<p>The Spitzkoppe , is a group of bald granite peaks or inselbergs located between Usakos and Swakopmund in the Namib desert of Namibia. The granite is more than 120 million years old and the highest outcrop rises about 1,784 m above sea level. The peaks stand out dramatically from the flat surrounding plains. The highest peak is about 700 m above the floor of the desert below. A minor peak – the Little Spitzkoppe – lies nearby at an elevation of 1,584 m. Other prominences stretch out into a range known as the Pontok Mountains.</p><br>
<p>Many examples of Bushmen artwork can be seen painted on the rock in the Spitzkoppe area. The Spitzkoppe Mountains were also the filming location for 2001: A Space Odyssey in the "Dawn of Man" sequences.</p><br>
<h2>History of ascent</h2><br>
<p>Any ascent of the peak involves exposed and delicate rock climbing of a high grade. While the standard route up the peak is not severely difficult in modern technical terms, it presented quite a formidable undertaking in the earliest days, owing to the isolation of the peak, the heat of the desert and the total lack of water.</p><br>
<p>Before the First World War what is now Namibia was German South-West Africa. It is possible that the main peak was reached as early as 1904, when a soldier of the Imperial Schutztruppe supposedly soloed the peak and made a fire on the summit. What he may have burned remains a mystery, as there is absolutely no natural fuel of any kind on the upper parts of the peak. The legend suggests that he never returned and that his body was never recovered. Certainly, no proof of his conquest is available today. The first documented conquest was made by a team of climbers from Cape Town, led by S. le Roux. The next party – O&#39;Neil, Shipley and Schaff – pioneered a route up the northern extremes of the peak, after having failed on the southwest ridge. They gained access to the gully now known as the "scramble" but ran out of time to attempt the final faces. Four days later they made another attempt but finally gave up. Some of the earliest climbers, defeated by an extraordinarily smooth band of granite only about 3m high, resorted to carving steps into the rock with a hammer and chisel.</p><br>
<p>A few months later Hans and Else Wong and Jannie de Villiers Graaff arrived and they reached the summit at noon, in November 1946. For the next quarter of a century the mountain maintained its reputation of presenting a two- or three-day struggle to potential climbers. (There are accounts of these ascents in old volumes of the Journal of The Mountain Club of South Africa – one of which can be found at ).</p><br>
<p>This era came to an end in 1971, when the peak was climbed in four hours by a party led by J. W. Marchant from the University of Cape Town Mountain and Ski Club. Included were the talented South African climber Gabriel Athiros and Oliver Stansfield from England. This team scaled all of the lower pitches without ropes and got through the difficult band without using the artificial steps hacked into the granite. They descended from the peak in two hours and as they reached the base rain began to fall for the first time in over a year.</p><br>
<p>The modern era commenced. E. Haber, together with A. Lombard, C. Ward and Holding completed the first direct ascent of the South West Wall. They began their endeavours in 1977 but did not succeed in finishing the route before 1982. M. Cartwright and M. Hislop freed the route in 1988, giving it a grade of 22, which was later revised to 24. C. Edelstein and G. Mallory left their mark in 1983 by completing "Royale Flush", another monster route that was freed only in 2000 by J. Wamsteker and S. Wallis. During 1991 M. Cartwright, K. Smith and M. Seegers put up a difficult route named INXS graded 24 left of the South West Wall route.</p><br>
<h2>General development and history</h2><br>
<p>In 1896, a trading post named Spitzkopje was built below the mountain by the German Colonial Society, the centrepiece of a 120,000-hectare farm. The Society built a five-room farmhouse and stables, storerooms and other outbuildings. In 1899 the farm held 120 horses, 1,500 cattle and 4,000 sheep and goats; its manager was a German settler named Carl Schlettwein.Later it was transferred to the Farmer Jooste and a police station was built (the foundation walls are still under Pontok 4 chroma noise).</p><br>
<p>In 1964, under the "Odendaal Plan" of the Odendaal Commission for the creation of home territories (home lands) for the black population, the farm was expropriated with compensation. In 1970 they moved multiple Damara families here, which were in fact a village with a church and school development. Since 1998, the municipal campsite and the area was declared as Gaingu Conservancy on 7 September 2003 around the Great Spitzkoppe. A Hollywood film company erected a high game fence which cuts off the entire area between the large Spitzkoppe and Spitzkoppe Pontoks. This represents about half of the camping places which ceased to exist, access to many climbing rocks and also the normal route to the Great Spitzkoppe barred. The popular Circumnavigation of the Great Spitzkoppe (1–1.5 hours) is no longer possible.</p><br>
<p>"Bushman Paradise" made accessible through a gate with chains, has lost its attractiveness, as almost all of the 2000- to 4000-year-old prehistoric rock paintings have been destroyed. Around the foot of the Great Spitzkoppe you can still find good drawings, especially at the "Rhino Rock".</p><br>
<p>The Saigon River  is a river located in southern Vietnam that rises near Phum Daung in southeastern Cambodia, flows south and south-southeast for about 140 mi and empties into the Soài Rạp, which in its turn empties into the East Sea some 20 km northeast of the Mekong Delta.</p><br>
<p>The Saigon River is joined 18 mi northeast of Ho Chi Minh City (formerly named Saigon) by the Đồng Nai river, and just above Ho Chi Minh City it is joined by the Ben Cat River. Saigon River is important to Ho Chi Minh City as it is the main water supply as well as the host of Saigon Port, which a total cargo volume load/outloaded of more than 35 million metric tons in 2006.</p><br>
<p>The Bình Quới Tourist Village is located on the Thanh Da peninsula on the Saigon River, in the Bình Thạnh District of Ho Chi Minh City.</p><br>
<p>Thủ Thiêm Tunnel, an underwater tunnel passing below the Saigon River, was open to traffic on November 20, 2011. It has been the longest cross-river tunnel in Southeast Asia since its completion.</p><br>
<p>Gomal River  is a 400 km long river in Afghanistan and Pakistan.</p><br>
<p>The river lends its name to the Gomal University in Dera Ismail Khan and the like-named Gomal District in Paktika Province of Afghanistan.</p><br>
<h2>Course</h2><br>
<p>Gomal Rivers headwaters are located south-east of Ghazni. The springs which form the headwaters of the Gomals main branch emerge above the fort at Babakarkol in Katawaz, a district inhabited by Ghilji Pashtuns from the Kharoti and Sulaimankhel clans, in Paktika Province. The Gomal&#39;s other branch, the "Second Gomal", joins the main channel about 14 miles below its source. The Gomal flows southeast through eastern Ghilji country for approximately 110 miles before it merges with the Zhob River, its major tributary, near Khajuri Kach. It is about 100 miles from the Zhob River to the Indus River.</p><br>
<p>Within Pakistan, the Gomal river surrounds the South Waziristan agency and forms the boundary between Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. From South Waziristan, the river enters the Gomal Valley in the district of Tank, Pakistan at a place known as Girdavi, Murtuza which is inhabited by the Miani tribe. It is mainly here that the water of Gomal is used to cultivate the lands in Gomal Valley through Zam System (Rod Kohi). The river passes then through the Damaan plain in Kulachi Tehsil and later on through Dera Ismail Khan Tehsil, It then joins the Indus River 20 miles south of Dera Ismail Khan.</p><br>
<h2>Gomal Zam Dam</h2><br>
<p>The daming of this river at Khajuri Kachh was envisaged as back as 1898, even after its administrative approval by the Government of Pakistan in 1963. Work on the Gomal Zam Dam was stopped in 1965; not to restart till 2001 during the rule of Pervez Musharraf. while it was opened in 2013.</p><br>
<p>There is also a street in E-7, Islamabad called the "Gomal Road".</p><br>
<p>Geographe Bay is in the south-west of Western Australia around 220 km southwest of Perth.</p><br>
<p>The bay was named in May 1801 by French explorer Nicolas Baudin; Baudin named the bay after his ship, Géographe. The bay is a wide curve of coastline extending from Cape Naturaliste past the towns of Dunsborough and Busselton, ending near the city of Bunbury. The bay is protected from the rough seas of the Indian Ocean by Cape Naturaliste (named after Naturaliste), which makes it a popular destination for recreational boaters. The bay is extremely shallow, limiting the entrance of large ships. To alleviate this problem the two-kilometre-long Busselton Jetty, the longest in the southern hemisphere, was built.</p><br>
<p>The Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Swan was sunk in the bay off the town of Dunsborough on 14 December 1997, for use as a dive wreck.</p><br>
<p>The bay attracts whale watchers, who see it as an alternative to Flinders Bay.</p><br>
<p>The north west part of the bay is the location of a number surf breaks.</p><br>
<p>The environment of the drainage systems into the bay, and the bay itself have attracted research and studies.</p><br>
<p>The Coeur d&#39;Alene Mountains are the northwestern-most portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains, located in northern Idaho and westernmost Montana in the Western United States.</p><br>
<p>The mountain range spans an area of 2,590 square miles and its two highest peaks are the 7,352 ft Cherry Peak and the 6,837 ft Patricks Knob.</p><br>
<p>The range is named after the Coeur d&#39;Alene Tribe.</p><br>
<p>Several decent-sized roadless areas exist in the Montana portion of the Coeur dAlenes. Around 43,000 acres of roadless country centered on 5,980 Mt. Bushnell, south of Thompson Falls, provides good habitat for deer, and mountain lion. This area is/was densely forested with lodgepole pine generated from the Great Fire of 1910. Thirty miles of trails provide good hiking opportunities in this roadless area. Talus slopes, grassy parks in the highest reaches, and boggy creek bottoms characterize the landscape here in addition to the forests. Lush riparian areas are home to the Coeur d&#39;Alene Salamander and tailed frog.</p><br>
<p>Just east of the Mt. Bushnell area is approximately 40,000 acres of roadless land centered on Cherry Peak, highest in the Coeur dAlenes. Vertical relief exceeds 4,500 in less than two miles from the Clark Fork River to this areas highest peaks. Several tiny alpine lakes are hidden in cirque basins on Eddy Mountain. Subalpine fir and devils club are commonly found.</p><br>
<p>Another 18,000 acres are roadless around Patricks Knob. This area contains thick forests of Douglas-fir and larch in the west and scattered trees in the east; a large and commonly seen herd of bighorn sheep winters here. An old bootleggers cabin is located on Fourteen Mile Creek.</p><br>
<p>Castle Ward is an 18th-century National Trust property located near the village of Strangford, in County Down, Northern Ireland, in the townland of the same name. It overlooks Strangford Lough and is 7 miles from Downpatrick and 1.5 miles from Strangford.</p><br>
<p>Castle Ward is open to the public and includes 332 hectare of landscaped gardens, a fortified tower house, Victorian laundry, theatre, restaurant, shop, saw mill and a working corn mill. It has a shore on Strangford Lough. From 1985 to 2010 it has also hosted Castleward Opera, an annual summer opera festival.</p><br>
<h2>Features</h2><br>
<p>The most interesting aspect of Castle Ward is that of its dual architecture, representing the differing tastes of Lord Bangor and his wife, Lady Ann Bligh. While the entrance side of the building is done in a classical Palladian style with columns supporting a triangular pediment, the opposite side is Georgian Gothic with pointed windows, battlements and finials. This differences in style continue throughout the interior of the house with the divide down the centre.</p><br>
<p>There is a tower house in the estate&#39;s farmyard, built as a defensive structure during 1610 by Nicholas Ward.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Castle Ward has been the home of the Ward family since ca. 1570. Known originally as Carrick na Sheannagh and owned by the Earls of Kildare, it was bought by Bernard Ward, father of Sir Robert Ward, Surveyor-General of Ireland. The 850 acre walled demesne also dates from the 16th century. The Ward family built a succession of homes in their estate; Old Castle Ward, built about 1590 near to Strangford Lough, still survives, but a mansion built about 1720 by Judge Michael Ward was demolished about 1850, although some of the associated landscaping remains.</p><br>
<p>The architect of the current building, built during the early 1760s for Michael Ward&#39;s son Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor is unknown, although he may have come from the Bristol area, with which the Ward family had associations. It may have been James Bridges who practiced in Bristol between 1757 and 1763 and whose work there has some similarity to Castle Ward.</p><br>
<p>The property was inherited by a settlement made during 1748 by Bernard Wards eldest son, Nicholas, 2nd Viscount Bangor, who was clearly insane. When his younger brother, Edward, died during 1812 leaving a young son, the youngest brother Robert took the opportunity to relocate the insane Nicholas into a smaller house in Downpatrick and strip Castle Ward of everything valuable. The house stood empty until the death of Nicholas during 1827, when it was inherited by Edwards son, now the 3rd Viscount. He and his descendants restored the building and its furnishings, but on the death of the 6th Viscount during 1950 the house and estate were given in lieu of death duties to the Government of Northern Ireland, who presented the house and its gardens to the National Trust during 1952.</p><br>
<p>On 10 February 1973, Leonard O&#39;Hanlon (age 23) and Vivienne Fitzsimmons (age 17), both members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army, were killed in a premature bomb explosion in the grounds of Castle Ward estate.</p><br>
<p>Lake Steilacoom is a reservoir approximately 4 km  southwest of Tacoma in Pierce County, Washington, United States. Its boundaries lie entirely within the city of Lakewood, Washington. The reservoir covers approximately 306 acre, has a mean depth of 11 ft and a maximum depth of 20 ft. Lake Steilacoom is a freshwater lake and drains into Puget Sound via Chambers Creek, which begins at its northern tip. The lake is fed at its southeastern end by two creeks: Ponce de Leon Creek, which originates in springs below what is now Lakewood Towne Center, as well as Clover Creek which flows from its source near Frederickson to the lake.</p><br>
<p>The reservoir was created in 1853 when Andrew Byrd built a dam across Chambers Creek, flooding what had previously been a small pond in a wetland. The dam was used for his sawmill (also built in 1853) and a grist mill (100 yards downstream, in 1857). A public boat launch can be found on the eastern shore in Edgewater Park.</p><br>
<p>The smaller pond was known as Lake Wyatchew prior to the dams installation, and was briefly known later as Byrds lake.</p><br>
<p>The Rhodesleigh mansion is located by the lake.</p><br>
<p>The Nisqually Indians say this lake was possessed by an evil female monster known as Whe-atchee. Legends of the creature attacking people go back over a century. To this day, Nisqually refuse to fish or swim here.</p><br>
<p>Waughop Lake is a lake less than 1.6 km  east of Steilacoom in Pierce County, Washington, United States. The lake lies within Fort Steilacoom Park, in the city of Lakewood, Washington. Waughop Lake has a surface area of approximately 33 acre and a mean depth of 7 ft. The lake is fed by groundwater and has no surface drainage channels.</p><br>
<p>The lake is named after Dr. John Wesley Waughop, former superintendent of the Washington State Hospital for the Insane. The hospital, now known as Western State Hospital, lies across from the park on Steilacoom Boulevard SW. The lake is circled by a 9/10 mile paved loop trail.</p><br>
<p>Waughop Lake is refilled with trout that, unless caught, die within a few weeks. One of the primary researchers of this lake, Michele La Fontaine, has done studies on the algae and dissolved oxygen content. The depth fluctuates about 2 ft a year, gaining 2 feet in winter and losing 2 feet due to evaporation. The algae is fed by nitrogen, supplied by the duck droppings which the lake has plenty of. There are serious algae blooms, and it is not advisable to come into contact with the water.</p><br>
<p>Wright Park is a 27 acre arboretum and public park located in Tacoma, Washington, that is managed by Metro Parks Tacoma. The park was designed by Bavarian landscape architect Edward Otto Schwagerl.</p><br>
<p>The arboretum contains over 700 mature trees, representing about 100 native and exotic species.</p><br>
<p>The W. W. Seymour Botanical Conservatory is a Victorian-style conservatory located in Wright Park. Built in 1907, it was named in honor of donor William W. Seymour. Its wings and twelve-sided central dome contain some 3,500 panes of glass. Six sculptures created by former conservator Clarence Deming rest among the plants and reflect African, Māori, and Aztec traditions.</p><br>
<p>The conservatory contains more than 550 plant species in its permanent collection, including agapanthus, azaleas, bromeliads, cacti, clivias, cymbidium, epiphyllum, ferns, figs, more than 200 orchids, palms, and rhododendrons. It also contains a rotating exhibit of floral displays that generally features between 300-500 blooming plants at any given time.</p><br>
<p>The conservatory was featured in several scenes in the 1992 film The Hand that Rocks the Cradle, starring Annabella Sciorra and Rebecca De Mornay and directed by Curtis Hanson.</p><br>
<p>Goecha La  is a high mountain pass in Sikkim, India in the Himalaya range.</p><br>
<p>The southeast face of Mt. Kanchenjunga, the world&#39;s third highest mountain, can be viewed from the pass, which is also a base camp for those aspiring to scale the mountain. They say that when the government authorities first saw the view from Goecha La, they were so moved by the view that they decided to feature it on the Rs.100 note.</p><br>
<h2>Trekking</h2><br>
<p>Trekking through the Kanchenjunga National Park, in one of the greenest regions in the world, remains one of the top things to do for any holiday maker in the Himalayas. Untouched by any effluence, these forests support a fine ecosystem, with numerous species of unusual flora and fauna. The weather remains clear during the winters and dramatic during the pre-monsoon season, with misty clouds that play around with your imagination. The whole eco-system is maintained in harmony and no single tree stands unaccompanied!</p><br>
<p>The trek itself can be challenging in terms of distances to be covered in a day. One needs to get properly acclimatized due to the huge changes in altitude over a small time during this trek, which is also another reason for its popularity. However, once you get walking it becomes easy to tackle the challenging distances.</p><br>
<p>List of Himalayan peaks seen on Goechala Trek from Dzongri Top, Thansing and Goechala:</p><br>
<p>Kanchenjunga ( 8586m ),</p><br>
<p>Talung ( 7349m ),</p><br>
<p>Rathong ( 6679m ),</p><br>
<p>Kabru N ( 7353m ),</p><br>
<p>Koktang ( 6147m ),</p><br>
<p>Simvo ( 6812m ),</p><br>
<p>Kabru S ( 7318m ),</p><br>
<p>Kabru Dome ( 6600m ),</p><br>
<p>Kabru Forked ( 6100m ),</p><br>
<p>Pandim ( 6691m ),</p><br>
<p>Tenchenkhang ( 6010m ),</p><br>
<p>Jupono ( 5650m )</p><br>
<p>The basic itinerary:</p><br>
<p>Drive from SILIGURI TO YUKSOM</p><br>
<p>YUKSOM to SACHEN (10 km hike)</p><br>
<p>SACHEN to TSHOKA (7 km hike)</p><br>
<p>TSHOKA to DZONGRI (10 km hike)</p><br>
<p>Rest and hike to DZONGRI LA PASS (4417 m)</p><br>
<p>DZONGRI to THANSING (10 km hike)</p><br>
<p>THANSING to GOECHA LA PASS and back (14 km hike)</p><br>
<p>THANSING to TSHOKA (16 km hike)</p><br>
<p>TSHOKA to YUKSOM (17 km hike)</p><br>
<p>Drive back to SILIGURI</p><br>
<h2>Film</h2><br>
<p>Singalila in the Himalaya Film speaks about the history of Singalila ridge through a 14 day trek.</p><br>
<p>Goecha La: In Search of Kangchenjunga</p><br>
<p>Kong Karls Land or King Charles Land is an island group in the Svalbard archipelago, in Arctic Ocean. The island group covers an area of 332 km&sup2; and is made up of the islands of Kongsøya, Svenskøya, Abel Island, Helgoland Island and Tirpitzøya.</p><br>
<p>The islands, which have the largest concentration of polar bear in Svalbard, are part of the Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve, along with Nordaustlandet and Kvitøya. There is a ban on traffic to the islands, which includes the areas of the sea up to 500 metres away from shore and the airspace up to 500 metres above the area.</p><br>
<p>Kong Karls Land was discovered by an expedition sent by the Muscovy Company in 1617, probably from a high point on Barentsøya. They named the group Wiche Islands, after a member of the company, Richard Wyche.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The polar bear is found during portions of the year at Kong Karls Land; this bear feeds on local harp seals and ring seals. The sub-population of polar bears found here is a genetically distinct set of polar bears specifically associated with the Barents Sea region.</p><br>
<p>Kvitøya  is an island in the Svalbard archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, with an area of 682 km&sup2;. It is located at {{coord|80|09|05|N|32|35|37|E|display=inline}}, making it the easternmost part of the Kingdom of Norway. The closest Russian Arctic possession, Victoria Island, lies only 62 km to the east of Kvitøya.</p><br>
<p>The island is almost completely covered by Kvitøyjøkulen, an ice cap with an area of 705 km&sup2; with a classical, hourglass-shaped dome, which has given it its name. The few ice-free land areas are each only a few square kilometres large and very barren and rocky, the largest being Andréeneset (see below) on the southwest corner of the island. Kvitøya is a part of the Nordaust-Svalbard Nature Reserve.</p><br>
<p>Kvitøya was discovered by the Dutchman Cornelis Giles in 1707, and it was seen under the name &#39;Giles Land&#39; on maps in different shapes, sizes and positions throughout the centuries. The present name was given by whaler Johan Kjeldsen of Tromsø in 1876.</p><br>
<p>The island was the resting place of the Arctic balloon expedition of 1897 organised by S. A. Andrée. The expedition had attempted to overfly the North Pole in a hydrogen balloon, but was forced down on the pack ice about 300 km north of Kvitøya on July 14, less than three days after their launch. They reached the island on foot by October 6 and settled on the only ice free part on the island, on what is now called Andréeneset. The fate of the expedition for many years was one of the great mysteries of the Arctic, until its remains were discovered by the ship Bratvaag in 1930, over thirty years later, and diaries, logs of scientific observations and photographs (glass negative plates, which had been deep frozen and could be developed) were recovered at the site. Modern researchers hold that the three members of the expedition died within two weeks of reaching the island.</p><br>
<p>A monument commemorating the three men, S. A. Andrée, N. Strindberg and K. Frænkel is erected on the island. Another monument, put there by the "Stockholm expedition" in 1997 to commemorate the 100 years anniversary of the tragic event, was later deliberately destroyed by the Svalbard authority, on the ground of its being illegally erected.</p><br>
<h2>The name</h2><br>
<p>The original spelling of the name from 1876 was Hvidøen (Danish-Norwegian). It was later (in 1927) changed to Kvitøya. Like other names in the Norwegian Arctic and Antarctic islands and areas the Nynorsk form of Norwegian is used in the name - the Bokmål form would have been *Hvitøyen or *Hvitøya.</p><br>
<p>Lotta&#39;s fountain is a historical fountain located at the intersection of Market Street, where Geary and Kearny Streets connect in downtown San Francisco, California.</p><br>
<p>It was commissioned by actress Lotta Crabtree in 1875 as a gift to the city of San Francisco, and would serve as a significant meeting point in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The cast-iron fountain, commission by actress Lotta Crabtree as a gift to the city of San Francisco, was dedicated September 9, 1875. During its centennial it designated both a San Francisco Designated Landmarks and the U.S National Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>A plaque commemorates its role as a meeting point in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire. Another plaque mentions legendary opera soprano Luisa Tetrazzini, who sang for the people of San Francisco at the fountain on Christmas Eve, 1910. The bronze column was added in 1916 to match the height of new lights being installed along Market Street.</p><br>
<p>It was relocated from its original location at 3rd, Market and Kearny in 1974 during the renovation of Market Street. In 1999 the fountain, neglected, was totally refurbished to its 1875 appearance, repainted a metallic gold-brown. Its lion&#39;s-head spigots flow during daytime hours.</p><br>
<p>In 1919, a commemoration of the earthquake was started that still occurs annually. The South of Market Boys, a fraternal drinking organization, hung a wreath on the fountain. Since then, survivors of the earthquake gathered every year at 5:12 a.m. on April 18 at the intersection. After the 2015 anniversary, the last two survivors of the earthquake died. In 2016, the tradition continued as more than 200 participants, many in period costuming, gathered to commemorate all victims of the earthquake and to draw attention to earthquake preparedness.</p><br>
<p>Christmas Lake is a spring-fed lake covering approximately 265 acre in the western Minneapolis suburbs of Shorewood and Chanhassen. The lake is crossed by the border of Hennepin and Carver counties, with most of the area lying within the jurisdiction of the former. Christmas Lake is known for its exceptional water clarity, the best in the Minneapolis metropolitan area, with a DNR-reported clarity level of 20 ft. This clarity can be attributed to the fact that Christmas Lake is a spring fed lake with a sandy bottom. Although relatively small in area, Christmas Lake becomes deep  very quickly, forming the basin of a depression that extends all along "the Ridge" . The steep nature of the shoreline means that many houses are built far above the lake with railed motorized carts to provide access to the docks at the water level.</p><br>
<p>Although Christmas Lake is located very near to the much larger and more populated Lake Minnetonka, the lake culture is much different, with fewer powerboats and jetskis, although this is slowly changing. Christmas Lake is connected to Lake Minnetonka by an underground canal which can be used to raise the water level of Lake Minnetonka during droughts.</p><br>
