<p>Aggersborg is the largest of Denmark&#39;s former Viking ring castles, and one of the largest archeological sites in Denmark. It is located near Aggersund on the north side of the Limfjord. It consists of a circular rampart surrounded by a ditch. Four main roads arranged in a cross connects the castle centre with the outer ring. The roads were tunnelled under the outer rampart, leaving the circular structure intact.</p><br>
<p>The ring castle had an inner diameter of 240 metres. The ditch was located eight metres outside of the rampart, and was approximately 1.3 metres deep. The wall is believed to have been four metres tall. The rampart was constructed of soil and turf, reinforced and clad with oak wood. The rampart formed the basis for a wooden parapet. Smaller streets were located within the four main sections of the fortress.</p><br>
<p>The modern Aggersborg is a reconstruction created in the 1990s. It is lower than the original fortress.</p><br>
<h2>Dating of the site</h2><br>
<p>Dating the structure has proven difficult, since the archaeological site has also been the site of an Iron Age village. The ring castle is believed to have been constructed around 980 during the reign of king Harold Bluetooth and / or Sweyn Forkbeard. Five of the six ring castles in historical Denmark have been dated to this era. The structure was completed within one or two years, and only used for a short period of time; between five and twenty years.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeological remains</h2><br>
<p>Archaeologists have estimated that the ring castle could hold a 5,000-man garrison, located in 48 longhouses. Twelve longhouses were located in each quadrant, all located on a north-south or west-east axis. No remains of the actual houses exist, but proof of the location of the walls has been found. The individual houses are believed to have been similar to the form seen on the Camnin chest, a house-shaped reliquary, as well as on house-shaped tombstones in England.</p><br>
<p>The houses had curved roofs and curved sides, similar to the form of a ship; 32.5 metres long and 8.5 metres across. They were divided in a long inner hall, around 19 metres long, with smaller rooms at the end. It is estimated that construction of a single Aggersborg house required 66 large oak trees. The entire structure, housing included, is estimated to have used 5,000 large oaks.</p><br>
<p>A large number of archaeological finds have been discovered on the site, including many imported luxury items. Examples include beads of mountain crystal and pieces of glass jars. A damaged golden ring has been discovered on the site as well; a replica is displayed in the Aggersborg museum.</p><br>
<p>Aggersborg was located both protected but also easily accessible by ship, since both ends of the Limfjord were open waterways when the fortress was constructed. It is speculated that ships had to be carried on land past Løgstørgrunde.</p><br>
<p>Aggersborg was also strategically located at one of the three ancient crossings of the Hærvejen (army road) across the Limfjord. The two other crossings existed to the north of Farstrup, and near Lindholm Høje in Ålborg, respectively.</p><br>
<p>No conclusive data yet exists whether Aggersborg was a stronghold controlling trade routes or whether its primary function was as a barracks / training grounds in connection with Sweyn Forkbeard&#39;s Viking raids on England.</p><br>
<p>Panorama of the Aggersborg site</p><br>
<p>Hill-Annex Mine State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, interpreting the open-pit mining heritage of the Mesabi Range. The park is located in the city of Marble, and just outside the adjacent city of Calumet, both in Itasca County, Minnesota. The park provides access to fossil material exposed by mining from the Cretaceous era Coleraine Formation.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>Conservationists have grown back trees and plants to revegetate this area scarred by the effects of open pit mining. The landscape includes grouse, deer, coyotes, timber wolves, and black bears. The most impressive excitement is the return of raptors including eagles, peregrine falcons, and hawks that come back to hunt and nest in this park.</p><br>
<p>The Hennepin Center for the Arts  was built in 1888 as a Masonic Temple. The structure was built by Long and Kees in the Richardsonian Romanesque architectural style. In 1978, it was purchased and underwent a renovation to become the HCA. It is located at 528 Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Currently, it is owned by Artspace and is home to more than 17 performing and visual art companies who reside on the building&#39;s eight floors. The eighth floor is the Illusion Theater, which hosts many shows put on by companies in the building.</p><br>
<p>HCA is now a part of the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts (formerly the Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center). The new performing arts center is a three-building complex that includes the renovated Shubert Theatre building (renamed the Goodale Theater) and a new glass-walled atrium connecting the two historic buildings and serving them both as a common lobby. The Cowles Center hosted a three-day Grand Opening Gala September 9–11, 2011.</p><br>
<p>Seal Island is a small land mass located 5.7 km off the northern beaches of False Bay, near Cape Town, in South Africa. The island is so named because of the great number of Cape fur seals that occupy it. It is 5 acre in area and home to 64,000 cape fur seals. It is home to seabirds too and it is likely that non-marine species  fly there to breed as well . The island is an outcrop of the Cape granite and rises no more than about four to six metres above the high tide mark. The island is long and narrow- 800 metres by 50 metres. There is no vegetation or soil of any significance and no beach. A radar mast was built on the island during World War II by a crew who lived in prefabricated huts for the duration of the construction but this tower gradually succumbed to corrosion and was blown over in a winter storm in 1970. All that remains of it is rusty, twisted metal. There are the ruins of a few huts and other structures from the sealing and guano-collection era . Some rock inscriptions made by sealers in the 1930s are still evident.</p><br>
<h2>Great white sharks</h2><br>
<p>The dense population of seals at certain times of the year attracts the seal&#39;s main predator, the great white shark. Seal Island and the adjacent waters provide rare opportunities for those who wish to witness attacks by great whites on the Cape fur seal and to observe social interactions amongst creatures of both species. The island has become famous for the size of the sharks, and for their favoured way of catching their prey - a shark launching an attack will come up from underneath and hurl itself out of the water with the seal in its mouth. It has been shown that if the seals enter the "Ring of Death" (where the sharks circle the island) on the surface instead of at the murky bottom, they are more likely to be picked off by the faster and more aggressive great white.</p><br>
<p>Swinside, which is also known as Sunkenkirk and Swineshead, is a stone circle lying beside Swinside Fell, part of Black Combe in southern Cumbria, North West England. One of around 1,300 recorded stone circles in the British Isles and Brittany, it was constructed as a part of a megalithic tradition that lasted from 3,300 to 900 BCE, during what archaeologists categorise as the Late Neolithic and Early Bronze Ages.</p><br>
<p>In this period, the Lake District – a mountainous area in which Swinside is located – saw particularly high levels of stone circle construction, with other notable examples including the Castlerigg stone circle and Long Meg and Her Daughters. The original purposes of these circles is still debated, although most archaeologists concur that they were built for ritual or ceremonial reasons. Constructed from local slate, the ring has a diameter of about 93 ft 8ins (26.8m), and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been around 60. An entrance-exit was included on the monument&#39;s south-eastern side, which was defined by the inclusion of two outer portal stones.</p><br>
<p>In the Early Modern period, local folklore about the stones held that they had once been used in the construction of a church, but that the Devil continually thwarted these plans, creating the stone circle in the process. Archaeological investigation into the monument began in the early 20th century, with an excavation taking place in 1901.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The stone circle at Swinside is located in the south-west corner of the Lake District in the ancient district of Millom, 5 miles north of the town of Millom (map reference ). To reach the site, the visitor must get to Crag Hall, where there is limited places for parking, and then walk along a rough track for 2¼ km (1¼ miles) uphill towards Swinside Farm, where the megalithic ring lies to the right of the path.</p><br>
<p>Megalithic specialist Aubrey Burl called Swinside "the loveliest of all the circles" in north-western Europe. In his study of the stone circles of Cumbria, archaeologist John Waterhouse commented that Swinside "can be compared only to Castlerigg and Long Meg and her Daughters in its visual impact; but its charm – for great charm it undoubtedly has – is greater even than theirs."</p><br>
<h2>Background</h2><br>
<p>During the Late Neolithic, British society underwent a series of major changes. Between 3500 and 3300 BCE, prehistoric Britons ceased their continual expansion and cultivation of wilderness and instead focused on settling and farming the most agriculturally productive areas of the island: Orkney, eastern Scotland, Anglesey, the upper Thames, Wessex, Essex, Yorkshire and the river valleys of the Wash.</p><br>
<p>This period was also signalled by what archaeologists have interpreted as a change in religious beliefs across Britain. Communities stopped building the large chambered tombs for the dead, and instead, they began the construction of large wooden and stone circles. The prominent megalithic-specialist and archaeologist Aubrey Burl (2000) argued that the change from building tombs to building open air rings signalled a change in religious belief for the peoples of north-western Europe. As he noted; "There was a change from the cramped, gloomy chamber or a tomb to the unroofed, wide ring, a change from darkness to light, from the dead to the living, from the grave to the sky."</p><br>
<h2>Purpose</h2><br>
<p>Exactly for what purpose prehistoric Britons originally constructed stone circles is a question that continues to elude archaeologists. Despite this, many suggestions have been put forward, most of which argue that they were a form of a church.</p><br>
<p>Based on his study of those examples found at Orkney in northern Scotland, the archaeologist Colin Richards suggested that the stone and wooden circles built in Late Neolithic Britain might have represented the centre of the world, or axis mundi, for those who constructed them, an idea adopted by fellow archaeologist Aaron Watson as a possibility in his discussion of why Late Neolithic peoples constructed the great ring at Avebury in southern England.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>The stones used in the construction of Swinside were porphyritic slate collected from the adjacent fells, and are of the type that was known locally as grey cobbles by the 20th century. The ring has a diameter of about 93 ft 8ins (26.8m), and currently contains 55 stones, although when originally constructed there probably would have been around 60.</p><br>
<p>Swinside&#39;s builders included a "well defined" entrance, 2.1 m (7 ft) wide, at the south-eastern side, which was signalled by the placing of two large portal stones outside the circumference of the circle. In particular, Swinside has a number of features in common with the Girdle Stanes.</p><br>
<h2>Folklore</h2><br>
