, Fort Morgan received five concrete batteries, supported by the latest in fire control, electricity, and communications.</p><br>
<p>The first battery, Battery Bowyer, was operational during the Spanish–American War. It had four 8-inch breech-loading guns on disappearing carriages. The battery was closed in 1917 and the guns removed for conversion to railway guns for service in Europe.</p><br>
<p>At the beginning of the Spanish–American War, Fort Morgan also received eight 10-inch smooth-bore muzzle-loading Rodman cannons, converted to 8-inch rifles with the insertion of a barrel sleeve. This was a makeshift and the Army later gave the guns away to cities for Civil War memorials.</p><br>
<p>The second battery, completed in 1900, was Battery Dearborn, named for Major General Henry Dearborn. The battery had eight breech-loading 12-inch coast defense mortars in two four-gun pits. The intent was that should enemy vessels approach, the mortars would rain down shells on the vessels&#39; less heavily armored decks.</p><br>
<p>The third battery, also completed in 1900, was Battery Duportail, named for Major General Louis Duportail. Its armament consisted of two 12-inch breech-loading rifles on disappearing carriages. The battery was decommissioned in 1923. The Army removed the breechblocks and plugged the breeches before abandoning the guns in place. The Army scrapped the guns in the early 1940s.</p><br>
<p>The fourth battery was Battery Thomas, named for Captain Evan Thomas, who had been killed in the Battle of Sand Butte in 1873 during the Modoc War. This batterys armament consisted of two British 4.7-inch rapid-fire Armstrong guns. The batterys role was to prevent smaller enemy vessels from passing through the ship&#39;s channel in front of the fort. The battery was deactivated in 1917 and its guns removed.</p><br>
<p>The fifth battery was Battery Schenk, named for Lieutenant William T. Schenck, who was killed in action in Luzon in 1900 during the Philippine–American War. The battery initially held two, later increased to three, 3-inch rapid-fire guns. It too protected the ship channel.</p><br>
<h2>20th century</h2><br>
<p>Hurricanes in 1906 and in July 1916 caused a great deal of damage to the wooden houses at Fort Morgan along Officer&#39;s Row. The wide porches that helped cool the buildings in summer proved particularly vulnerable.</p><br>
<p>In 1915, the Coast Artillery Corps built an experimental battery, called Battery Test, about a mile away from Fort Morgan. The battery held a single 10-inch gun on a disappearing carriage. Then in 1916, the Navy had two battleships, the USS New York and the USS Arkansas, shell the battery for two days to see how well it would survive, which it did with remarkably little damage. The gun was removed shortly after the tests.</p><br>
<p>After the US declared war on Germany in April 1917, the fort took on the task of training men of the Coast Artillery in modern weapons. The fort also trained field anti-aircraft batteries. In 1920 the fort received four British 9.2-inch howitzers. These guns were abandoned and later scrapped in 1924 when the Army abandoned the fort. Thereafter, the base deteriorated quickly.</p><br>
<p>During World War I, the Army had established a radio transmitting and receiving station at Fort Morgan as a part of a nationwide Morse-code communication network. The transmitter had the call letters WUR. When Fort Morgan was abandoned, the call letters were transferred to Fort McClellan, Alabama.</p><br>
<p>In April 1942, the Army re-occupied the fort and constructed an adjacent airfield. Initially, the Coast Artillery brought five Model 1918 155mm (6.1-inch) guns to equip the fort. The Army placed two on top of Fort Morgan on mounts that permitted 360 degrees traverse. The remaining three guns stood on the fort&#39;s parade ground.</p><br>
<p>The War Department turned Fort Morgan over to the State of Alabama in 1946, and the Army again abandoned the fort in 1947. The War Department disbanded the USA Army Coast Artillery Corps itself in 1950.</p><br>
<h2>Recent developments</h2><br>
<p>Fort Morgan was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.</p><br>
<p>In 2007 it was listed as "one of the nations 10 most endangered battle sites" by the Civil War Preservation Trust in History Under Siege: A Guide to Americas Most Endangered Civil War Battlefields.</p><br>
<p>In June 2008, a 90-pound live Union naval shell was uncovered at the site. The shell was from a Parrott rifle on a USA Navy warship and was fired at the fort in the summer of 1864. The discovery came during excavations as part of a project meant to repair cracks in the walls.</p><br>
<p>Illimani  is the highest mountain in the Cordillera Real  of western Bolivia. It lies near the cities of El Alto and La Paz at the eastern edge of the Altiplano. It is the second highest peak in Bolivia, after Nevado Sajama, and the eighteenth highest peak in South America. The snow line lies at about 4,570 m above sea level, and glaciers are found on the northern face at 4,983 m. The mountain has four main peaks; the highest is the south summit, Nevado Illimani, which is a popular ascent for mountain climbers.</p><br>
<p>Geologically, Illimani is composed primarily of granodiorite, intruded during the Cenozoic era into the sedimentary rock, which forms the bulk of the Cordillera Real.</p><br>
<p>Illimani is quite visible from the cities of El Alto and La Paz, and is their major landmark. The mountain has been the subject of many local songs, most importantly "Illimani", with the following refrain: "¡Illimani, Illimani, centinela tú eres de La Paz! ¡Illimani, Illimani, patrimonio eres de Bolivia!" ("Illimani, Illimani, you are the sentinel of La Paz! Illimani, Illimani, you are Bolivia&#39;s heritage!")</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>Illimani was first attempted in 1877 by the French explorator Charles Wiener, J. de Grumkow, and J. C. Ocampo. They failed to reach the main summit, but did reach a southeastern subsummit, on 19 May 1877, Wiener named it the "Pic de Paris", and left a French flag on top of it.</p><br>
<p>In 1898, British climber William Martin Conway and two Swiss guides, A. Maquignaz and L. Pellissier, made the first recorded ascent of the peak, again from the southeast. (They found a piece of Aymara rope at over 6,000 m, so an earlier ascent cannot be completely discounted.)</p><br>
<p>The current standard route on the mountain climbs the west ridge of the main summit. It was first climbed in 1940, by the Germans R. Boetcher, F. Fritz, and W. Kühn, and is graded French PD+/AD-. This route usually requires four days, the summit being reached in the morning of the third day.</p><br>
<p>In July 2010 German climber Florian Hill and long-time Bolivian resident Robert Rauch climbed a new route on the South Face, completing most of the 1700m of ascent in 21 hours. Deliver Me (WI 6 and M6+) appears to climb the gable-end of the South West Ridge, a very steep wall threatened by large broken seracs.</p><br>
<h2>Incidents</h2><br>
<p>Illimani was the site where Eastern Air Lines Flight 980 crashed on January 1, 1985.</p><br>
<p>A German climber died on May 2, 2017 due to an avalanche occurring during the evening as he and his guide were climbing. The guide survived with minor injuries.</p><br>
<p>The Trinity Inlet is an oceanic inlet which serves as the port for the city of Cairns, Queensland, Australia. The city centre is on the western bank where the inlet meets the Coral Sea.</p><br>
<h2>Location and features</h2><br>
<p>In prehistoric times, the Trinity Inlet was the river mouth of the Mulgrave River. Volcanic activity resulted in the rise of Green Hill in the Mulgrave Valley, but contrary to popular belief this did not block the river, as sediments continued to build up over the volcanic rocks. The Mulgrave River later shifted course and now empties into the Coral Sea 30 km further south at the southern extremity of the Yarrabah Hills range.</p><br>
<p>Trinity Inlet is lined with mangroves and mudflats. Within the inlet a large mud island has been formed and was given the name Admiralty Island. Concerns have been raised about the amount of debris and derelict shipping that exist in the upper regions of the inlet.</p><br>
<p>Commercially the inlet provides a limited deep-water berthing for the port of Cairns, allowing the export of cane sugar. The region&#39;s only tanker berth and the Royal Australian Navy base HMAS Cairns are located on the inlet. Several shipbuilders and tour operators that visit the Great Barrier Reef operate from the Reef Terminal on the entrance to the inlet.</p><br>
<p>Remnants of a levee can be found on the eastern bank opposite Cairns. This was an effort by CSR in the 1970s to cultivate sugar cane on mostly intertidal land previously occupied by mangroves and saltmarsh. This was not successful due to the disturbance of a large area of acid sulfate soil. Discharge of sulfuric acid into Trinity inlet from this land resulted in a number of fish kills. In recent years, the Queensland Government has untertaken a major remediation project to prevent the acid discharge and rehabilitate the land behind the levee.</p><br>