<p>Christmas Lake falls under the jurisdiction of the city of Shorewood, Minnesota, although much informal control is maintained by the close-knit community of homeowners, under the aegis of the Christmas Lake Homeowners Association. Neighbors organize an annual Fourth of July boat parade, where boat owners turn their boats into water-borne floats, and parade from dock to dock along the shoreline.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>For the first time in recent memory, trumpeter swans have since 2004 been using Christmas Lake as a stop-over on their flyway during their winter migration south. At first a small number of swans stayed for a few days, and by 2011 that number had grown to over four dozen in three different groups who stayed on the lake for more than a month. As Christmas Lake is deeper than surrounding lakes, and usually the last in the neighborhood to freeze over, the swans are able to swim and feed later in the season.</p><br>
<p>In the fall of 2014, zebra mussels were observed in the lake and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District subjected approximately one acre of it to an experimental series of chemical treatments, first the Zequanox killed-bacteria biological pesticide (in its first use in a lake), followed by copper, and then by potash (in its third such use in the USA). Divers later confirmed that none had survived within the treated area, but discovered ten more of them nearby, attached to indigenous mussels, and in May the treatment was applied to that additional area.</p><br>
<h2>The name</h2><br>
<p>The lake is named for Charles W. Christmas, first county surveyor of Hennepin County, who platted the original town site of Minneapolis for John H. Stevens and Franklin Steele.</p><br>
<p>Haytor, also known as Haytor Rocks, Hay Tor, or occasionally Hey Tor, is a granite tor on the eastern edge of Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. It is at grid reference, near the village of Haytor Vale in the parish of Ilsington. There is an electoral ward with the same name. The population at the 2011 census is 2,862.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Idetordoune (1566), Ittor Doune (1687), Idetor (1737), Eator Down (1762) and Itterdown (1789) are a few recorded examples of earlier names by which Haytor was known. The name Haytor is of comparatively recent origin, and is probably a corruption of its old name and that of the Haytor Hundred, which covered the coastal area between the River Teign and River Dart, itself now considered to have been named after a lost village located somewhere between Totnes and Newton Abbot.</p><br>
<p>In the 19th century steps were cut into one side of the tor and a metal handrail fixed to allow tourists easier access to the summit. This was not entirely welcomed and in 1851, a Dr Croker complained about the rock steps that had been cut "to enable the enervated and pinguedinous scions of humanity of this wonderful nineteenth century to gain the summit". The handrail was removed in the 1960s due to it rusting: the stumps of the uprights are still embedded in the rock.</p><br>
<p>In 1953, Haytor was used as a major location for the feature film Knights of the Round Table starring Robert Taylor and Ava Gardner. An "elaborate and impressive castle" was built between the two main rock piles of the tor and traditional medieval sports, including jousting, were staged here for the film.</p><br>
<p>The whole of Haytor Down was sold to the newly formed Dartmoor National Park Authority in 1974.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Haytor has the form of a typical "avenue" tor, where the granite between the two main outcrops has been eroded away. Its characteristic shape is a notable landmark visible on the skyline from many places in south Devon between Exeter and Totnes. The majority of the tor consists of coarse-grained granite, but at the base of the western outcrop is a layer of finer-grained granite which has eroded more than the rock above, leaving a pronounced overhang (a rock shelter) of two or three feet in places.</p><br>
<p>Haytorite, a variety of quartz found in an iron mine adjacent to the Hay Tor granite quarries, was named “in honour of its birth-place”.</p><br>
<h2>Quarrying</h2><br>
<p>The granite below the tor has fewer large feldspar crystals than at the tor itself, and this was preferred for building. There are several quarries on the northern slopes of Haytor down which were worked intermittently between 1820 and 1919. Between 1820 and 1858 the rock from these quarries was transported by the Haytor Granite Tramway to the Stover Canal. The tramway itself was built out of the granite it would carry, and due to its durable nature much of it remains visible today.</p><br>
<p>Haytor granite was used in the reconstruction of London Bridge which opened in 1831 and was moved in 1970 to Lake Havasu City in Arizona. The last rock quarried here in 1919 was used for the Exeter war memorial.</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>Haytor is now considered a natural beauty spot and is arguably Dartmoor&#39;s most famous landmark, popular with coach parties and walking groups. It is easily accessible by road and at a height of 457 m right on the eastern side of the moor, it provides excellent views of the coastline, the Teign Estuary and the rolling countryside between, with the ridge of Haldon behind. The smaller, western outcrop is sometimes known as "Lowman". Rock climbers make use of both outcrops; each one has routes of varying difficulty.</p><br>
<p>The Haytor rocks and quarries are protected from development and disturbance as a Site of Special Scientific Interest.</p><br>
<p>Haytor hosted a summit finish on Stage 6 of the 2013 Tour of Britain, which was won by Simon Yates. The climb was again used for the finish of the sixth stage of the 2016 Tour of Britain, which was won by Wout Poels.</p><br>
<p>Mera Peak is a mountain in the Mahalangur section, Barun sub-section of the Himalaya and administratively in Nepal&#39;s Sagarmatha Zone, Solukhumbu District. At 6,476 m it is classified as a trekking peak. It contains three main summits: Mera North, 6,476 m; Mera Central, 6,461 m; and Mera South, 6,065 m, as well as a smaller "trekking summit", visible as a distinct summit from the south but not marked on most maps of the region.</p><br>
<p>The height of Mera is often given as 6654 meters, and claimed to be the highest trekking peak. This figure actually points to nearby Peak 41, which was mistakenly named Mera in a list of Himalayan peaks, and the figures were copied to the official trekking peak list as they were, including the wrong location coordinates.</p><br>
<p>The first ascent of Mera Central was on May 20, 1953 by Col. Jimmy Roberts and Sen Tenzing (who was known by the nickname The Foreign Sportsman).Roberts was heavily involved in establishing the trekking industry in Nepal in the early 1960s. He was posthumously awarded the "Sagarmatha (Everest) National Award" by the government in May 2005. Mera North was first climbed by the French climbers Marcel Jolly, G. Baus and L. Honills in 1975. The region was first explored extensively by British expeditions in the early 50s before and after the ascent of Everest. Members of those teams included Edmund Hillary, Tenzing Norgay, Eric Shipton and George Lowe.</p><br>
<p>From the summit, five 8,000m peaks are visible: Mount Everest, Lhotse, Cho Oyu, Makalu, and Kangchenjunga, as well as many other Himalayan peaks. The standard route from the north involves high altitude glacier walking. The west and south faces of the peak offer more difficult technical routes.</p><br>
<p>For experienced climbers it is a technically straightforward ascent, the main hurdle being proper acclimatization to the high altitude. These reasons make Mera Peak a very popular destination, with many adventure tour companies offering guided trips to the mountain for clients with little or no mountaineering experience. All climbers are recommended to partake in preparative fitness and altitude training before attempting an ascent.</p><br>
<p>In 1986 Mal Duff and Ian Tattersall made the first ascent of the south west pillar. The route is approximately 1,800 m in length and graded at ED inf. The approach to the base of the pillar is extremely exposed to serac fall.</p><br>
<p>Kamarina  was an ancient city on the southern coast of Sicily in southern Italy. The ruins of the site and an archaeological museum are located south of the modern town Scoglitti, a frazione of the comune Vittoria in the province of Ragusa.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It was founded by Syracuse in 599 BC, but destroyed by the mother city in 552 BC. Its remains are today in the municipality of Ragusa.</p><br>
<p>The Geloans, however, founded it anew in 461 BC, under the Olympic charioteer Psaumis of Camarina. It seems to have been in general hostile to Syracuse, but, though an ally of Athens in 427 BC, it gave some slight help to Syracuse in 415–413 BC. It was destroyed by the Carthaginians in 405 BC, restored by Timoleon in 339 BC after its abandonment by Dionysius&#39; order, but in 258 BC fell into the hands of the Romans.</p><br>
<p>Its complete destruction dates from AD 853. The site of the ancient city is among rapidly shifting sandhills, and the lack of stone in the neighborhood has led to its buildings being used as a quarry even by the inhabitants of Gela, so that nothing is now visible above ground but a small part of the wall of the temple of Athena and a few foundations of houses; portions of the city wall have been traced by excavation, and the necropolis has been carefully explored.</p><br>
<h2>The marsh</h2><br>
<p>Just before the Carthaginians razed Kamarina in the 5th century BC, the Kamarinians were plagued with a mysterious disease. The marsh of Kamarina had protected the city from its hostile neighbors to the north. It was suspected that the marsh was the source of the strange illness and the idea of draining the marsh to end the epidemic became popular (the germ theory of disease was millennia in the future, but some people associated swamps with disease). The town oracle was consulted. The oracle advised the leaders not to drain the marsh, suggesting the plague would pass with time. But the discontent was widespread and the leaders opted to drain the marsh against the oracle&#39;s advice. Once it was dry, there was nothing stopping the Carthaginian army from advancing. They marched across the newly drained marsh and razed the city, killing every last inhabitant.</p><br>
<p>The story of the marsh is told by the Roman geographer Strabo and repeated by Carl Sagan in Pale Blue Dot. The story of the city is recounted by the latter author as a lesson: that action guided by fear and ignorance often intensifies the problems it seeks to ameliorate.</p><br>
<h2>Remains</h2><br>
<p>Modern remains are scanty. They include archaic tombs (seventh century BC) and ruins of a temple of Athena. Nearby are tombs of a necropolis from the fifth-fourth century BC. Part of the remains are now in the archaeological museum of Syracuse. The archaeological park includes the remains of a "Hamman qbel Jamaa" - public baths used before entering the mosque, one of only two known on the island.</p><br>
<h2>Sources</h2><br>
<p>The Bullock-Clifton House is a historic home in the Deer Park neighborhood of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. It is the oldest known surviving wood-frame structure in Jefferson County.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The house was built as a manor house for the surrounding farm, which was a 30 acre truck farm by the early 20th century. The house was built in two sections, typical of a farmhouse of its age. The first was built in 1834 in the Federal style, facing northward towards the Ohio River. This reflected the early rural nature of the area, before the Bardstown Turnpike, a quarter mile to the east, was nothing more than an unpaved trail. In 1873, the Federal facade was removed along with the eastern portion of the house when the signature Italianate/Eastlake facade was built facing east towards the Bardstown Turnpike, which was by this time the focal point of the area.</p><br>
<p>The older portion of the house was built by William Bullock, a politician, judge and philanthropist. As a member of the Kentucky General Assembly Bullock introduced legislation to establish what became the public school system in Kentucky. His most important achievement as a politician was securing an endowment for the Kentucky School for the Blind in 1841. In 1834, he purchased 79 acre of land from William Pope and constructed the house.</p><br>
<p>Bullock sold the property in 1839 to Francis Thornton, a minister.</p><br>
<h2>Features</h2><br>
<p>The front, newer, portion of the house is 2½ stories high, with a distinctive octagonal tower rising up for a fourth level cupola.</p><br>
<p>The Cyrus Gates Farmstead is located in Maine, New York. Cyrus Gates was a cartographer and map maker for New York State, as well as an abolitionist. The great granddaughter of Cyrus-Louise Gates-Gunsalus has stated that from 1848 until the end of slavery in the United States in 1865, the Cyrus Gates Farmstead was a station or stop on the Underground Railroad. Its owners, Cyrus and Arabella Gates, were outspoken abolitionists as well as active and vital members of their community. Historian Shirley L. Woodward states that through those years escaped slaves came through the Gates&#39; station.</p><br>
<p>One runaway female slave, a 16-year-old girl named Margaret "Marge" Cruizer was so comfortable with the Gates family that she decided to stay at their station and live with them. Marge ended up spending the rest of her life with the Gates&#39; and is buried in the cemetery next to the house. (Woodward 1973 pp 52–53). Margaret was also known as the wife of Thomas "Old Bay Tom" Crocker. Mr. Crocker was famous for being the first African-American to be elected as mayor of Binghamton, New York, albeit a protest vote that was reversed in the election of 1872. (Smith 2014).</p><br>
<h2>Role of the Farmstead</h2><br>
<p>Owning a station or being a conductor on the Underground Railroad (UGRR) was most certainly illegal behavior, although not considered unethical behavior by many people. In light of this, participation in the Underground Railroad was very secretive; records were not usually, if ever kept of the comings and goings at stations. It would be an unwise act to record illegal behavior, especially in New York where the Northern Democrats were strong. In fact Cyrus&#39; own brother William Gates was an ardent Copperhead and after an argument with Cyrus over "breaking the law" moved out of the family house. In light of this it is easier to see why much of the history of this vast network of stations has been passed down through oral history.</p><br>
<p>The oral history of the Cyrus Gates Farmstead says that the main house was used before and after the Civil War as a station on the Underground Railway and that Cyrus and Arabella Gates were station hosts or conductors. The following is a statement made by Cyrus Gates&#39; great-granddaughter, Louise Gates-Gunsalus (1894-1982):</p><br>
<p>"I know of only one route in Maine township for the travel and care of slaves. This route has, as far as I have been told, its first point of contact in a home in Vestal, New York. Its next station, or stop, the Luce home on Route 26, south of Union Center, and next, to the Russell Gates home. The next and last known point was the Bushnell home on the Newark Valley, Dryden Road at the crossroad where the Bushnell house stood. From there the next station was in or near Ithaca, but where I have no information." (Woodward 1973 p. 52)</p><br>
<p>As UGRR historian Milton Sernett has referenced: To facilitate the harboring and if necessary the hiding of runaway slaves, the Gates&#39; built a hiding place inside the south wing of their attic. Inside the master bedroom upstairs, an access panel was made inside of one of the closets. The old leather thong used to close the panel to the wall is still there to this day. This panel would give assess to an area that was roughly 20 feet by 10 feet by four feet high. It is not known if runaways were actually ever forced to retreat to this area. There would probably have to be a high level of concern, such as a bounty hunter in the area to necessitate the hiding of slaves inside the house. (Sernett 2002, p162)</p><br>
<h2>Underground Railroad Connection</h2><br>
<p>The Southern Tier of New York State was a key geographic area for runaway slaves, whether on their own or as a part of the Underground Railroad (UGRR). Broome County, New York stands midway between a Philadelphia UGRR launch point such as William Stills and the significant UGRR station zone of abolitionist Gerrit Smith in Peterboro, NY. As the most well known of UGRR conductors, Harriet Tubman frequently traveled this area. She made several trips from the South to Upstate New York stations such as Smiths and possibly the Gates&#39;, St. James AME Zion Church (Ithaca, New York), and eventually to final stops in places like St. Catharines, Ontario. In addition, Harriet Tubman lived in Auburn, New York where as a member of the Thompson AME Zion Church she started the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged.</p><br>
<p>Slaves traveled from the South to the North from station to station mostly under the cover of darkness. Often, once runaways got into the states of Pennsylvania and Ohio, they were not in much danger of being captured by bounty hunters or the police. Runaways in New York often worked and did chores with the station owners during the day.</p><br>
<p>In 1850 the United States government, in trying to prevent a war between the slave and non-slave states, passed the new and more aggressive Fugitive Slave Act. This law gave bounty hunters from the South more rights to chase slaves into the North and forced Northern police officers into arresting and returning runaway slaves that they captured. Abolitionists hated the Fugitive Slave Act, and started working with more intensity and urgency to find ways to end slavery. Southern slave plantation owners hated Northern abolitionists because the abolitionists wanted to end slavery which in turn would mean that the plantation owners would lose their laborers, considered as their chattel.</p><br>
<p>The average slave was worth a lot of money to a slave owner-about $1,000 in the 1860s, so owners would pay bounty hunters to bring runaway slaves back to them or pay upon delivery of the runaway slave.</p><br>
<h2>Historic Registry</h2><br>
<p>The Cyrus Gates Farmstead was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. In addition to the main Greek Revival farmhouse, the farmstead contains two barns (one built in 1836), a tenant farmers house, a bee keepers house or sugar shack, a blacksmiths shop, a four-seat outhouse, and a pole barn. The placement was based on the homes Greek Revival architecture, the importance of Cyrus Gates, a cartographer and mapmaker for the State of New York and its strong oral history as a stop on the Underground Railroad.</p><br>
<p>The Crimean Mountains  are a range of mountains running parallel to the south-eastern coast of Crimea, between about 8–13 kilometers  from the sea. Toward the west, the mountains drop steeply to the Black Sea, and to the east, they change slowly into a steppe landscape.</p><br>
<p>The Crimean Mountains consist of three subranges. The highest is the Main range. The Main range is subdivided into several masses, known as yaylas or mountain plateaus (Yayla is Crimean Tatar for "Alpine Meadow"). They are:</p><br>
<p>* Baydar Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Ay-Petri Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Yalta Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Nikita Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Hurzuf Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Babugan Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Chatyr-Dag Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Dologorukovskaya (Subatkan) Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Demirji Yayla</p><br>
<p>* Karabi Yayla</p><br>
<h2>Highest Peaks</h2><br>
<p>The Crimea&#39;s highest peak is the Roman-Kosh (Роман-Кош; Роман-Кош, Roman Qoş) on the Babugan Yayla at 1,545 m. Other important peaks over 1,200 metres include:</p><br>
<p>* Demir-Kapu (Демір-Капу, Демир-Капу, Demir Qapı) 1,540 m in the Babugan Yayla;</p><br>
<p>* Zeytin-Kosh (Зейтин-Кош; Зейтин-Кош, Zeytün Qoş) 1,537 m in the Babugan Yayla;</p><br>
<p>* Kemal-Egerek (Кемаль-Егерек, Кемаль-Эгерек, Kemal Egerek) 1,529 m in the Babugan Yayla;</p><br>
<p>* Eklizi-Burun (Еклізі-Бурун, Эклизи-Бурун, Eklizi Burun) 1,527 m in the Chatyrdag Yayla;</p><br>
<p>* Lapata (Лапата; Лапата, Lapata) 1,406 m in the Yaltynska Yayla, Yalta Yaylası;</p><br>
<p>* Northern Demirji (Північний Демірджі, Северный Демирджи, Şimaliy Demirci) 1,356 m in the Demirci Yayla;</p><br>
<p>* Ai-Petri (Ай-Петрі, Ай-Петри, Ay Petri) 1,234 m in the Ay Petri Yaylası.</p><br>
<h2>Passes and Rivers</h2><br>
<p>The most important passes over the Crimean Mountains are:</p><br>
<p>* Angarskyi Pass near the Perevalnoye village, on a road from Alushta to Simferopol</p><br>
<p>* Baydar Pass near Foros, connecting Baydar Valley and the sea coast</p><br>
<p>* Laspi Pass near Cape Aya, on a road from Yalta to Sevastopol.</p><br>
<p>Rivers of the Crimean Mountains include the Alma River, Chernaya River, and Salhir River on the northern slope and Uchan-su River on the southern slope which forms the Uchan-su waterfall, a popular tourist attraction and highest waterfall in Ukraine.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Archaeologists have found the earliest anatomically modern humans in Europe in the Crimean mountains&#39; Buran-Kaya caves. The fossils are 32,000 years old, with the artifacts linked to the Gravettian culture. The fossils have cut marks suggesting a post-mortem defleshing ritual.</p><br>
<p>KV63 is the most recently opened chamber in Egypt&#39;s Valley of the Kings pharaonic necropolis. Initially believed to be a royal tomb, it is now believed to have been a storage chamber for the mummification process. It was found in 2005 by a team of archaeologists led by Dr. Otto Schaden.</p><br>
<p>The chamber contained seven wooden coffins and many large storage jars. All coffins have now been opened, and were found to contain only mummification materials, with the jars also containing mummification supplies including salts, linens, and deliberately broken pottery.</p><br>
<p>Some clay seal impressions contain text, such as the partial word pa-aten, part of the name used by Tutankhamun&#39;s wife, Ankhesenamun. This inscription, the architectural style of the chamber, and the form of the coffins and jars all point to an Eighteenth Dynasty date, roughly contemporary with Tutankhamun, whose tomb is nearby.</p><br>
<p>KV63 was revisited by Schadens team again in 2010, along with a TV team. Another 16 storage jars were explored, and a wooden bed with lions heads, along with pieces of wine jars, were discovered. The team arrived at the theory that the chamber was probably used by Tutankhamun&#39;s family embalmers, some time about 1337–1334 BC.</p><br>
<h2>Discovery</h2><br>
<p>The vertical shaft of KV63 was re-discovered on 10 March 2005. The discovery that the shaft led to a chamber was announced on 8 February 2006, by the Supreme Council of Antiquities, which credited the find to a team of USA archaeologists from the University of Memphis, under the leadership of Dr. Otto Schaden. The chamber — given the name "KV63" in accordance with the sequential numbering convention used in the Valley — was initially thought to be a tomb, the first new one to be revealed there since the discovery of KV62, the tomb of Tutankhamun, by Howard Carter in 1922.</p><br>
<p>KV63 is located in the area between KV10 (Amenmesse) and KV62 (Tutankhamun), in the very centre of the Valley&#39;s eastern branch and near the main crossroads of the network of paths traversed by thousands of tourists every day.</p><br>
<p>The discovery was made as the archaeological team was excavating the remains of 19th dynasty workmens huts at the entrance to KV10, looking for evidence to clarify the succession of Amenmesse. The area around the huts had accumulated rubble from the occasional flooding. Both Theodore M. Davis and Howard Carter had dug in the area in the early twentieth century, but had not removed these particular huts. While exploring a layer of dark rock, the dig suddenly came across chips of white stone (these being the last level excavated by Carter). Further exploration revealed a straight edge of cut stone, which turned out to be on the upper lip of a vertical shaft. At that point the team knew they had discovered something much more elaborate and significant than the remains of the tomb-diggers resthouses. Unfortunately, the discovery came at the very end of the 2004–05 digging season, and further excavations had to be postponed until the team recommenced its work the following autumn.</p><br>
<h2>Description of chamber</h2><br>
<p>The overhang on the shaft of KV63 has been compared with and found to be similar to other Eighteenth Dynasty tombs (that of Yuya and Tjuyu), thereby dating the construction to the latter portion of the Eighteenth Dynasty (ca. 14th century BC) of the New Kingdom (16th century to 11th century BC). It is also broadly speculated that all three tombs are the work of the same architect, or at least the same school of architects.</p><br>
<p>The newly revealed shaft descends some five metres. At the bottom of this pit stands a 1.5 metre tall door made of stone blocks. Behind this door, in which the team originally opened up a small window for the 10 February 2006 event, stands the single chamber.</p><br>
<p>No seals were found on the door, and it was initially believed that KV63 was a reburial and had experienced some intrusion in antiquity. The blocking stones in the doorway were not original, suggesting that the doorway had been opened and closed a few times. The original blocking stones were found inside the tomb, giving evidence that someone had re-entered and sealed the tomb in antiquity.</p><br>
<p>The chamber measures some four metres by five and has plain white walls. It contained seven wooden coffins, including one scaled for a child and one for a small infant. Two of the adult coffins and the childs coffin feature yellow funerary masks; the others have black funerary masks. It has been suggested that those with yellow faces may have been designed for female occupants. There is extensive termite damage on some coffins and the result was likened by the excavating team to "black paste&quot however, at least two coffins were virtually untouched by termites. These termites seem to have come from the workers huts above the shaft, and therefore probably date from the pharaonic era. There was no evidence of water damage. However, now that the chamber has been opened, the site is at risk of damage from flash floods.</p><br>
<p>The identity of the owners of the coffins is unknown; in any case none contained human remains, all having been used to hold material relating to the embalming process. There is no evidence for the chamber having been sealed more than once and it thus seems that the deposit represents embalming debris from one particular person&#39;s mummification.</p><br>
<p>The chamber also held 28 large storage jars, approximately 75 cm tall, made from both pottery and alabaster. The jars weighed in at around 40 or 43 kg (90–95 pounds), varying slightly in size and weight. Three of them appear to have been broken in antiquity at the rim or lower neck. Most of the jars were discovered with intact lids, but did not bear pharaonic seal impressions. Shortly after their manufacture, the jars were whitewashed while standing in sand, and the bottoms show the original clay. A large ostracon, not identified to have come from one of the storage jars at this time, was discovered and broken during the modern opening of the tomb.</p><br>