<p>Local folklore holds that at night, the Devil would pull down the stones of a church that was being constructed in the daytime, in the process creating the stone circle; it is for this reason that the site has also been called Sunkenkirk.</p><br>
<p>In the 1930s, it was recorded that there was a local belief that it was impossible to count all of the stones.</p><br>
<h2>Antiquarian and archaeological investigation</h2><br>
<p>The first archaeological excavation at Swinside was carried out from midday on Tuesday 26 March 1901 through to the evening of the following day. During this excavation, two crosstrenches were dug, each 18 inches (45 cm) wide, covering just over one-thirteenth of the interior of the site. The excavators reported finding a lump of charcoal and a piece of decayed bone.</p><br>
<p>Paliki  is a peninsula and a former municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Kefalonia, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal unit has an area of 119.341 km. The name comes from the ancient town of Pale/Pali, which was north of Lixouri and is now an archaeological site. The peninsula is the westernmost part of Kefalonia. The seat of the municipality was the town Lixouri .</p><br>
<h2>Subdivisions</h2><br>
<p>The municipal unit Paliki is subdivided into the following communities (constituent villages in brackets):</p><br>
<p>Agia Thekla (Agia Thekla, Kalata)</p><br>
<p>Atheras</p><br>
<p>Chavdata</p><br>
<p>Chavriata</p><br>
<p>Damoulianata</p><br>
<p>Favatata</p><br>
<p>Kaminarata</p><br>
<p>Katogi (Mantzavinata, Vardianoi, Vouni)</p><br>
<p>Kontogenada</p><br>
<p>Kouvalata (Kouvalata, Livadi)</p><br>
<p>Lixouri (Lixouri, Agios Vasileios, Agios Dimitrios, Lepeda, Longos, Loukerata, Michalitsata)</p><br>
<p>Monopolata (Monopolata, Dellaportata, Parisata)</p><br>
<p>Rifi</p><br>
<p>Skineas (Skineas, Vlychata)</p><br>
<p>Soullaroi</p><br>
<h2>Province</h2><br>
<p>Pali Province (Επαρχία Πάλης) was one of the provinces of Cephalonia Prefecture. Its territory corresponded with that of the current municipal unit Paliki. It was abolished in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Paliki is a peninsula in the Ionian Sea, attached to mainland Cephalonia in the northeast. On the east side, the Gulf of Argostoli separates Paliki from Cephalonia. Mountains up to 500 m cover the western and northern part of the peninsula.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The oldest document which contains the name "Lixouri" was sent in 1534 by local authorities to the Senate of Venice. Many houses were destroyed in the earthquakes of January 23, 1867 and August 1953.</p><br>
<h2>Sights</h2><br>
<p>Iakovatios Library, the communal library with a small museum. Typical classic Ionian building from 19th century.</p><br>
<p>Former primary school near the harbour. Avant-garde 20th-century building from 1933, representing the modernist architecture movement in Greece</p><br>
<p>Pantokrator Church</p><br>
<p>A few ruins of ancient Pali in the north</p><br>
<p>Mania beach with beautiful untouched landscape</p><br>
<p>Mantzavinata - Agios Spyridon Church and classical house of the Vittoratos Family</p><br>
<p>Classical house of the Danelatos Family in Damoulianata</p><br>
<p>Agia Paraskevi Church in Atheras</p><br>
<p>Kipouria monastery</p><br>
<p>Vatsa Bay</p><br>
<p>Xi Beach</p><br>
<h2>Homer's Ithaca</h2><br>
<p>According to Robert Bittlestones 2005 book Odysseus Unbound, Paliki was Homers Ithaca, the home of Odysseus, the central figure in the Odyssey of Homer.</p><br>
<h2>Persons</h2><br>
<p>Andreas Laskaratos teacher and writer</p><br>
<p>Spyridon Marinatos (1901–1974) archaeologist</p><br>
<p>The Mahned Bridge was constructed in 1903 and spans the Leaf River in Perry County, Mississippi. Around 1980, the bridge was removed from service and access was terminated. The bridge was declared a Mississippi Landmark in 1996 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Mahned Bridge was constructed by the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company as a prefabricated, one lane, iron truss structure. Completed in 1903, the bridge was one of the first to span the Leaf River in south Mississippi. The bridge derives its name from the nearby rural community of Mahned.</p><br>
<h3>Description</h3><br>
<p>Two iron trusses, Camelback and Pratt, comprise the main structure and are positioned on metal caissons filled with concrete. Overall length of the two truss spans is 335 ft. The deck was composed of wooden planking 18 ft wide, but the deck was removed after the bridge was closed.</p><br>
<h3>Notoriety</h3><br>
<p>The remote location of Mahned Bridge, several miles from the small town of New Augusta, made it a favorite gathering spot among college and high school students for star gazing and other activities. In September 1993, the vehicle of Angela Freeman, age 17, was found abandoned at Mahned Bridge. Freeman was missing, and the investigation into her disappearance was never solved.</p><br>
<p>In May 1995, the north end of Mahned Bridge was determined to be the scene of the abduction and murder of William Hatcher, age 27, and Robbie Bond, age 21. The suspect in the Hatcher and Bond murders was subsequently convicted.</p><br>
<p>Piatt&#39;s Landing was an early nineteenth century riverboat and ferry landing on the Ohio River in Boone County, Kentucky. It is located near Route 338 almost due west of downtown Union. The landing and Winnfield Cottage, which no longer exists, were built by Robert Piatt, the grandfather of Civil War General Edward Canby. Ferries owned by the Piatts crossed the Ohio River to Indiana at several points; Touseytown to Lawrenceburg, Rabbit Hash to Rising Sun, and East Bend to North Landing.  A number of the Piatts associated with this family also lived in Norwood, Ohio.</p><br>
<p>The name Piatt is of Italian origin, according to N. L. Lodge (p. 1), and the original spelling was Piatti. (Note: N.L. Lodge&#39;s work is not deemed reliable by many researchers. The name Piatt was FRENCH, and was originally spelled Piat. The family came from the Province of Dauphine, near Grenoble, France. Rene Piat LeFleur was a Huguenot refugee who emigrated in the 1670s. He first went to London, where he was "denizated" a British citizen. He later migrated to Long Island, where he married Elizabeth Sheffield, an Englishwoman. They settled in New Jersey. Virtually all Piatts in America are descended from them.)</p><br>
<p>St. Charles College was a minor seminary in Catonsville, Maryland, originally located in Ellicott City, Maryland.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Charles Carroll of Carrollton (1737-1832) was a signer of the Declaration of Independence for Maryland. One of the wealthiest men in the Americas at that time and a newly elected delegate to the Second Continental Congress and the only Roman Catholic to vote on independence and sign the document, Carroll staked his fortune on the American Revolution. After the Revolution, Carroll became president of the Maryland Senate in the General Assembly and divided his time between the family mansion and estate Doughoregan Manor in western Anne Arundel County (later Howard County), near Ellicott Mills on the upper Patapsco River, and Annapolis. One of his most important tasks he said was when he helped lay the "first stone" for the new technology of transportation, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on Independence Day, July 4, 1828, west of the city near modern Halethorpe. At his death in 1832, he was the last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence and was laid to rest with other Carrolls in the crypt at the family chapel at Doughoregan.</p><br>
<p>In 1784 Charles bought Marys Lott, a 75 acre farm from Jacob Burgoon, a Catholic immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, France, who came to America in about 1745 and settled in Elkridge, Maryland. Jacob and his wife Elizabeth were indentured servants, Jacob working as a cordwainer (shoemaker). They had bought Marys Lott in 1762. They had eight children, and after selling Marys Lott they moved to a farm in what is now Carroll County, Maryland. Marys Lott became part of the land later given for St. Charles College.</p><br>
<p>Ambrose Maréchal (1764-1828), the future third Archbishop of Baltimore, and other Sulpician priests were frequent guests at Doughoregan, saying Mass there often and gaining the ear of the Charles Carroll. During subsequent years a request of land was made for a minor seminary. Carroll, however, denied the request because he felt he could not break up or donate any part of his patrimony.</p><br>
<p>In 1830, Emily Caton MacTavish, favorite granddaughter of the Signer and sister of the "Three American Graces", convinced Carroll to give 253 acre to the Sulpician Fathers for the erection of a minor seminary — Saint Charles. She accomplished this by suggesting he donate land that he had bought during his lifetime. Included was Mary&#39;s Lott, aptly named for a gift to the Church, thought Carroll at the time. The college was incorporated on February 3, 1830, with the name "St. Charles" chosen for its benefactor, Charles Carroll.</p><br>
<p>Construction started on the college building in 1831. The building would reach a size of 367 ft in length, with 15+1/2 ft ceilings using gas lighting and radiant heat.</p><br>
<p>The first building of Saint Charles College (minor seminary) was completed in 1848, and the college opened on October 31 with two faculty: the president, Father Oliver Jenkins; a deacon, Edward Caton; and four students.</p><br>
<p>Two wings were added in 1859 and blessed by Francis Patrick Kenrick, Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore. "Our Lady of the Angels Chapel" was started at this time, but completion was delayed by the Civil War until 1866. An imitation of the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, the building was 110 ft long, 34 ft wide and 50 ft high. It was lavishly decorated mainly through the generosity of its first rector and president, Father Oliver Jenkins.</p><br>
<p>Two additional wings were added to the building in 1878 for a 190-person enrollment.</p><br>
<p>In 1898 a vastly enlarged Saint Charles College celebrated its 50th anniversary. The park-like grounds of St. Charles looked southeast towards the Frederick Road, later the eastern end of the historic National Road, the first federally sponsored interstate route begun in the early 1800s from Baltimore to Cumberland and on to the western states finally ending near the Mississippi River in Vandalia, Illinois, then the territorial capital of the Territory of Illinois. In later years the college would overlook Wilkens Avenue, which also runs southwestward out of the city near the intersection of Maiden Choice Lane.</p><br>
<p>On March 16, 1911, disaster struck: the college was completely destroyed by fire started in the cellar under the chapel. Miraculously, none of the 200+ faculty and students were killed or injured. Sacred vessels and vestments, along with thousands of priceless manuscripts and books were all lost. The burned-out shell was pulled down, and the salvageable building materials were transported to Catonsville, where the college was quickly rebuilt. All that remained standing were the ruins of the 1906 Recreation Hall.</p><br>
<p>After the fire, the heirs of the Carroll family requested that the 250 acre of land be returned, since it was not then used as a college, by selling off the land and dividing the profits among the family. The area was purchased by Howard County Planning Board member William Phillip Brendel, who ran Brendel Manor Park opening in 1942. Brendels Manor Park (also known as Gospel Park) hosted the first Howard County Fair onsite for a single year in 1946 and 1950 with prison labor used to build structures. In the early 1970s, it was the home of Robert G. Millars Christian Identity community. It has since been upzoned and developed into a suburban housing community. The property was subdivided several times, with Robert J. Lanceolott and Synergy Development Corp. developing over the historic ruins of the first college buildings in 1991 to build the "Terra Maria Community". The ruins of the old minor seminary&#39;s recreation hall and laundry are now located in the middle of Terra Maria Way circle with the grotto removed for a stormwater retention pond.(39.287713&deg; latitude, -76.887635&deg; longitude)</p><br>