<p>The inlet offers shelter to small vessels when tropical cyclones threaten. A commercial saltwater crocodile farm is in operation on the upper reaches, though wild examples are still very rare in the area after hunting in the early 20th century.</p><br>
<p>Chacaltaya (Mollo language for "bridge of winds" or "winds meeting point", Aymara for "cold road" Half of the meltdown, as measured by volume, took place before 1980. The final meltdown after 1980, due to missing precipitation and the warm phase of El Niño, resulted in the glacier&#39;s disappearance in 2009. The glacier was formerly one of the highest in South America, located about 30 km from La Paz, near Huayna Potosí mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Ski area</h2><br>
<p>The glacier on Chacaltaya served as Bolivias only ski resort. It was the worlds highest lift-served ski area and the northernmost in South America as well as the worlds second most equatorial after Maoke, Indonesia. The rope tow, the very first in South America, was built in 1939 using an automobile engine; it was notoriously fast and difficult, housed in the sites original clapboard lodge, and is now inoperable. The road to the base of the 200 m drop is reached by a narrow road, also built in the 1930s. Traditionally, due to the extreme cold weather, the lift operated exclusively on weekends from November to March. Since 2009, skiing is restricted to a 600 ft stretch that sometimes receives sufficient snowfall for a run during the winter. The mountain is also popular with amateur mountaineers, as the aforementioned road stops only 200 m from the summit. Guinness World Records considers the ski resort restaurant to be the highest restaurant in the world.</p><br>
<h2>Retreat of Chacaltaya glacier</h2><br>
<p>Scientists at the Mount Chacaltaya Laboratory started measuring the Chacaltaya glacier in the 1990s. Predicted at that time to survive until 2015, the Chacaltaya glacier has melted at a much faster rate than expected. The 18,000-year-old glacier has been reduced in recent years to just a few small patches of ice and snow near the top of the mountain.</p><br>
<p>Many Bolivians on the Altiplano and in two of Bolivia&#39;s main cities — La Paz and El Alto — partially depend on the partial melting of Andean glaciers for their water supply during the dry season. The World Bank has warned that many glaciers in the tropical portion of the Andes are expected to disappear within 20 years. This will threaten the water supplies of nearly 80 million people as well as the future generation of hydropower. Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru depend on hydropower for about half their electricity.</p><br>
<h2>Observatory</h2><br>
<p>Located at 5,240 m, the Mount Chacaltaya Laboratory began as a weather station in 1942.</p><br>
<p>It is an important site for gamma ray research since it gained notoriety in the 1940s due to the first observations of pions.</p><br>
<p>The Chacaltaya Observatory belongs to the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés and it is operated in collaboration with other universities worldwide. It currently hosts the research group and since 2011 the. The Chacaltaya GAW station is one of the few monitoring sites of essential climate variables (meteorological variables, aerosols and greenhouse gases) in the Southern Hemisphere. It contributes to the.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>Huayna Potosí is a mountain in Bolivia, located near El Alto and about 25 km north of La Paz in the Cordillera Real.</p><br>
<p>Huayna Potosí is the closest high mountain to La Paz, the highest capital city in the world. Surrounded by high mountains, it is roughly 15 miles due north of the city, which makes this mountain the most popular climb in Bolivia. The normal ascent route is a fairly straightforward glacier climb, with some crevasses and a steep climb to the summit. However, the other side of the mountain -- Huayna Potosí West Face -- is the biggest face in Bolivia. Several difficult snow and ice routes ascend this 1000 meter high face.</p><br>
<p>The first ascent of the normal route was undertaken in 1919 by Germans Rudolf Dienst and Adolf Schulze. Some climbing books report this mountain as the "easiest 6000er in the world", but this claim is debatable. The easiest route entails an exposed ridge and sections of moderately steep ice, with a UIAA rating of PD. There are many 6000m mountains that are easier to climb in terms of technical difficulty. Perhaps therefore, the main reason Huayna Potosí has been referred to as the easiest 6000m climb is that the elevation gain from trailhead to summit is less than 1400 m; with easy access from La Paz. Since La Paz is at 3640 m, climbers have an easier time acclimatizing.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing history of the mountain</h2><br>
<p>In 1877 a group of six German climbers tried to climb Huayna Potosí for the first time. Without proper equipment and with little practical information, they set off toward the unclimbed peak. Their unsuccessful attempt met with tragedy. Four climbers died at an altitude around 5600m; the remaining two managed to retreat in deteriorating conditions, but died by exhaustion just after finding their way to the Zongo Pass. 21 years later, on 9 September 1898, an expedition of Austrian climbers attempted the mountain ascension again but after five days spent at 5900m they were forced to descend. Finally, in 1919 the Germans R. Dienst and O. Lhose reached the south summit (marginally higher than the north summit) climbing the mountain on the east face on a route that later would become the current normal route, with some variants.</p><br>
<h2>Normal route</h2><br>
<p>The normal route to climb Huayna Potosí is a straightforward climb on glacier. Following this route the mountain can be climbed in two daily stages. Climbers generally take a 4x4 up the valley on a gravel road from El Alto taking about two hours to reach a car park at 4700m, Zongo Pass(16&deg;17&prime;15&Prime;S latitude, 68&deg;07&prime;47.6&Prime;W longitude). Where a base camp is established. There is a recently established hut here. Staff are usually happy to book walk ins if they have rooms available, and a reduced price can be negotiated outside of the peak season.</p><br>
<p>From the hut here it is a 1 - 3 h hike up to the high camp at 5200 m (16&deg;16&prime;32&Prime;S latitude, 68&deg;08&prime;16.6&Prime;W longitude) on the snow line (Time taken depends greatly on acclimatization and fitness). This camp is called locally Campo Argentino and consists of a number of areas of leveled rocks suitable for pitching tents. As of 2006, there is a refuge at the high camp where it is possible to stay the night for around $10. Booking is preferable, and essential during peak season. Conditions are spartan, with all sleeping mattresses placed next to each other on the upper level in two rows.</p><br>
<p>Most climbers begin their summit attempt between midnight and 3 AM. Fit and well acclimatized climbers rise and leave later, overtaking other groups during the climb, and can reach the summit in around 3–4 hours, but people frequently take twice that time. The route is usually very clearly visible between the penitentes, and follows the main glacier up directly (across the bergschrund and directly up a ridge) or along an arête on the right. Following that it curves behind the mountain when viewed from Zongo pass. The final approach is fairly exposed, either directly to the summit, or along the summit ridge. The summit is small and frequently has a pronounced cornice, reducing usable space.</p><br>
<p>The entire climb from the high camp take between 8 and 12 hours. Very acclimatised parties climb the mountain directly from the hut at Zongo Pass and in this case the whole climb takes the most of the day.</p><br>
<p>Morning sunshine causes the snow to become less stable for walking, and increases avalanche risk from 8 am onwards. The views on a clear morning from the summit are unbelievable - the mountain is far higher than anything else anywhere nearby, and the Cordillera Real, Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and part of the Altiplano they reside on are all visible. Until early 2004 there was a guest book for summitting climbers to sign. Unfortunately this overhang collapsed in mid-2006 leaving the original metal container protruding out of the summit ridge hanging above the city of La Paz below.</p><br>
<p>Like in other parts of Bolivia, glaciers are retreating everywhere making all climbing routes (including the normal route) more difficult.</p><br>
<h2>Other routes</h2><br>
<p>In addition to the normal route, a large variety of routes (some of them very technical) to the two summits exist.</p><br>
<p>East face, French route to the south summit. Difficulty AD-, opened in 1974 by Thierry Cardon and Alain Mesili</p><br>
<p>West face, American route to the north summit. Difficulty TD, opened in 1970 by Roman Laba and John Hudson</p><br>