<p>According to Dr. Schaden, the method of sealing the storage jars had been very deliberate. A mud plug was first inserted, then a seal, and then a large plaster seal. Apparently, the people doing it had thought it of prime importance that it should be done in this very precise manner. This supports the idea that there was a solid reason behind the placing of the artifacts and that the chamber was not merely a dumping ground.</p><br>
<p>There was over 175 kg of natron in the chamber, some inside the coffins and some inside little sacks. The jars and contents are similar to those from KV54, the Tutankhamun embalming cache.</p><br>
<p>Work has been going on to carefully remove the coffins and the storage jars to KV10, which has adequate space for a conservation team to conduct a thorough examination and analysis of the coffins and jars in a proper, scientific manner. A pulley system was devised to facilitate the safe removal of the coffins and jars from the shaft. Grass buckets and bubblewrap were used to lift the jars out from the place where they were packed away for 3000 years. The removal of jars began on 2 March 2006 and most jars have been relocated safely along with one large sealed alabaster jar, which contained small pots packed in mud. Twelve of the storage jars have thus far been examined. Contents include natron, wood, seeds, shells, carbon, assorted pottery, small animal bones, papyrus fragments, mud trays, mud seals, and pieces of twine or rope. Egyptologist Salima Ikram is supervising the removal and examination of the contents.</p><br>
<p>On first examination there appeared to be some kind of stuffing extruding between the lid and the bottom of the youth coffin labeled G. When the coffin was opened this stuffing was revealed to be five pillows. As textile remnants from ancient Egypt are relatively rare, and pillows extremely so, the materials used for these will be of great interest. On May 26, 2006, a 42 cm. pink gold leaf anthropoid coffinette was discovered inside the youth coffin, under the pillows.</p><br>
<p>The last and only completely sealed coffin was opened on June 28, 2006. As cameras were rolling, it was revealed that the coffin contained no mummy, only artifacts used for mummification or to decorate a body. It looked like it had once been used, as there was an impression of a human body in the bottom of the coffin. It is theorized that this body was moved or destroyed in antiquity.</p><br>
<p>Due to its proximity to the tomb of Tutankhamun and the resemblances between the portraits in the sarcophagi, as well as the style contemporary to the latter part of the 18th Dynasty, there was groundless speculation at the time of the first discovery that the coffins were once used for the bodies of Kiya and/or even Ankhesenamen. However, there is no reason to believe that the coffins were other than that of basic types used for private persons, probably derived from undertakers&#39; stock for use to contain embalming debris.</p><br>
<p>Given the location of the tomb, and the fact that its entrance was sealed by the same flood layer that sealed that of Tutankhamun, it seems most likely that KV63 was the main embalmers cache for Tutankhamuns burial. In this case, the long-known group of material deriving from his funeral found in KV54 probably represents an overflow of material requiring disposal after KV63 had been sealed.</p><br>
<p>Michigan Central Station  was the main intercity passenger rail depot for Detroit, Michigan. Built for the Michigan Central Railroad, it replaced the original depot in downtown Detroit, which was shuttered after a major fire on December 26, 1913, forcing the still unfinished station into early service. Formally dedicated on January 4, 1914, the station remained open for business until the cessation of Amtrak service on January 6, 1988. At the time of its construction, it was the tallest rail station in the world.</p><br>
<p>The building is located in the Corktown district of Detroit near the Ambassador Bridge, approximately ¾-mile (1.2 km) southwest of downtown Detroit. It is located behind Roosevelt Park, and the Roosevelt Warehouse is adjacent to the east. The city&#39;s Roosevelt Park serves as a grand entryway to the station. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.</p><br>
<p>Restoration projects and plans have gone as far as the negotiation process, but none has come to fruition. Since 2011, demolition works, minor structural repairs, repairs of the roof structure, and covering the glass roof openings in the concourse have been performed. The basement, which was once full of water, has been fully drained, and a barbed wire fence has been installed in an attempt to keep out vandals and the windows in the tower have been replaced.</p><br>
<p>Images of the building remain a premier example of ruins photography.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The building began operating as Detroit&#39;s main passenger depot in 1913 after the older Michigan Central Station burned on December 26, 1913. It was owned and operated by Michigan Central Railroad and was planned as part of a large project that included the Michigan Central Railway Tunnel below the Detroit River for freight and passengers. The old station was located on a spur line, which was inconvenient for the high volume of passengers it served. The new Michigan Central placed passenger service on the main line.</p><br>
<p>The growing trend toward increased automobile use was not a large concern in 1912, as is evident in the design of the building. Most passengers would arrive at and leave from Michigan Central Station by interurban service or streetcar, due to the station&#39;s distance from downtown Detroit. The station was placed away from downtown in order to stimulate related development to come in its direction. An ambitious project to connect the station to the Cultural Center via a wide boulevard was never realized.</p><br>
<p>At the beginning of World War I, the peak of rail travel in the United States, more than 200 trains left the station each day and lines would stretch from the boarding gates to the main entrance. In the 1940s, more than 4,000 passengers a day used the station and more than 3,000 people worked in its office tower. Among notable passengers arriving at MCS were Presidents Herbert Hoover, Harry S. Truman and Franklin D. Roosevelt, actor Charlie Chaplin and inventor Thomas Edison.</p><br>
<p>In the 1920s Henry Ford began to buy land near the station and made construction plans, but the Great Depression and other circumstances squelched this and many other development efforts. The original design included no large parking facility. When the interurban service was discontinued less than two decades after MCS opened, the station was effectively isolated from the large majority of the population who drove cars and needed parking to use the facility.</p><br>
<p>Passenger volume did not decrease immediately. During World War II, the station was used heavily by military troops. After the war, with a growth in automobile ownership, people used trains less frequently for vacation or other travel. Service was cut back and passenger traffic became so low that the owners of the station attempted to sell the facility in 1956 for, one-third of its original 1913 building cost. Another attempted sale in 1963 failed for lack of buyers. In 1967, maintenance costs were seen as too high relative to the decreasing passenger volume. The restaurant, arcade shops, and main entrance were closed, along with much of the main waiting room. This left only two ticket windows to serve passengers and visitors, who used the same parking-lot entrance as railroad employees working in the building.</p><br>
<p>Amtrak took over the nations passenger rail service in 1971, reopening the main waiting room and entrance in 1975. It started a $1.25 million renovation project in 1978. Six years later, the building was sold for a transportation center project that never materialized. On January 6, 1988, the last Amtrak train pulled away from the station after owners decided to close the facility. In July 1992, the Detroit Master Plan of Policies for the southwest sectors urban design identified the station as an attractive or interesting feature to be recognized, enhanced and promoted. Amtrak service continued at a platform near the building until a new station opened several miles away in New Center in 1994.</p><br>
<p>Controlled Terminals Inc. acquired the station in 1996. Its sister company, the Detroit International Bridge Co., owns the nearby Ambassador Bridge and both are part of a group of transportation-related companies owned by businessman Manuel Moroun, Chairman and CEO of CenTra Inc. The company demolished the train shed in 2000, and converted the remaining tracks and platforms into an intermodal freight facility, named "Expressway" and operated by Canadian Pacific Railway. This facility was closed in June 2004.</p><br>
<p>Although the City of Detroit considered the building a "Priority Cultural Site" in 2006, the City Council on April 7, 2009 passed a resolution to demolish the Depot. Seven days later, Detroit resident Stanley Christmas sued the city of Detroit to stop the demolition effort, citing the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.</p><br>
<p>In June 2011, work began on partial asbestos abatement on the first floor; other work conducted included interior demolition work, removal of broken glass from first floor windows, and removal of water. As of June 2012, electricity has been restored to the interior. Lights have illuminated the main lobby nightly, The website has been launched by the Michigan Central Station Preservation Society to provide a sounding board for community questions and suggestions.</p><br>
<p>On June 10, 2014, it was reported that the owners of Michigan Central Station were moving forward with about $676,000 in rehab work, and had received permits to install a new 9,000-pound capacity freight elevator, which will allow for the smooth installation of new windows and roof work. In late 2014 work to install the elevator started, with an expected completion by February.</p><br>
<p>In February 2015, the owners announced that they would replace more than 1,000 windows above the first level. In late April the city announced a land swap deal with the Bridge Company to transfer a 3-acre strip of Riverside Park near the Ambassador Bridge for 4.8 acres of adjacent property owned by the Bridge Company. As part of that agreement, the city would receive up to $5 million for park improvements, and the Bridge Company agreed to replace the windows in the train station. In July the Detroit City Council approved the land transfer. As of December 2015, all of the new windows have been installed. Despite this work, the future of the building is undetermined.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The building is of the Beaux-Arts Classical style of architecture, designed by the Warren & Wetmore and Reed and Stem firms who also designed New York Citys Grand Central Terminal. Michigan Central was designed at the same time, and is seen as a spiritual twin to Grand Central in New York, as both were meant as flagship stations on Vanderbilts rail lines, as well as the fact that both were designed to have office towers in their original design concepts (Grand Central&#39;s tower was not built until the MetLife Tower was built in the 1960s), and both have the same detailing, and were opened six months apart. The price tag for this 500,000 ft&sup2; building was $15 million when it was built. Roosevelt Park creates a grand entryway for the station, which was fully realized around 1920.</p><br>
<p>The building is composed of two distinct parts: the train station and the 18-story office tower. The roof height is 230 ft. The original plan for the tower included a hotel, offices for the rail company, or a combination of both. The tower was used only for office space by the Michigan Central Railroad and subsequent owners of the building. The tower was never completely used; the top floors were never completely furnished, and served no function.</p><br>
<p>The main waiting room on the main floor was modeled after an ancient Roman bathhouse, with walls of marble and vaulted ceilings. Below the tracks and building was a large area for baggage and mail handling and offices.</p><br>
<h2>Future development</h2><br>
<p>In 2008, the station owners said that their goal was to renovate the decaying building, which closed in 1988. The estimated cost of renovations was $80 million, but the owners viewed finding the right use as a greater problem than financing. On March 25, 2011, in an effort to push forward a potential sale and redevelopment, Dan Stamper, spokesperson for Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel "Matty" Moroun, announced plans to work with the City of Detroit on funding replacement of the tower&#39;s roof, and installing new windows on the structure. Stamper told the Detroit News: "It would be much easier to help a developer to come up with a package to use the depot if some improvements were made."</p><br>
<p>Proposals and concepts for redevelopment in the past have included these potential uses:</p><br>
<p>Trade Processing Center – Adapting the station as a customs and international trade processing center due to its proximity to the Ambassador Bridge.</p><br>
<p>Convention Center and Casino – Owner Moroun proposed that Michigan Central Station be restored as the centerpiece of a new convention center, possibly combined with a casino. Such a project could cost $1.2 billion, including $300 million to restore the station. Dan Stamper, president of Detroit International Bridge, noted that the station should have been used as one of the city&#39;s casinos.</p><br>
<p>Detroit Police Headquarters – In 2004, Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced that the city was pursuing options to relocate its police department headquarters and possibly consolidate other law enforcement offices to MCS. However, in mid-2005, the city canceled the plan and chose to renovate its existing headquarters.</p><br>
<p>Michigan State Police Headquarters – In 2010, State Senator Cameron S. Brown and Mickey Bashfield, a government relations official for the building owner CenTra Inc., suggested that the station could become the Detroit headquarters of the Michigan State Police, include some United States Department of Homeland Security offices, and serve as a center for trade inspections.</p><br>
<p>Renovation estimates have ranged from $80 to $300 million. The Detroit Wayne County Port Authority has the ability to issue bonds and could take part in financing.</p><br>
<p>The USA Department of Transportation has awarded $244 million in grants for high-speed rail upgrades between Chicago and Detroit. A consortium of investors, including the Canadian Pacific Railway, has proposed a new, larger rail tunnel capable of handling large double-stacked freight cars under the Detroit River, which could open in 2017. With the new tunnel emerging near the Michigan Central Station, a redeveloped station could function as a trade inspection facility.</p><br>
<p>On May 5, 2011, the Detroit International Bridge Company announced it engaged the Ann Arbor firm of Quinn Evans on behalf of the Moroun family that owns the building to oversee restoration of the roof and windows of the structure. Bridge Company owner Moroun stated, "We hope this is just the beginning of a renaissance for the depot." As of December 2015, all of the once broken windows have been replaced. The once flooded basement has largely been drained, with about 4 inches of water at its highest still remaining in a sub-basement of the building. Structural Analysis of the building, as well as proposals for reuse of the building were going on as of early July 2016.</p><br>
<p>As of August 2016, the Moroun family has spent 10 years and $12 million on electricity, windows and the elevator shaft, to revitalize the building. Matthew Moroun said he might put part of his familys operations in the 18-story Corktown building. In September 2017 the "Detroit Homecoming" event was held in the station, the first legal event to occur there since the buildings closure in 1988.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The station has been featured in several films. MCS was used for scenes in the movie Transformers (directed by Michael Bay) in October 2006. In January 2005, it was used as a location set for the movie The Island (also directed by Michael Bay). In September 2002, extensive closeups and fly-by shots were featured in the movie Naqoyqatsi. The 2005 film Four Brothers opens with the main character driving his car along the front of Michigan Central Station toward Michigan Avenue. The building has been used in some of Eminems work, including the title sequence of the movie 8 Mile and his music video for the song "Beautiful", during the beginning of which the building features prominently. A scene from the ABC crime drama Detroit 1-8-7 was shot and set inside the station, and it often appeared in the background in other episodes. The buildings lobby was significant in the closing scenes of the 2012 documentary Detropia. It was also used in a climactic fight scene in the 2016 movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.</p><br>
<p>The Longford River is an artificial waterway, a distributary designed to embellish a park, that diverts water 12 mi from the River Colne at Longford near Colnbrook in England, to Bushy Park and Hampton Court Palace. At both points it has outlets to the Thames, on the reaches above Teddington Lock and Molesey Lock respectively. The waterway was built for King Charles I in 1638/39 as a water supply for Hampton Court, and water features in Bushy Park were added in 1710. North of the A30, its course has been diverted more than once as London Heathrow Airport has grown. Its cascades, grassed banks and fountains in Bushy Park were restored and reopened to the public in 2009 to close to their original state.</p><br>
<h2>Route</h2><br>
<p>In its northern course, it runs side by side with its older "twin", the Duke of Northumberlands River, both of which have historically been re-dug nearby to accommodate the development of Heathrow Airport. Most recently they were diverted as part of the Twin Rivers Diversion Scheme to allow the construction of Terminal 5. The two rivers emerge to flow along the Airports southern perimeter, separating at Two Bridges just east of Terminal 4.</p><br>
<p>The Longford River then flows south east, through Bedfont, Feltham and Hanworth, where it flows through two culverts, one under a school to the west of Hanworth Park, and another from the centre of the park to its eastern boundary. The river then forms the boundary between Hampton and Hampton Hill before crossing over the Shepperton Branch Line on an aqueduct and running through Bushy Park to Hampton Court. Three main outlets exist into the Thames, near to Hampton Gate of Bushy Park, under the Water Gallery at Hampton Court Palace Gardens opposite the confluence of the River Mole, and one in the east of that land, which is a mixture of golf course and farm, opposite Raven&#39;s Ait.</p><br>
<p>Ownership, which comes with an upkeep cost is with the Royal Parks Agency. Relatively small, laws have rarely been needed to be used against others related to pollution or various offences of dumping.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Constructed in 1638/39 at the instigation of Charles I, the purpose of the Longford River was to bring water from the River Colne to augment the water supply to the Royal Parks at Bushy Park and Hampton Court. It was designed by Nicholas Lane, and took around nine months to build, at a cost of £4,000. It was not universally popular, as it was illegally stopped up in 1648 or 1649, and petitions were presented to the authorities in 1653, arguing that it should not be reopened, as it caused flooding which damaged crops and livestock.</p><br>
<p>At Longford, Bath Road crosses the Duke of Northumberlands River, the Longford River and the River Colne. It was once the main route to the southwest, but has since been bypassed to the north by the A4 road, which crosses the Colne above its junction with the Longford River. Longford Bridge carries Bath Road over the Dukes River, while Moor Bridge carries it over the Colne. A bridge was built over the Longford River when it was constructed, but it was demolished in 1648, and is known to have been reinstated by 1675. It was known as Stone Bridge in the nineteenth century, and the responsibility for keeping it in good order belonged to the Crown. Another name change had taken place by 1960, when it was known as King&#39;s Bridge.</p><br>
<p>Before the 20th century, the river was known variously as the New River, the Kings River, the Queens River, the Cardinals River, the Hampton Court Cut, and the Hampton Court Canal. At its western end it flowed across land which was wanted for the extension of Heathrow Airport in the 1940s, and so it and the adjacent Duke of Northumberlands River were diverted into a single channel around the south boundary of the extended airport.</p><br>
<p>Before Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 was built, the Longford River and the Duke of Northumberland&#39;s River passed under the runways in culverts. As part of that project they were re-routed in open channels around the west edge of the airport. A new 3.7 mi channel was constructed for each river, over 75 per cent of which were made from pre-cast panels manufactured off-site. Despite this construction method, biodiversity was encouraged by the use of hazel hurdles and coir rolls, pre-planted with native species, to provide habitat for small mammals. Habitat for fish was provided by creating meandering flow patterns using gravel and recycled trees, and the channels were populated with some 84,000 river plants. Water voles, plants, fish, freshwater mussels and silts from the original river bed were moved to the new channel to assist its regeneration, and landscaping involved planting 450 semi-mature trees, 2,000 shrubs and 100,000 groundcover shrubs. The scheme took 18 months to complete, and is now managed by the Twin Rivers Management Committee, with representatives from Heathrow Airport, the Environment Agency and the Royal Parks Agency. It was awarded a Civil Engineering Environmental Quality (CEEQUAL) Award, in recognition of the fact that it was completed on time, to budget, and maintained very high environmental standards throughout its construction.</p><br>
<h3>Water features</h3><br>
<p>At its eastern end, the river fed water features in Bushy Park and Hampton Court. To celebrate his queen, Henrietta Maria, Charles I had a statue and fountain made, which although called the Diana fountain depicts Arethusa, a water nymph, rather than the Roman goddess of hunting. This was moved to Hampton Court from Somerset House by Oliver Cromwell, and repositioned in the centre of a circular pond in Bushy Park by Sir Christopher Wren when he redesigned the gardens in 1713. The water gardens in Bushy Park were developed by the 1st Earl of Halifax in 1710.</p><br>
<p>During the First World War, Bushy Park was used to station Canadian troops, and during the Second World War was used by the USA Air Force. General Eisenhower was based there when the Allied invasion of north-west Europe was planned, which began with the D-Day landings. Most of the huts erected to accommodate them had been removed by 1963, but the park remained in military occupation, as the Admiralty used it as a research establishment during the Cold War. By the time military use had ceased in the early 1990s, much of the site was overgrown and damaged, but a group called the Friends of Bushy and Home Parks was formed, and began to research what was there. Aided by the discovery of an eighteenth-century painting of the park and archaeological investigation, a restoration programme for the whole park was developed, for which funding of £7.2 million was provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Royal Parks and others. Preliminary investigation work began in 2006, with the main part of the project starting in January 2008, which involved dredging large volumes of silt from the ponds, restoring them to their original shape, and overhauling the water engineering system, to reconnect them to the Longford River. The cascades and flank walls were restored using original stonework and bricks where they could be found. The Longford River had been diverted by the Admiralty in 1953 while they were using the park, which had resulted in 5 ft of silt building up in the ponds. Its removal revealed two extra steps of the cascades. The river was returned to its earlier course, and water flowed down the cascades for the first time on 15 September 2008. A new bridge was constructed over the river to link the Brew House to the water gardens, and the Baroque water gardens were reopened to the public in 2009. The cost of restoring them was £780,000.</p><br>
<p>At Hampton Court, the dominating feature of the grounds is the landscaping scheme constructed for the new palace by Sir Christopher Wren. There is a water-bounded semicircular parterre, the length of the east front. Three avenues radiate in crows foot pattern into Hampton Court Park. The central avenue contains the great canal, known as the Long Water, excavated during the reign of Charles II, in 1662. The design, radical at the time, is influenced by Versailles, and was laid out by pupils of André Le Nôtre, Louis XIVs landscape gardener. At the eastern end of the Long Water is the Golden Jubilee Fountain. This was opened in November 2002 by Queen Elizabeth II, and features five jets, the largest of which rises to a height of 98 ft.</p><br>
<h2>Water Quality</h2><br>
<p>The Environment Agency measure the water quality of the river systems in England. Each is given an overall ecological status, which may be one of five levels: high, good, moderate, poor and bad. There are several components that are used to determine this, including biological status, which looks at the quantity and varieties of invertebrates, angiosperms and fish, and chemical status, which compares the concentrations of various chemicals against known safe concentrations. Chemical status is rated good or fail.</p><br>
<p>The water quality of the Longford River was as follows in 2015. No data has been published for years prior to 2015.</p><br>
<h2>Points of interest</h2><br>
<p>Malá Fatra  is a mountain range in the Western Carpathians in the north-west of Central Slovakia. In the geomorphological system, it is a part of the Fatra-Tatra Area.</p><br>
<p>It is situated approximately between the cities of Nitrianske Pravno, Strečno, Martin and Zázrivá. Turčianska kotlina (Turiec Basin) and the Oravská vrchovina Mts. are situated to the west of the range, and Žilinská kotlina (Žilina Basin) and the Kysucká vrchovina Mts. is located to the east.</p><br>
<p>Malá Fatra consists of two subdivisions separated by the Váh river near Strečno:</p><br>
<p>Lúčanská Malá Fatra</p><br>
<p>Krivánska Malá Fatra</p><br>
<p>The highest peak is Veľký Kriváň at 1,709 m AMSL in Krivánska Malá Fatra.</p><br>
<p>Malá Fatra is basically one large karst feature. It is made up of crystalline rocks and complexes of Mesozoic strongly folded rocks.</p><br>
<p>The main peaks of Lúčanská Malá Fatra are Veľká Lúka (1,475 m), Kľak (1,351 m) and Minčol (1,364). The main peaks of the Krivánska Malá Fatra are Veľký Rozsutec (1,610 m), Malý Rozsutec (1,343 m), Veľký Kriváň (1,709 m) and Malý Kriváň (1,671 m).</p><br>
<p>The 12 km long pass between Krivánska Malá Fatra and Lúčanská Malá Fatra separated by the Váh is called Strečnianska tiesňava (Strečno Pass), located below the ruins of the famous Strečno Castle. The Dierový potok stream created a complex of canyons, waterfalls and cascades in that area. Šútovo Waterfall (Šútovský vodopád ) is the highest waterfall in Malá Fatra and has a vertical drop of 38 m.</p><br>