<p>In 1969, St. Charles High School Department with boarding school was closed and the junior college merged with the upper college of St. Marys Seminary and University now on Roland Avenue and Belvedere Avenue/Northern Parkway in the Roland Park neighborhood of north Baltimore (having moved there from North Paca Street by St. Marys Street in the old Seton Hill neighborhood to new landmark buildings of Beaux Arts/Classical Revival style architecture on a new expansive park-like campus in 1929). The old St. Charles second campus was renamed "St. Marys Seminary College" and continued its educational programs, now opened up to ecumenical participation.</p><br>
<p>In 1977 the college closed and the property was sold to Erickson Retirement Communities, Inc. it is presently known as Charlestown Retirement Community.</p><br>
<h2>St. Charles College Historic District</h2><br>
<p>St. Charles College Historic District is a historic Roman Catholic church seminary and national historic district at Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. The main complex consists of six interconnected buildings, three of which form the central group: Chapel, Administration Building, and Old Dormitory. Each has a rusticated stone first floor and upper levels of buff brick with stone trim in the Italian Renaissance style. The complex includes three additional buildings: the Dining Hall, connected by a passageway; the Convent, physically attached to the Dining Hall, and the Power House.</p><br>
<p>It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.</p><br>
<h2>Notable alumni</h2><br>
<p>Patrick Joseph Byrne, Maryknoll missionary who served as Apostolic Delegate to Korea</p><br>
<p>John F. Collins (1872–1962), Mayor of Providence, Rhode Island 1939–1941</p><br>
<p>George Sterling, poet and playwright</p><br>
<p>John Mattingly, Commissioner of New York City Administration for Children Services</p><br>
<p>Thomas Frederick Price, cofounder of Maryknoll</p><br>
<p>John Surratt, conspiracy accomplice (along with Mary Surratt) in the assassination of 16th President Abraham Lincoln in 1865</p><br>
<p>Louis J. Weichmann</p><br>
<p>The Grand Opera House is an opera house located at the corner of 8th and Iowa Streets in Dubuque, Iowa that was built in 1890. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002.</p><br>
<p>It was deemed important as a "national treasure". The theatre has the largest of all stages ever in Dubuque, and is Dubuques only surviving opera house. It is architecturally important as an early Richardsonian Romanesque building in Dubuque and as a salient work of Chicago architect Willoughby James Edbrooke. It is Edbrookes only surviving opera house, and he used its design in his design portfolio that won him the position of Supervising Architect of the USA Treasury Department in 1891. Its design is said to be "representative of Edbrooke&#39;s smooth exterior wall interpretation of the Richardsonian Romanesque style." It is also historically important from its association with high-quality theatre in Dubuque during 1890-1928. The theater has been preserved with great historic integrity and, in 2002, was being restored for continuing use in live stage entertainment. Its history is extremely well documented.</p><br>
<p>In 2015 performance events at the theater marked its 125th anniversary.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early years</h3><br>
<p>The Grand Opera House was built in 1889 and 1890. The Grand Opera House, Inc. was established by William Lester Bradley, Sr. and five other people in 1890 to operate this and other theaters in Dubuque. The opera house would cost $65,000 to build. At the time of its construction, the Grand Opera House was the largest theater to be built in Dubuque. It had a seating capacity of 1,100 and a huge stage that measured 42 ft from front to back. Initially the opera house was connected by a tunnel to a house next door in which people changed costumes.</p><br>
<p>Originally the opening night performance was scheduled to occur on August 15, 1890 until it was realized that August 15 was also the Holy Day of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. At that point opening night was rescheduled to August 14. Approximately 800 people paid five dollars to view the Hess Opera Company production of Carmen - a French opera by Georges Bizet.</p><br>
<p>For the next 40 years there were over 2,600 live productions shown at the Grand. Henry Fonda, Ethel Barrymore, George Cohan, Sarah Bernhard, and Lillian Russell were among the more famous people to have performed at the Grand. A number of years later Fonda would fondly remember his time playing at the Grand, and expressed gratitude that the Grand was still present. One of the most elaborate productions was that of Ben-Hur, which was complete with horses and chariots on stage. The theater showed a profit for 22 out of its first 28 years; the six unprofitable years being the result of capital improvements.</p><br>
<h3>Movies</h3><br>
<p>In 1915 movies were shown at the Grand for the first time. The $15,488 profit that first year was three times that of the Grand&#39;s traditional theater productions. In 1928 the Grand had its last live performance for many years when a production of the Merry Wives of Windsor was performed at the Grand. The Grand was then renovated in 1930 into a movie theater. The second balcony and box seats were removed and the orchestra pit was covered over. The semi-circular stage was straightened. A big screen and new projector was added to the theater.</p><br>
<p>When the Grand was converted into a movie theater, most of the movie theaters were located in downtown Dubuque. By 1972 it was the only surviving downtown movie theater when it was sold to Richard Davis of Des Moines. In 1976 Davis sold the theater to the Dubinsky Brothers. The Grand continued to show movies for several more years.</p><br>
<h3>Return of Live Theater</h3><br>
<p>By the closing years of the 20th century, the Barn Community Theater had purchased the vacant and much-deteriorated Grand Opera House. This marked the end of the Grand&#39;s days as a movie theater. In 1986 a production of "Tintypes" was shown at the theater. This marked the first time in over 57 years that a live production was shown at the Grand.</p><br>
<p>In recent years the Grand Opera House has undergone a number of renovations. This included the restoration of the original facade was accomplished by removing the marquee and metal siding that was placed over it in the 1960s. The interior of the theater was renovated as well.</p><br>
<p>Meadowcroft Rockshelter is an archaeological site located near Avella in Jefferson Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania, United States. The site, a rock shelter in a bluff overlooking Cross Creek , is located 27 miles west-southwest of Pittsburgh in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. In the 21st century, the site has a museum and a reconstruction of a circa 1570s Monongahela Culture Indian village. It operates as a division of the Heinz History Center of Pittsburgh. The artifacts from the site show the area may have been continually inhabited for more than 19,000 years, since Paleo-Indian times.</p><br>
<p>The remarkably complete archaeological site shows the earliest known evidence of human presence and the longest sequence of continuous human occupation in the New World.</p><br>
<p>It is recognized as a National Historic Landmark, a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Treasure, and as an official project of Save America&#39;s Treasures.</p><br>
<h2>Site</h2><br>
<p>The rockshelter is a natural formation beneath an overhanging cliff of Morgantown-Connellsville sandstone, which is a thick Pennsylvanian-age sandstone, brown in color. Meadowcroft is in the Allegheny Plateau, northwest of the Appalachian Basin.</p><br>
<p>The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. In 1999</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>Native Americans left the site during the American Revolutionary War. It was not re-discovered until many years later, when, in 1955, Albert Miller found the first artifacts in a groundhog burrow. Miller delayed reporting his findings until he contacted James M. Adovasio, who led the first excavations of the site in 1973 until 1979 by the Cultural Resource Management Program of the University of Pittsburgh. Further University of Pittsburgh field school excavations were conducted through 1989. Since the 1990s, more recent work has also been undertaken by Adovasio through the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute. The methods of excavation used at Meadowcroft are still seen as state-of-the-art. It is viewed as one of the most carefully excavated sites in North America.</p><br>
<p>Radiocarbon dating of the site indicated occupancy beginning 16,000 years ago and possibly as early as 19,000 years ago. The dates are still controversial. A recent survey carried out by the Society for American Archaeology reported support from 38% of archaeologists, with 20% rejecting the early dates. Criticism of these early radiocarbon dates has focused on the potential for contamination by ancient carbon from coal-bearing strata in the watershed. The samples, tested by an independent third party geomorphologist, concluded that the samples showed no evidence of groundwater activity. Tests performed via accelerator mass spectrometry also support the earlier dates. If authentic, these dates would indicate that Meadowcroft was used in the pre-Clovis era and, as such, provides evidence for very early human habitation of the Americas. Meadowcroft Rockshelter may be the oldest known site of human habitation in North America, providing a unique glimpse into the lives of prehistoric hunters and gatherers. Paleoindian, Archaic, and Woodland remains have all been found at the site.</p><br>
<p>Meadowcroft Rockshelter has yielded the largest collection of flora and fauna materials ever recovered from a location in eastern North America. The arid environment provided the necessary and rare conditions that permitted excellent botanical preservation. In total, animal remains representing 149 species were excavated. Evidence shows that people gathered smaller game animals as well as plants, such as corn, squash, fruits, nuts and seeds.</p><br>
<p>Additionally, the site has produced Pre-Clovis remains, found as deep as 11.5 feet underground. The site also has yielded many tools, including pottery, bifaces, bifacial fragments, lamellar blades, a lanceolate projectile point, and chipping debris. Recoveries of note also include fluted points, which are a marker of the Paleoindian period. Remains of flint from Ohio, jasper from eastern Pennsylvania and marine shells from the Atlantic coast suggest that the people inhabiting the area were mobile and involved in long-distance trade. At least one basin-shaped hearth was reused over time.</p><br>
<h3>The Miller complex</h3><br>
<p>An unusual type of arrowhead was found at the site, that has been named as the Miller Lanceolate projectile point. Similar unﬂuted lanceolate points have also been found at the adjacent sites.</p><br>
<p>"Enough lithic artifacts were recovered to define the Miller complex. This complex consists of thin bifaces, including one lanceolate point, the Miller Lanceolate; small prismatic blades; retouched flake tools and blades; and debitage related to latestage core and biface reduction and tool kit maintenance.</p><br>
<p>The Miller complex is further defined by surveys done in the Cross Creek watershed, where other lanceolate points, small prismatic blades, and small polyhedral blade cores have been recovered. According to Adovasio et al, this complex has a Eurasiatic and Siberian appearance. These authors also note that small blades and polyhedral cores are absent from subsequent Paleoindian fluted-point assemblages in this region, reinforcing the technological distinctiveness of the Miller complex.</p><br>