<p>West face, Direct route to the north summit. Difficulty TD, opened in 1978 by F. Faure and others</p><br>
<p>East face, Triangulo route to the south summit. Difficulty TD+, opened in 1983 by A. Mesili and others</p><br>
<p>Watts Bar Lake is a reservoir on the Tennessee river created by Watts Bar Dam as part of the Tennessee Valley Authority system.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Located about midway between Chattanooga and Knoxville, the lake begins as the Tennessee River below Fort Loudon Dam (35&deg;47&prime;30&Prime;N latitude, 84&deg;14&prime;34&Prime;W longitude) in Lenoir City, Tennessee and stretches 72.4 miles (116.5 km) to Watts Bar Dam (35&deg;37&prime;15&Prime;N latitude, 84&deg;46&prime;55&Prime;W longitude), near Spring City, Tennessee. The Clinch River connects to the main channel of the lake at mile 568 (35&deg;51&prime;50&Prime;N latitude, 84&deg;31&prime;50&Prime;W longitude) near Southwest Point (site of Andrew Jackson and John Seviers 1803 confrontation) in Kingston, Tennessee. The widening of the Clinch by the lake makes that river navigable all the way up to Melton Hill Dam (35&deg;53&prime;5&Prime;N latitude, 84&deg;18&prime;0&Prime;W longitude), which is equipped with a navigation lock allowing navigation upstream through Oak Ridge and Clinton. The partially navigable Emory River connects with the Clinch near the TVAs Kingston Steam Plant just upriver from the meeting with the Tennessee. Including the Clinch and Emory arms, Watts Bar has 722 mi of shoreline and over 39,000 acres (160 km²) of water surface. Minor tributaries include Poplar Creek, Caney Creek, and White&#39;s Creek. The lake contains several large islands, most notably Thief Neck Island, Long Island, and Sand Island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Watts Bar Lake was affected by the 2008 Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>Watts Bar&#39;s sport fishing ratings for crappie, black crappie, largemouth bass, and spotted bass are at or near the top in the TVA system. (The state of Tennessee advises against eating fish caught in certain areas of the lake due to PCB contamination.) The area also provides many opportunities for birdwatching, with an extremely large population of great blue herons, over 120 nesting pairs of osprey, and a few bald eagles living on or near the lake. Several parks and camps are located on the lake, including the John Knox Center and the Boy Scout facility Camp Buck Toms.</p><br>
<p>Mid-South Coliseum is a multi-purpose arena located in Memphis, Tennessee that seated 10,085 people. It was built in 1963 and closed in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Rock concerts</h3><br>
<p>The arena was one of the few stops on The Beatles final American tour. The group played two concerts there on August 19, 1966. The evening performance is infamously known as "the firecracker concert", due to a crowd member exploding a firecracker (which some thought was a gunshot) during the show. Prior to the concert, a remote television news feed, with the arena in the background, shows a Ku Klux Klansman promising "a few surprises" for the group. This interview was in response to John Lennons statement that The Beatles had become more popular than Jesus Christ.</p><br>
<p>Elvis Presley also performed at the arena. His first show was on March 16, 1974, which was his first Memphis concert since 1961. The album Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis was the concert from March 20, 1974. Elvis&#39;s last concert at the arena was on July 5, 1976. Elvis In Concert 1997 — The 20th Anniversary Concert was held at the arena and mark the first concert for the Elvis, The Concert.</p><br>
<p>Canadian singer Celine Dion performed a two-night stand at the arena on March 14 and 15, 1997 as part of her Falling Into You Around the World Tour. The shows were filmed and the concert aired on television. It was also released on VHS in November 1998 under the title Live in Memphis.</p><br>
<h3>Professional wrestling</h3><br>
<p>The Mid-South Coliseum was also well known in professional wrestling as the home base for the United States Wrestling Association and its predecessors; Jerry Lawler headlined hundreds of shows at the facility. Among many notable events, Lawler faced Terry Funk in an "empty arena fight" at the Coliseum in 1981. On April 5, 1982, Lawler piledrove comedian Andy Kaufman twice, ending a match between the two in disqualification. Kaufman was taken away in an ambulance.</p><br>
<h3>Hockey</h3><br>
<p>The Mid-South Coliseum served as the home of the original Central Hockey League team, the Memphis Wings (later the Memphis South Stars) from 1964 through 1969. To accommodate hockey, piping was installed beneath the Coliseum&#39;s floor surface. The ice was often left intact between games, allowing Memphis residents to partake in public skating.</p><br>
<p>In 1992, the Memphis RiverKings of the newly re-formed Central Hockey League brought a successful return of professional hockey to the Mid-South Coliseum, drawing good crowds from 1992–2000. Trying political circumstances prevented much needed updates from being made to the Coliseum, resulting in the RiverKings moving to the new DeSoto Civic Center, now Lander&#39;s Center, in Southaven, Mississippi in 2000.</p><br>
<h3>Indoor soccer</h3><br>
<p>The Memphis Rogues played the 1979–80 season of NASL indoor soccer at the Coliseum. The Rogues won the Western Division and went all the way to the finals, winning Game 1 of the series, 5–4 at home in front of 9,081 fans before losing Game 2 and the mini-game tie breaker to the Tampa Bay Rowdies at the Bayfront Center.</p><br>
<h2>Basketball</h2><br>
<h3>ABA Franchise: History in Memphis at the Coliseum</h3><br>
<p>The Coliseum was home to the American Basketball Association Memphis franchise. The team was called the Memphis Pros (1971–1972), the Memphis Tams (1972–1974) and the Memphis Sounds (1974–1975). After the New Orleans Buccaneers moved upriver to Memphis in 1971, the Memphis Pros struggled in their first season. The team was then purchased by baseball Oakland A&#39;s owner Charlie Finley, who renamed them the Tams and briefly hired legendary Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp as team President. After Finley sold the team, the renamed Sounds also struggled in 1974–75. The franchise left Memphis for Baltimore in 1975, becoming the Baltimore Claws and folded before playing a regular season game.</p><br>
<p>As an ABA arena the Coliseum, with the Pros and Sounds, hosted the Indiana Pacers during the 1971 Western Division Semifinals and the Kentucky Colonels during the 1975 Eastern Division Finals; the Pacers went on to win the 1971 ABA Championship and the Colonels went on to win the 1975 ABA Championship.</p><br>
<h2>Memphis Tigers</h2><br>
<p>It was home to the University of Memphis Tigers basketball team (then known as Memphis State University) before the Pyramid opened in 1991 and the Memphis RiverKings before the DeSoto Civic Center opened in 2000. The Coliseum also hosted five Metro Conference men&#39;s basketball tournaments.</p><br>
<h2>Closure</h2><br>
<p>The venue closed at the end of 2006, when Memphis and Shelby County Governments refused the request from the Mid-South Coliseum Board to pay its operating losses, which were projected to be $1 million a year. Its final event was a concert by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.</p><br>
<p>Howe Island is an island located in the St. Lawrence River east of Kingston in Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Thousand Islands chain. Together with Wolfe Island and Simcoe Island, Howe Island is part of the township of Frontenac Islands, created through municipal amalgamation in 1998.</p><br>
<p>Howe Island measures 13 km (8 mi) long and 5 km (3 mi) wide and has an area of 31 km² (12 mi²). The main channel of the St. Lawrence River passes to the south of the island, while the Bateau Channel passes on the north between the Canadian mainland and the island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Howe Island was originally named Ka-ou-enesegoan by local Iroquois and later Isle Cauchois after its first French owner Jacques Cauchois who took possession in 1685. In a proclamation by the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada John Graves Simcoe on 16 July 1792, the island was renamed from isle Cauchois to Howe island. it was named for William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, a British officer who served under General James Wolfe at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham during the Seven Years War, and first appeared on a map in 1818 following a survey by Captain (later Vice Admiral) William Fitzwilliam Owen of the Royal Navy. There is some evidence (received by oral tradition) that it was at one time also called St. Johns. There is no evidence of any permanent habitation until 1810 by a man named William Casey. In the following four decades successive waves of settlers brought many of the island&#39;s long standing families who still live or own land there.</p><br>