<p>Popular centres for winter sports are Vrátna dolina and Štefanová. Other tourism centres are the villages of Terchová, where the Slovak national hero Juraj Jánošík was born and Zázrivá, where the traditional Slovak sheep cheese delicacy known as korbáčiky is made. One of the most popular ski areas in Slovakia outside the Tatras is the Martinské hole resort situated between the Veľká lúka Mountain and the town of Martin.</p><br>
<p>Krivánska Malá Fatra is protected by the Malá Fatra National Park.</p><br>
<p>In addition, Malá Fatra includes the following small-scale protection areas:</p><br>
<p>national nature reserves: Chleb, Minčol, Krivé, Šútovská dolina, Sokolec, Suchý, Starý hrad, Prípor, Šíp, Šrámková, Rozsutec, Tiesňavy, Veľká Bránica, Kľačianska Magura</p><br>
<p>nature reserves: Dubovské lúky, Goľove mláky, Hajasová, Hrabinka, Hrádok, Kraľoviansky meander, Močiar, Paráč, Pod Rígľom, Veľká Lučivná</p><br>
<p>natural monuments: Bôrická mláka, Domašínsky meander, Krasniansky luh, Šútovská epigenéza</p><br>
<p>protected site: Hate</p><br>
<p>Palm Island in the Grenadines is a small island one mile from Union Island, only accessible by boat. It has an area of 135 acre and has five beaches.</p><br>
<p>Originally known as Prune Island, Palm Island got its current name when the former owners, the late John Caldwell ("Johnny Coconut") and his wife Mary, planted hundreds of coconut palms, transforming the deserted, swampy, and mosquito infested island into a palm covered one. Its grass airstrip was sacrificed to the planting of more palms following the construction of a 752 m concrete airstrip on Union Island. The circular air traffic control building remains although it is now used as a nursery for young palms.</p><br>
<p>Palm Island is the home of Palm Island Resort and Spa, with 40 rooms and suites and several private villas. There are two restaurants (the Royal Palm Restaurant and the Sunset Grill) and two bars, a spa, swimming pool, gym, library, tennis court, table tennis room and TV/Internet Room plus other facilities for guests. Typically the resort caters for 100 guests with 92 staff.</p><br>
<p>The island golf course has been reclaimed by the natural habitat with just the flagsticks remaining although a 300 m driving range parallel to the Casuarina Beach is usable but rarely used. The island itself is now a haven for wildlife and during 2015, 125 land turtles were introduced to replace the small population that was washed away by Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Although not indigenous, the vegetation is akin to Union Island where the turtles were sourced and they are released from nursery cages as soon as they grow past the size where they would be prey to the native land iguanas.</p><br>
<p>Other wildlife easily seen are house geckos (Gekkonidae), ground and tree lizards, hermit crabs, land crabs (Coenobitidae). sea turtles are reputed to come ashore to lay eggs but rare tracks are usually the only indication that they have visited. The island also provides habitation for pigeons and doves (Columbidae), common blackbird, tropical mockingbird, sandpipers, bananaquit, blue and crowned herons (Botaurus) and hummingbirds. The skies above are populated by osprey, laughing gull and frigatebird. Sand flies or "noseeums" (no-see-em, no-see-ums) as they are known colloquially combined with the ubiquitous mosquito occasionally annoy the hotel guests but blanket spraying by the hotel ground staff keeps their effect to a minimum.</p><br>
<p>The Old Dutch Parsonage is a historical house built in 1751, moved about 1913 and now located at 38 Washington Place, Somerville, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The -story brick house was the home of the first ministers of the first Dutch Reformed Churches in the area, built by the combined efforts of the congregations in Somerville, New Jersey, and Raritan, New Jersey, in 1751.</p><br>
<p>The first occupant was Reverend John Frelignhuysen who taught seminarians in the house. His son Frederick Frelinghuysen was a Captain in the Continental Army.</p><br>
<p>Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, one of the seminarians who occupied the house after Frelinghuysens death along with the former reverends widow and her children, succeeded Frelinghuysen as minister, occupant of the house, and, in 1756, as husband to the former Mrs. Frelinghuysen.</p><br>
<p>Hardenbergh helped establish Queen&#39;s College, now known as Rutgers University in 1766 and in 1785 became its first President. He moved from the house in 1781 but it continued in use as a parsonage until 1810.</p><br>
<p>Dr. Peter Stryker bought the house in 1810 and sold it to the Doughty family in 1836. They owned it until 1907 when they sold it to the Central Railroad of New Jersey.</p><br>
<p>In 1913, the house was set to be knocked down by the railroad, but instead it was moved adjacent to the Wallace House, which was built in 1775.</p><br>
<p>Harmanus Barkeloo II (1745–1788) and John Waldron (1737–1790) are buried in the cemetery.</p><br>
<p>The Wallace House is a Georgian style historic house which served as the headquarters of General George Washington during the winter of 1778-79, located at 38 Washington Place, Somerville, Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 2, 1970.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, a Dutch Reformed minister who lived in the nearby Old Dutch Parsonage, sold a small farmhouse and 95 acre of land to John Wallace, who was a merchant and fabric importer in Philadelphia.</p><br>
<p>In 1775 and 1776, Wallace bought 12 acre more land, and in 1776 built an eight-room Georgian mansion next to the farmhouse.</p><br>
<p>Wallace named the estate "Hope Farm," and planned to retire there.</p><br>
<p>The Continental Army camped in the Watchung Mountains at Middlebrook, 3 mi from Hope Farm during the winter of 1778-79.</p><br>
<p>The Wallace House became George Washington&#39;s headquarters, though he only stayed there for 11 days before leaving to attend the Continental Congress in Philadelphia for 6 weeks. Washington returned in February 1779 bringing his wife Martha. The Washingtons were given use of half the house. He then used the house to host foreign dignitaries and official dinners, and to plan military strategy.</p><br>
<p>In particular, he planned the 1779 campaign against the Iroquois League known as the Sullivan Expedition. Guests at the parties included Benedict Arnold, Nathanael Greene, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Knox, and Baron Steuben.</p><br>
<p>Washington left on June 3, 1779, and paid Wallace $1,000.</p><br>
<p>The Wallace family and their slaves then returned to their normal lives in the house.</p><br>
<p>John Wallace, his wife, and his mother-in-law all died in 1783-84, and his youngest son William inherited Hope Farm.</p><br>
<p>William lived there until he died at age 33 in 1796, leaving three orphan children.</p><br>
<p>William&#39;s brother Joshua took care of the children and sold Hope Farm to Dickinson Miller in 1801.</p><br>
<p>The Revolutionary Memorial Society bought the house in 1896, and gave it to the State of New Jersey in 1947.</p><br>
<p>The Dunderland Valley  is a valley in the municipality of Rana in Nordland county, Norway. It reaches from just below the eastern Saltfjellet plateau about 8 mi south of the Arctic circle at the mountain Bolna is situated in the uppermost boundary of the valley which then proceeds to the southwest all the way down to the Ranfjorden. Some of the minor side valleys include Plurdalen, Røvassdalen, Bjøllådalen, Grønfjelldalen and Virvassdalen. The valley also includes several villages such as Krokstrand, Bjøllånes, Storvoll, Dunderland, Eiterå, Nevernes, Storforshei, Nevermoen and Røssvoll.</p><br>
<p>The European route E06 highway passes through the Dunderland Valley, following the Ranelva river. The Illhøllia Tunnel on the E6 highway, between Nevermoen and Røssvoll, was opened in 2002. The Nordland Line also follows the river through the valley. Today, the valley only houses a small number of people, and it has two stations on the Nordland Line: Dunderland Station and Bolna Station.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The mountain rocks in the Dunderland Valley are a caledonian shale, known from its occurrences of iron ore, mica schist, and marble. Its mining industry has produced Fauske marble, also present in Fauske municipality to the north. At Storforshei, there has been a large-scale iron mining industry.</p><br>
<p>There are also pyrite mines. The valley has several stalactite caverns in the limestone, with some of the tributary streams flowing for considerable distances underground. From the upper parts of the Dunderland Valley, a sequestered bridle-path runs from Bolna to Saltdal on the Skjerstadfjord, with a branch through the magnificent Junkerdal National Park.</p><br>
<h3>Mining</h3><br>
<p>Deposits of iron ore have been known in this area since 1799. The Dunderland Iron Ore Company mined here during several operative periods, the first one starting in 1902. The river Ranelva provided water power to the miners. The mining company was closed in 1947.</p><br>
<p>Since 1937, Rana Gruber has mined iron ore. Norsk Jernverk was established in 1946, and it began mining magnetite and hematite from the iron ore in 1964.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Recent history</h3><br>
<p>This valley was the site to several accidents and recorded events in Norwegian history. During the World War II, Nazis had several concentration camps in the valley. They mainly housed Polish and Russian prisoners, who were used to build the Nordland Line from Trondheim. The stretch of railway passing through Saltfjellet was extremely brutal and many lost their lives building this. The German troops disposed the bodies the majority of the sick/diseased prisoners in the river Ranelva which flows through the Dunderland Valley. The strong currents made it almost impossible to recover anyone.</p><br>
<p>In 1948, the Dunderlandsdal accident occurred, it was one of the worst bus accidents in Norwegian history to date. For the Sámi, the valley has a special symbolic value due to a tragic incident that occurred about one hundred years ago. In the early 1900s a bus returning from a Sámi conference in Tromsø drove off the road and crashed into the Ranelva river at the bottom of the valley. Of the 23 people on board, 16 were killed and 4 were never found. Most of the people aboard the bus died, and thus the Southern Sámi people lost most of their political leaders in one single blow. There is a memorial that was built on the site in 1950 where the bus ran off the road. It is somewhat hidden in the forest, but accessible from the road by a small stairway.</p><br>
<p>In 1953, a family tragedy struck the valley. A family was found slaughtered at a remote farm. A young girl at the age of 6 and her mother were found killed in the barn. The father was found hung in the same barn.</p><br>
<p>In 1995, another tragic event hit the valley. During a Boy Scout camp at an old farm, a 12-year-old girl disappeared. The girl was from the town of Tromsø in Northern Norway. The event was widely covered in Norwegian press. Crews searched for her for two years, but all they found was her backpack lying alongside the Ranelva river.</p><br>
<h3>Stone age settlements</h3><br>
<p>There have been settlements in the Dunderland Valley since the stone age. In the summer of 2003, a Danish tourist discovered a battle axe (Streitaxe) close to the river Eiterå. The axe was delivered to the Cultural Department of the Rana Museum on 1 July 2004.</p><br>
<p>This is the first discovery of the battle axe culture in the inner parts of Northern Norway. In 1913, a 20 cm long axe from the same cultural horizon was discovered on Brattland in Utskarpen. The axe is a "boat-axe" of Swedish-Norwegian type from about 2800&mdash;2400 BC. It was not a functional tool, but rather a dignity symbol of worthiness and a high social class. It may have belonged to a local chieftain.</p><br>
<p>The stripe on the backside of the axe resembles an edge from moulding, and is an imitation of moulded axes in bronze from Skåne or Denmark. According to the geologist Barbara Prisemann (Department of Natural history, Rana museum), the axe is made from the green shale rock type.</p><br>
<h4>Axe pictures</h4><br>
<p>Chalastra  is a town and former municipality in the Thessaloniki regional unit, Greece. Before 1926, it was known as Κουλουκιά - Kouloukia . It was renamed to Chalastra in 1926, to Πύργος - Pyrgos in 1955 and back to Chalastra in 1980. Since the local government reform of 2011 it has been part of the municipality Delta, of which it is a municipal unit. The town is located 20 km west from the city of Thessaloniki, on the north side of Greek National Road 1, near the Axios river and the Thermaic Gulf. The municipal unit of Chalastra consists of the two communities of Chalastra itself and Anatoliko. The population was 9,859 inhabitants according to the 2011 census, most of them working in agriculture and small industry. The municipal unit Chalastra has an area of 121.415 km, and the community Chalastra has an area of 98.449 km.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Chalastra (Greek: Χαλάστρα, Strabo vii. Χαλέστρη, Herod. vii. 123; Χαλαίστρα, Plut. Alex. 49; Plin. iv. 10. § 17, xxxi. 10. § 46) was known as a town of Mygdonia in ancient Macedonia, situated on the Thermaikos gulf at the mouth of the Axios river, which belonged to the Thracians and possessed a harbor. (Steph. B. s.v.) A large part of the population was absorbed in Thessaloniki when it was founded by Cassander. Little remains of the original town, but it is considered that it was close to modern Kulakia.</p><br>
<p>The Hou Wang Temple is a heritage-listed former temple and now museum at Herberton Road, Atherton, Tablelands Region, Queensland, Australia. Built in 1903, it is one of the oldest original Chinese temples in Australasia. It is also known as Hou Wang Miau, Atherton Joss House and Atherton Chinese Temple.</p><br>
<p>It is one of only two or three temples outside China known to be dedicated to Hou Wang and is the only surviving timber and iron temple in Queensland. The temple contains a substantial number of original artifacts. Most were made in China during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, especially for this temple. They include a clapperless bell manufactured about 1895 and numerous intricately carved timber panels. It was once the socio-religious focus for over 1,000 Chinese residents who worked as timber cutters, market gardeners and maize growers.</p><br>
<p>The temple and the land it stands on was purchased by a group of Chinese families, who donated it to the National Trust of Queensland. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992. The temple&#39;s restoration was completed on 15 September 2002, and it now includes an art gallery and interpretation centre. The temple and gallery are open to the public six days a week, (closed Mondays).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Atherton Chinese Temple was built in 1903 by the community of the Chinatown at Atherton using local materials for construction and furnishings ordered especially from China. It provided a social and spiritual focus for over a thousand people in the township and the surrounding area.</p><br>
<p>Atherton Chinatown was one of many small settlements that developed in Australia during the nineteenth century as homes for the Chinese sojourners who arrived in great numbers to work on the goldfields. Most of these Chinese were males who came from poor areas in south west China and intended to work here until they had gathered enough capital to assure their financial security on their return home. For mutual support and to maintain contacts with their homeland, they lived and worked together, creating such Chinatowns within European settlements, or on their fringes.</p><br>
<p>Chinese diggers flocked to north Queensland in the 1870s in large numbers following the discovery of gold on the Palmer River and on the Hodgkinson. They were regarded with suspicion and hostility by Europeans, who they greatly outnumbered, and were barred from working on newly discovered mineral fields. Because of this, and as the Palmer River field was faded in importance, most Chinese moved south looking for other means to make a living.</p><br>
<p>They arrived in the Atherton area in the early 1880s, working with European timber getters, and set up a camp on the opposite side of Piebald Creek to the tiny European settlement of Prior&#39;s Pocket. In 1885, this area was surveyed and officially named Atherton. Land sales took place and although the Chinese were not allowed to own land, many entered into leases with Europeans and began farming. They grew fruit and vegetables to supply nearby towns and pioneered the growing of maize in north Queensland, which became an important commercial crop. Chinatown grew to service Chinese people in and around Atherton and by 1897 was a thriving residential and commercial centre.</p><br>
<p>In the 1890s, it was decided to built a temple to serve what was now quite a large community. Funds were collected and furnishings were ordered from China. In 1903, the temple was constructed of local cedar and black bean timber and corrugated iron. Brick was the material usually chosen for temples in Australia and the painting of the front wall to resemble this material suggests that the community would have preferred brick, had it been readily available. The temple complex consisted of a temple dedicated to the god Hou Wang, a feasting hall, kitchen and store. It had living quarters for a caretaker and provided accommodation for those visiting the temple from the outlying district. During the 1900s, when Chinatown was at the height of its importance, the temple was a social and spiritual centre for over a thousand people.</p><br>
<p>Following the First World War, Chinese leases on agricultural land in the district were revoked in favour of soldier settlers. During the nineteen twenties, most of the inhabitants of Chinatown and the surrounding farms moved south or to nearby coastal towns. Many of the buildings in Chinatown were demolished and removed, some being reused locally. A caretaker remained at the temple which was used by a few old men who remained in the township.</p><br>
<p>Although some repairs were carried out, without a community to support it, the temple fell into disrepair. A cyclone in 1956 blew away the pagoda, which was replaced by a lean-to. Damage also occurred from water leakage. In the 1960s artefacts were removed from the temple, including the image of Hou Wang and other gods. Some of these artefacts have since been returned. The temple was used intermittently for worship until the early 1970s and contains objects connected with this later use. The land on which the temple stands was purchased in 1965 by several local Chinese families.</p><br>
<p>In 1975, the National Trust of Queensland, who had been aware of the temple for some time, gained funding to begin investigative work. In 1977 the area was surveyed, as the Fong On family had offered the temple to the Trust to ensure its preservation. At about the same time cataloging of the remaining artefacts in the temple began. The temple was transferred to the Trust in 1980 and conservation work on the buildings began. It is now interpreted as a place museum.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The temple complex is situated in an open, grassed area which is the site of the former Chinatown. Its positioning suggests that geomancy was used to select the most auspicious site and alignment for the buildings. The complex consists of a temple, hall, kitchen and store constructed of corrugated iron and local timbers in a traditional Chinese form.</p><br>
<p>The buildings are marked off from the street by an ornamental picket fence and gate which have been reconstructed from photographs and archaeological investigation. The temple building is fronted by a pagoda consisting of the upper section of the original roof mounted on a new base. Inside, the space is divided into an entrance area separated by doors from the area which contains the altar and a heavenly well. This is a section of raised pagoda roof which is designed to admit light and to allow incense to rise from the large burner below. It is glazed to keep out rain and is supported on posts which display a deliberate irregularity to symbolize human imperfection.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the temple is lined with unpainted cedar and is decorated with carvings, painted metal wall panels and temple furnishings which were imported from China. Much of the carving is embellished with vermilion and gold paint.</p><br>
<p>On the left side of the building as one faces the altar, a door provides access to the adjacent community hall. This is a plainer, more functional building and contains a bedroom for the caretaker, and a room for meetings and ceremonial banquets. There is a clerestory similar to the one in the temple and evidence of Chinese notices and graffiti survive on the unpainted walls. Behind the hall are two small buildings which contained a store and kitchen. Both are timber framed and clad, unpainted inside with earth floors. The kitchen has a galvanised fire recess. Much of these two buildings has been reconstructed.</p><br>
<p>The buildings are raised on hardwood stumps. Structural members are made of black bean (Castanospermum australe) and the ceilings, wall linings and joinery are made from red cedar (Toona australis). Red Penda and Kalantis have been substituted for these no longer common timbers where reconstruction work was necessary for conservation. Both of these timbers are very close to the original in appearance.</p><br>
<p>Paths edged with upturned bottles, an indentation which indicates the position of the pig roasting pit and archaeological remains survive. Artefacts which were placed in temporary storage are being replaced in the temple as they are conserved. These include carvings, carved banners and the temple bell on its stand. There are also substantial archaeological collections.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage listing</h2><br>
<p>The Atherton Chinese Temple was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.</p><br>
<p>The place is important in demonstrating the evolution or pattern of Queensland&apos;s history.</p><br>
<p>As a temple complex which serviced a major Chinese settlement and farming community on the Atherton Tablelands, it is important in demonstrating the role which the Chinese played in the development of north Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place demonstrates rare, uncommon or endangered aspects of Queensland&apos;s cultural heritage.</p><br>
<p>It is the only surviving timber and iron temple in Queensland; is the only temple outside China known to be dedicated to Hou Wang and contains a substantial number of original artefacts.</p><br>
<p>The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of Queensland&apos;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has the potential to contribute to an understanding of Queensland&#39;s history by demonstrating aspects of the lifestyle and beliefs of Chinese sojourners in Queensland.</p><br>
<p>The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.</p><br>
<p>It has aesthetic qualities which are valued by the community and reflects the cultural traditions that the Chinese brought with them to Australia.</p><br>
<p>The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the Chinese community of Atherton who made an important contribution to the development of agriculture in the area.</p><br>
<p>The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland&apos;s history.</p><br>
<p>It has a special association with the Chinese community of Atherton who made an important contribution to the development of agriculture in the area.</p><br>
<p>Gorgona is the northernmost island in the Tuscan Archipelago, a group of islands off the west coast of Italy. Between Corsica and Livorno, this diminutive island has been valued most for its wildlife, especially marine birds, and its isolation. The latter quality resulted in the foundation of Gorgona Abbey in the Middle Ages. After its closure the monastery grounds and buildings were appropriated in 1869, at the foundation of an agricultural penal colony, which is currently in use.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Gorgona is located about 19 nautical miles (about 35 km) straight out from Livorno. It is a ferry ride of about 1.5 hours; however, access to the island is forbidden without permission from the Italian Ministry of Justice. It grants a standing concession exclusively to one group for supervised tours. Photographic equipment is not allowed. Private boats may approach the island no closer than 500 m except in emergencies. Capraia is 35 km away; Corsica, 60 km.</p><br>
<p>The only landing place is "Cala dello Scalo", an inlet on the northeast side surrounded by cliffs, the site of the only beach. A fishing village over the beach is now inhabited by workers of the Penal Colony and, above all in the summer, by families of heirs of the old settlers.</p><br>
<p>On the cliff overlooking the bay is a historic site, the Torre Nuova, "new tower", built as a watchtower by the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in the 17th century.</p><br>
<p>From the beach an unpaved road leads up to the settlement at the head of a pass between the two prominent heights: Punta Gorgona at 254 m to the south and Punta Zirri at 213 m to the north. On the cliffs at the west side of the island on the other side of the pass is the Torre Vecchia, "old tower", built as a watchtower by the Republic of Pisa in the 12th century.</p><br>
<p>Occupation of the island has been primarily on the steep slopes and terraces of the east coast. A number of monastery and other buildings were constructed there. The prison, which has been structured as a working farm, has taken over or takes responsibility for maintaining this entire region. Prisoners work in agriculture or raise animals or learn whatever building trades are useful to the enterprise. Their living space is rather big with good rooms as cells, some spaces for group activities and a pleasant soccer 5 field. Most of the prisoners work outdoors, in the village area too. So interaction with residents and outsiders is controlled.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<p>The ecology of Gorgona is under the protection of the Tuscan Archipelago National Park, dating from 1996, with headquarters at Portoferraio, Elba. Most of the island is in its native state, 90% of it being forested with maquis, 2 m to 5 m high.</p><br>
<p>Among its plant species are Arbutus unedo, Rhamnus (Buckthorn), Pistacia lentiscus, Juniperus phoenicea, Myrtus communis, Erica arborea, Erica scoparia, Rosmarinus officinalis, Phillyrea angustifolia, and Phillyrea latifolia. The flowers in more open country include Lavandula stoechas, Helichrysum italicum, Cistus incanus, Cistus salvifolius, and Cistus monspeliensis. Calycotome spinosa and Spartium junceum appear on the slopes. Linaria capraria is endemic to the archipelago and to Gorgona too. Evergreens predominate. There are groves of holm-oak, the remnant of a prehistoric forest, and pine woods of Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinea, and Pinus pinaster.</p><br>
<p>Gorgona is one of only five islands in the world on which the Corsican finch is found.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Ancient history</h3><br>
<p>Urgon or Gorgòn (Γοργόν in Ancient Greek), believed to be Gorgona, receives brief mention in Pliny, who only states that it is near Pianosa and Capraia. Pomponius Mela had mentioned the name earlier (43 BC) but only as an item in a list of the islands in the vicinity.</p><br>