<p>The adjacent Krajacic Site is located about 10 miles southeast of Meadowcroft, and it is also important in defining the Miller complex. This site yielded a great variety of the distinctive Meadowcroft-style blade implements and several small, cylindrical polyhedral cores.</p><br>
<p>At Cactus Hill in Virginia, similar points have been found, where they are dubbed as the Early Triangular type. Some similar finds were made at the Page-Ladson prehistory site in Florida as well.</p><br>
<p>Because of the very long occupational sequence at Meadowcroft, it became a very important site, and is seen as quite valuable for comparative analysis.</p><br>
<p>"The Pre-Clovis artifacts from Meadowcroft Rockshelter include a lanceolate point (named the Miller Lanceolate), bifaces, unifaces, prismatic blades, core fragments, and debitage. Remains from other Pre-Clovis sites (e.g., Cactus Hill and Saltville, Virginia, Topper, South Carolina, etc.) are usually compared to the Meadowcroft assemblage. In addition, claims for Pre-Clovis inhabitants in other sections of the New World also are evaluated with Meadowcroft in mind (Lozano Ruiz 2000)."</p><br>
<p>According to some scholars, Clovis, Folsom and other fluted point complexes may have derived from such unfluted lanceolate points.</p><br>
<h2>Current site</h2><br>
<p>Renovations to the rock shelter in 2008 were made so that visitors can see some of the tools and campfires made by the first Americans thousands of years ago. The Rockshelter is recognized as a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Treasure and is an official project of Save America&#39;s Treasures. The historic site also includes a recreation of a 16th-century Monongahela village as well as 18th and 19th century buildings from European and United States settlement.</p><br>
<p>The Silvan Reservoir is located in Silvan about 40 km East of Melbourne, Victoria.</p><br>
<p>The reservoir&#39;s history dates back to 1914 when a severe drought forced Melburnians to search for a new water supply to handle their ever-increasing needs. Construction took place between the years of 1926 and 1931.</p><br>
<p>When it was finally completed it was 644 m long, 219 m wide, creating a reservoir that is 43 m deep.</p><br>
<p>Silvan Reservoir was officially opened on 7 July 1931. In 1983, extra work was needed, as the wall had started to show cracks and it was at this time that the picnic ground was added to the Silvan Reservoir Park.</p><br>
<p>Silvan is an off-stream storage reservoir, meaning that most of the water is sourced from other reservoirs as the actual catchment 9 km&sup2; for Silvan is small. Water for Silvan is sourced from Upper Yarra, OShannassy and Thomson (via Upper Yarra) reservoirs. In turn, Silvan directly supplies many of Melbournes eastern suburbs as well as other off-stream storage reservoirs including Cardinia and Greenvale.</p><br>
<p>Silvan Reservoir has a capacity of 40,000 ML.</p><br>
<p>The Humpback Covered Bridge located in the USA state of Virginia, is one of the few remaining covered bridges in the United States that was built higher in the middle than on either end; hence the name of "humpback". The bridge was built in 1857 and is also the oldest remaining covered bridge in the state of Virginia. Its WGCB number is 46-03-01. The bridge spans a tributary of the Jackson River known as Dunlap Creek, for a distance of 109 ft. The humpback feature is 4 ft higher in the center than at either end. The bridge is located near the city of Covington, Virginia.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Covered bridges were first built in the 1810s when it was determined that adding a roof over wooden bridges would better protect the decking and support trusses and increase the lifespan of the bridge. The decking and support systems of the era would last an average of ten years on uncovered wooden bridges. As was later discovered, covered wooden bridges ultimately averaged ten times the lifespan of uncovered ones. Covered bridges were sometimes referred to as "kissing bridges" during the more modest era of the late 19th Century, as the privacy from passing through a covered bridge would allow passengers in horse and buggy an opportunity to kiss each other unobserved.</p><br>
<p>Three bridges stood at approximately the same location as Humpback Covered Bridge does today. The first bridge was built in the 1820s and was destroyed by a flood in 1837. A second bridge built the next year was also damaged beyond repair by a flood on July 13, 1842. The third bridge collapsed in 1856 due to heavy use and fatigue from weathering. None of these earlier bridges were either arched or covered. All three bridges were a part of the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, a heavily used mountain road that connected the Shenandoah Valley with the Alleghany Mountains and areas further west. The current bridge was built in 1857 and the design of both covering and also arching the bridge was hoped to increase the longevity of the bridge by protecting the midsection from future floods and the decking from the ravaging effects of moisture and sunlight. The decking, unlike houses and other structures, could not be painted to prevent deterioration, as the traffic from horses and wagons would quickly remove any available paints of the era.</p><br>
<p>The Humpback Covered Bridge was used from 1857 to 1929, when a steel truss bridge was built for USA Route 60 immediately to the north. The bridge was abandoned but was sometimes used by a local farmer into the early 1950s to store hay bales. In 1953, the Virginia Highway Department matched a $5,000 fund that had been raised by the Covington Business and Professional Women&#39;s Club and the Covington Chamber of Commerce. Five acres surrounding the bridge were purchased and a small wayside park which opened in 1954 was built, allowing easier access. On October 1, 1969, the bridge was listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and in 2012 it was designated a National Historic Landmark.</p><br>
<h2>Construction</h2><br>
<p>Most covered bridges were made of the strongest readily available wood. In the case of the Humpback Covered Bridge, this meant white oak and hickory. The bridge, as it stands today, has most of the original hand-hewn support timbers and decking that was laid down in 1857, however, most of the walls and roofing have been replaced several times since. Bridge decking was traditionally constructed of wide planks a foot (30.5 cm) or more in width and 4 to 6 inches (10 to 15 cm) in thickness. Most of the support beams are at least a foot thick. The supports in the bridge utilized hand made honey locust wood pins to fasten sections of the supports together. The supports incorporate a unique curved multiple kingpost-truss system that is not found in any other surviving wooden bridge in the USA The bridge is an original and completely unique design not duplicated anywhere else.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Humpback covered bridge is located 3 miles (4.3 km) west of Covington, Virginia adjacent to USA Highway 60 off Rumsey Road (SR 600). Exit number 10 in Virginia off of Interstate 64 is less than 1 mi from the bridge site. The 5 acre wayside park includes a parking area, restrooms, a picnic area and access to Dunlap Creek.</p><br>
<p>The Minoan eruption of Thera, also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption, was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index  of 6 or 7 and a dense-rock equivalent  of 60 km3, It devastated the island of Thera , including the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri and communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of Crete with a related earthquake and tsunami.</p><br>
<p>There are no clear ancient records of the eruption, which may have inspired certain Greek myths, caused turmoil in Egypt and been alluded to in a Chinese chronicle.</p><br>
<h2>Eruption</h2><br>
<h3>Background</h3><br>
<p>Geological evidence shows the Thera volcano erupted numerous times over several hundred thousand years before the Minoan eruption. In a repeating process, the volcano would violently erupt, then eventually collapse into a roughly circular seawater-filled caldera, with numerous small islands forming the circle. The caldera would slowly refill with magma, building a new volcano, which erupted and then collapsed in an ongoing cyclical process.</p><br>
<p>Immediately before the Minoan eruption, the walls of the caldera formed a nearly continuous ring of island with the only entrance between Thera and the tiny island of Aspronisi. This cataclysmic eruption was centered on a small island just north of the existing island of Nea Kameni in the centre of the then-existing caldera. The northern part of the caldera was refilled by the volcanic ash and lava, then collapsed again.</p><br>
<h3>Magnitude</h3><br>
<p>Research by a team of international scientists in 2006 revealed that the Santorini event was much larger than the original estimate of 39 km3 of Dense-Rock Equivalent (DRE), or total volume of material erupted from the volcano, that was published in 1991. With an estimated DRE in excess of 60 km3, If so, the eruptions Volcanic Explosivity Index was 7. The volcano ejected up to four times as much as the well-recorded eruption by Krakatoa in 1883. The Thera volcanic events and subsequent ashfall probably sterilized the island, as occurred on Krakatoa. Only the Mount Tambora volcanic eruption of 1815, Lake Taupos Hatepe eruption around 180 CE, and perhaps the Baekdu Mountain eruption around 970 CE released more material into the atmosphere during historic times.</p><br>
<h3>Sequence</h3><br>
<p>On Santorini, there is a 60 m thick layer of white tephra that overlies the soil clearly delineating the ground level before the eruption. This layer has three distinct bands that indicate the different phases of the eruption. Studies have identified four major eruption phases, and one minor precursory tephra fall. The thinness of the first ash layer, along with the lack of noticeable erosion of that layer by winter rains before the next layer was deposited, indicate that the volcano gave the local population a few months warning. Since no human remains have been found at the Akrotiri site, this preliminary volcanic activity probably caused the islands population to flee. It is also suggested that several months before the eruption, Santorini experienced one or more earthquakes, which damaged the local settlements.</p><br>
<p>Intense magmatic activity of the first major phase (BO1/Minoan A) of the eruption deposited up to 7 m of pumice and ash, with a minor lithic component, southeast and east. Archaeological evidence indicated burial of man-made structures with limited damage. The second (BO2/Minoan B) and third (BO3/Minoan C) eruption phases involved pyroclastic flow and lava fountain activity and the possible generation of tsunamis. Man-made structures not buried during Minoan A were completely destroyed. The third phase was also characterized by the initiation of caldera collapse. The fourth, and last, major phase (BO4/Minoan D) was marked by varied activity: lithic-rich base surge deposits, lahars, debris flows, and co-ignimbrite ash-fall deposits. This phase was characterized by the completion of caldera collapse, which produced megatsunamis.</p><br>
<h2>Geomorphology</h2><br>
<p>Although the fracturing process is not yet known, the altitudinal statistical analysis indicates that the caldera had formed just before the eruption. The area of the island was smaller, and the southern and eastern coastlines appeared regressed. During the eruption, the landscape was covered by the pumice sediments. In some places, the coastline vanished under thick tuff depositions. In others, recent coastlines were extended towards the sea. After the eruption, the geomorphology of the island was characterized by an intense erosional phase during which the pumice was progressively removed from the higher altitudes to the lower ones.</p><br>
<h2>Volcanology</h2><br>
<p>The Plinian eruption resulted in an estimated 30 to 35 km high ash plume which extended into the stratosphere. In addition, the magma underlying the volcano came into contact with the shallow marine embayment, resulting in a violent steam eruption.</p><br>