<p>Howe Island has a shared community of farming, as well as "cottagers". In recent years the number of full-time residents has significantly increased. The Island also has a small Roman Catholic Church- St. Philomena&#39;s.</p><br>
<h2>Demographics</h2><br>
<p>The population of Howe Island in 2011 was 602, although this figure expands in the summer months when recreational properties are occupied.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>Two ferry services connect the island to the mainland: a on the west from the community of Pitts Ferry, part of Kingston; and the on the east from Gananoque.</p><br>
<p>The Byrd Theatre is a cinema in the Carytown neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia. It was named after William Byrd II, the founder of the city. The theater opened on December 24, 1928 to much excitement and is affectionately referred to as "Richmond’s Movie Palace". It was the first cinema in Virginia to be outfitted when built with a sound system .</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Built in 1928, the theater cost $900,000 (inflation adjusted equivalent $12,430,000 in 2014) to construct. The builders were Charles Somma and Walter Coulter. The original name for the theater was the State Theater, but by the completion of the construction the name was already taken. It was then named after William Byrd II, founder of the city of Richmond.</p><br>
<p>The Byrd Theatre opened for the first time on December 24, 1928. At the time, adult tickets were 50 cents for evening shows and 25 cents for matinees, while a child’s tickets was only 10 cents. The first movie was the film "Waterfront", a First National film starring Dorothy Mackaill and Jack Mulhall. In addition, the manager at the time was Robert Coulter, who remained the manager until his retirement in 1971, and is rumored to haunt the theatre.</p><br>
<p>In 1953, the original 35mm Simplex standards were replaced by Simplex 35mm projectors and the theater now uses digital projectors as seen on a Historic Richmond 2015 tour of the projection room.</p><br>
<p>The pre-1953 arc lamp is still used to project the Byrd Theater logo on the curtain.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The theatre’s architect and contractor was Fred Bishop, and is considered to be of a French Empire style design. Inside, the theatre contains orchestra seating (main) for 916 and balcony seating for 476. The balcony is open whenever attendance requires and occasionally at other times by making a donation to the Byrd Theatre Foundation. The interior features a lavish design by the Arthur Brunet Studios of New York. In addition to eleven Czechoslovakian crystal chandeliers, including an 18-foot, two-and-a-half ton chandelier suspended over the auditorium (with over 5,000 crystals illuminated by 500 red, blue, green and amber lights), the interior features imported Italian and Turkish marble, hand-sewn velvet drapes, and oil on canvas murals of Greek mythology. More unusual features included a central vacuum system and a natural spring which used to supply water to the air conditioning system.</p><br>
<p>Built during the transition between silent and talking pictures, the designers outfitted the theatre with two sound systems. One of these was Vitaphone, a relatively new sound synchronization system using phonograph records that was commercially developed by Warner Brothers. "The Jazz Singer," generally acknowledged as the first talking film, was recorded using this system. The other original sound system was from Western Electric. Because at the time there was uncertainty whether "talkies" would continue to be popular and a significant number of the films distributed were still silent, the Byrd also included a Wurlitzer Theatre organ.</p><br>
<h3>The Wurlitzer Organ</h3><br>
<p>The Wurlitzer organ of the Byrd Theatre is housed in four rooms on the fourth floor above the stage. The basement also houses a vacuum blower for the piano and an elevator room which raises the organ console to stage level for performances. There is an electrical and pneumatic switching system that aids the organist in choosing which pipes and other devices to use (all of the pipe work, bells, drums, and other effects are acoustic and not electronic). As the sound level of the pipes themselves cannot be changed, the sound levels in the actual auditorium are controlled by large slats called swell shades that open and close to control the volume and a tone chute that carries the sound from the fourth floor.</p><br>
<p>There is a Lyon and Healy harp which is purely ornamental and does not play, along with a marimba that does play from the organ console in the right box. In the left box there is a Wurlitzer grand piano which can be played from the organ console or its own keyboard and a 37-note xylophone that plays from the console.</p><br>
<p>House organists have been Carl Rhond, Wilma Beck, Waldo S. Newberry, Slim Mathis, Bill Dalton, Harold Warner, Eddie Weaver, Art Brown, James Hughes, Lin Lunde, and Bob Lent. The Wurlitzer is still played Saturday nights by current house organist Bob Gulledge.</p><br>
<h2>Preservation</h2><br>
<p>As a result of its longevity, the Byrd Theatre was designated as a Virginia Historic Landmark in 1978, followed in 1979 by listing on the National Register of Historic Places. In 2007, the Byrd Theatre Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation, entered into a purchase agreement for the Byrd with the express purpose of restoring and preserving this theatre as a community resource.</p><br>
<p>Today the theatre still shows movies 365 days a year, and has not been re-modeled (with the exception of repairs and minor changes such as the installment of a larger screen, new digital projection equipment and a concession stand). All the seat frames are still original, and though some are torn, most of the upstairs patterned mohair-covered upholstery is still original. In 2004, Ray Dolby, who created the Dolby Digital sound system, toured the Byrd and was so impressed with the theatre that he donated a Dolby Digital sound system, which was installed in 2006.</p><br>
<p>The Byrd now plays second-run movies for $4.00 per ticket with the exception of certain festivals such as the Richmond French Film Festival, held annually in March. In 2007, the Byrd discontinued regular playing of classic movies at midnight shows on Saturday nights due to dwindling attendance. When the Theatre isn’t being used for second-run movies, the Foundation hopes to integrate cultural, educational and community aspects into the Theatre’s programming while still offering movies at reasonable prices.</p><br>
<p>In 2010, a thief stole the "Byrd Cage" donation box, probably netting less than $100 but causing about $1,200 worth of damage to the front doors. Media coverage following the event, however, inspired Richmonders to donate much needed money for the landmark.</p><br>
<p>From 2007 to 2014, the Byrd Theatre Foundation raised more than $1 million for replacing the roof, renovating the heating and cooling units, and investing in digital projection. Currently, the orchestra section&#39;s seating is being replaced with new seats which include more legroom and cupholders. Management expects the seating in the orchestra section to be fully installed by September 2017. The original seats are available through an online request form.</p><br>
<p>Great Shunner Fell is the third highest mountain in the Yorkshire Dales, North Yorkshire, England, and the highest point in Wensleydale; at 716 metres above sea level. In clear weather the summit affords views of Wensleydale to the south, Ribblesdale to the south west and Swaledale to the north, as well as views into Cumbria and County Durham beyond the A66.</p><br>
<p>The Pennine Way passes over its summit, on the way from Hawes to Keld. The popularity of this route had eroded vegetation from a strip 70 m wide across the moor, which has been alleviated since 1996 by the construction of a path made of flagstones.</p><br>
<p>The summit holds a cross-shaped windbreak of which the triangulation pillar has been built into the northern arm.</p><br>
<p>Great Sleddale Beck, which becomes the River Swale after its confluence with Birkdale Beck has its sources on the northern slopes of Great Shunner Fell, while the southern slopes drain into the River Ure and Wensleydale.</p><br>
<p>The dominating rock type in the area is limestone, but millstone grit forms outcrops extensively on Great Shunner Fell, and coal seams have also been worked on its slopes.</p><br>
<p>Great Shunner Fell is the most southerly remaining outpost in Great Britain for the yellow marsh saxifrage, Saxifraga hirculus.</p><br>
<p>Shunner.jpgThe last few yards to the summit</p><br>
<p>Great Shunner Fell 1.JPGThe summit plateau of Great Shunner Fell viewed from the south</p><br>