<h3>Monastic history</h3><br>
<p>Rutilius Claudius Namatianus in describing his voyage of 416 AD in the region says that "Gorgon" rises up in the middle of the sea between the Pisan and Cyrniacan (Corsican) shores. He had already stated that there were monachi, "monks", on Capraia and now relates the story of an aristocratic youth who had given up wealth, status and the opportunity for marriage to retire to Gorgon in "superstitious exile", implying that monasteries of sorts were already on the two islands.</p><br>
<p>Tradition holds that monks from Gorgona rescued the relics of Saint Julia of Corsica before they were carried to the mainland in the 8th century. Finally, in 1425, the Saint Julia relics were carried to "Chartreuse of Calci", near to Pisa.</p><br>
<p>The monastery was abandoned after its destruction by the Saracens. In the 11th century the Republic of Pisa cleared the Tyrrhenian Sea of Muslims and proceeded against their strongholds in Africa. In 1051, just prior to the Pisan occupation of Corsica, the monastery was reconstituted, still Benedictine, and was declared under papal protection. Subsequently, gifts of land were made by aristocrats in Tuscany (where Pisa is located) and northern Corsica. The monastery began to keep land records from Corsica, the first known from there.</p><br>
<p>Letter 130 of Catherine of Siena, a Dominican nun, to Ippolito degli Ubaldini of Florence encourages him to enter and contribute to the monastery of Gorgona. The letter in stating that the monastery needed to be refurbished to conform to the "rule of the Carthusian Order" implies that it was recently converted to that order. It must have been written after her vision of 1375 and visit to the island then.</p><br>
<p>Two inscriptions at Pisa Charterhouse at Calci attribute the change of order to the influence of Catherine on Pope Gregory XI in trying to obtain economic assistance for the Carthusians. The pope made a grant of money and gave the Carthusians Gorgona. The change cast reproach on the Benedictines for their alleged non-monastic way of life. They were asked to leave the island and were banned from it.</p><br>
<p>Carthusians from Pisa Charterhouse retenanted the monastery under Don Bartholomew Serafini. He promptly invited Catherine to visit. She lodged outside the monastery but was invited to address the monks. She spoke on resisting the temptations of Satan. The mantle she was asked to leave as a token of the visit placed later in the hands of a young monk tempted to suicide by the death or illness of his mother is said to have removed all temptation, a token, in the church, of her sainthood.</p><br>
<p>Subsequently, the Mediterranean became politically unstable. Fearing an attack by Saracen corsairs the monks left the island for the charterhouse at Calci in 1425, taking all the records and works of art with them, and never returned. The records were duly published at Pisa. The island however remained in the ownership of Pisa Charterhouse until the 18th century.</p><br>
<h3>Modern history</h3><br>
<p>Early in 1771 Peter Leopold I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, purchased Gorgona from the Carthusians of Pisa with the intent of making it part of a plan for economic revival. In March of that year he passed a law opening the island to settlement by fishermen with the proviso that they would catch and cure anchovies and sell them in Livorno. The fishing village dates to this time.</p><br>
<p>This opportunity to live in Gorgona was raised from the families named "Citti" and "Dodoli", coming from Garfagnana region in province of Lucca. These two families worked hard to make Gorgona a good place to live in, being able to stay there until the present day.</p><br>
<p>With the unification of Italy in 1861, including the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany, ownership of Gorgona passed to the new Kingdom of Italy. Gorgona became a new and experimental agricultural penal colony in 1869.</p><br>
<h2>Literature</h2><br>
<p>Island of Gorgona, with Capraia too, is part of one of the best-known verses of Dante Alighieri&#39;s poem La Divina Commedia:</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>In the nineteenth century the island was famous for its anchovies. Reservation by the Italian government reduced all economy to that of the prison until last year. In 2012 the Department of Justice approved and gave finances to a plan called "Progetto Granducato" (Granducato Project), to reach the goal of giving prisoners professional training and real job opportunies, inviting private investors to start enterprises in Gorgona.</p><br>
<p>The first company getting a business agreement with the prisons management, was the world-famous wine producer "Marchesi de Frescobaldi". So nowadays the oldest and more prestigious wine brand of Tuscany, is giving prisoners of Gorgona the chance to get an exceptional know-how grown in the centuries, to make their own wines, extra virgin olive oil and any other farm goods.</p><br>
<h2>Lighthouses</h2><br>
<h3>Punta Cala Scirocco lighthouse</h3><br>
<p>Punta Cala Scirocco lighthouse is a fiberglass tower, 5 metres high, placed at 45 metres above sea level at Cala Scirocco the southernmost point of the island, it is fully automated, operated by Marina Militare and identified by the code number 1992 E.F. It has a solar power unit and the lantern emit a two white flash every 10 seconds visible up to 9 nautical miles.</p><br>
<h3>Punta Paratella lighthouse</h3><br>
<p>Cala Paratella lighthouse is a fiberglass tower, 5 metres high, placed at 105 metres above sea level at the northernmost point of the island; it is fully automated, operated by Marina Militare and identified by the code number 1983 E.F. It has a solar power unit and the lantern emit a long white flash every 10 seconds visible up to 9 nautical miles.</p><br>
<p>Big Four is a mountain in the Cascade Range, located about 20 mi east of Granite Falls, Washington. Debris piles on the mountain&#39;s northern flank form as a result of avalanche activity. These fields of disturbed snow are able to remain year round in the shadow of the mountain. During the summer months snow-melt streams flow beneath the debris piles and cause caves to form in the ice. The caves vary in size from season to season and are unpredictably dangerous. The mountain is open to the public and a large snowfield can be reached by a short trail, but the snowfield itself is off-limits due to cave-ins and slides which have killed hikers in incidents in 1998, 2010, and 2015.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Big Four is not named for the five peaks on its top but either for a figure 4 that is visible in one of its snowfields, or 4 husky brothers who were prospecting and trapping in the valley.</p><br>
<p>Lake Iamonia is a large, subtropical prairie lake in northern Leon County, Florida, United States, created during the Pleistocene epoch.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Forming Iamonia</h3><br>
<p>Lake Iamonias base was established during the Early Pleistocene through submergence of land during the various glacial retreats (a warming period) and emergence from the sea during glacial stadial advancement (a cooling period). Though the ice sheet was further north, it affected Iamonias appearance and significant changes began to take shape during the Okefenokee terrace and shoreline period and was complete by the end of the Wicomico terrace and shoreline event thousands of years later.</p><br>
<p>See: Leon County Pleistocene coastal terraces</p><br>
<h3>Ancient fauna</h3><br>
<p>Lake Iamonia area is known to have supported a variety of megafauna from as far back as 23.6 Ma. Fossils of the bear-dog Amphicyon and the dog-like Temnocyonines have been uncovered at nearby sites. The Griscom Plantation Site, once located on Luna Plantation, and on the south shore of Iamonia has produced fossils of the ruminant Leptomeryx, the horse relatives Merychippus and Parahippus leonensis, and the ancient camel Oxydactylus. Osbornodon iamonensis (Osborns dog), a forerunner of todays dog, was named for the lake.</p><br>
<h3>Prehistoric people</h3><br>
<p>The lake was home to the Woodland culture, more specifically the Weeden Island culture, of early Native Americans from roughly 200 BCE to 750 AD. It was within the Apalachee Province from 1000 AD to the 1520s and later the lake would become home to the Seminoles. Lake Iamonia is prounced "I-monia" and is named after a Seminole town “Hiamonee,” which was located on the banks of the Ochlockonee River.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The lake is located in the Red Hills Region and is approximately 5,757 acres (23 km) in size and is 7 mi long and up to 2 mi wide. It has a drainage basin of roughly 101 square miles (260 km).</p><br>
<p>County Road 12 runs along the northern part of the lake. Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy is situated on a bluff on the north side of the lake. The eastern side borders near US 319, the south side is bordered by the developments of Killearn Lakes Plantation and Luna Pines. The west side edges near State Road 155 (N. Meridian Road). The highest elevation around the lake&#39;s basin is 220 ft.</p><br>
<h2>Details</h2><br>
<p>Lake Iamonia is classified as oligotrophic to mesotrophic with a Hydrologic Unit Code (HUC) of 31200.</p><br>
<p>The eastern end of Lake Iamonia is oligotrophic which makes it one of the cleanest lakes in Leon County. The lake is 95 ft above sea level and the sink basin, located on the northern shore of Lake Iamonia, has a surface area of 19.52 acre. Its average depth is 7 ft and its maximum depth is 40 ft. The lake is surrounded by 4000 acres (16 km) of land under conservation easement.</p><br>
<p>The volume of water in the lake is affected by water in its own drainage basin and by water from the Ochlockonee River and rainfall in Southwestern Georgia.</p><br>
<p>The flooding of this river re-filled the entire body of the dried lake within 3 days in February 2008. Thunderstorms which hit the Florida pandhadle and southwest Georgia on April 2 and 3 brought the level of the Ochlockonee River to 26.1 ft, 4 ft above flood stage raising the lake level substantially.</p><br>
<h3>Dams and dikes</h3><br>
<p>In 1910, a dam was constructed across the western end sloughs with two small bridges separated by 1,850 ft of fill dirt. The dam separated Lake Iamonia from the Ochlockonee River to keep out the river&#39;s water so that the lake would dry for agricultural purposes.</p><br>
<p>In 1940 a 1,150 ft long, 150 ft wide earthen dike was constructed around the sink basin to keep water in the lake. A concrete spillway was constructed for overflow with 60 in metal pipes and sluice gates built into the earthen dikes at the sink. Just before 1950 additional earthen dams were built across Cromartie Arm (to the south) and Strickland Arm (to the north) and bordering Horseshoe Plantation. The purpose of these dams was to keep water in Cromartie and Strickland Arms for the plantations.</p><br>
<p>By the 1970s aquatic plants had increased in the lake. In 1978 the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission constructed draw down structures in the sink basin on the north end and under the bridge on N. Meridian Road but were removed by 1980 due to damage from bald cypress roots. Northwest Florida Water Management District welded the sluice gates open and the sink drains continuously.</p><br>
<p>The sink area covers 19.5 acre and has a maximum depth of 400 ft. It has a drain rate at 9.2 cubic feet per second.</p><br>
<h2>Prairie stage</h2><br>
<p>In the antebellum 19th century, Lake Iamonia had Burgesstown Plantation, Pine Hill Plantation, Oaklawn Plantation and G.W. Holland Plantation surrounding it. During dry periods which naturally occurred in cycles, a few cotton plantation owners would take advantage of the exposed land and wealth of grasses and vegetation which took hold in the nutrient rich lake bottom and graze their cattle and sheep on the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Current fauna</h2><br>
<h3>Mammals</h3><br>
<p>Species include the beaver, bobcat, cotton rat, common rat, marsh rice rat, oldfield mouse, eastern wood rat, coyote, gray fox, red fox, gray squirrel, fox squirrel, marsh rabbit, nine-banded armadillo, opossum, raccoon, river otter and white-tailed deer.</p><br>
<h3>Fish</h3><br>
<p>Iamonia is an attraction for sport fishing with largemouth bass, bluegill, black crappie, flier, redear sunfish, Florida gar, bowfin and American pickerel.</p><br>
<h3>Reptiles</h3><br>
<p>Reptiles include the American alligator, snapping turtle, Florida softshell turtle, peninsular cooter, pond slider, musk turtle, eastern mud turtle, chicken turtle, Suwannee cooter, box turtle, Florida green water snake, banded water snake, cottonmouth, black racer, corn snake, southern ribbon snake, garter snake, eastern kingsnake, black swamp snake, mud snake, red-bellied snake, ringneck snake, grey rat snake, rough green snake, scarlet snake, coachwhip snake and eastern indigo snake.</p><br>
<h3>Amphibians</h3><br>
<p>Among amphibians, the Pig frog, bullfrog, leopard frog, green tree frog, squirrel tree frog, Florida cricket frog, two-toed amphiuma and central newt are present.</p><br>
<p>The photos show Lake Iamonia at a normal level of water.</p><br>
<p>The Central System, Spanish and Sistema Central, is one of the main systems of mountain ranges in the Iberian Peninsula. 2,592 m high Pico Almanzor is its highest summit.</p><br>
<p>The Central System is located just north of the 40th parallel and its ranges divide the drainage basin of the Tagus from the basin of the Douro.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Sistema Central is a primary feature of the Meseta Central, the inner Iberian plateau, splitting the meseta into two parts. The Sistema Central runs in an ENE - WSW direction roughly along the southern border of the Spanish autonomous community of Castile and León and Extremadura continuing into the Guarda and Castelo Branco districts in Portugal.</p><br>
<p>Unlike the neighboring Sistema Ibérico, the Sistema Central range is a quite homogeneous system. It consists of several ranges that formed 25 million years ago as part of the Alpine orogeny.</p><br>
<p>The major mountain ranges are the Sierra de Guadarrama, which runs approximately along the border of the Madrid and Castile and León autonomous communities, the Sierra de Gredos north of the border between Castile and León and Castile-La Mancha stretching into Extremadura and containing the range&#39;s highest mountain, Pico Almanzor, at 2,592 m, as well as the Serra da Estrela, containing the highest point in continental Portugal, A Torre, 1.993 m. Other notably large ranges are Sierra de Gata and Sierra de Ayllón. The Central System links with the Sistema Ibérico at its eastern end through the Sierra de Pela, the Altos de Barahona and Sierra Ministra, the latter already fully part of the Iberian System.</p><br>
<p>"Sistema Central" is a widely known academic geographical term. Local inhabitants, however, generally refer to the Sistema Central by the names of its smaller constituent ranges.</p><br>
<h2>Mountain ranges</h2><br>
<p>The main ranges of the Sistema Central from west to east followed by their highest points are:</p><br>
<p>Serra da Lousã, Trevim, 1,205 m.</p><br>
<p>Serra do Moradal</p><br>
<p>Serra da Estrela, Torre, 1,993 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Gata, Jálama, 1,492 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de la Canchera, Pico Tiendas, 1,590 m</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Francia, Pico de la Hastiala, 1,735 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Béjar, Canchal de la Ceja, 2,430 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Gredos, Pico Almanzor, 2,592 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de la Horcajada, Risco de la Umbrela, 1,562 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Villafranca, Cerro Moros, 2,059 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Piedra Aguda, Piedra Aguda, 1,817 m.</p><br>
<p>La Serrota, Cerro del Santo, 2,294 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Hoyocasero, Navasolana, 1,708 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de la Paramera, Pico Zapatero, 2,160 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Ávila, Cerro de Gorría, 1,708 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Ojos Albos, Cruz de Hierro, 1,657 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Malagón, Cueva Valiente, 1,903 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de San Vicente, Cruces, 1,373 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Guadarrama, Peñalara, 2,428 m.</p><br>
<p>La Mujer Muerta, La Pinareja, 2,197 m.</p><br>
<p>Siete Picos, Siete Picos, 2,138 m.</p><br>
<p>La Maliciosa, Maliciosa, 2,227 m.</p><br>
<p>Cuerda Larga, Cabeza de Hierro Mayor, 2,383 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de la Morcuera, La Najarra, 2,122 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Canencia, Mondalindo, 1,831 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de la Cabrera, Cancho Largo, 1,564 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Somosierra, Colgadizos, 1,834 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Ayllón, Pico del Lobo, 2,274 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de la Puebla, La Tornera, 1,866 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra del Ocejón, Ocejón, 2,049 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Alto Rey, Alto Rey, 1,858 m.</p><br>
<p>Sierra de Pela, Sima de Somolinos, 1,548 m.</p><br>
<h3>Main ranges and features</h3><br>
<p>Anthony&#39;s Nose is a peak along the Hudson River at the north end of Westchester County, New York.</p><br>
<h2>Topography</h2><br>
<p>Anthony&#39;s Nose, together with Dunderberg Mountain, comprises the South Gate of the Hudson Highlands. It forms a ridge running northeast and southwest, being separated from Canada Hill to the northeast by Copper Mine Brook and the "South Mountain Pass", and being bordered on the southwest by the Hudson. The Hudson makes a turn around the southwestern tip, so that the northwestern side also slopes down to salt marshes along the river. On the southeastern side are Mine Mountain and, across Broccy Creek, Manitou Mountain. Most of this land is part of Camp Smith, a New York National Guard reservation.</p><br>
<p>US 6/202 crosses the Hudson on the Bear Mountain Bridge to the western tip of the mountain, where it meets NY 9D. 9D runs northeast along the northwestern flank of the mountain to Garrison, New York, while 202/6 runs southeast, hugging the cliffs, towards Peekskill. The main line of the New York Central Railroad, now Metro-Norths Hudson Line, runs along the mountain and passes under the western tip and the Bear Mountain Bridge through a tunnel bearing the peaks name.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The peak has been known as Anthonys Nose since at least 1697, when the name appears on a grant patent. The eponymous Anthony may be St Anthony, as a rock formation called "Saint Anthonys Face" existed on Breakneck Ridge nearby before its destruction by quarrying.</p><br>
<p>Pierre Van Cortlandt, who owned this mountain, said it was named for a pre-Revolutionary War sea captain, Anthony Hogan. This captain was reputed to have a Cyrano de Bergerac type nose. One of his mates, looking at this mount, as they sailed by it, compared it to that of the captains nose. He said that they looked similar in size. This good-natured joke soon spread, and the name Anthonys Nose stuck to this peak. Washington Irvings History of New York, a satire, attributes the name to one Antony Van Corlear, who was the trumpeter on Henry Hudsons ship.</p><br>
<p>Other traditions name Anthony de Hooges (1620–1655), a deacon of the Dutch Reformed Church and early settler of Rensselaerswyck, as the source of "Anthonys Nose" – supposedly after de Hooges own prominent nose.</p><br>
<p>One of the Hudson River Chains was stretched from Fort Montgomery to the foot of the mountain. The Bear Mountain Bridge was later constructed along approximately that alignment. An airway beacon was once located on the summit.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The mountain is composed of Canada Hill granite. Large calcite crystals have been collected from the railroad cut along the base.</p><br>
<h2>Trails</h2><br>
<p>The Appalachian Trail crosses the Bear Mountain Bridge and follows 9D for a short distance before turning east and climbing the side of the mountain. It skirts the summit ridge, descends into the clove between Anthony&#39;s Nose and Mine Mountain, and from there into South Mountain Pass. The blue-blazed Camp Smith Trail leaves the AT southwestward just above the descent to 9D, and runs along the ridge to reach the summit. From there, it runs along the border of Camp Smith to reach parking along 202/6 on the south side of Manitou Mountain.</p><br>
<p>Johnston–Felton–Hay House, often abbreviated Hay House, is a historic residence at 934 Georgia Avenue in Macon, Georgia. Built between 1855 and 1859 by William Butler Johnston and his wife Anne Tracy Johnston in the Italian Renaissance Revival style, the house has been called the "Palace of the South." The mansion sits atop Coleman Hill on Georgia Avenue in downtown Macon, near the Walter F. George School of Law, part of Mercer University. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1973 for its architectural uniqueness.</p><br>
<p>The 18,000 ft&sup2, 24-room home was designed by the New York architect T. Thomas and Son. It was built in part by craftsman and artisans brought from Italy who were supervised by local master builder James B. Ayers. It has four levels and is crowned by a three-story cupola. Commissioned by imaginative owners and constructed by the most skillful workers of the time, its technological amenities were unsurpassed in the mid-nineteenth century: hot and cold running water, central heat, a speaker-tube system connecting 15 rooms, a French lift equivalent to today&#39;s elevator, in-house kitchen, and an elaborate ventilation system.</p><br>
<h2>House history</h2><br>
<p>Two families lived in Hay House, the first over four generations. Most of the homes present-day furnishings date from the Hay familys occupancy (1926–1962). A few pieces are from the Johnston family (1860–1896), most notably the Eastlake-style dining room suite. The most notable piece in the collection may be the 1857 marble statue, "Ruth Gleaning," by American expatriate sculptor Randolph Rogers.</p><br>
<p>The home was a place of comfort for the Johnston family and their daughters until the late 1800s. In 1896 after the death of Mrs. Johnston, their daughter Mary Ellen Felton and her husband lived in the home. The Feltons updated the plumbing and electricity and stayed in the home until the time of their deaths in 1926.</p><br>
<h3>The Johnstons</h3><br>
<p>William Butler Johnston obtained his substantial wealth through investments in banking, railroads and public utilities rather than from the agrarian cotton economy. In 1851, he married Anne Clark Tracy, 20 years his junior, and the couple embarked on an extended honeymoon in Europe from 1852 to 1855. During their trip, the Johnstons visited hundreds of museums, historic sites and art studios. They collected fine porcelains, sculptures and paintings as mementos during their grand tour. Inspired by the Italian architecture they observed, the Johnstons constructed the monumental Italian Renaissance Revival mansion in Macon upon their return to America. Only two of the Johnstons&#39; six children survived to adulthood. Caroline and Mary Ellen Johnston were born in 1862 and 1864, respectively, and grew up in the house on Georgia Avenue.</p><br>
<h3>The Feltons</h3><br>
<p>After the death of Mrs. Johnston in 1896, daughter Mary Ellen and her husband, Judge William H. Felton, lived in the house. They remodeled and redecorated parts of the house, updated the plumbing and added electricity. Their only child, William Hamilton Felton, Jr., was born in 1889. He married Luisa Macgill Gibson in 1915, and the newlywed couple soon moved in with the Feltons. They and their two sons, William Hamilton Felton III and George Gibson Felton, lived in the house until 1926.</p><br>
<h3>The Hays</h3><br>
<p>After the deaths of William Sr. and Mary Ellen Felton, the house was sold to Parks Lee Hay and his wife, Maude. After purchasing, the Hays redecorated the entire home, updating it to fit the new twentieth-century décor. The home was seen as a local landmark to all in middle Georgia. Mr. Hay died in 1957, and Mrs. Hay died in 1962.</p><br>
<h2>Present day</h2><br>
<p>Following Mrs. Hay&#39;s death, her heirs established the P.L. Hay Foundation and operated the house as a private house museum. By virtue of its national architectural significance, Hay House was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974. In 1977, the ownership and operation of the house was formally transferred to The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation to ensure its long-term preservation.</p><br>
<p>In 2000, the White House Millennium Council designated Hay House an Official Project of Save Americas Treasures in 2000. Today, Hay House is one of Macons most popular tourist attractions with 20,000 visitors each year. The house is also a prominent rental venue for special events.</p><br>
<h3>Hay House campaign</h3><br>
<p>Recently, the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation which oversees the management and maintenance of Hay House embarked on a successful $7.6 million capital campaign for the restoration and maintenance of the building. Of the money raised in the capital campaign, $3.5 million was earmarked to establish an endowment for ongoing maintenance. A need of $17.5 million has been identified to fund a complete restoration of the Hay House and permanently endow all future maintenance and management.</p><br>
<p>The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation received a number of donations and grants including a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a grant from the National Endowment of the Arts, and an Architectural Conservation grant from the Getty Foundation.</p><br>
<h3>Restoration</h3><br>
<p>Today, Hay House is open to visitors. Tours are held daily. Some of the plants in the landscaping of the home date back to the 19th century. Renovations continue to occur to keep Hay House up to date. Upcoming projects include a redesign of the gift shop, including new insulation, and writing specifications for mortar repairs outside of the building. Half of the money raised in the capital campaign was allocated for restoration of the exterior, cupola, and most public rooms of the house. Other restoration efforts include repairing the porch and stairs, masonry, and window and door shutter; conserving the stained glass; installing UV protection on windows; restoring the ground floor, attic, and cupola; lighting the 8,000-gallon water tank interior to illustrate the technological innovations of the house; conserving the collections of paintings and porcelain; and repairing the exterior grounds. Original furnishings and decorations in the downstairs rooms are also being researched in order to accurately restore the wall coverings, paint finishes, and furniture upholstery to their appearance during the Hay family&#39;s residency in the house.</p><br>
<p>Coast Guard Base Alameda also referred to as Coast Guard Island is an artificial island in the Oakland Estuary between Oakland and Alameda, California. It is home to several major United States Coast Guard commands and cutters, including the Coast Guard Pacific Area. It is one of the largest Coast Guard bases on the West Coast. From 1942 until 1982, the island was the site of the Coast Guard&#39;s recruiting training center , enlisting and training hundreds of thousands of Coasties including many of the 214,239 who served in the Pacific and European Theaters of World War II.</p><br>