<p>The eruption also generated a 35 to 150 m high tsunami that devastated the north coast of Crete, 110 km away. The tsunami affected coastal towns such as Amnisos, where building walls were knocked out of alignment. On the island of Anafi, 27 km to the east, ash layers 3 m deep have been found, as well as pumice layers on slopes 250 m above sea level.</p><br>
<p>Elsewhere in the Mediterranean are pumice deposits that could have been caused by the Thera eruption. Ash layers in cores drilled from the seabed and from lakes in Turkey, however, show that the heaviest ashfall was towards the east and northeast of Santorini. The ash found on Crete is now known to have been from a precursory phase of the eruption, some weeks or months before the main eruptive phases, and it would have had little impact on the island. Santorini ash deposits were at one time claimed to have been found in the Nile delta, but this is now known to be a misidentification.</p><br>
<h2>Eruption dating</h2><br>
<p>The Minoan eruption is a key marker for the Bronze Age chronology of the Eastern Mediterranean world. It provides a fixed point for aligning the entire chronology of the second millennium BCE in the Aegean, as evidence of the eruption is found throughout the region. Despite the evidence, the exact date of the eruption has been difficult to determine. Archaeologists have traditionally placed it at approximately 1500 BCE. Thus, the radiocarbon dates and the archaeological dates are in substantial disagreement.</p><br>
<p>In 2012, one of the proponents of an archaeological date, Felix Höflmayer, argued that archaeological evidence could be consistent with a date as early as 1590 BCE, reducing the discrepancy to around 50 years.</p><br>
<p>Conversely, the radiocarbon dates have been argued to be inaccurate on scientific grounds. That argument has been made, in particular, by Malcolm H. Wiener. The primary problem is that C-deficient carbon, sourced from the environment, might easily have affected the radiocarbon dates.</p><br>
<h3>Relative chronology</h3><br>
<p>Archaeologists developed the Late Bronze Age chronologies of eastern Mediterranean cultures by analysing the origin of artifacts (for example, items from Crete, mainland Greece, Cyprus or Canaan) found in each archaeological layer.</p><br>
<p>The Aegean prehistorians felt so confident about their calculations that they rejected early radiocarbon dates in the 1970s for LMI/LCI Thera, as radiocarbon suggested a date about a century earlier than the traditional dates.</p><br>
<p>Pumice found at Tell el Daba in Egypt that matches the composition of the Thera eruption has been dated to 1540 BCE, closer to the traditionally-accepted date of Theras eruption. This pumice has been contentious since the 1990s, as it represents the most prominent supported date to differ from the old chronology.</p><br>
<h3>Ice cores and tree rings</h3><br>
<p>Greenland ice cores show evidence of a large volcanic eruption in 1642 ± 5 BCE, which was suggested as being associated with Santorini. However, volcanic ash retrieved from an ice core does not match the expected Santorini fingerprint. The late Holocene eruption of the Mount Aniakchak, a volcano in Alaska, is now believed to be the source of the minute shards of volcanic glass in the Greenland ice core.</p><br>
<p>Another method that has been used to establish the date of eruption is tree-ring dating. Tree-ring data has shown that a large event interfering with normal tree growth in North America occurred during 1629–1628 (±65 years) BCE. Evidence of a climatic event around 1628 BCE has been found in studies of growth depression of European oaks in Ireland and of Scotch pines in Sweden. Bristlecone pine frost rings also indicate a date of 1627 BCE, supporting the late 1600s BCE dating. Procedural changes in how ice cores are interpreted would bring that data more in line with the dendrochronological numbers.</p><br>
<h3>Climatic effects</h3><br>
<p>Hydrogeologist Philip LaMoreaux asserted in 1995 that the eruption caused significant climatic changes in the eastern Mediterranean region, Aegean Sea and much of the Northern Hemisphere, but that was forcefully rebutted by volcanologist David Pyle a year later.</p><br>
<p>Around the time of the radiocarbon-indicated date of the eruption, there is evidence for a significant climatic event in the Northern Hemisphere like failure of crops in China (see below) and evidence from tree rings, cited above: bristlecone pines of California; bog oaks of Ireland, England, and Germany; and other trees in Sweden. The tree rings precisely date the event to 1628 BCE.</p><br>
<h2>Historical impact</h2><br>
<h3>Minoan civilization</h3><br>
<p>The eruption devastated the nearby Minoan settlement at Akrotiri on Santorini, which was entombed in a layer of pumice. It is believed that the eruption also severely affected the Minoan population on Crete, but the extent of the impact is debated. Early theories proposed that ashfall from Thera on the eastern half of Crete choked off plant life, causing starvation of the local population. However, after more thorough field examinations, the theory has lost credibility, as it has been determined that no more than 5 mm of ash fell anywhere on Crete. Other theories have been proposed based on archeological evidence found on Crete indicating that a tsunami, likely associated with the eruption, impacted the coastal areas of Crete and may have devastated the Minoan coastal settlements. Another theory is that much of the damage done to Minoan sites resulted from a large earthquake and the fires it caused, which preceded the Thera Eruption.</p><br>
<p>Significant Minoan remains have been found above the Late Minoan I era Thera ash layer and tsunami level, and it is unclear whether the effects were enough to trigger the downfall of the Minoan civilization. Some sites were abandoned or settlement systems significantly interrupted in the immediate aftermath of the eruption. As the Minoans were a sea power and depended on ships for their livelihood, the Thera eruption likely caused significant economic hardship to the Minoans. Whether the effects were enough to trigger the downfall of the civilization is intensely debated. The Mycenaean conquest of the Minoans occurred in Late Minoan II period. The Mycenaeans were a military civilization. Using their functional navy and a well-equipped army, they were capable of an invasion. Mycenaean weaponry has been found in burials on Crete. That demonstrates Mycenaean military influence not many years after the eruption. Many archaeologists speculate that the eruption caused a crisis in Minoan civilization, making them vulnerable to conquest by the Mycenaeans.</p><br>
<h3>Chinese records</h3><br>
<p>A volcanic winter from an eruption in the late 17th century BCE has been claimed by some researchers to correlate with entries in Chinese records documenting the collapse of the Xia dynasty in China. According to the Bamboo Annals, the collapse of the dynasty and the rise of the Shang dynasty, approximately dated to 1618 BCE, were accompanied by "yellow fog, a dim sun, then three suns, frost in July, famine, and the withering of all five cereals".</p><br>
<h3>Effect on Egyptian history</h3><br>
<p>Apocalyptic rainstorms, which devastated much of Egypt, and were described on the Tempest Stele of Ahmose I, have been attributed to short-term climatic changes caused by the Theran eruption. The difficulty with this interpretation is that in the conventional but disputed Egyptian chronology Ahmose I ruled from c. 1539–1514 BCE, whilst the eruption is thought to have occurred somewhere between 1642–1540 BCE.</p><br>
<p>Alternatively, if the eruption occurred in the Second Intermediate Period, the absence of Egyptian records of the eruption could be caused by the general disorder in Egypt around that time.</p><br>
<p>While it has been argued that the damage attributed to this storm may have been caused by an earthquake following the Thera Eruption, it has also been suggested that it was caused during a war with the Hyksos, and the storm reference is merely a metaphor for chaos upon which the Pharaoh was attempting to impose order. Documents such as Hatshepsut&#39;s Speos Artemidos depict storms, but are clearly figurative not literal. Research indicates that the Speos Artemidos stele is a reference to her overcoming the powers of chaos and darkness.</p><br>
<h3>Greek traditions</h3><br>
<h4>The Titanomachy</h4><br>
<p>The eruption of Thera and volcanic fallout may have inspired the myths of the Titanomachy in Hesiods Theogony. The Titanomachy could have picked up elements of western Anatolian folk memory, as the tale spread westward. Hesiods lines have been compared with volcanic activity, citing Zeus&#39;s thunderbolts as volcanic lightning, the boiling earth and sea as a breach of the magma chamber, immense flame and heat as evidence of phreatic explosions, among many other descriptions.</p><br>
<h4>Atlantis</h4><br>
<p>There is some archaeological, seismological and vulcanological evidence that the myth of Atlantis, described by Plato, is based upon the Santorini eruption.</p><br>
<h3>Book of Exodus</h3><br>
<p>Geologist Barbara J. Sivertsen seeks to establish a link between the eruption of Santorini (c. 1600 BCE) and the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt in the Bible, which was also suggested in the books: The Exodus Enigma, by lan Wilson (1985) and Return to Sodom and Gomorrah, by Charles Pellegrino (1994).</p><br>
<p>Kirenga River  is a river in Irkutsk Oblast in Russia, a right tributary of the Lena which flows north between the upper Lena and Lake Baikal. The length of the river is 746 km. The area of its basin is 46,600 km&sup2;. The Kirenga River freezes up in late October to early November and stays under the ice until late April to May. Its main tributaries are the Ulkan, Minya, and Khanda. The Kirenga River begins in the Baikal Mountains 6 km west of Lake Baikal, a few dozen kilometres north of the source of the Lena. The Baikal Amur Mainline follows and crosses the Kirenga between Magistralnyy and Ulkan. It joins the Lena at the town of Kirensk.</p><br>
<p>The average consumption of water - in the mouth - 651 m³ / s. It is fed mainly by rain.</p><br>
<p>Jackson Lake is one of the oldest reservoirs in Georgia, United States, 44 mi southeast of Atlanta in a rural area situated within parts of three counties . The Lloyd Shoals Dam was built in 1910 by Central Georgia Power Company, and electricity was originally generated for the city of Macon. Relative to others in the state, it is a smaller lake , which still generates electricity and provides a location for water sports, boating, skiing, wakeboarding and fishing.</p><br>
<p>Jackson Lake is formed by the confluence of the Yellow, Alcovy and South rivers. Tussahaw Creek is also a significant tributary. Below the Lloyd Shoals Dam, the lake&#39;s outlet is the Ocmulgee River.</p><br>
<h2>Lloyd Shoals Dam</h2><br>
<p>In 1907, Jordan Massee, Sr. and associates bought the Macon Railway and Light Company from Jacob Collins of Savannah. After acquiring it, Masse, became the president. When he was 35, he put together the Bibb Power Company. Soon after the Bibb Power Company was organized, it came to be known as the Central Georgia Power Company.</p><br>
<p>The power company acquired the land that the facility is on from Captain William F. Smith of Butts County, Georgia, who had long been a supporter of the kind of facility that the power company was planning on building there.</p><br>
<p>The power company hired Theodore Ellis and associates, which was based in Macon, to clear the basin for the future reservoir. Since it was a rural area and no hotel or inn was nearby, the workers had to sleep in tents. Theodore Ellis&#39;s relative, Roland Ellis, was a lawyer and advised Theodore Ellis and associates on the legal matters, and was on the board of directors.</p><br>
<p>Even though of the economic decline of that time, Jordan Masse Sr. of the Central Georgia Power, still convinced A. B. Leach and Company of New York to endorse the project. Thereafter, A. B. Leach hired Masse to sell bonds. Masse arranged a trip for 200 northern bankers to come south and survey the site.</p><br>