<p>Själö or Nagu Själö  or Seili  is a small island , off the main islands of Nagu, in the Archipelago Sea, off the south west coast of Finland. Själö is part of the municipality of Pargas. The island is known for its church and nature, a research institute and a former hospital.</p><br>
<p>An asteroid (1492 RM) has been named after the island.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Finnish name of the island, Seili, is a corruption of the Swedish Själö (seal island in English, själ being the old form of säl, or seal). The name indicates that the island has been a retreat for seals and an attraction for seal hunters in early times. Actually Själö, then and at least until the 18th century, comprised two islands separated by a shallow strait, which has disappeared because of the land rising from the sea, an after-effect of glacial compression during the last ice age.</p><br>
<p>The first hospital on Själö was established in the 1620s. Before that there were two farms on the islands belonging to the Crown and thus available when the authorities looked for a suitable island to which the leper hospital at the outskirts of Turku could be moved.</p><br>
<p>According to a Royal Decree in 1619 by King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, the buildings of the hospital in Turku, with the exception of the chapel, were burned down and the inmates transported to Själö. The Själö hospital for lepers was dedicated to St George. The last leper patient died in 1785, and the establishment on Själö became a hospital or a place of confinement for mentally afflicted people until 1962. The hospital was self-sufficient with agriculture, and fishing. The present-day buildings on the island, with the exception of the chapel (built 1733) and the rectory (built 1791), date from the 19th and the 20th centuries, and most of them have been built for the mental hospital. (source: E-M Vilho).</p><br>
<p>Currently the island hosts the Archipelago Research Institute that is a part of the University of Turku. The research is focused on the surrounding Archipelago Sea as well as the whole Baltic Sea.</p><br>
<h2>Harbours</h2><br>
<p>There is one small harbour, on the east side for the visitors (60&deg;14&prime;36&Prime;N latitude, 021&deg;57&prime;54&Prime;E longitude) and on the west side for the ferry (60&deg;14&prime;07&Prime;N latitude, 021&deg;57&prime;13&Prime;E longitude).</p><br>
<h2>Själö in popular culture</h2><br>
<p>Seili, a Finnish-language pop album by Jenni Vartiainen, is named after the island&#39;s Finnish name.</p><br>
<p>The Albany Rural Cemetery was established October 7, 1844, in Colonie, New York, just outside the city of Albany, New York. It is renowned as one of the most beautiful, pastoral cemeteries in the United States, at over 400 acre. Many historical American figures are buried there.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>On April 2, 1841, an association was formed to bring the cemetery into being. A committee of the association selected the site on April 20, 1844. The cemetery originally contained 100 acre. This portion was consecrated October 7, 1844. Daniel D. Barnard delivered the dedication address, which was one of many given at rural cemeteries across the northeast in the years from Justice Joseph Storys address at Mount Auburn Cemetery in 1831 to Lincolns Gettysburg Address in 1863. The first interment was made in May, 1845. Located near the entrance is the Louis Menand House.</p><br>
<p>In 1868, bodies from other cemeteries were removed and reinterred in Albany Rural Cemetery.</p><br>
<h2>Notable burials</h2><br>
<p>President Chester A. Arthur - the 21st President of the United States, was interred at Albany Rural Cemetery in Lot 8, Section 24, along with his wife Ellen Lewis Herndon Arthur, who had died in 1880. His memorial was designed by Ephraim Keyser and dedicated on June 15, 1889. Friends of the former president contributed a fund that provided $10,000 for the memorial and for a statue that was erected in New York City.</p><br>
<p>Erastus Corning - founder and president of the New York Central Railroad, and is located on a large circular plot in Lot 2, Section 31.</p><br>
<p>Erastus Corning 2nd - the great-grandson of Erastus Corning and the mayor of Albany for 41 years. He is also in the Corning family plot.</p><br>
<p>Anne Darling (1913-1991), actress, best known as the shepherdess in Bride of Frankenstein.</p><br>
<p>Charles Fort (1874-1932) - an American writer and researcher who specialized in anomalous phenomena. He is interred in Lot 8, Section 28.</p><br>
<p>Jack Gwillim (1909-2001), English character actor.</p><br>
<p>Daniel Manning, who died in 1887, was a journalist, politician and banker and served as Secretary of the Treasury under President Grover Cleveland. His grave is located in Lot 5, Section 27.</p><br>
<p>William L. Marcy (1786-1857), American statesman, who served as USA Senator, Governor of New York, USA Secretary of War and USA Secretary of State.</p><br>
<p>Erastus Dow Palmer, a world-renowned sculptor, is buried in Lot 15, Section 34. He worked in an Albany studio producing statuary and portrait busts for many years before he died in 1904. He produced two statues which are on exhibit at the United States Capitol Building in Washington D.C. the Robert Livingston Statue and "Peace in Bondage". Several of Mr. Palmer&#39;s works adorn markers at the cemetery, one of which is titled "The Angel at the Sepulchre" which is located in Lot 1, Section 31, or the Banks plot. Palmer also designed the granite monument at the grave of William Learned Marcy, a USA Senator and three-term Governor of New York. The monument is in Lot 94, Section 62. Marcy also served as Secretary of War under President James K. Polk and Secretary of State under President Franklin Pierce. When he died in 1857, relatives recalled that Marcy "frequently expressed the wish to be buried where he had spent so much time in reading and in contemplation".</p><br>
<p>William Paterson, USA Senator and Governor of New Jersey and a signatory to the Constitution of the United States. Paterson ended his career as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, serving until his death in 1806. He is interred in the same plot as his son-in-law, Stephen Van Rensselaer.</p><br>
<p>Rufus Wheeler Peckham (1809-1873) - New York Court of Appeals judge and USA congressman who was lost at sea. There is a cenotaph in his honor in the Peckham family plot.</p><br>
<p>Rufus Wheeler Peckham - an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in the Peckham family plot in Lot 19, Section 11.</p><br>
<p>Wheeler Hazard Peckham - a prominent New York City lawyer and a failed nominee to the Supreme Court. He is buried in the Peckham family plot in Lot 19, Section 11.</p><br>
<p>Peggy Schuyler - Sister-in-law to Alexander Hamilton.</p><br>
<p>Philip Pieterse Schuyler - progenitor of the Schuyler family, the Livingston family and the ancestor of the Bush family.</p><br>
<p>Ambrose Spencer - a prominent New York lawyer, judge and politician, is also buried nearby.</p><br>
<p>John Canfield Spencer - Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury under President John Tyler and a failed nominee to the Supreme Court, buried in the Spencer family plot.</p><br>
<p>Frances Starr (1886-1973), American stage, film and television actress.</p><br>
<p>Ebby Thacher - an early member of Alcoholics Anonymous, the best friend and sponsor of the co-founder William Wilson (Bill W.) is buried here, in Section 56, Lot 24.</p><br>
<p>Franklin Townsend (1821–1898) is buried here along with his wife. Townsend was a 19th-century industrialist, active in his family&#39;s iron business which was a branch of the Stirling Iron Works, the maker of the Hudson River Chain that prevented the British Royal Navy from sailing up the Hudson River during the American Revolutionary War. He was active in Albany politics, serving as an alderman and one term as mayor of the city. He served as adjutant general of the state of New York from 1869-1873.</p><br>
<p>John Van Buren - son of President Martin Van Buren, is buried in lot 28, section 62. John Van Buren, a handsome attorney known as "Prince John", died at sea on October 13, 1866, while on the voyage from Liverpool to New York. His grave in Lot 28, Section 62 is marked by an Italian marble cross.</p><br>
<p>General Stephen Van Rensselaer, the last patroon, who died in 1839, was founder of the scientific school which later became Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. His grave is located at Lot 1, Section 14.</p><br>
<p>Thomas Kirby Van Zandt, a noted painter of horses.</p><br>
<p>Thurlow Weed (1797-1882), New York newspaper publisher and Whig and Republican politician.</p><br>
<h2>Commemorations</h2><br>
<p>Philip Schuyler - A 36 ft-high doric column at Lot 2, Section 29 commemorates General Philip Schuyler, major general in the Continental Army, delegate to the Continental Congress, one of the first two United States senators elected from New York, and descendant of Philip Pieterse Schuyler.</p><br>