<p>The 67 acre island is situated in the historic Brooklyn Basin, now known as Embarcadero Cove. It is within Alameda city limits, but is tied to land only via a bridge from Dennison Street in Oakland.</p><br>
<h2>Tenant commands</h2><br>
<p>The Island houses a number of USA Coast Guard commands and its facilities are managed by Base Alameda. Tenant commands include:</p><br>
<p>Pacific Area and Defense Force West</p><br>
<p>Maritime Intelligence Fusion Center Pacific (MIFCPAC)</p><br>
<p>Sector San Francisco (Prevention Department; the remainder of Sector San Francisco is housed at nearby Yerba Buena Island)</p><br>
<p>Pacific Regional Fisheries Training Center (formerly known as Training Team West)</p><br>
<p>Maritime Safety and Security Team 91105 (MSST 91105)</p><br>
<p>It is also the homeport for four Legend-class cutters:</p><br>
<p>USCGC Bertholf (WMSL-750)</p><br>
<p>USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751)</p><br>
<p>USCGC Stratton (WMSL-752)</p><br>
<p>USCGC Munro (WMSL-755)</p><br>
<p>Base Alameda also houses and supports a number of other Coast Guard commands with detachments or regional offices located on the island, including:</p><br>
<p>Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) Pacific Region</p><br>
<p>Legal Service Command West</p><br>
<p>Personnel Service Center Detachment Alameda</p><br>
<p>Coast Guard Office of Civil Rights Detachment Region 3</p><br>
<p>Coast Guard Office of Civilian Human Resources (CG-121), Human Resources Operations Division, Human Resources Center-West</p><br>
<p>Surface Force Logistics Center</p><br>
<p>Detachment Alameda</p><br>
<p>Shore Infrastructure Logistics Center Detachment Alameda</p><br>
<p>Coast Guard Office of Contingency and Deployable Logistics, DOL-42 (Pacific Area) and DOL-43 ((Atlantic Area)</p><br>
<p>Coast Guard Engineering Support Unit Alameda (ESU Alameda) and Naval Engineering Support Unit Alameda (NESU Alameda were also located on the island until those units were decommissioned in 2013. The functions and capabilities of the units remain as departments within Base Alameda.</p><br>
<p>The facilities on Coast Guard Island also include an industrial service center, enlisted barracks, a medical and dental clinic, and public works facilities to service the island.</p><br>
<h2>History and formation</h2><br>
<p>Originally known as Government Island, this artificial island was formed in 1913 by the dredging project that extended the Oakland Estuary to San Leandro Bay. The Coast Guard first came to the island in 1926 when it established "Base 11" under an Executive Order signed in September 1931 that gave title to a 15 acre tract for a permanent base. Improvements were started at that time and by 1933 included streets, utilities, spur tracks, a trestle bridge from Oakland, a transformer station, and rebuilding of the existing wharves. The cost was more than one and a half million dollars and provided facilities for Base 11 and the Coast Guard Store (warehouses).</p><br>
<h2>Establishment</h2><br>
<p>The shore establishment expanded in 1939 with the amalgamation of the Lighthouse Service. A training center was established in 1940 to meet the service&#39;s increased personnel needs.</p><br>
<p>An area of 35 acre was acquired from the City of Alameda in 1939 with an additional 17 acre purchased by the USA Coast Guard in 1942. The entire island of 67 acre was devoted to training center facilities. The first contract provided for five barracks, mess hall and galley, engineering and administration buildings, an infirmary, roadways, heating, plumbing, electrical and fire protection. The contract was awarded February 21, 1942 and completed June 30, 1942 at a cost of $1,680,082.94. Additional contracts for another half million dollars provided for additional barracks, clothing issue building, paving a drill field, band room, incinerator, anti-aircraft trainer building, and docks for small boats.</p><br>
<h2>Recruit Training Center</h2><br>
<p>The training center was first opened on June 1, 1942 with accommodations for 900 men. It was solely to train recruits. Specialty training was added later to include fireman, signalman, laundryman, radioman, boatswain&#39;s mate, cooks and bakers, and port security.</p><br>
<p>After the war, Government Island remained a Coast Guard Training Center with addition of the Weather Bureau, Internal Auditors, and the Bureau of Roads. During the late 1960s the Training & Supply Center was the Coast Guard&#39;s largest field unit on the West Coast. The Training Center graduated 60-100 seaman and fireman apprentices each week. The Supply Center provided support to the western area districts including Squadron One and Squadron Three in Vietnam. The cutters TANEY, GRESHAM, and BARATARIA were homeported on the island at the time.</p><br>
<p>In 1982, the Training Center was closed and recruit training was moved to United States Coast Guard Training Center Cape May, New Jersey, where it remains today. Support Center Alameda was established June 1, 1982 and the island was renamed Coast Guard Island. The Coast Guard Pacific Area, Coast Guard 11th District (then known as Coast Guard 12th District), and Marine Safety Office San Francisco moved from downtown San Francisco to the island. On June 24, 1987, Maintenance & Logistics Command Pacific was established and located on the island until its decommissioning. The Support Center was redesignated as Integrated Support Command Alameda on March 15, 1996, and today is Base Alameda.</p><br>
<h2>Notable Commanders</h2><br>
<p>World War II Era Rear Admiral A. J. Carpenter, Commanding Officer of Alameda and District 3.</p><br>
<p>Vietnam War Era Captain Henry P. Kniskern, Commanding Officer</p><br>
<p>Captain,Michael L. Woolard, Commanding Officer 2011-2015.</p><br>
<p>Captain, Jonathan P. Hickey, Commanding Officer 2015-Present</p><br>
<p>Bonito Lake is an alpine reservoir located high in the Sierra Blanca mountains northwest of Ruidoso, New Mexico. It is a popular fishing and camping destination, and although it is surrounded by the Lincoln National Forest, it is not a part of the national forest. It is currently owned by the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico as their primary water source. Because of the high altitude, the lake&#39;s temperature is cold year round, and is home to an abundance of rainbow trout. The area around the lake has several campgrounds with hiking trails and streams.</p><br>
<p>The area is now a part of the Lincoln National Forest, but in the late 19th century, the Southern Pacific Railroad owned most of the water rights in the area. In 1907 the railroad built a small dam in South Fork Canyon, upstream from the current dam. From that dam they extended a wooden pipeline 132 mi to Pastura, New Mexico to provide water for the steam trains of the era. The remnants of the original dam and pieces of the wooden pipeline are still visible to hikers along the trail in South Fork Canyon.</p><br>
<p>By the 1920s, the railroad needed even more water, and they petitioned the Government of New Mexico to allow them to build another, larger dam along Bonito Creek. The engineers who surveyed the canyon determined that the best place to build a dam would be downstream from the town of Bonito, across a narrow spot in the canyon. This location would allow the dam to contain the water of two streams which merged just above the dam. This location, however, meant that the town of Bonito would be flooded by the dam&#39;s lake. The people living in Bonito were given land further down the canyon, and the entire town was moved downstream to a new location.</p><br>
<p>The dam was completed in 1931, and by 1933 the lake was completely filled. At full capacity, the lake contains 1,500 acre-feet of water.</p><br>
<p>By the 1950s, steam locomotives had been replaced by diesel electric locomotives, and the railroad no longer needed the water from the lake. The railroad sold the lake to the city of Alamogordo, New Mexico, which needed a reliable water supply to provide the towns drinking water. A 90 mi pipeline was built to Alamogordos "La Luz" water treatment plant. Alamogordo still owns the dam and lake, but all of the land around the lake is a part of the Lincoln National Forest. The lake and the surrounding mountains are now popular for fishing, camping, and hiking.</p><br>
<h2>Little Bear Fire</h2><br>
<p>The 2012 Little Bear Fire caused flooding and other damage to Bonito Lake and the surrounding area. The lake has been closed to fishing since that time, and the campgrounds around the lake are also closed. The fire caused severe erosion in the watershed above the lake, and the lake was contaminated with sediment and ash from the fire. In the summer of 2015 engineers began the process of draining the lake in order to dredge it. The expected reopen date is currently unknown, but may be as late as 2019 or 2020.</p><br>
<p>On September 26th, 2017 the Alamogordo city commissioners approved an $8.6 million contract to drain, dredge, and restore the lake. The city engineer estimated that it would take about 24 months for the work to be completed and the lake reopened.</p><br>
<p>Karytaina or Karitaina  is a village and a community in Arcadia, Greece. Karytaina is situated on a hill on the right bank of the river Alpheios, near its confluence with the Lousios. The village dates back to the Middle Ages, but its history is unknown before the Crusader conquest ca. 1205. Karytaina became the seat of a barony under the Frankish Principality of Achaea, and the Castle of Karytaina was built in the mid-13th century on a steep rocky outcrop by Baron Geoffrey of Briel. The area returned to Byzantine control in 1320, and came under Ottoman control in 1460. After a brief period of Venetian rule , Karytaina returned to Ottoman control, and prospered as an administrative and commercial centre. Karytaina and its inhabitants were among the first to rise up during the Greek War of Independence of 1821–29. Today Karytaina is a protected traditional settlement and has, alongside the remains of its Frankish castle, several other medieval and Ottoman monuments.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Karytaina is 54 km from the capital of Arcadia, Tripoli, 20 km from Megalopoli and 17 km from Stemnitsa, built on the slopes of the hill of Achreiovouni, some 550 m above sea level.</p><br>
<p>The town was formerly the seat of the municipality of Gortyna, which also included the villages of Atsicholos, Katsimpalis, Kotylio, Kourounios, Kyparissia, Mavria, Sarakini, Vlachorraptis, Zoni, Palaiokastro, Karvounari, Kryoneri, Kalyvakia, Strongylo, Palatou. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality of Megalopoli.</p><br>
<h2>Ηistory</h2><br>
<p>The site of Karytaina is often identified with the ancient city of Brenthe, but although a settlement certainly existed there before the Frankish conquest in ca. 1205, few archaeological remains survive. The Greek archaeologist N.K. Moutsopoulos has suggested the existence of a 12th-century church inside the Karytaina Castle. The name of the town itself is of uncertain provenance: the most common theories are that it derives either from a Slavic root or is a corruption of Gortyna, but it has also been suggested that it derives from the Greek word for walnut, karydion, or from the female name Karitaina.</p><br>
<p>With the Frankish conquest and the establishment of the Principality of Achaea, Karytaina became one of the secular baronies into which the Morea was divided by the Crusaders. Karytaina was one of the largest baronies, and of special strategic importance: its position allowed it to control the southern part of the mountainous Skorta region and, through the ravine of the Alpheios valley, the main route connecting the Arcadian plateau with the coastal plains of Elis. The barony belonged to the Briel or Bruyères family. The third baron, Geoffrey of Briel, built the Castle of Karytaina and played a major role in the affairs of Frankish Greece in the middle of the 13th century, repeatedly defying even the Prince William II of Villehardouin. After Geoffrey&#39;s death in 1275, the barony gradually reverted to the princely domain, and was later held by Isabella of Villehardouin and her daughter, Margaret of Savoy. From the late 13th century, Karytaina was increasingly threatened by the attacks of the Byzantine Greeks of Mystras, until it finally fell to them in 1320.</p><br>
<p>The town and its castle lost their importance thereafter, and are only intermittently mentioned in the 14th–15th centuries until the time of the Ottoman conquest in 1460. The 17th-century Ottoman traveller Evliya Çelebi mentions the town but did not visit it, while under Venetian rule (1687–1715) only the town, and not the castle, is mentioned by the Venetian governors. During the second period of Ottoman rule after 1715, the castle was abandoned and fell in ruins, and remained so until the 19th century. The town itself grew in importance as the centre of a district (kaza) and a marketplace, especially for wheat; it was also a centre for silk and carpet manufacture. At the turn of the 18th century, François Pouqueville recorded that the district comprised 130 villages with 28,170 inhabitants, of which 3,000 in Karytaina itself.</p><br>
<p>Karytaina was taken by the Greek rebels on the outbreak of the Greek War of Independence in 1821, and formed one of the first strongholds of the rebellion, earning the nickname "Bastion of 1821". In 1826 Theodoros Kolokotronis used it as a base of operations against Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt and as a shelter for women and children.</p><br>
<h2>Sights</h2><br>
<p>Κarytaina has been listed as a protected traditional settlement. Its unique townscape has earned Karytaina the moniker of the "Greek Toledo", and was depicted on the reverse of the Greek 5000 drachmas banknote in 1984–2001.</p><br>
<p>The main sight is the 13th-century Frankish castle, built at the top of the hill, with its highest point rising above the town. It consists of a triangular circuit wall, over 110 m in the long sides and ca. 40 m at its base, and a central structure which served as the barons&#39; residence, built above the castle cistern. The castle was repaired by Kolokotronis, who erected a small church dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and built his house outside the walls.</p><br>
<p>Also to the Frankish period, but repaired by the Byzantine lord Raoul Manuel Melikes in 1439/40, dates the 50 m bridge that crosses the Alpheios over five arches. The town also has several churches, of which the most notable are the cathedral of the Annunciation (Ευαγγελισμός της Θεοτόκου), built in 1878; the 11th-century Church of St. Nicholas (Άγιος Νικόλαος); the 15th-century Church of the Life-giving Spring (Ζωοδόχος Πηγή), distinguished by its tall bell-tower; the church of St. Athanasios, at the entrance of the town, dedicated to Karytainas patron saint, who was the bishop of the city in the early 18th century. Further landmarks also include ruins of Byzantine-era towers and of a Turkish bath, and the large Kavia cave (σπήλαιο Κάβιας). Karytaina hosts several events in August, most notably the annual Womens Bazaar.</p><br>
<p>Nearby sights include the Lousios Gorge. Apart from its natural beauty, which includes the Vrontou waterfall, the gorge is also notable as the "Mount Athos of the Peloponnese" on account of the many monasteries that dot its walls.</p><br>
<h2>Historical population</h2><br>
<h2>Notable individuals</h2><br>
<p>Saint Athanasios (1664–1735), Bishop of Christianoupolis and Karytaina from 1711 until his death, known for his charitable work</p><br>
<p>Nikolaos Dimitrakopoulos (1864–1921), jurist and Minister for Justice of Greece</p><br>
<p>Dimosthenis Valavanis (1829–1854), poet</p><br>
<p>Stemnitsa  is a mountain village in the municipal unit of Trikolonoi, Arcadia, Peloponnese, Greece. It was the seat of the former municipality Trikolonoi. Stemnitsa is a traditional settlement and is considered one of the most beautiful villages in Arcadia, due to its picturesque location and its historical churches and mansions. It is situated at the western edge of the Mainalo mountains, above the left bank of the river Lousios, at about 1050 m elevation. Stemnitsa is 6 km southeast of Dimitsana, 9 km northeast of Karytaina, 18 km northwest of Megalopoli and 26 km west of Tripoli. In 2011 Stemnitsa had a population of 191.</p><br>
<h2>History and myths</h2><br>
<p>Stemnitsa has been identified with the ancient Arcadian city Hypsous (Υψούς). It was already ruined in the 2nd century AD, when it was visited by Pausanias. It was near Thyraion (present Pavlia), Zoetia and Paroria. Hypsous was founded by a son of Lycaon.</p><br>
<p>In the 7th and 8th century Slavs settled in the Peloponnese. The name Stemnitsa has Slavic roots and means "woodland". After the fall of Constantinople in 1453 the Peloponnese was occupied by the Ottoman Empire. Due to its remote location Stemnitsa served as a relatively safe haven from the Ottomans, and it became a centre of Greek culture and religion. Many old churches from this period have been preserved. The church of Bafero was built in 1185 and the Zoodochos in 1433. The two larger churches are Ai-Giorgis and Agia Paraskevi. The first mention, some say, of the word Stemnitsa, was found in Ottoman taxation documents dated 1512-1515 where the number of families appeared to be about 120. This information was published by professor John Alexandropoulos. In the Grimani Venetian Census report Stemnitsa was shown as the most populous village in Gortynia with 925 people.</p><br>
<p>Stemnitsa was a shelter for the Kolokotronis clan and other fighters of the Greek War of Independence. After the revolution of March 25, 1821, from the end of May to mid of June 1821, it served as the first seat of the "Peloponissiaki Gerousia", the temporary government of the liberated Peloponnese. The Gerousia met at the monastery of Zoodochos Pigi. Stemnitsa was known for its gold- and silversmiths, as well as other crafts. Since the 1970s, there is a public funded gold and silver smithery school in Stemnista.</p><br>
<h2>Sights</h2><br>
<p>Stemnitsa has a folklore museum. It includes various exhibitions regarding the traditional way of Stemnitsa life in the past including how candles were made, a jeweler&#39;s workshop, a shoe repair shop and a copper tinning representation. It also houses an extensive selection of Byzantine icons, old costumes, copper- ware, guns and jewelry.</p><br>
<p>An organization which is responsible for the beautification of Stemnitsa is the Cultural and Beautification Organization "Politistikos kai Exoraistikos Syllogos Stemnitsioton Ypsountas". This organization is also in charge of the local cultural center "The Nikoletopouleion" and of organizing a number of other events which take place during the year, mainly during the months of July and August.</p><br>
<p>Seven kilometers from Stemnitsa, down by the ravine of the river Lousios one can find the monastery of St. John the Baptist (Prodromos) built, according to some sources, around 1167, on the side of a rock face. It served as a center of faith and education for the enslaved Greeks during the Ottoman rule. About 200 yards below the monastery, is the river Lousios. Near the monastery are the excavations of an ancient hospital built in honor of the ancient Greek god of medicine, Asclepius.</p><br>
<p>The library of Stemnitsa used to have around 5,000 volumes until the Greek War of Independence of 1821. It is now a monument and is located next to the square.</p><br>
<h2>Population history</h2><br>
<h2>People</h2><br>
<p>Gennaios Kolokotronis (1803-1868), Prime Minister of Greece.</p><br>
<p>Dimitrios Thanopoulos, silver medal in Greco-Roman wrestling at the 1984 Olympics.</p><br>
<p>Georgios Roilos (1867-1928), famous painter, among the first to introduce impressionism into Greek painting, Professor at the University of Athens (a teacher and mentor of Giorgio de Chirico).</p><br>
<p>Constantinos Kakouris (1919-2000), judge of the Council of State (Greece), and member of the European Court of Justice (1983-1997).</p><br>
<p>Athanasios Chastoupis (1921-1993), Professor of Theology at Northwestern University; Provost of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens.</p><br>
<p>Panagiotis Roilos, George Seferis Professor of Modern Greek Studies and Professor of Comparative Literature, Harvard University.</p><br>
<p>Dimitris Fatouros, Professor of Architecture, University of Thessalonike, former minister of Education.</p><br>
<p>Minas Roilos, Professor of Physics, University of Patras.</p><br>
<p>Elias Gyftopoulos, Ford Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, MIT.</p><br>
<p>Antonis Samaras, Prime Minister of Greece; President of the political party "New Democracy;" former minister of foreign affairs.</p><br>
<p>Algoa Bay is a bay in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is located in the east coast, 425 miles  east of the Cape of Good Hope.</p><br>
<p>Algoa Bay is bounded in the west by Cape Recife and in the east by Cape Padrone. The bay is up to 436 m deep. The harbour city of Port Elizabeth is situated adjacent to the bay, as is the new Coega deep water port facility.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Portuguese explorer Bartolomeu Dias was the first European to reach Algoa Bay in 1488, where he planted a wooden cross on a small island now called St Croix or Santa Cruz island. He gave the bay a name meaning "Bay of the Rock", which was changed in Portugal to Bahia de Lagoa or Bay of the Lagoon, and which eventually became Algoa Bay.</p><br>
<p>Joshua Slocum talks about Algoa Bay in his book Sailing Alone Around the World:</p><br>
<p>Nautical charts of the bay caution mariners that "projectiles and badly corroded mustard gas containers have been found in the area between Cape St Francis and Bird Island out to depths of 400 m. Trawlers should exercise the greatest caution."</p><br>
<p>The chemical weapons were dumped in the bay in the aftermath of World War II. During that conflict, Port Elizabeth was used as a research, manufacturing and storage site for Allied poison gas. The condition of the canisters and projectiles are not currently known.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<h3>Port Elizabeth</h3><br>
<p>The metropolitan municipality of Nelson Mandela Bay, which includes Port Elizabeth, is located on the western shore of Algoa Bay.</p><br>
<h3>Islands</h3><br>
<p>The bay contains six named islands in two groups of three that according to BirdLife International “are of considerable importance as they are the only islands along a 1,777 km stretch of coastline between Cape Agulhas and Inhaca Island in Mozambique." The combined surface area of these islands is said to be 40 hectare.</p><br>
<p>Close inshore, near the new Ngquru harbour development at Coega, on the north-eastern outskirts of Port Elizabeth, is the St Croix group, consisting of a main island of that name and two lesser islets, Jahleel Island just off the Ngquru breakwater and Brenton Island on the seaward side. The second group consists of Bird, Seal and Stag Islands. All six islands and their adjacent waters are declared nature reserves and form part of the Addo Elephant National Park. The islands are closed to the public.</p><br>
<p>Worthy of mention as an obstacle to navigation is Despatch Rock, 2.4 km due east of the Port Elizabeth suburb of Summerstrand. The rock, which is submerged at high tide, is marked with a light. Further south, about 1 km southwest of Cape Recife, the western starting point of the bay is Thunderbolt Reef. Though not in the bay, this hazard to navigation has claimed many ships carelessly entering or leaving. Thunderbolt Reef is submerged save for spring low tides and the surf crashing on it can be observed from the mainland.</p><br>
<h4>St. Croix group</h4><br>
<p>St. Croix Island at 33&deg;47&prime;58&Prime;S latitude, 25&deg;46&prime;11&Prime;E longitude is 3.9 km from the nearest land and rises to 59 m. The BirdLife fact sheet states the 12 hectare island is only 58 m above sea level. It adds that the island is rocky and “supports minimal vegetation”. The island runs 700 m along a northwest, southeast axis and is about 360 m wide at its broadest – along the west coast. Its highest point is halfway along the north coast.</p><br>
<p>Brenton Island (33&deg;49&prime;3&Prime;S latitude, 25&deg;45&prime;54&Prime;E longitude) is equally sparsely vegetated and is less than 20 m in elevation, and is roughly 250 x in size with a northwest-southeast orientation. It is 5.75 km to sea from the nearest point on the mainland and 1.75 km south of St. Croix.</p><br>
<p>Jahleel, at less than 10 m in height, is just over 1 km from the closest beach and less than that from Ngquru’s 2.6 km long eastern breakwater. Jahleel is about the same size as Brenton and has a north-south axis. It is 5.75 km west of St. Croix.</p><br>
<h4>Bird Island group</h4><br>
<p>Vasco da Gama named this group of islands Ilhéus Châos (low or flat islands). In 1755, the East Indiaman Doddington was wrecked here while underway from Dover to India. Most of the passengers and crew perished, but a few managed to make it to the islands where they were marooned for seven months until one of their number, a carpenter, was able to make a boat for them. The survivors subsisted primarily on fish, birds and eggs until they were able to reach land. The ship was carrying a significant quantity of gold and silver, some of which was illegally salvaged in more recent times. Bird Island was named by the survivors as they left the island in their boat.</p><br>
<p>Bird Island ({{coord|33|50|26|S|26|17|10|E|type:isle|name=Bird Island}}), Seal Island and Stag Island lie in close proximity some 40 km east of the St Croix group or 53 km due east of Port Elizabeth and 7 km from the nearest landfall at Woody Cape – part of the Addo Elephant National Park. Bird Island has a lighthouse, erected in 1898 after a series of shipwrecks in the vicinity of the island. Doddington Rock, West rock and East Reef lie just South-West of the group of islands.</p><br>
<p>At 19 hectare, Bird Island is the largest of the Algoa Bay islands – according to BirdLife. It is relatively flat and rises to 9 m. Seal Island is 0.6 hectare in size and lies 360 m north of Bird Island. Stag Island is even smaller at 0.1 hectare and is 320 m north-west of Bird Island. "Much of the island group is covered by sparse growth of mixed vegetation dominated by the fleshy herb Mesembryanthemum (fig marigold/icicle plants). Tetragonia (Duneweed) and Chenopodium (Goosefoot) form localised thickets that provide cover for some seabirds," the fact sheet says.</p><br>
<h2>Ecology</h2><br>
<h3>Bird and wildlife</h3><br>
<p>The BirdLife fact sheet adds that 14 species of seabirds, several species of shorebirds and 33 species of terrestrial birds have been recorded on the islands. Eight seabird species were known to breed on the islands in 2007. “These are the only islands off southern mainland Africa where Sterna dougallii (Roseate Tern) breeds regularly.”</p><br>
<p>The islands are also home to 43% of the global population of the African penguin (Spheniscus demersus), the majority of which are on St Croix. St Croix also holds a locally significant breeding population of Cape cormorant (Phalacrocorax capensis).</p><br>
<p>Bird Island is one of only six breeding sites in the world for the Cape gannet (Morus capensis). “Larus dominicanus (the Kelp Gull) and Haematopus moquini (the African Oystercatcher) are found throughout the Algoa Bay complex. The island group is also known to hold large numbers of Sterna vittata (Antarctic Tern), which in winter roost on the island in their thousands (regularly holding between 10% and 20% of the estimated total Afrotropical non-breeding population).” The island is also home to Cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus).</p><br>