<p>First, he had them come on a private train car to Macon. After a tour of the city, he took them to the dam site, where there was a barbecue of 14 pigs waiting for them. That day, they observed the dam site where the Lane Brothers were pouring the concrete foundation, on funds already acquired.</p><br>
<p>James I. Buchanan of the Pittsburg Trust Company was the first banker he sold, and soon after, most of them invested. Another notable investor was a representative for the Bank of Scotland and the son of the English Earl of Weymouth.</p><br>
<p>After the necessary funds were given, the power company hired David W. Hilliard to supervise the construction of the multimillion-dollar project. There were two shifts of hundreds of men, with the second shift working through the night. By this point, the power company had constructed wooden cabins for the workers to live in.</p><br>
<p>The main concern for the construction was how to get the supplies to the building site.</p><br>
<p>In 1911, the Lloyd Shoals Dam project was completed at 100 feet tall and 1,070 feet of concrete masonry. Then, it had four 2,400 kilowatts generation units. In 1916, a fifth unit generating 2,400 kilowatts was added, and a year later a sixth unit generating 2,400 kilowatts was added. With all six units operational, it can have an output of 14,400 kilowatts. Because of improvements since then, it now can generate up to 21,000 kilowatts.</p><br>
<p>In 1928, Georgia Power bought out the Central Georgia Power Company, along with several other utilities in the area. The first few years after Georgia Power acquired the facility, it had a staff for generating and maintenance, as well as a superintendent.</p><br>
<p>It became part of the Central Georgia Power Group in 1978. It is the only member of that group located on the Ocmulgee River.</p><br>
<p>In January, 1983, there was a fire that badly damaged the powerhouse, which was replaced the next year. The wiring and most of the electrical equipment had to be replaced as well as the transformers and part of the building&#39;s top floor. Generator 6 was also rewound at this time. The fire did not damage the dam structure itself. The reconstruction cost $2.8 million.</p><br>
<p>Lloyd Shoals Dam is currently maintained by personnel based at nearby Wallace Dam.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<h3>Fishing</h3><br>
<p>There are several species of fish in Jackson Lake, including white catfish, bullhead catfish, channel catfish, white crappie, redear sunfish, redbreast sunfish, bluegill, spotted bass, largemouth bass, striped bass, and hybrid bass.</p><br>
<p>Mandalay Hill is a 240 m hill that is located to the northeast of the city centre of Mandalay in Burma. The city took its name from the hill. Mandalay Hill is known for its abundance of pagodas and monasteries, and has been a major pilgrimage site for Burmese Buddhists for nearly two centuries. At the top of the hill is the Sutaungpyei  Pagoda. A panoramic view of Mandalay from the top of Mandalay Hill alone makes it worthwhile to attempt a climb up its stairways. There are four covered stairways called saungdan leading up the hill from the south, southeast, west and north, and convenient seats of masonry work line these stairways all the way up. A one-way motor road today saves time and also makes it accessible for those who are unable to climb up the stairs, leading to an escalator and a lift to the pagoda at the summit.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing Mandalay Hill</h2><br>
<p>For those who are fit to make the climb, it is considered a rewarding experience and a meritorious deed at the same time. Two gigantic chinthes or leogryphs (stylised lion figures) stand guard at the southern and main approach at the foot of the hill, popularly known as the Chinthe hnakaung atet (two chinthes ascent). It is a gentle climb and there are many stops along the way, most importantly the hermit U Khantis dazaung or hall where the Peshawar Relics ( three fragments of bone of the Gautama Buddha) were kept from 1923 until after the Second World War when they were moved to a building at the foot of the hill and no longer on display. Leaving U Khantis dazaung is by way of a tunnel lined by Hnakyeik shissu or the 28 Buddhas of the past and present worlds, or alternatively up a steep flight of steps next to the tunnel. Climbers will see plenty of stalls selling flowers, paper streamers, miniature pennants and umbrellas for the Buddha, and food and refreshment for visitors and pilgrims. All the dazaungs have frieze paintings, most of them from the late Konbaung dynasty period; there is one depicting &#39;Awizi ngayè (Avici Hell) in gory detail.</p><br>
<p>Farther up near the summit, a gigantic standing image of the Buddha called the Shweyattaw (literally standing) or Byadeippay (prophesying) Buddha with his right hand pointing towards the city. Legend has it that the Buddha once visited the place and prophesied that in the year 2400 of the Buddhist Era a great city would be built at the foot of the hill where his teachings would flourish. One curiosity that belongs to the myth surrounding the ancient kingdom of Bagan is the so-called Kyanzitthas spear mark&#39; near the top of the hill. He was supposed to have executed a miraculous pole vault using his spear across the Irrawaddy!</p><br>
<p>The last stop before the Sutaungpyei pagoda completes the legend of Mandalay. Here on the south terrace of a small stupa is the image of the ogress Sanda Muhki who, for want of something to offer the Buddha, made an offering of her own breasts. And for this extreme act of merit the Buddha made the prophecy that Sanda Muhki would be reborn as a great king who would build a city at the foot of the hill and become a great supporter of Buddhism in the year 2400 of the Buddhist Era (1857 AD), the year King Mindon laid the foundations of Mandalay. On each of the four corners of the terrace can be seen a king of the ogres with his army of miniature ogre images behind him paying obeisance to the Buddha. There are also images of various creatures, one at each level before a Buddha image, such as a rabbit, a cockerel or a lizard, representations of the Buddha&#39;s innumerable rebirths during his cycle of Samsara (birth, suffering, death and rebirth).</p><br>
<h2>At the summit</h2><br>
<p>Once on the terrace of the Sutaungpyei Pagoda, a panoramic view of the Mandalay plain stretches far to the horizon, with the old city walls and moat, the Thudhamma Zayats (rest houses), various stupas around such as the Kuthodaw Pagoda and its 729 satellite stupas each housing a page inscribed in stone the worlds largest book (the entire Pali Buddhist Canon), Kyauktawgyi Buddha Temple and Sandamuni Pagoda, the Irrawaddy to the west and the Minwun Hills on its opposite bank, the road to Madaya and Mogok to the north, and the Shan Yoma range of mountains to the east. There is yet a final stop down the northern slope immediately after the Sutaungpyei Pagoda called the Mwegyi hnakaung (Two Great Snakes) Pagoda. It has the images of two great cobras that were believed to frequent the hill to pay their obeisance to the Buddha and above these images seated are those of two Nats that they became when they died. Pilgrims stuff bank notes in the cobras mouths and pray. The Champac, with its fragrant white blossoms on branches like candelabra, grows wild on the hill, along with the crimson red flowers over the feathery foliage of the Flame tree. Sunset over the river and the western hills as seen from Mandalay Hill can be a wonderful experience, and crowds of tourists may be encountered in the evenings enjoying it.</p><br>
<h2>World War II</h2><br>
<p>In March 1945 the British Fourteenth Armys Indian 19th Infantry Division under the command of Major-General Thomas Wynford Pete Rees, dubbed the Pocket Napoleon&#39; by his men on account of his size and successful military career, was closing in on the Japanese in Mandalay where resistance was based mainly at Mandalay Hill with its pagodas and temples honeycombed for machine-guns, well supplied and heavily garrisoned. Fort Dufferin or the walled city with the royal palace was another pocket of resistance by the remaining Japanese troops. A Gurkha battalion stormed up the hill engaging in fierce hand-to-hand fighting all day and night on the 9th of March, and they were joined the next day by two companies of a British battalion.</p><br>
<p>The Japanese stood firm and the last defenders had to be blown out from the cellars by rolling down petrol drums and igniting them with tracer bullets. It was not until the 11th of March that the hill fell into British hands. Aerial bombardment was resorted to when shelling from the hill failed to breach the city wall and destroy the enemy, and Mandalay Palace, a national heritage of great importance, burnt down during the siege. Whether it was the shelling and bombing or the enemy that destroyed the splendid teak palace was never determined with any certainty.</p><br>
<p>The Johns River , in northern New Hampshire, arises at Cherry Pond in Jefferson and runs approximately 14 miles , generally northwest, to the Connecticut River. It passes through Hazens Pond, near the Mount Washington Regional Airport, traverses the town of Whitefield, where it is crossed by U.S. Highway 3, and then crosses the town of Dalton before joining the Connecticut. It is named for an early hunter and trapper of the area, John Glines, who established a fishing and hunting camp in the area in the 18th century. Another nearby river, the Israel River, is named for John&#39;s brother Israel.</p><br>
<p>The river basin drains numerous small ponds, including Martin Meadow Pond, Weeks Pond, Weed Pond, Clark Pond, Burns Pond (formerly Long Pond), Richardson Pond/Marsh, Hazens Pond, Cherry and Little Cherry Pond, Forest Lake and Mirror Lake (formerly Blake Pond). Tributaries include Chase Brook, Carroll Stream, Bear Brook, Leonard Brook, Cherry Mountain Brook, Carter Brook and Bog Brook. The watershed area is bounded by the eastern slope of the Dalton Mountain Range, the southern slope of Mount Prospect and the western slope of Cherry Mountain (also called Mount Martha).</p><br>
<p>Lac qui Parle State Park is a state park of Minnesota, United States, near Watson. Lac qui Parle is a French translation of the native Dakota name, meaning "lake which speaks".</p><br>
<p>The state park was built as part of the Lac qui Parle Flood Control Project. Lac qui Parle itself is a widening of the Minnesota River, and the flood control project involved building a dam at the south end of the lake. The dam was constructed by the Works Progress Administration, and other projects were built along the lake. Besides the dam and the state park, other projects included the Watson Wayside, Lac qui Parle Parkway, and the reconstruction of the Lac qui Parle Mission. Three structures are included in the National Register of Historic Places, including the Model Shelter, which houses a relief map (cast in reinforced concrete) of the Lac qui Parle Flood Control System and the Minnesota River Valley; the kitchen shelter; and the sanitation building.</p><br>
<p>Nonnenwerth is an island near Bad Honnef in the Rhine, upriver from Cologne, administratively part of Remagen in Rhineland-Palatinate.</p><br>
<h2>Religious houses</h2><br>
<p>The island is mainly known as the site of a monastery of Benedictine nuns, later a Franciscan convent.</p><br>
<h3>First foundation</h3><br>
<p>There was a community of Benedictine nuns here from its foundation in 1126, by Archbishop Frederick I of Cologne and Abbot Kuno of Siegburg. In 1465 it joined the reform movement of the Bursfelde Congregation, but was severely damaged in 1477 during hostilities with Burgundy. It also suffered greatly from marauding Swedish troops in 1632, during the Thirty Years&#39; War.</p><br>
<p>In 1773 it was destroyed by fire, and rebuilt in the Baroque style. In 1802 the nunnery was dissolved as part of the secularisation of ecclesiastical property. In 1821 the premises were sold by auction and used as an inn. This was visited by Franz Liszt, who composed the piece "Die Zelle in Nonnenwerth" about it.</p><br>
<h3>Second foundation</h3><br>