<p>Two monuments within this cemetery incorporate works in bronze by the sculptor Oscar Lenz. Lenz created The Angel of The Resurrection and frieze on the Parsons family monument, as well as the relief of a seated warrior receiving a bouquet of poppies from the Angel of Death on George Porter Hilton&#39;s mausoleum.</p><br>
<p>Hatoma  is a small island of the Yaeyama Islands, barely 1 kilometer in diameter. It is under the administration of Taketomi District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In local language, the island&#39;s name is pronounced Patuma.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Hatoma is located just north of Iriomote. It is a tiny island, with an area of just 0.96 km², a circumference of 3.8 km, and a population of roughly 60.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Hatoma has been continuously inhabited for at least several centuries, if not longer. Excavations on the island have shown that until recent times, Hatoma residents subsisted largely on shellfish gathered in the surrounding shallow waters, and vegetables.</p><br>
<p>Unlike nearby Iriomote, Hatoma was not infested by malaria; hence its long-term settlement.</p><br>
<p>In the early 1900s, Hatoma flourished as a skipjack tuna fishing port. At that time, the population of the island numbered in the hundreds. In 1968, because of the declining economic viability of skipjack tuna fishing (partly due to decreased consumption of katsuobushi due to the use of MSG in its stead), katsuobushi (dried and smoked skipjack tuna) processing facilities on the island were shut down, but the demographic decline started well before this.</p><br>
<p>With the decline of its only industry, the population of Hatoma rapidly shrank. When the population of its only school fell to just a handful, the Taketomi authorities attempted to shut it down. The island residents, however, fought to keep the school open, and succeeded by using an innovative program: households take in the children from mainland Japan who, for reasons of stress or mental difficulties, could not attend a local school, and send them to the school on Hatoma. This program, called Kaihin Ryūgaku（海浜留学） (foster homes), still survives to this day, and the school&#39;s doors remain open.</p><br>
<p>Being a small, outlying island, infrastructure was slow to come to Hatoma; the island did not receive electricity until the 1960s.</p><br>
<h2>Cultural references</h2><br>
<p>Featured in the 2005 Japanese television drama Ruri no shima (Ruri&#39;s Island), by Nippon TV.</p><br>
<p>The MacDonnell Ranges, a mountain range and an interim Australian bioregion, is located in the Northern Territory, comprising 3,929,444 hectare. The range is a 644 km long series of mountains located in the centre of Australia, and consist of parallel ridges running to the east and west of Alice Springs. The mountain range contains many spectacular gaps and gorges as well as areas of Aboriginal significance.</p><br>
<p>The ranges were named after Sir Richard MacDonnell (the Governor of South Australia at the time) by John McDouall Stuart, whose 1860 expedition reached them in April of that year. The Horn Expedition investigated the ranges as part of the scientific expedition into central Australia. Other explorers of the range included David Lindsay and John Ross.</p><br>
<p>The MacDonnell Ranges were often depicted in the paintings of Albert Namatjira.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The highest peaks are Mount Zeil with an elevation of 1,531 m AHD, Mount Liebig at 1,524 m AHD, Mount Edward at 1,423 m, Mount Giles at 1,389 m and Mount Sonder at 1,380 m AHD; the five highest mountains in the Northern Territory. The headwaters of the Todd, Finke and Sandover rivers form in the MacDonnell Ranges. The range is crossed by the Australian Overland Telegraph Line and the Stuart Highway.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>300-350 million years ago a mountain building event created the MacDonnell Ranges. Since that time, folding, faulting and erosion have shaped the range and created numerous gaps and gorges. The ranges are composed of many rock types, but are most famous for their red quartzite peaks and gorges. Other rock types include granite, limestone, sandstone and siltstone. Some of the valleys of the range contain fossil evidence of the inland sea that once covered central Australia.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>Part of the Central Ranges xeric scrub ecoregion of dry scrubby grassland the ranges are home to a large number of endemic species including the Centralian Tree Frog. This is mostly due to the micro climates that are found around the cold rock pools.</p><br>
<h2>Tourist attractions</h2><br>
<p>The West MacDonnell National Park was established in 1984 to protect the numerous parks and reserves of the range, including internal residents inside the range. It also facilitated the development of the Larapinta Trail.</p><br>
<p>To the east of Alice Springs, within an hour&#39;s drive, are sites important to the local Arrernte people, many of which contain examples of Aboriginal rock art. These include Emily Gap, Jessie Gap, Trephina Gorge and N’Dhala Gorge.</p><br>
<p>To the west of Alice Springs is the Larapinta Trail&mdash;a world-class, long distance bush walking trail that runs 223 km along the backbone of the range. Along the trail are Simpsons Gap, Standley Chasm, Ellery Creek Big Hole, Serpentine Gorge, Ochre Pits, Ormiston Pound, Redbank Gorge, Glen Helen Gorge, Tnorala Gosse Bluff, Palm Valley, Mount Sonder, Mount Zeil and Mount Giles.</p><br>
<p>Col de Restefond  is a high mountain pass in the French Alps, near the border with Italy. It is situated on the flanks of le Restefonde within the Mercantour National Park in the department of Alpes-de-Haute-Provence.</p><br>
<p>The actual pass is situated on a gravel track leading off the D64 close to its summit at the Col de la Bonette (2715 m). The passage over the Col de la Bonette is often mistakenly referred to as the Col de Restefond, and in the 2008 Tour de France the summit was referred to as the Cime de la Bonette-Restefond. Stage 16 of the tour approached the summit from Saint-Étienne-de-Tinée (south-east), and after reaching the Col de la Bonette, took a loop round the Cime de la Bonette reaching the summit of 2802 m, which is the highest point reached by the Tour de France, before re-passing the Col de la Bonette. On the descent to Jausiers, the actual Col de Restefond was passed on the right approximately 1 km from the summit.</p><br>
<p>This pass, like many others in the region, is generally impassable due to ice and snow from November to May.</p><br>
<p>Close by are various ancient blockhouses, remnants of the Maginot Line&#39;s Alpine extension, the Alpine Line. The Ouvrage Col de Restefond consisted of three infantry blocks facing Italy.</p><br>
<p>St. Martins Island  is a small island  in the northeastern part of the Bay of Bengal, about 9 km south of the tip of the Coxs Bazar-Teknaf peninsula, and forming the southernmost part of Bangladesh. There is a small adjoining island that is separated at high tide, called Chera Dwip. It is about 8 km west of the northwest coast of Myanmar, at the mouth of the Naf River.</p><br>
<p>The first settlement started 250 years ago by Arabian sailors who named the island Jazeera. During British occupation the island was named St. Martin Island. During the First Anglo-Burmese War between the British and Burmese empires in 1824–1826, rival claims to the island were a major factor. The local names of the island are "Narikel jinjira" which means Coconut Island in Bengali, and "Daruchini Dwip" which means "Cinnamon island" in Bengali. It is the only coral island in Bangladesh.</p><br>
<h2>Inhabitants</h2><br>
<p>Most of the islands approximately 3,700 inhabitants live primarily from fishing. The other staple crops are rice and coconut. Being very common on the island, algae are collected, dried, and exported to Myanmar. Between October and April, the fishermen from neighboring areas bring their caught fishes to the islands temporary wholesale market. However, imports of chicken, meat and other foods come in from the mainland Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma). As the centre and the south are mainly farmland and makeshift huts, most of the permanent structures are around the far north.</p><br>
<p>During the rainy season, because of the dangerous conditions on the Bay of Bengal, the inhabitants have no scope to go to the mainland (Teknaf) and their life can become dangerous. There is a hospital on the island, but in the past there has often been no doctor.</p><br>
<h2>Transportation</h2><br>