<p>Raggy Charters, the a licensed boat-based whale and dolphin watching tour in Algoa Bay can offer guests close-up encounters with the wildlife in the bay. Species which can be seen on the cruises are humpback whales, southern right whales, Bryde&#39;s whales, bottlenose dolphins, common dolphins, humpback dolphins, African penguins, African black oystercatchers, Cape gannets, Cape fur seals, Cape cormorants, white-breasted cormorants, various shark species and various pelagic birds including terns, skuas, petrels, shearwaters and albatrosses.</p><br>
<h3>Conservation issues</h3><br>
<p>The St. Croix group and a 300 m maritime zone around each island became South Africa’s island marine reserve in 1981 and were administered as part of the then-Woody Cape Nature Reserve. Up to then, the islands had fallen under the control of the Guano Islands section of the Division of Sea Fisheries. The Eastern Cape Nature Conservation service, which subsequently became the Directorate of Nature Conservation of the Eastern Cape Province, managed the islands after April 1992 according to BirdLife. The Woody Cape reserve was subsequently incorporated into the Addo National Elephant Park, which boasts that it is home to Africa’s “big seven” – the elephant, lion, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo and the whale and great white shark that inhabit the bay.</p><br>
<p>Conservationists are wary of the Ngqura development which in time, in addition to a deep water port will include a heavy-industry complex. Mooted occupants include an aluminium smelter and an oil refinery. They see the development as posing, according to BirdLife:</p><br>
<p>The NGO notes that the population of the African penguin in the bay has been increasing steadily during the last century. “There are only a few growing colonies in the world, and it is thought that these birds may be relocating here from colonies that are in decline in the Western Cape or farther afield. Certain factors are known to affect seabirds throughout their ranges. Competition with commercial fisheries, especially purse-seining for surface-shoaling fish such as anchovy (Engraulis capensis) and pilchard (Sardinops sagax), has been implicated as one of the most significant factors causing seabird population declines." The organisation has recommended that marine reserves with a radius of 25 km be created around important breeding islands, and that commercial fishing be banned or restricted in these zones.</p><br>
<p>The fact sheet continues: “An unpredictable threat, which is difficult to control, is chronic pollution by crude oil or other pollutants which spill into the ocean when tankers break open, wash their tanks, dump cargo or pump bilge. The African Penguin (Spheniscus demersus) is particularly susceptible to these events, and a single oil disaster has the ability to severely affect populations. It is believed that the breeding sites in Algoa Bay, at the eastern extremity of the species&#39; range, are at highest risk as they are closest to the major oil-shipping routes.”</p><br>
<p>Jizera Mountains  or Izera Mountains  are part of the Western Sudetes on the border between the Czech Republic and Poland. The range got its name from the Jizera River, which rises at the southern base of the Smrk massif.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The range stretches from the Lusatian Mountains (Zittau Mountains) in the northwest to the Krkonoše in the southeast. The Jizera Mountains comprise the sources of the Jizera river, as well as of the Kwisa and the Lusatian Neisse.</p><br>
<p>The major part in the south is formed from granite, in the northern part from gneisses and mica schists, with some areas formed from basalt.</p><br>
<p>The weather conditions are characterized by above-average annual precipitation. On 30 July 1897, the measuring station at Nová Louka recorded a daily precipitation amounting to 345.1 mm (13.6 inches), still an unbroken European record.</p><br>
<h2>Peaks</h2><br>
<p>The highest peak is Wysoka Kopa (Hinterberg, 1,127 m, 3,698 feet) near the town of Szklarska Poręba in Poland. Neverteheless, a better-known mountain is Smrk (1124 m, 3,688 feet), with a recently rebuilt look-out tower. Other peaks include Jizera (1,122 m, 3,681 feet) and Stóg Izerski (Heufuder, 1,107 m, 3,632). The peaks in order of elevation:</p><br>
<p>Wysoka Kopa (Hinterberg), 1,127 m; highest peak of the Jizera Mountains</p><br>
<p>Smrk (Tafelfichte), 1,124 m; highest peak of the Bohemian Jizera Mountains</p><br>
<p>Jizera (Siechhübel), 1,122 m</p><br>
<p>Stóg Izerski (Heufuder), 1,107 m</p><br>
<p>Smědavská hora (Wittigberg), 1,084 m</p><br>
<p>Bukovec (Buchberg), 1,005 m; one of the highest basalt peaks in Europe</p><br>
<p>Hvězda (Stefanshöhe), 959 m</p><br>
<p>Černá Studnice (Schwarzbrunnberg), 869 m</p><br>
<p>Tanvaldský Špičák (Tannwalder Spitzberg), 831 m; skiing region near Tanvald</p><br>
<p>Oldřichovský Špičák (Buschullersdorfer Spitzberg), 724 m</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first settlements in the area date back to prehistory. Later on, Celts, German tribes resides in the valleys until they left in 5th century. Later came Lusatian Sorbs. In the 14th century, German-speaking colonists came and started clearing of the dense primeval forests. Permanent settlements were established. In the 16th century, several glass works were founded. Glassmaking had a profound effect on the ecosystem. The primeval forest was gradually replaced by fast-growing spruce monoculture. Other important industries included tin-mining, metallurgy and textile.</p><br>
<p>The Tabulový kámen (Tafelstein), 1072 m) on the northern edge of the Smrk Mountain marked the border between the properties of the Counts of in Friedland, Bohemia, the von Gersdorff family from Meffersdorf, Upper Lusatia (Unięcice, now part of Wigandsthal) and the Counts of Schaffgotsch from Schreiberhau, Silesia.</p><br>
<p>In the second half of the 20th century the character of the Jizera Mountains changed completely. The German population of the area was expelled in 1945 and replaced by Poles on the now Polish and Czechs on the Czechoslovakian side of the mountains. The ecosystem was badly hit by emissions, produced by lignite fired power stations located in the Zittau basin, part of Europe&#39;s ecological Black Triangle. Weakened spruce forest, less resistant against various types of parasites, were on the verge of extinction. The higher parts of the mountains, once densely wooded, became largely treeless, in part also because of excessive deforestation. New roads cut through the once-secluded landscape.</p><br>
<p>The situation improved only after the fall of communism in 1989. Open-pit coal mines in the former East Germany were closed, as well as several major power plants. Emission filters were installed at the immense Turów Power Station in Bogatynia on the Polish side of Lusatian Neisse. At the same time large-scale reforestation projects were started.</p><br>
<h2>Tourism</h2><br>
<p>The Jizera Mountains are an attractive location for winter sports, cycling and hiking. The centre for both downhill skiing and ski run is Bedřichov. The international cross-country races Jizerská 50 and Bieg Piastów (in Polana Jakuszycka) take place there. Its summer MTB counterpart is also gaining popularity.</p><br>
<p>The towns surrounding the mountains include Liberec, Frýdlant v Čechách, Nové Město pod Smrkem, Świeradów Zdrój, Szklarska Poręba, Desná, Tanvald and Jablonec nad Nisou.</p><br>
<h2>Literature</h2><br>
<p>Weiss, Siegfried (2000) Moje Jizerky - Jizerské hory v proměnách času, Mein Isergebirge - Das Isergebirge im Wandel der Zeit, My Jizera Hills - The Jizera Mountains through a changing of time, Buk</p><br>
<p>Nevrlý, Miroslav (1996) Kniha o Jizerských horách, 3rd edition, Civitas</p><br>
<p>The Baldwin Hills Dam disaster occurred on December 14, 1963, when the dam containing the Baldwin Hills Reservoir suffered a catastrophic failure and flooded the residential neighborhoods surrounding it. It began with signs of lining failure, followed by increasingly serious leakage through the dam at its east abutment. After three hours the dam breached, with a total release of 250 e6USgal, resulting in five deaths and the destruction of 277 homes. Vigorous rescue efforts averted a greater loss of life.</p><br>
<p>The reservoir was located on a low hilltop in Baldwin Hills, Los Angeles, California. It was constructed between 1947 and 1951 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power directly on an active fault line, which was subsidiary to the well known nearby Newport–Inglewood Fault. The underlying geologic strata were considered unstable for a reservoir, and the design called for a compacted soil lining meant to prevent seepage into the foundation. The fault lines were considered during planning but were deemed by some, although not all, of the engineers and geologists involved as not significant.</p><br>
<p>The former reservoir is now part of the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area.</p><br>
<h2>Significance and diagnoses of the failure</h2><br>
<p>The failure of the Baldwin Hills Reservoir received an exceptional amount of attention from the civil engineering community and remains the subject of continuing interest. The reservoir had been conceived, designed, and built during and after World War II, a time when the pace of dam building was accelerating even as some disastrous dam failures were occurring, indicating a need for safer technologies. The builders of the Baldwin Hills dam, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, were aware of the difficult geologic conditions presented by the site and knew from past experiences, notably the catastrophic failure of the St. Francis Dam in 1928 in which over 400 people lost their lives, the serious consequences of a failure, even of a small reservoir in an urban setting. But this was also an era of new engineering ventures onland, sea, and space, with new technologies boldly advanced to meet what were seen as hostile challenges from both nature and communist ideologies. While dams were recognized as potentially dangerous, like nuclear technologies, they were also considered by Americans as a showcase technology—a means of fending off danger and spreading progressive American technologies and associated social benefits at home and abroad.</p><br>
<p>The Baldwin Hills dam designer, engineer Ralph Proctor, had also worked as an assistant civil engineer for the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power on the failed St. Francis Dam and had subsequently devised new methods of producing compacted earth fill in building its replacement. Proctor aggressively proceeded with the Baldwin Hills project even in the face of safety concerns and disagreements over important design details raised within his own department.</p><br>
<p>Late 1963, when the failure occurred, was a time of another notable public disaster. Only two months before at the Vajont Dam in Italy, a massive landslide into the reservoir behind it, created a seiche which overtopped the dam flooding the valley below and causing the deaths of approximately 2000 people. The Baldwin Hills Reservoir had been built, as were others, to assure an ample supply of safe water for the people of Los Angeles in case of catastrophe such as earthquake, fire, or war, and its failure was a blow to engineering confidence and the subject of many writings and two professional conferences (1972 and 1987, see references). The failure occurred shortly after the death of the authoritative Harvard engineer Karl Terzaghi whose ideas had long dominated both earth dam engineering and the engineering science of soil mechanics; Terzaghi had also made significant contributions to understanding subsidence in oilfields. This left the assessment of the Baldwin Hills failure in the hands of a new generation of engineers, some who took on conflicting roles as experts in various lawsuits.</p><br>
<p>The design and construction of the dam had been inspected and approved by the California Department of Water Resources. A meticulously documented study published by that agency in 1964—while pointing out various connections between oilfield operations in the Inglewood Oil Field and ground disturbances in the area, including beneath the reservoir and at some distance from the reservoir—concluded rather vaguely that the failure was due to "an unfortunate combination of physical factors".</p><br>
<p>The monetary damages resulting from the failure were large, and some of the investigations which followed the state study were sponsored by litigants seeking more specific conclusions relevant to legal liability. This drew attention to oilfield operations in the area. From the outset it was clear that the ground faulting and fault creep which destroyed the reservoir were probably related to the many feet of ground subsidence which had occurred a half mile west of the reservoir over decades of oil extraction in the Inglewood field. The oilfield-related subsidence in the Inglewood field, though generally denied by the oil companies as a legal policy, was documented exhaustively by the US Geological Survey in 1969. Subsidence following oil extraction from shallow deposits in unconsolidated sediments had been understood by oil industry experts since the 1920s.</p><br>
<p>Following the discovery in 1970 by geologist Douglas Hamilton of faulting and surface seepage of oilfield waste brines along the fault which traversed and extended south of the reservoir, Hamilton and Meehan concluded that oilfield injection for waste disposal and improved recovery of oil, a new technology at the time, was a significant cause of the failure, triggering hydraulic fracturing and aggravating movements on a fault traversing the reservoir even on the day of the failure. Subsequently, the US Geological Survey concluded in 1976 that displacements at the ground surface causing reservoir failure and also ground cracking in the Stocker-LaBrea area southeast of the reservoir were 90 percent or more attributable to exploitation of the Inglewood oil field, and that this faulting was likely aggravated by waterflooding with pressures exceeding hydraulic fracturing levels.</p><br>
<p>By 1972, nearly a decade after the failure, the immediate legal issues had been settled out of court and the matter was reopened as a topic of discussion among investigators in a published engineering conference at Purdue University.</p><br>
<p>Engineer Thomas Leps, who had served as consultant on the 1964 state investigation, took on a role as neutral reviewer in this and most subsequent American studies of the failure. Leps concluded that there had been about 7 inches of offset on the fault beneath the reservoir during its life, about 2 inches of which had occurred in the months just before the failure. Leps associated the latter with repressurization of the oilfield. This, along with stretching of the ground due to subsidence of about 12 feet from oil extraction, had caused the lining failure which doomed the reservoir.</p><br>
<p>Some prominent consultants including those on a team led by Arthur Casagrande, Harvard successor to Karl Terzaghi, held that oilfield operations were not a significant influence at all but that the failure was the result of defective siting and design with the heavy weight of the dam and reservoir being the significant cause of the fatal foundation movement. This view exonerated the oil companies, namely Standard Oil, which had sponsored the study. Casagrande refused to acknowledge any ground movements in the area as being related to oilfield operations and argued that ground movements that affected the dam were found only beneath the reservoir, not in adjoining areas.</p><br>
<p>Most of these questions were examined once again in 1986 following investigations of a suspiciously similar major failure of the Bureau of Reclamation&#39;s Teton Dam in June, 1976, and a near failure of the Department of Water and Power&#39;s Lower Van Norman Dam in the 1971 San Fernando earthquake. Professor Ronald Scott of Caltech, who had participated in the Casagrande studies, noted at a follow-up 1987 conference on Baldwin Hills that Casagrande had ignored or been unaware of ground movements clearly unrelated to the reservoir (e.g. those at Stocker-LaBrea) in his analysis. Another engineer, Stanley Wilson—who had also worked with Casagrande on the 1972 studies and supported the claim that oilfield subsidence was an insignificant cause—now conceded that analogous ground offsets extended well outside the reservoir area, notably in the Stocker-LaBrea area, so that the reservoir and other fault movements could not be attributed to the reservoir itself—thus tacitly attributing responsibility for the failure to oilfield operations. Hence, there appeared to be convergence of opinion on the role of oilfield subsidence and repressurization.</p><br>
<p>The issue of oilfield causation was a central theme in most of these discussions, with little attention having been directed to the details of the failure. The absolute necessity of a lining for this site was generally taken for granted in these proceedings even as it had been by Proctor himself, regardless of the fact that almost all earth dams perform satisfactorily without linings. Some suggestions as to possible preventive design and construction techniques that might have made the dam safer were raised to engineering consensus and reached a state of textbook knowledge in the late 1980s. For example, the character of the compacted earth lining (which had been regularly referred to as clay but must have been substantially silt and sand, having been derived from the local Inglewood formation) was raised, if obliquely, in the suggestion made in the end that improved performance might have come from the use of a different lining material.</p><br>
<p>In 2001 a new angle on failure analysis was introduced by Mahunthan and Schofield, who concluded that overcompaction of the dam fill and lining was a significant aggravating factor in both the Baldwin Hills and Teton failures. This assertion was based on Schofield&#39;s concepts of critical-state soil mechanics, a corollary of which was that heavily compacted but lightly confined soils could be dangerously unstable where seepage forces were present. This issue had not been raised in the previous American-dominated discussions and remains in some degree contrary to American ideas in both theoretical soil mechanics and practical geotechnical engineering. In fact the 1964 DWR failure study implied that heavy compaction was a favored technique for earth dam construction, and this assumption appeared not to have been reexamined over the twenty five years of post-failure investigation and discussion.</p><br>
<p>The failure of the reservoir has been a subject of ongoing interest in the field of dam breach studies. A recent study examined the dam failure as a two-stage process and succeeded in modeling the flood in the urban area downstream.</p><br>
<p>Although the Baldwin Hills Reservoir site has now been dedicated as a community park, and there is no further significant hazard associated with ground movements there, the associated faults to the southeast (Stocker-LaBrea and the Windsor School area) continue to move significantly as of 2012, causing damage to private and public facilities. The current oilfield operator, Plains Exploration and Production Company (PXP), which has intensified production and development efforts in the oilfield with the rising price of petroleum, does not, unlike its predecessor Standard Oil, acknowledge any causal connection between fault movements and oilfield activities, and has retained a team of consultants who support this position or conclude that the causes of the movements are unknown. The role of shallow hydraulic fracturing, which has recently been introduced as a means of stimulating production at depths of about 2000 feet in the southeast part of the Inglewood field, and at greater depths elsewhere in the field, has also generated public concern and controversy. However, oil operators, while admitting that fracture pressures are being exceeded, do not acknowledge a relationship between injection at fracturing pressure levels and fault movement. The PXP and PXP consultant conclusions, that adverse effects are either unknown or not present, are disputed by other reviewers.</p><br>
<p>Recent discharges of oilfield gases in the Baldwin Hills may also be related to raised pressures resulting from injection, and may be of similar origin as the gas problems in the nearby Salt lake field.</p><br>
<h2>Coverage</h2><br>
<p>KTLA used a helicopter to cover the disaster. Common today, this was perhaps the first such live aerial coverage of a breaking news event.</p><br>
<p>Apesokari  is the archaeological site of an ancient Minoan cemetery. It is also a modern village with a population of 103  and is built at 155 m above sea level. It is in the municipality of Gortyna in the south of Heraklion regional unit, Greece.</p><br>
<h2>Population</h2><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Apesokari was first excavated during World War II. In this first Excavation, a small tholos tomb, a cult room and an outdoor altar were excavated.</p><br>
<p>The smallest Tholos tomb is at the southwest region of Apesokri village at the foot of the central Asterousia mountains.</p><br>
<p>Tholos Tomb A was found partially looted by Tomb robbers but a few stone vessels and clay pots were restored and collected.</p><br>
<p>Excavated by an Austrian archaeologist, sent on a mission to protect cultural monuments, for the "Art Protection Unit" of Wehrmacht in the summer of 1942. The tombs connected the Apesokari people with their ancestors and allowed them to keep connection with the dead. Smashed vessels and remnants of cups reflect the tribes value of unity and community. The rituals at Apesokari&#39;s tombs reveal toasting and banquets at burial, a popular Mycenean tradition.</p><br>
<h2>Minoan Tombs</h2><br>
<p>The tomb is notable for the fact that burials did not only take place inside the tholos tomb, but also took place in some of the outer rooms which join the tholos tomb as well. It also had a cult room, most likely a pillar crypt, since it had a wooden pillar on a stone base. A small bench altar was built in a niche to the right of the entrance. A cult image, formed from natural rock, was found on this altar. There was also a large altar outside, surrounded by a paved area.</p><br>
<p>The Minoan tribes that occupied Crete built and used the Tholos Tombs. The structure of their tombs indicated that the culture was decentralized with no powerful landlords or authority during 2600B.C - 2000B.C. The circular setting of the Tholos tombs placed the dead in non-hierarchical patterns. Most burial tombs built around the same time frame were rectangular. The tribes would often replace old bones and rebury them outside of the Tholos tomb in order to lay the freshly dead to rest.</p><br>
<p>Ruins of Palaces built after the Tholos Tombs indicate an authoritative figure was introduced to the tribe. Palace structures were placed as the center of the main community, implying that the village had some form of bureaucracy. The palaces in Crete were massively destroyed by an unknown source around 1700 B.C. Speculators believe the palaces were destroyed by either a powerful earthquake or a massive eruption of the Thera Volcano. Some archaeologists believe that outside invaders could have destroyed the palaces. The palaces were rebuilt into more extravagant structures along with above ground tombs during the height Minoan Crete Civilization.</p><br>
<p>Tall Timbers Research Station and Land Conservancy is a research and learning facility located in northern Leon County, Florida, just off County Road 12 on the north side of Lake Iamonia. Occupying the same acreage and location and operating from the old Beadel House, Tall Timbers researches the areas of fire ecology, resource management, forestry, game bird management, and vertebrate ecology.</p><br>
<p>The Research Station was formerly a quail hunting plantation of Tall Timbers Plantation built in 1895 by Edward Beadel.</p><br>
<h2>Fire Ecology Program</h2><br>
<p>The Fire Ecology Program is designed to provide the public with applicable, science-based information on prescribed fire and vegetation dynamics in the southern pine ecosystem, specifically in the Red Hills Region.</p><br>
<h2>Resource Management Program</h2><br>
<p>The Resource Management Program&#39;s responsibility is to manage the land so that the upland forests are maintained in an open, park-like condition using prescribed fire, mechanical tools, and chemical techniques to accomplish land management goals.</p><br>
<p>The Forestry Program is designed to meet the ecological forestry research needs of the Red Hills Region between Tallahassee, Florida and Thomasville, Georgia.</p><br>
<h2>Game Bird Program</h2><br>
<p>The Game Bird Program is studying the northern bobwhite quail (Colinus virginianus) and its habitats.</p><br>
<h2>Vertebrate Ecology Lab</h2><br>
<p>The Vertebrate Ecology Lab is studying Bachman&#39;s sparrows, brown-headed nuthatches, and red-cockaded woodpeckers.</p><br>
<p>The Indus Valley Desert is an almost uninhabited desert ecoregion of northern Pakistan.</p><br>
<h2>Location and description</h2><br>
<p>The Indus Valley desert covers an area of 19,501 km&sup2; in northwestern Punjab Province between the Chenab and Indus rivers. The Indus Valley Desert is drier and less hospitable than the northwestern thorn scrub forests that surround it with temperatures ranging from freezing in winter to extremely hot (more than 45 &deg;C) in summer with only 600 - of rainfall per year.</p><br>
<h2>Biodiversity</h2><br>
<h3>Flora</h3><br>
<p>The desert vegetation is quite varied due to the variety of temperatures with Khejri shrubs being the characteristic species.</p><br>
<h3>Fauna</h3><br>
<p>The desert is home to five large mammals: Indian wolf, striped hyena, caracal, Indian leopard and the urial (Ovis orientalis punjabensis) along with many rodents and other mammals. Meanwhile, the 190 species of bird in the desert include the red-necked falcon.</p><br>
<h2>Threats and preservation</h2><br>
<p>Like the nearby Thar Desert the Indus Valley desert has little farming or grazing due to its hard climate and therefore the natural habitats are almost intact. However hunting still goes on and is a threat to caracals, wolves and other mammals.</p><br>
<p>Fort Osage  was an early 19th-century factory trading post system ran by the United States, being located in present-day Sibley, Missouri. The Treaty of Fort Clark was signed with certain members of the Osage Nation in 1808 calling for the creation of Fort Osage. It was one of three forts established by the USA Army to establish control over the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase territories. Fort Madison in SE Iowa was built to control trade and pacify Native Americans in the Upper Mississippi River region. Fort Belle Fontaine near St. Louis controlled the mouth of the Missouri. The fort ceased operations in the 1820s as the Osage in subsequent treaties ceded the rest of their land in Missouri. A replica of the fort was rebuilt on the site between 1948 and 1961. The Fort Osage school district , which serves northeast Independence and the surrounding area, was named after it.</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>During their famous ascent up the Missouri River to find the Northwest Passage, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark noted the spot in June 1804, as they camped for the night just across the river:"high commanding position, more than 70 feet above high-water mark, and overlooking the river, which is here but of little depth..."</p><br>