<p>In 1854 the buildings were acquired by Franciscans Religious Sisters for a convent. During World War I the Sisters began to teach girls and a secondary school soon developed, still in operation.</p><br>
<p>Kaunos (Carian: Kbid</p><br>
<p>Lycian: Khbide; Ancient Greek: Καῦνος; Caunus) was a city of ancient Caria and in Anatolia, a few km west of the modern town of Dalyan, Muğla Province, Turkey.</p><br>
<p>The Calbys river (now known as the Dalyan river) was the border between Caria and Lycia. Initially Kaunos was a separate state; then it became a part of Caria and later still of Lycia.</p><br>
<p>Kaunos was an important sea port, the history of which is supposed to date back till the 10th century BC. Because of the formation of İztuzu Beach and the silting of the former Bay of Dalyan (from approx. 200 BC onwards), Kaunos is now located about 8 km from the coast. The city had two ports, the southern port at the southeast of Küçük Kale and the inner port at its northwest (the present Sülüklü Göl, Lake of the Leeches). The southern port was used from the foundation of the city till roughly the end of the Hellenistic era, after which it became inaccessible due to its drying out. The inner or trade port could be closed by chains. The latter was used till the late days of Kaunos, but due to the silting of the delta and the ports, Kaunos had by then long lost its important function as a trade port. After Caria had been captured by Turkish tribes and the serious malaria epidemic of the 15th century AD, Kaunos was completely abandoned.</p><br>
<p>In 1966 Prof. Baki Öğün started the excavations of ancient Kaunos. These have been continued up to the present day, and are now supervised by Prof. Cengiz Işık.</p><br>
<p>The archeological research is not limited to Kaunos itself, but is also carried out in locations nearby e.g. near the Sultaniye Spa where there used to be a sanctuary devoted to the goddess Leto.</p><br>
<h2>Mythology</h2><br>
<p>According to mythology Kaunos was founded by King Kaunos, son of the Carian King Miletus and Kyane, and grandson of Apollo. Kaunos had a twin sister by the name of Byblis who developed a deep, unsisterly love for him. When she wrote her brother a love letter, telling him about her feelings, he decided to flee with some of his followers to settle elsewhere. His twin sister became mad with sorrow, started looking for him and tried to commit suicide. Mythology says that the Calbys river emerged from her tears.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The oldest find at the Kaunos archeological site is the neck of a Protogeometric amphora dating back to the 9th century BC, or even earlier. A statue found at the western gate of the city walls, pieces of imported Attic ceramics and the S-SE oriented city walls show habitation in the 6th century BC. However, none of the architectural finds at Kaunos itself dates back to earlier than the 4th century BC.</p><br>
<h3>First Persian rule</h3><br>
<p>Kaunos is first referred to by Herodotus in his book Histories. He narrates that the Persian general Harpagus marches against the Lycians, Carians and Kaunians during the Persian invasion of 546 BCE. Herodotus writes that the Kaunians fiercely countered Harpagus&#39; attacks but were ultimately defeated. Despite the fact that the Kaunians themselves said they originated from Crete, Herodotus doubted this. He thought it was far more likely that the Kaunians were the original inhabitants of the area because of the similarity between his own Carian language and that of the Kaunians. He added that there were, however, great differences between the lifestyles of the Kaunians and those of their neighbours, the Carians and Lycians. One of the most conspicuous differences being their social drinking behaviour. It was common practice that the villagers -men, women and children alike- had get-togethers over a good glass of wine.</p><br>
<p>Herodotus mentions that Kaunos participated in the Ionian Revolt (499–494 BCE).</p><br>
<p>Some important inscriptions in Carian language were found here, dating to c. 400 BC, including a bilingual inscription in Greek and Carian found in 1996. They helped to decipher the Carian alphabets.</p><br>
<h3>Greek influences</h3><br>
<p>After Xerxes I was beaten in the Second Persian War and the Persians were gradually withdrawn from the western Anatolian coast, Kaunos joined the Delian League. Initially they only had to pay 1 talent of tax, an amount that was raised by factor 10 in 425 BC. This indicates that by then the city had developed into a thriving port, possibly due to increased agriculture and the demand for Kaunian export articles, such as salt, salted fish, slaves, pine resin and black mastic – the raw materials for tar used in boat building and repair – and dried figs. During the 5th and 4th centuries BC the city started to use the name Kaunos as an alternative for its ancient name Kbid, because of the increased Hellenistic influence. The myth about the foundation of the city probably dates back to this period.</p><br>
<h3>Second Persian rule</h3><br>
<p>After the Peace of Antalcidas in 387 BC, Kaunos again came under Persian rule. During the period that Kaunos was annexed and added to the province of Caria by the Persian rulers, the city was drastically changed. This was particularly the case during the reign of the satrap Mausolos (377–353 BC). The city was enlarged, was modeled with terraces and walled over a huge area. The city gradually got a Greek character, with an agora and temples dedicated to Greek deities. Alexander the Great&#39;s 334 BC brought the city under the rule of the Macedonian empire.</p><br>
<h3>Hellenistic period and Roman rule</h3><br>
<p>After Alexander&#39;s death, Kaunos, due to its strategic location, was disputed among the Diadochi, changing hands between the Antigonids, Ptolemies, and Seleucids.</p><br>
<p>Because of differences between the Hellenistic kingdoms, the Roman Republic was able to expand its influence in the area and annex a considerable number of Hellenistic kingdoms. In 189 BC the Roman senate put Kaunos under the jurisdiction of Rhodes. At that time it was known as the Rhodian Peraia.</p><br>
<p>In 167 BC this led to a revolt by Kaunos and a number of other cities in western Anatolia against Rhodes. As a result, Rome discharged Rhodes from its task. In 129 BC the Romans established the Province of Asia, which covered a large part of western Anatolia. Kaunos was near the edge of this province and was assigned to Lycia.</p><br>
<p>In 88 BC Mithridates invaded the province, trying to curb further expansion by the Romans. The Kaunians teamed up with him and killed all the Roman inhabitants of their city. After the peace of 85 BC they were punished for this action by the Romans, who again put Kaunos under Rhodian administration. During Roman rule Kaunos became a prospering sea port. The amphitheater of the city was enlarged and Roman baths and a palaestra were built. The agora fountain was renovated and new temples arose.</p><br>
<h3>Byzantine era</h3><br>
<h3>Decline of Kaunos</h3><br>
<p>From 625 AD onwards Kaunos was faced with attacks by Muslim Arabs and pirates. The 13th century brought invasions by Turkish tribes. Consequently, the old castle on the acropolis was fortified with walls, giving it a typical medieval appearance. In the 14th century the Turkish tribes had conquered part of Caria, which resulted in a dramatic decrease in sea trade.</p><br>
<p>The resulting economical slump caused many Kaunians to move elsewhere. In the 15th century the Turks captured the entire area north of Caria and Kaunos was hit by a malaria epidemic. This caused the city to be abandoned. The ancient city was badly devastated in an earthquake and gradually got covered with sand and a dense vegetation. The city was forgotten until the English archeologist Hoskyn found a law tablet, referring to the Council of Kaunos and the inhabitants of this city. Hoskyn visited the ruins in 1842 and brought the ancient city under the attention again.</p><br>
<h2>Ecclesiastical history</h2><br>
<p>Kaunos was christianized at an early date and when the Roman Empire officially adopted the Christian faith, its name changed into Caunos-Hegia.</p><br>
<p>Residential Bishops are known beginning from the 4th century. Four bishops are mentioned by Lequien :</p><br>
<p>Basil, who attended the Council of Seleucia in 359</p><br>
<p>Antipater, who attended the Council of Chalcedon in 451</p><br>
<p>Nicolaus, who subscribed the letter to Emperor Leo in 458; and</p><br>
<p>Stephanus, who attended the Council of Nicaea in 787.</p><br>
<p>The Synecdemus of Hierocles and most Notitiae Episcopatuum, as late as the 12th or 13th century, place it in Lycia, as a suffragan of Myra.</p><br>
<h3>Titular see</h3><br>
<p>The see is included, under the Latinized form of its name, Caunus, among the Latin titular bishoprics recognized by the Catholic Church.</p><br>
<p>It vacant since 1972, having had the following incumbents, both of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :</p><br>
<p>Juvencio Juan Hospital de la Puebla, Augustinians (born Spain) (18 September 1911 – death 4 October 1957), as Apostolic Vicar of Northern Hunan 湖南北境 (China) (1911.09.18 – 1917.03) and on emeritate</p><br>
<p>Angelo Barbisotti, Sons of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (F.S.C.J.) (born Italy) (14 November 1957 – death 17 September 1972) as Apostolic Vicar of Esmeraldas (Ecuador) (1957.11.14 – 1972.09.17).</p><br>
<h2>Main archeological sites</h2><br>
<p>Kaunos is a site that is interesting for both its archeological and ecological importance. Situated in the Köyceğiz-Dalyan Special Environmental Protection Area, it offers outstanding vistas and is rich in wildlife. The ruins of the city are near Dalyan, on the west bank of the ancient Kalbis river. The main sights at the archeological site itself are:</p><br>
<p>The Acropolis (Persikon), situated on a 152 m high rock, fortified with Byzantine walls. The city&#39;s acropolis was called Imbros and it lay at the foot of Mount Tarbelos (present-day "Mount Ölemez").</p><br>
<p>The theater on the slope of the acropolis featuring both Hellenistic and Roman characteristics</p><br>
<p>The palaestra with its Roman baths, a wind measuring platform and a domed Byzantine basilica</p><br>
<p>The port agora, the stoa and the nymphaeum</p><br>
<p>The temples</p><br>
<p>Outside the official Kaunos archeological site, there are:</p><br>
<p>Six rock tombs on the Dalyan river (4th – 2nd century BC), which are Dalyan&#39;s prime sight</p><br>
<p>The Kaunos city walls</p><br>
<p>The niche tombs at the port of Çandır</p><br>
<h2>Notable people</h2><br>
<p>Protogenes, Greek painter, 4th century BC</p><br>
<p>Zeno of Kaunos, secretary in Ptolemaic service, 3rd century BC</p><br>
<p>Piestewa Peak , at 2,610 ft is the second highest point in the Phoenix Mountains, after Camelback Mountain, and the third highest in the city of Phoenix, Arizona. It is located in the Piestewa Peak Recreation Area within the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, near Piestewa Parkway . Piestewa Peak is named in honor of Army Spc. Lori Ann Piestewa, the first known Native American woman to die in combat in the USA military, and the first female soldier to be killed in action in the 2003 Iraq War.</p><br>
<h2>Name</h2><br>
<p>Since at least 1910, the name Squaw Peak had been used in reference to the mountain. Other historic names included Squaw Tit Mountain, Phoenix Mountain and Vainom Doag, the Pima name for the mountain. As the term "squaw" is considered derogatory by some, numerous efforts to change the name of the mountain were made through the years. State Representative Jack Jackson, himself a Navajo, submitted a bill to change the name annually beginning in 1992, which generated repeated and often raw debates in Arizona. In 1997, the local youth group of the American Indian Movement, which filed a petition with the State Board on Geographic and Historic Names in 1997 to change the name to Iron Mountain, the English translation of the mountains native Pima name. The board researched the issue for nearly a year before ruling in July 1998 that too much doubt existed as to whether the name Vainom Do&#39;ag actually referred to the mountain in question or another nearby peak and the petition was rejected, although the board left the door open to alternative possible name-changes.</p><br>