<p>The only way to reach St. Martin&#39;s Island is by water transportation: boats and ships (mostly for tourists) from Teknaf. The only internal transport for island is non motorized van (pulled by man.) The roads are made of concrete, and their condition are decent. All the hotels run generators until 11 PM which are not allowed afterwards, so they then rely on solar power, which is popular throughout the island. There is no electricity supply from the national grid since a hurricane in 1999. The island is all about sun, sea and palm trees. During the day, it comes alive with water and beach sports, with beach parties and bonfires lighting up the evening skies.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>From 1989 to 2004, non-residential Bangladeshis and foreigners were the only people permitted on the island; however, this has changed and now residential Bangladeshis are allowed. St. Martins Island has become a popular tourist spot. Five shipping liners run daily trips to the island, including Shahid Sher Niabat, L C T Kutubdia, Eagle, Keari Cruise & Dine, and Keari-Sindbad. Tourists can book their trip either from Chittagong or from Coxs Bazar. The surrounding coral reef has an extension named Chera Dwip. A small bush is there, which is the only green part, enhancing the beauty of this island. People do not live on this part, so it is advisable for the tourists to go there early and come back by afternoon.</p><br>
<p>In the past five years St. Martin&#39;s visitor population has increased dramatically. While this situation has proven to be lucrative for the islanders, it is causing the natural beauty to deteriorate. Presently there are many efforts being put forth to preserve the several endangered species of turtles that nest on the island, as well as the corals, some of which are found only on Narikel Jinjira. Pieces of the coral reef are being removed to be sold to tourists. Nesting turtles are sometimes taken for food, and their hatchlings are often distracted by the twinkling lights along the beach. Fish, a few recently discovered, are being overfished. Every year the fishermen must venture further out to sea to get their catch. Most of them use motorless boats.</p><br>
<p>It is possible to walk around the island in a day because it measures only 8 km (3 sq. mile), shrinking to about 5 km (2 sq. mi) during high tide. The island exists only because of its coral base, so removal of that coral risks erosion of the beach. Because of this, St. Martin&#39;s has lost roughly 25% of its coral reef in the past seven years.</p><br>
<h2>Shootings of St. Martin's fishermen</h2><br>
<p>Fishing is one of largest professional activities of St. Martins Islands 5,500 residents; however, territorial disputes between Myanmar and Bangladesh have resulted in a state of tension between the countries that can erupt into violence, often targeting unarmed Bangladeshi fishermen. Below is a brief summary of shooting incidents against St. Martin&#39;s fishermen:</p><br>
<p>On October 7, 1998 between three and five Bangladeshi fishermen were killed by Burmese Navy forces just off the coast of St. Martin&#39;s Island.</p><br>
<p>On September 8, 1999 one Bangladeshi fisherman was shot and killed by Burmese Navy forces near St. Martins Island. Nine crewmen from the victims fishing boat abandoned it, swam for their lives, and were rescued by Bangladeshi forces. The Bangladeshi government lodged a formal protest note to Myanmar.</p><br>
<p>On August 20, 2000 the Bangladeshi police reported that Burmese border guards had shot and killed four Bangladeshi fishermen off the coast of St. Martin&#39;s Island.</p><br>
<p>In 2011 pirates attacked fishermen 5 km off the coast of St. Martin&#39;s Island and killed four of them.</p><br>
<h2>Climate and weather</h2><br>
<p>The best weather is usually between November and February; this is the major tourist season. Between March and July, cyclones can strike. The island was devastated by a cyclone in 1991 but has fully recovered, and was untouched by the 2004 tsunami. Thus, March to July is off-season for tourists.</p><br>
<p>Loch Eil  is a sea loch in Lochaber, Scotland that opens into Loch Linnhe near the town of Fort William.</p><br>
<p>".. the name of the Chief of Clan Cameron is spelt LOCHIEL, while the name of the loch is spelt LOCH EIL,.."</p><br>
<p>Loch Eil Outward Bound railway station and Locheilside railway station are both situated on the northern shore of the loch. Achaphubuil is on the southern shore.(Gaelic : Achadh a&#39; phubùill : Field of the booth or tent)</p><br>
<p>Lochiel was a historic place east of Fassfern on the north shore of Loch Eil. The place was home to Jacobite chieftain Donald Cameron, of Lochiel.</p><br>
<p>The earliest known residence of the chiefs of Clan Cameron was on Eilean nan Craobh (The island of the trees) just outside the entrance to Loch Eil. They moved from there to Tor Castle in the 17th century and later to Achnacarry. The island has now become part of harbour works.</p><br>
<p>Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe are joined by narrows at Annat where a paper mill once stood and where there is a now a large timber yard.</p><br>
<p>Loch Morlich  is a freshwater loch in the Badenoch and Strathspey area of Highland, Scotland near Aviemore. The loch is home to a watersports centre with kayaking, sailing and windsurfing among the activities available. There is also a yacht club and cycling routes around the loch. The loch is at the foot of the Cairngorm mountains, just a few miles from Aviemore.</p><br>
<p>Long stretches of its shoreline are formed of sandy beaches. In 2009 these beaches received a Seaside Award by the Keep Scotland Beautiful (KSB) campaign, the first time that this had been given to a fresh water loch. At 300 metres above sea level it also became the highest beach to be given this award.</p><br>
<p>When examined closely the sand of these beaches contains large amounts of broken glass. However, this glass does not come from careless tourists discarding bottles irresponsibly, but is in fact left over from the Second World War when the area around Loch Morlich was used as a commando school. In particular it was used as a training area for the Kompani Linge (the Norwegian Independent (army) Company, trained by the British Special Operations Executive) because of the close resemblance of the area, both in landscape and climate, to Norway. A memorial to the Kompani Linge can be found outside the Glenmore Forest Park visitor centre.</p><br>
<p>The Parque de Bombas  is a historic firehouse building in Ponce, Puerto Rico. It is one of Puerto Ricos most notable buildings, with some considering it "by far the most easily recognized landmark in the Island." It is located at the Plaza Las Delicias town square, directly behind the Ponce Cathedral. The building housed the citys main fire station for many years, and it is now a museum. Its name comes from the mobile hand-pumped fire fighting units the building once housed. It has been heralded both for its historical and architectural roles in Puerto Rican society. It was Puerto Rico&#39;s first ever fire station. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on July 12, 1984.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Original purpose</h3><br>
<p>The structure was built as the main exhibit pavilion for the 1882 Exhibition Trade Fair. A Spanish Army soldier, Lt. Colonel Maximo de Meana y Guridi who happened to be a professional architect, was commissioned in Puerto Rico at the time. The Madrid-based central government assigned Meana the task of designing and constructing the building. The building was unveiled during the 1882 Ponce World Fair. The festival&#39;s participants used the building as its main pavilion. The first brigade of firemen to work in the building were stationed on 2 February 1883.</p><br>
<h3>Fire history</h3><br>
<p>Major fires took place in the city on February 27, 1820, and again in March 1845. Meana became mayor of Ponce in 1882, and in 1885, the station went on to become Ponce&#39;s official fire station. Thus every firefighting operation in Ponce and adjacent towns was dispatched from the Parque de Bombas.</p><br>
<h3>The "El Polvorin" fire</h3><br>
<p>On January 25, 1899, a large fire (later dubbed "El Polvorin") threatened the lives of Ponceños, as well as the economy of Puerto Rico as a whole, given Ponces de facto role as Puerto Ricos banking and agricultural capital. A painting inside Parque de Bombas commemorates the heroic acts of seven valiant "bomberos" and a civilian who fought bravely against the voracious fire that threatened the region. Disobeying orders from the American troops that had recently taken control of Puerto Rico, the group was able to appease flames that had started inside the USA Army’s gunpowder reserves. Due to their courageous efforts, disaster was narrowly averted. For their success, the group was honored many times both in Ponce and the rest of Puerto Rico. A few yards from Parque de Bombas, on Plaza Federico Degetau, sits an obelisk to their memory, and at the Cementerio Civil de Ponce (Ponce Civil Cemetery) a mausoleum was erected in 1911 to their memory where all seven heroes were eventually interred. Later on, the Parque de Bombas building was painted in Ponce&#39;s traditional city colors, red and black. A series of homes built a few years later for the firefighters and their families on 25 de Enero Street were also painted in these colors also.</p><br>
<h3>Turned into a museum</h3><br>