<p>In the same year Pierre Chouteau of the Chouteau fur trading family and an agent for the Osage took Osage chiefs to meet President Thomas Jefferson who promised to build them a trading post. Previously Jefferson promoted his plan of expanding Federal trading posts on the frontier as means to remove the harmful influence of individual merchants by "undersell private traders" to make them withdraw from borderlands and "earn the good will of the Indians".</p><br>
<h3>Foundation</h3><br>
<p>William Clark led a team in September 1808 back to the site to begin construction of Fort Osage. In November 1808 Pierre Chouteau negotiated the Treaty of Fort Clark with certain members of the Osage Nation, for the fort to be built for the protection of the Osage. The specific terms of the deal noted:</p><br>
<p>The United States being anxious to promote peace, friendship and intercourse with the Osage tribes, to afford them every assistance in their power, and to protect them from the insults and injuries of other tribes of Indians, situated near the settlements of the white people, have thought proper to build a fort on the right bank of the Missouri, a few miles above the Fire Prairie, and do agree to garrison the same with as many regular troops as the President of the United States may, from time to time, deem necessary for the protection of all orderly, friendly and well disposed Indians of the Great and Little Osage nations, who reside at this place, and who do strictly conform to, and pursue the counsels or admonitions of the President of the United States through his subordinate officers.</p><br>
<p>In exchange for access to the trading post, the attending Osage agreed to cede all of their lands east of the fort in Louisiana Territory. This effectively left them with a small band of territory on the extreme western border of Missouri. The Great Osage were to receive $1,000 and the Little Osage were to get $500.</p><br>
<h2>Operations</h2><br>
<p>The fort was officially christened "Fort Osage" by Captain Eli Clemson who was in charge of the military garrison at Fort Osage from 1808 until it was evacuated in 1813. It has also been informally referred to as "Fort Clark" in honor of William Clark who was in charge of Indian Affairs. It was one of the first United States military installations in Louisiana Territory and became a major stopping point for visitors traveling the Missouri. Daniel Boone was to visit it in 1814, at the age of 81, while on one of his last hunting trips. Sacagawea and her husband, Toussaint Charbonneau, also stayed at the fort on their way back north to Dakota Territory.</p><br>
<p>Fort Osage was abandoned in June 1813 during the War of 1812 because it was not considered to be under threat. Since most of the war&#39;s fighting was further east and north, the soldiers there were transferred to different locations. After the war the fort was reoccupied in 1815. Fort Osage was for many years a productive location, with the first Factor George C. Sibley reporting prosperous trade with the Osage was due to goods being sold "at prices less than half what the traders extort from them..."</p><br>
<h3>Abandonment</h3><br>
<p>The end of the War of 1812 and the Adams–Onís Treaty removed the threat of Spanish or British backed Indigenous campaigns against the United States throughout the Louisiana Purchase. As the Osage ceded more and more of their land a new trading post at Fort Scott, Kansas was established closer to the ancestral villages near the headwaters of the Osage River near Nevada, Missouri. Fort Osage formally was closed in 1822 but remained a landmark on the Santa Fe Trail and a transit point for supplies going north. However, by 1836 it had been totally obliterated with its pre-cut wood used by local settlers for building houses and barns. The factory house was the last remaining structure, but burned to the ground, leaving only the rock foundation.</p><br>
<h2>Fort Osage National Historic Landmark</h2><br>
<p>Archaeologists rediscovered the foundations of Fort Osage in the 1940s. The station was rebuilt to portray Fort Osage as it was in 1812 by using the preserved surveys created by William Clark and others, making restoration to exact specifications possible. The rebuilt post is known as Fort Osage National Historic Landmark and is owned and operated by the Jackson County Parks and Recreation. It is open to the public Tuesday through Sunday from 9:00am to 4:30pm year round. The Fort Osage Education Center, opened in November 2007, contains exhibits about the site&#39;s geology, 19th century natural history, the Hopewell and Osage native cultures, Lewis and Clark, Fort Osage and the Missouri River. In addition, the location has living history demonstrations about early 19th century military and civilian life.</p><br>
<p>Shawnee Methodist Mission was established by missionaries in 1830 in Turner, Kansas to minister to the Shawnee tribe of Native Americans who had been removed to Kansas. In 1839 the mission relocated to Fairway, where it built a brick building referred to by names varying from Shawnee Indian Methodist Manual Labor School. Designated as a National Historic Landmark, the Shawnee Methodist Mission is operated today as a museum. The site is administered by the Kansas Historical Society as the Shawnee Indian Mission State Historic Site.</p><br>
<p>The Shawnee Methodist Mission served briefly as the second capital of the Kansas Territory, when the legislature was controlled by pro-slavery advocates, holding that designation from July 16 to August 7, 1855.</p><br>
<p>The Shawnee Methodist Mission is the origin of the Shawnee Mission name used by the United States Postal Service to refer to the Kansas City Metropolitan Area suburban communities in northeastern Johnson County. The Shawnee Mission School District serves those communities.</p><br>
<h2>The Shawnee</h2><br>
<p>The "Fish" Shawnee tribe was removed from its traditional Ohio home to the unorganized territories set aside for Native Americans (in the future state of Kansas) under the terms of a treaty dated November 7, 1825. The mission was initially built on land near the American Shawnee Indian Tribe reserve in Turner by Reverend Thomas Johnson. He hoped to convert the recently relocated tribe to Christianity.</p><br>
<p>During the 1830s, some of the Shawnees most venerated men, including Tenskwatawa "the Shawnee Prophet", frequently visited at the mission. The Prophet was the younger brother of Tecumseh, who had led a war against the United States earlier in the century. Tenskwatawa led the Shawnee in Tecumsehs absence at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811. Following defeat in this battle, Tenskwatawa took his men to the British Canadian colonies. He was placed under virtual house arrest for years following the end of the War of 1812. Tenskwatawa was eventually allowed to return to the Shawnee to help them remove from Ohio to Kansas; he died in 1836 at his village (the present site of Kansas City, Kansas).</p><br>
<h2>The new mission</h2><br>
<p>The mission was located at its original site from 1830 to 1839. In 1839, the mission was moved and built at its present-day Johnson County location, where an Indian boarding school was opened there. From 1839 until its closure in 1862, the Shawnee Mission served as a manual training school for Native Americans, principally from the Shawnee and Delaware tribes.</p><br>
<p>The Shawnee Mission also served as the second capital of the Kansas Territory. The capital was moved to the mission on July 16, 1855, after pro-slavery delegates to the Territorial Legislature voted to depart the first capital at Pawnee. It served as territorial capital until August 8, when the seat of government became Lecompton. While the capital was located at Shawnee Mission, the legislature promulgated the controversial pro-slavery laws that sparked Bleeding Kansas violence. During the American Civil War, the site served as a camp for Union soldiers.</p><br>
<p>The Shawnee Mission was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.</p><br>
<h2>Structures</h2><br>
<p>Spiro Mounds  is major Northern Caddoan Mississippian archaeological site located in present-day Eastern Oklahoma. The 80-acres site lies near the Arkansas River in Fort Coffee, seven miles north of the town of Spiro.</p><br>
<p>Between the 9th and 15th centuries, the local indigenous people created a powerful religious and political center, culturally linked to the Mississippian Ideological Interaction Sphere (MIIS). Spiro was a major western outpost of Mississippian culture, which dominated the Mississippi Valley and its tributaries for centuries. Spiro Mounds is under the protection of the Oklahoma Historical Society and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>In the 1930s during the Great Depression, treasure hunters bought the rights to tunnel into Craig Mound—the second-largest mound on the site—to mine it for artifacts. They exposed a hollow burial chamber inside the mound, a unique feature containing some of the most extraordinary pre-Columbian artifacts ever found in the United States. These included works of fragile, perishable materials: textiles and feathers which had been uniquely preserved in the conditions of the closed chamber. The treasure hunters sold the artifacts they recovered to art collectors, some as far away as Europe. Some of these artifacts were later returned to regional museums and the Caddo Nation, though other artifacts have never been accounted for. This site has been significant for North American archaeology since the 1930s, especially due to its many preserved textiles and wealth of shell carving.</p><br>
<h2>Chronology</h2><br>
<p>The history of Spiro is typically divided into archaeological phases:</p><br>
<p>Evans Phase (900–1050 CE)</p><br>
<p>Harlan Phase (1050–1250 CE)</p><br>
<p>Norman Phase (1250–1350 CE)</p><br>
<p>Spiro phase (1350–1450 CE)</p><br>
<p>Residential construction at Spiro decreased dramatically around 1250, and people settled in nearby villages, such as the Choates-Holt Site to the north. Spiro remained a ceremonial and mortuary center through 1450. The mound area was abandoned about 1450, although nearby communities persisted until 1600. The cultures following in the wake of Spiro were less complex and hierarchical.</p><br>
<h2>Mounds and plaza area</h2><br>
<p>Mississippian culture spread along the lower Mississippi River and its tributaries between the 9th and 16th centuries. The largest Mississippian settlement was Cahokia, the capital of a major chiefdom that built a six-mile-square city east of what is now St. Louis, Missouri in present-day Southern Illinois. Mississippian culture ranged from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, and along the Ohio River and into both the lowland and mountain areas of the Southeast. Mississippian settlements were known for their large platform earthwork mounds (usually truncated pyramids) surmounted by temples, the houses of warrior kings and priests, and the burial houses of the elite. Archaeological research has shown that Mississippian settlements like Cahokia and Spiro took part in a vast trading network that covered the eastern half of what is now the USA and parts of what is now the Western USA as well.</p><br>
<p>The Spiro site includes twelve earthen mounds and 150 acres of land. As in other Mississippian-culture towns, the people built a number of large, complex earthworks. These included mounds surrounding a large, planned and leveled central plaza, where important religious rituals, the politically and culturally significant game of chunkey, and other important community activities were carried out. The population lived in a village that bordered the plaza. In addition, archaeologists have found more than twenty related village sites within five miles of the main town. Other village sites linked to Spiro through culture and trade have been found up to a 100 mi away.</p><br>
<p>Spiro has been the site of human activity for at least 8000 years. It was a major Mississippian settlement from 800 to 1450. The cultivation of maize allowed accumulation of crop surpluses and the gathering of more dense populations. It was the headquarters town of a regional chiefdom, whose powerful leaders directed the building of eleven platform mounds and one burial mound in an 80 acre area on the south bank of the Arkansas River. The heart of the site is a group of nine mounds surrounding an oval plaza. These mounds were the bases of the homes of important leaders or formed the foundations for religious structures that focused the attention of the community. Brown Mound, the largest platform mound, is located on the eastern side of the plaza. It had an earthen ramp that gave access to the summit from the north side. Here, atop Brown Mound and the other mounds, the towns inhabitants carried out complex rituals, centered especially on the deaths and burials of Spiros powerful rulers.</p><br>
<p>Archaeologists have shown that Spiro had a large resident population until about 1250. After that, most of the population moved to other towns nearby. Spiro continued to be used as a regional ceremonial center and burial ground until about 1450. Its ceremonial and mortuary functions continued and seem to have grown after the main population moved away.</p><br>
<h2>The Great Mortuary</h2><br>
<p>Craig Mound – also called "The Spiro Mound" – is the second-largest mound on the site and the only burial mound. It is located about 1,500 ft southeast of the plaza. A cavity created within the mound, about 10 ft high and 15 ft wide, allowed for almost perfect preservation of fragile artifacts made of wood, conch shell, and copper. The conditions in this hollow space were so favorable that objects made of perishable materials such as basketry, woven fabric of vegetal and animal fibers, lace, fur, and feathers were preserved inside it. Such objects have traditionally been created by women in historic tribes. Also found inside were several examples of Mississippian stone statuary made from Missouri flint clay and Mill Creek chert bifaces, all thought to have originally come from the Cahokia site in Illinois.</p><br>
<p>The "Great Mortuary," as archaeologists called this hollow chamber, appears to have begun as a burial structure for Spiros rulers. It was created as a circle of sacred cedar posts sunk in the ground and angled together at the top like a tipi. The cone-shaped chamber was covered with layers of earth to create the mound, and it never collapsed. Some scholars believe that minerals percolating through the mound hardened the chambers log walls, making them resistant to decay and shielding the perishable artifacts inside from direct contact with the earth. No other Mississippian mound has been found with such a hollow space inside it and with such spectacular preservation of artifacts. Craig Mound has been called "an American King Tut&#39;s Tomb."</p><br>
<p>Between 1933 and 1935, Craig Mound was excavated by an enterprise that had bought the rights from local landowners to excavate and to keep or sell the artifacts they recovered. Tunneling into the mound and breaking through the Great Mortuary&#39;s log wall, they found many human burials, together with their associated grave goods. They discarded the human remains and the fragile artifacts—made of textile, basketry, and even feathers—that were preserved in these extremely unusual conditions. Most of these rare and historically priceless objects disintegrated before scholars could reach the site, although some were sold to collectors. When the commercial excavators finished, they dynamited the burial chamber and sold the commercially valuable artifacts, made of stone, pottery, copper, and conch shell, to collectors in the United States and overseas. Most of these valuable objects are probably lost, but some have been returned through donation and documented by scholars.</p><br>
<p>Funded by the Works Progress Administration (WPA), archaeologists from the University of Oklahoma excavated parts of the site between 1936 and 1941. The Oklahoma Historical Society established the Spiro Mounds Archaeological Center in 1978 that is still open today. The site is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is preserved as Oklahoma&#39;s only Archeological State Park and only precontact Native American site open to the public.</p><br>
<h2>Southeastern Ceremonial Complex</h2><br>
<p>Spiro Mounds people participated in what archaeologists call the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC), a network of ceremonial centers sharing the Mississippian culture and similar spiritual beliefs, cosmology, ritual practices, and cult objects. The SECC was a vast trading network that distributed exotic materials for making ritual objects from all across North America. These included colored flint from New Mexico, copper from the Great Lakes, conch (or lightning whelk) shells from the Gulf Coast, and mica from the Carolinas. Other Mississippian centers also traded in these prized resources, but Spiro was apparently the only one that acquired obsidian from Mexico. Using these valued materials, Mississippian artists created exquisite works of art reflecting their cultural identity and their complex spiritual beliefs.</p><br>
<p>When commercial excavators dug into Craig Mound, they found many beautifully crafted ritual artifacts, including stone effigy pipes, polished stone maces, finely made flint knives and arrowpoints, polished chunkey stones, copper effigy axes, Mississippian copper plates (Spiro plates), mica effigy cut outs, elaborately engraved conch shell ornaments, pearl bead necklaces, stone earspools, wood carvings inlaid with shell, and specially made mortuary pottery. The conch shells were fashioned into gorgets and drinking cups engraved with intricate designs representing costumed men, real and mythical animals, and geometric motifs, all of which had profound symbolic significance. Spiro Mounds&#39; ceremonial objects are among the finest examples of pre-Columbian art in North America.</p><br>
<p>Later, archaeologists identified artifacts at Spiro that appeared to have come from other powerful Mississippian towns far from present-day Oklahoma that also participated in the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. These include Cahokia in Illinois, the largest Mississippian community; Etowah and Ocmulgee in Georgia; and Moundville in Alabama. In economic terms, Spiro seems to have been a gateway town that funneled valuable resources from the Great Plains and other western regions to the main Mississippian ceremonial centers farther east. In return, it received valuable goods back from those other centers. Spiros location on the Arkansas River, one of the Mississippis principal tributaries, gave it access to the Mississippian heartland hundreds of miles away.</p><br>
<p>Spiro and other Mississippian towns clearly looked to the great city of Cahokia, in what is now southern Illinois, as a cultural model to be emulated. Located about 400 miles northeast of Spiro near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, Cahokia was the largest and most impressive of all the Mississippian towns. Mineralogical analysis of some of the most beautiful stone effigy pipes found at Spiro, including the famous "Grizzly Man" or "Kneeling Rattler" pipe, have shown they came from Cahokia, based on the material from which they were made. Cahokia also influenced the styles of the artifacts made at Spiro. Archaeologists have identified four distinct styles: the Braden Style characteristic of artifacts brought from Cahokia; and the Craig A, B, and C styles, which are local derivatives of the Braden Style.</p><br>
<p>Antonio Waring and Preston Holder first defined the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex in the 1940s, according to a series of distinct cultural traits. Since the late 1980s, archaeologists have adopted a new classification scheme based on their greatly improved understanding of Mississippian cultural development. The new scheme divides the SECC into five periods, or horizons, each defined by the appearance of new ritual objects and cultural motifs connected with new developments in politics and long-distance trade. Archaeologists have determined that Spiro was at the peak of its cultural importance in the 13th and 14th centuries.</p><br>
<h2>Mississippian iconography</h2><br>
<p>Archaeologists have tried in recent years to interpret the meaning of the ritual artifacts and artistic imagery found at Spiro and other Mississippian sites. While reaching firm conclusions about the meanings of works of art made centuries ago by people of an extinct culture is difficult, archaeologists have made some compelling interpretations by comparing Mississippian artistic imagery with the myths, religious rituals, art, and iconography of historic Native American groups.</p><br>
<p>One of the most prominent symbols at Spiro is the "Birdman," a winged human figure representing a warrior or chunkey player. Chunkey was a game played in the Mississippian period, but also in historic times by the Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, and other tribes throughout the Eastern Woodlands. Men played the game by rolling a stone disk for a considerable distance and then hurling spears as close as they could to the point where the stone stopped.</p><br>
<p>Another Spiro icon is the "Great Serpent," a being said to inhabit the Under World, the spiritual domain on the opposite side of the Mississippian universe. The Great Serpent is portrayed in Mississippian art with a serpent&#39;s body but also with wings or horns. Similar beings were the subject of myth in historic times among the Micmac, Huron, Kickapoo, Cherokee, Muscogee Creek, Caddo, and other Native American tribes. The spiritual beings of the Under World were thought to be in constant opposition to those in the Upper World. Men had to fear these beings, according to Native American mythology, but they could also gain great power from them in certain circumstances.</p><br>
<p>Mississippian art also features the cedar tree or striped-center-pole motifs, which archaeologists have interpreted as the axis mundi, the point at which the three parts of the Mississippian spiritual universe come together: the Upper World, the Under World, and the Middle World where humans dwell. The cedar tree or the striped-center-pole is often found on engraved conch shell gorgets, with human or animal figures positioned on either side. The concept of an axis mundi — the point where different cosmic domains converge — is found in many cultures around the world. It is frequently represented as a tree (including the Tree of Life), since trees pass through the surface of the earth to link the subsurface and the sky. The fact that the Great Mortuary at Spiro was built with cedar (or cedar elm) posts suggests that the burial chamber was meant to be a point of departure from one spiritual domain to another, as cedar was a sacred wood.</p><br>
<p>Archaeologists found that one of the conch shell cups from Craig Mound had a black residue in the bottom. This suggests that the Spiro people may have practiced a version of the Black Drink Ceremony, a purification ritual that was also performed in historic times by their descendants - the Southeastern tribes. Participants drank a tea made from the Yaupon Holly from conch shell cups.</p><br>
<h2>Caddoan Mississippians</h2><br>
<p>Most authorities agree that the people of Spiro were Caddoan speaking, but their descendants in historic times are difficult to identify. Archaeologists speculate that the Caddo Confederacy, Wichita, Kichai, or non-Caddoan Tunica could be their descendants. However, the cultures of all these peoples, when encountered by the Spanish and French in the 16th and 17th centuries, were substantially different from that of Spiro.</p><br>
<p>Under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma and the Wichita and Affiliated Tribes (Wichita, Keechi, Waco and Tawakonie) are recognized by the US Federal government and archaeologists as the cultural descendants of the builders of Spiro Mounds.</p><br>
<p>When the Spanish conquistador Hernando de Soto led an expedition into what is now the Southeastern United States in the 1540s, he encountered Native American groups including the Tula people, who lived near the Arkansas River. The De Soto Expedition also encouraged numerous Caddo villages. Composed of many tribes, the Caddo were organized into three confederacies, the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches, which were all linked by similar languages.</p><br>
<p>At the time of de Soto&#39;s visit, the Caddo controlled a large territory. It included what is now Eastern Oklahoma, Western Arkansas, Northeast Texas, and Northwest Louisiana. Archaeologists have thought that the Caddo and related peoples had been living in the region for centuries and that they had their own local variant of Mississippian culture.</p><br>
<p>Recent excavations have revealed within that region more cultural diversity than scholars had expected. The sites along the Arkansas River, in particular, seem to have their own distinctive characteristics. Scholars still classify the Mississippian sites found in the entire Caddo area, including Spiro Mounds, as "Caddoan Mississippian".</p><br>
<p>The Caddoan Mississippian region contained many towns in addition to Spiro, including the Battle Mound Site. Scholars have determined that Battle Mound, lying along the Great Bend of the Red River in Southwest Arkansas, was a larger site than Spiro. Little excavation has been done there to date. The Caddoan Mississippian towns had a more irregular layout of earthen mounds and associated villages than did towns in the Middle Mississippian heartland to the east. They also lacked the wooden palisade fortifications often found in the major Middle Mississippian towns. Living on the western edge of the Mississippian world, the Caddoan may have faced fewer military threats from their neighbors. Their societies may also have had a somewhat lower level of social stratification.</p><br>
<p>The Spiro people were probably speakers of one of the many Caddoan languages. The Caddoan languages once had a broad geographic distribution, but many are now extinct. The modern languages in the Caddoan family include Caddo, Wichita, Kitsai, Pawnee, and Arikara languages. Wichita and Kitsai are both extinct.</p><br>
<p>Old Mill State Park is a small Minnesota state park on the Middle River between Argyle and Newfolden on an ancient beach of glacial Lake Agassiz in Marshall County in the northwestern part of the state.</p><br>
<p>It is a 406 acre park.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The park area was originally homesteaded by the Larson Family in 1882. A series of water and wind powered mills were soon built in the area. Eventually a steam-powered mill replaced the older technology. The state bought the area in 1937 and rebuilt the steam engine in 1958. Every year as part of the park&#39;s special events and interpretive programs, the old mill is run as it had been years ago.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Many species are attracted to the river that runs through the park. Deer and moose are the largest animals that frequent the park. Beaver, raccoon, white-tailed jackrabbits and snowshoe hares are common. A bird migration route runs through the park adding more wildlife especially in the spring and fall. The ground-nesting marsh hawk is a common summer resident. Owls and the occasional eagle have been sighted in the park.</p><br>
<h2>National Register of Historic Places</h2><br>
<p>A 25 acre historic district including eight contributing buildings and structures, built by the Works Progress Administration, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Larson Mill is listed separately on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