<p>The station continued to serve the city of Ponce until 1990, lasting a total of 108 years as a fire station. On that year, the stations fire-fighting duties were fully transferred to another nearby station, and the building was officially converted into a fire-fighting museum. The architect in charge of its restoration was Pablo Ojeda ONeill. Nowadays, a photo of the 1883 firefighters hangs on the walls of the Parque de Bombas building. In 1983, the 100th anniversary of the brigades victory over the infamous fire was commemorated at the station. Various artifacts used by the 1882 fire brigade are on display at the current museum. Among these are some artifacts used to combat the 1883 fire. There are also artifacts of historical significance. Even before its 1990 closure, the station had already become a major tourist attraction, and some of the firemen would give visitors free station tours voluntarily when they were not attending emergencies. The Ponce firefighters museum is still known generally as Parque de Bombas and, according to some estimates, it is one of Ponce&#39;s most visited tourist attractions.</p><br>
<h2>Significance</h2><br>
<p>In 1820, two great fires affected the city of Ponce. One destroyed great part of the center of the city; and the other gutted 80% of Ponce&#39;s port zone, paralyzing all commercial trade to the southern section of Puerto Rico. Because of this problem and public concern, in 1853, a voluntary but official firemen service was created for the urban area of Ponce. It was named the Municipal Firemen Service Force. Its mission was to fight and prevent fires.</p><br>
<p>During the month of July 1882, Ponce was the center of attention in Puerto Rico, as an important Exhibition Trade Fair was being celebrated. The main exhibit pavilion, dedicated to agricultural and industrial exhibits, was commissioned to Maximo Meana, Lieutenant Colonel of the Spanish Militia, and later, Mayor of the city. The Moorish influence is manifested immediately for its basic rectangular plan with towers at its front corners: the active facade ornamentation, its long and narrow windows with fans at its top, its bright colorful paint application, among others, typifies a strong Moorish influence. In 1885, the building was dedicated as Ponces official firehouse. In 1920, it was used briefly as the Mayors office as a result of the earthquake that affected the city during that year.</p><br>
<p>Since 1885, Parque de Bombas has been, and it is, an important cultural institution in Ponce. Its colors represent the city, its unique style represents a progressive and dynamic cultural center. The Banda Municipal de Ponce (formerly, the Fireman&#39;s Band), originally played weekly concerts from an open second floor stage attached to Parque de Bombas, now continues its plays every Sunday evening. Called "Retretas", they are part of a cultural program and tradition of the city of Ponce. The structure’s extremely unusual format represents the brave firemen of Ponce, and its history. An inscription at Parque de Bombas reads,</p><br>
<p>"This building is a symbol and commemoration of the importance vested by the residents of Ponce in the service, self-denial and courage of the Ponce Firefighters Corps. It is for this reason that the Ponce Firefighters Corps remains symbolically on this Plaza, in the heart of the city of Ponce."</p><br>
<p>In 1943, the Firemen Services of Puerto Rico was created by legislation. Its main commitment is to extinguish fires, prevent fires, rescue services in natural disasters or emergencies, and to service the community.</p><br>
<h2>Physical appearance</h2><br>
<p>The basic plan of the Parque de Bombas is a typical rectangular Moorish structure with influence of the Gothic Victorian style, measuring 65-8" in width by 26-3" in length. It is two stories high with a tower at each corner of the front facade (Marina Street).</p><br>
<p>The building is located in the city&#39;s central "Las Delicias Plaza" and it is attached to the Cathedral of Ponce at its rear boundary. Structurally, it is a wooden frame building with a pitched roof covered with galvanized zinc sheets. Exterior cladding is horizontal 1" by 6" wooden siding. Doors and windows are wooden. The windows are of the fixed louvered type, long, narrow, and crowned by an oversized fixed fan light.</p><br>
<p>The Moorish and Gothic Victorian influence is manifested immediately for its rectangular plan with towers at its front corners; its decorative composite curved moldings which follows the contour of the roof overhang throughout the entire structure; its colorful paint application (the building is painted in horizontal bands following the exterior cladding alternating Ponces official colors, red and black; the interior is also painted very colorful, alternating vertical bands of red and orange that decorates the walls and a painted frieze with firemans motif culminates the interior wall decoration); and the use of long and narrow windows with fans at its top; among other details typifies a Moorish style.</p><br>
<p>The building&#39;s layout is a large, central space, flanked by two lateral towers, two stories in height, which opens to the main central area. The main central area is used as garage facilities for the fire trucks, and the two lateral towers are used as living quarters and exhibition areas. An elegant central two-sided stairway with elaborated cast iron railing leads to a mezzanine area used as administrative offices.</p><br>
<p>Some interior partitions were removed from the first floor when the structure was altered for its new use as a firehouse in order to accommodate the machinery. The building has been kept in good condition throughout the years.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The Parque de Bombas building is located in what is known in Puerto Rico, Spain, and most of Latin America as a town plaza. A town plazas layout usually includes water fountains, trees, benches, and walkways flanking a catholic church. The Parque de Bombas itself is adjacent to Ponces Roman Catholic cathedral.</p><br>
<p>The station-turned-museum reflects the architectural style of 1880s Spain. It is mostly made of wood, and it resembles a Gothic castle or a Spaniard mansion of that era. The station is painted with red and black stripes. Two stairs that are located on opposite sides highlight the entrance to the museum. Tourists can observe firefighting technology on the building&#39;s second floor.</p><br>
<h2>Homage to firefighters</h2><br>
<p>The city erected a monument at Cementerio Civil to the memory of its firefighters. The inscription at the entrance of the monument reads as follows:</p><br>
<p>Mount Saskatchewan  is a mountain located in the extreme southwestern corner of Yukon in Kluane National Park and Reserve. The peak was named in 1967 for the province of Saskatchewan to mark Canada&#39;s centennial.</p><br>
<p>As of 2012, the mountain is the only peak named after a Canadian province or territory – there are 11 others in the Yukon&#39;s Centennial Range – that remains unclimbed.</p><br>
<h2>Attempted ascents</h2><br>
<p>The first attempt to climb the mountain was made in 1967 as part of the centennial celebrations. A team from Saskatchewan made a second attempt in May 2005 to celebrate the centennial of the province. However, warmer than usual weather conditions and difficulties in finding a relatively safe route rebuffed the attempt, which was made after a 35-km glacial approach. A third unsuccessful attempt was made in 2007.</p><br>
<p>In 2012, a team from Saskatchewan composed of Steve Whittington, Jeff Dmytrowich, Sam Unger and Wren Rabut attempted to climb the peak, with the same base camp as was used in 1967. Their attempt commenced on May 18, but the group was forced to turn back after climbing to about 3,200 m. Numerous crevasse falls and weather conditions hampered the group&#39;s efforts to reach the summit.</p><br>
<p>In early spring 2013 the Swedish team of Benny Elofsson, Joel Johansson and Axel Palmcrantz tried to climb Mt. Saskatchewan from north via Chitina Glacier. They did not find a secure route and had to abandon their climb of the mountain. Two other, presumaby unclimbed peaks nearby were summited instead.</p><br>
<p>Mount Matthews is the highest peak in the Rimutaka Range to the east of Wellington, New Zealand. Mt Matthews reaches a height of 940 metres and although not special on that account, it has significance in regard to its distinctive aspect as seen from the capital; it is the highest peak that can be seen on the sky line east of the city. The mountain reaches just above the bushline and can be climbed as a day hike without mountaineering equipment but is nevertheless a strenuous and steep climb and a full day should be allowed by the time access to the feet of the ranges is included. Access is gained either from the Wairarapa  side of the Rimutakas or from the Orongorongo River on the Wellington side of the range. New Zealand archaeologist George Leslie Adkin was a notable climber of Mount Matthews. The species Rhypodes chinai is also native to Mount Matthews.</p><br>