<p>USA Board on Geographic Names policy is to consider changes to features using the word "squaw" when approved by local authorities, but petitioners are strongly urged to choose new names that relate to Native American women and/or culture. In 2003, newly elected Governor Janet Napolitano petitioned the state board to rename the mountain for Lori Piestewa. The Governors lobbying, while ultimately successful, proved to be controversial. The controversy stemmed in part from the fact that governors request violated a required waiting period of five years after a persons death prior to renaming a geographic feature; Piestewa had been killed earlier that year. Tim Norton, a Phoenix police officer who at the time was serving as the director of the Arizona State Board on Geographic and Historic Names, refused to place the request on the boards agenda, citing the five-year requirement. Mario Diaz, an aide to Napolitano, subsequently contacted Nortons supervisor with the police department in an attempt to pressure Norton into changing his mind, but the supervisor refused, stating it was not a police department issue and was outside of his authority. Diaz actions were picked up on by the press and resulted in strong criticism from both the public sector as well as fellow politicians, with some politicians considering a formal inquiry. Napolitano herself publicly admonished Diaz, but the controversy dogged Napolitano during her reelection campaign and throughout her tenure as governor.</p><br>
<p>The state board, absent its director, approved the name change to Piestewa Peak on April 17, 2003, less than a month after Piestewa&#39;s death. The USA Board on Geographic Names, however, refused to accept a similar petition at the time, citing their own five-year waiting rule. Five years later the board agreed to review the request as the waiting period had passed. The board also considered other potential alternatives, including Swilling Peak for area pioneer Jack Swilling. Ultimately, the national board voted 11-2 to approve the name change to Piestewa Peak, while indicating that the original name of Squaw Peak might still be used in publications as a secondary reference.</p><br>
<h2>Natural history</h2><br>
<p>As a landform, Piestewa Peak is relatively young, formed roughly 14 million years ago. However, it is composed of much older rock, primarily schist.</p><br>
<p>Flora in this area is typical of the lower Sonoran Desert and includes almost all varieties of Arizona cactus such as saguaro, barrel, hedgehog, pincushion, jumping cholla and prickly pear. Trees and colorful shrubbery include palo verde, mesquite, ironwood trees, creosote (dominate), ocotillo, brittle bush, desert lavender and giant sage shrubs.</p><br>
<p>Wildflowers are abundant in the early spring and include Mexican gold poppies (deep yellow), brittlebush (yellow), lupine (purples), desert globemallow (orange) and scorpionweed (purple). Fiddleneck and bladderpod also are blooming in some areas. These are in addition to the many varieties of flowering cacti.</p><br>
<p>Many species of reptiles thrive in the preserve, including gila monster, horned lizard, chuckwalla, and western diamondback rattlesnake. The mammal population includes coyote, bobcat, jackrabbit, cottontail rabbit, ground squirrel and kit fox. There are several species of birds that inhabit the preserve, including turkey vultures, mockingbirds, cactus wrens, Gambel’s quail and several species of owls and hawks.</p><br>
<h2>Hiking</h2><br>
<p>The Piestewa Peak Summit Trail (elevation gain=1,208 ft in 1.2 mi) However, quite a few hikers do not actually reach the top due to the fact that this trail is more difficult than it looks, especially in the summer when temperatures are well over 100 &deg;F. No water is available on the trail and dehydration is a common and serious problem with hikers who come unprepared. Water is only available at the trailhead, and at several ramadas along squaw peak road, uphill from the summit trail parking lot. Views from the summit include, in clear weather, Pinnacle Peak, the McDowell Mountains, Four Peaks, the Superstition Mountains, Tabletop Mountain, the Sierra Estrella, Woolsey Peak, the White Tank Mountains, the Harquahala Mountains, the Papago Mountains and the Bradshaw Mountains.</p><br>
<p>The hike itself takes anywhere from 25 to 60 minutes in fair weather, depending on each hiker&#39;s capabilities (higher temperatures and sunny conditions may force the hiker to take up to twice as long). A beginning hiker should allow 60 minutes for a leisurely ascent and 40 for descent. The path is mostly well marked. There are 4 spots that are confusing and hikers who are not familiar with the path will be forced to look around for the designated route. There are a few sections that are technically difficult as they are steep and there are no guard rails.</p><br>
<p>There are approximately fifteen miles of interconnecting trails in the Preserve, ranging from easy to difficult. There are several differences in regulation between the Piestewa Peak summit trail and the rest of the interconnected Phoenix mountain preserve trail system. The greater trail system allows horseback riding, biking, and foot traffic, including dogs. Piestewa peak summit trail allows foot traffic only: no bicycles, dogs, or horses. The greater trail system is generally open to the public from sunrise to sunset. Piestewa peak (summit trail only) is open from sunrise until 11:00 PM. This unique late availability combined with proximity to city lights, and a light-colored rock translates to a popular location for night hikes.</p><br>
<p>Four Peaks  is a prominent landmark on the eastern skyline of Phoenix. Part of the Mazatzal Mountains, it is located in the Four Peaks Wilderness. on the Tonto National Forest, 40 mi east-northeast of Phoenix. In winter, Four Peaks offers much of the Phoenix metro area a view of snow-covered peaks. Four Peaks is the site of an amethyst mine that produces top-grade amethyst.</p><br>
<p>The name Four Peaks is a reference to the four distinct peaks of a north–south ridge forming the massifs summit. The northernmost peak is named Browns Peak and is the tallest of the four at 7,659 ft. It is the highest point in Maricopa County. The remaining summits are unnamed, and from north to south are 7,644 ft, 7,574 ft and 7,526 ft in elevation.</p><br>
<p>Lagmannsholmen was an island at the entrance to the western part of the harbor of Kristiansand in Vest-Agder, Norway.</p><br>
<p>From 1686, the island was the site of the fleet station for the Danish-Norwegian galley fleet (Skjærbåt). Between years 1750-1758, construction was completed for a new headquarters and main station for the navy at Fredriksvern naval station and shipyard at Stavern in Vestfold.</p><br>
<p>During the 1960s and 1970s, the island was expanded and ultimately connected to the mainland in order to expand the western harbor in the port of Kristiansand. Lagmannsholmen is now part of the mainland. It forms a part of Kristiansand&#39;s container port and is connected to the current Kristiansand Fish Wharf (Fiskebrygga). Most of the former islet consists today of large warehouses and a concrete grain silo. There are few buildings dating from the former fortifications.</p><br>
<p>In May 2017 a new dock for cruise ships was put into operation at Lagmannsholmen.</p><br>
<p>Euromus  &ndash; also, Eunomus and Eunomos; earlier Kyromus and Hyromus &ndash; was an ancient city in Caria, Anatolia; the ruins are approximately 4 km southeast of Selimiye and 12 km northwest of Milas , Muğla Province, Turkey. Probably dating from the 6th century BC, Euromus was a member of the Chrysaorian League during Seleucid times. Euromus also minted its own coins from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD.</p><br>
<p>The ruins contain numerous interesting buildings, the most outstanding of which is the temple of Zeus Lepsinos from the reign of Emperor Hadrian.</p><br>
<p>Archaeologists have found terra cotta shards indicating that the temple site had its origins back at least to the 6th century BC. The temple is one of the best preserved classical temples in Turkey: sixteen columns remain standing and most of the columns are inscribed in honour of the citizen who commissioned their construction. Carian rock-cut tombs are also found at Euromus.</p><br>
<p>The United States Post Office Cooper Station, located at 93 Fourth Avenue, on the corner of East 11th Street in Manhattan, New York City, was built in 1937, and was designed by consulting architect William Dewey Foster in the Art Moderne style for the Office of the Supervising Architect of the United States Department of the Treasury. It serves the 10003 ZIP code, which covers the neighborhood of the East Village. Its sub-station is located on East 3rd Street near Avenue C.</p><br>
<p>The post office is named in honor of Peter Cooper, the mid-19th century industrialist and philanthropist who founded the nearby The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art.</p><br>
<p>The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.</p><br>
<h2>In popular culture</h2><br>
<p>The fictional character Newman from the television sitcom Seinfeld supposedly worked here. The image of this corner building was used frequently on the show just prior to the beginning of a scene.</p><br>
<p>The WPA era building is listed on the List of Registered Historic Places in New York</p><br>
<p>The Curtis Arboretum is a forty-five-acre arboretum located at 1250 Church Road , Wyncote, Pennsylvania in Cheltenham Township, near Philadelphia. The arboretum was founded by Mary Louise Curtis Bok in honor of her father, Cyrus Curtis. The landscaping was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted. The arboretum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The arboretum surrounds Curtis Hall, once the ballroom of the Curtis family mansion, which now is operated by the Cheltenham Township Parks and Recreation Department. The arboretum features hills, two ponds, a dog park, a small World War II memorial, and over fifty types of trees.</p><br>
<p>Curtis Arboretum serves as the home course for the Cheltenham High School mens and womens cross country teams.</p><br>
<p>Tal-y-llyn Lake, also known as Talyllyn Lake, Llyn Mwyngil or Llyn Myngul is a large glacial ribbon lake in Gwynedd, North Wales. It is formed by a post-glacial massive landslip damming up the lake within the glaciated valley.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Tal-y-llyn Lake is situated to the north of Machynlleth, at the foot of Cadair Idris, in the Snowdonia mountain range of Gwynedd, Wales. The River Dysynni flows from the lake, through the village of Abergynolwyn, and discharges into the sea north of Tywyn.</p><br>
<p>There is a route leading to the summit of Cadair Idris from near the lake and the narrow gauge Talyllyn Railway has its eastern terminus at nearby Abergynolwyn, within the parish of Tal-y-llyn, the hamlet at the southern end of the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Tal-y-llyn Lake is located on a major fault line in Wales known as the Bala Fault, which extends from the Cheshire border to Towyn on the Cardigan Bay coast. The depression caused by this was likely carved out and deepened during subsequent glaciation periods. Until 1962, Tal-y-llyn Lake was regarded as the most southerly example of a lake formed in a rock basin, with a terminal moraine on top of the bedrock through which the river had carved a channel. It is now understood that what appeared to be bedrock is in fact massive blocks of debris left by a large landslide. An enormous scar on the valley side to the left of the foot of the lake shows the source of the landslide, and another landslide a few miles downstream caused the River Dysynni to divert into the adjoining valley to the north. The upper end of the lake is becoming shallower as a result of the deposition of alluvium.</p><br>
<h2>In fiction</h2><br>
<p>1976 Newbury Medal winner Susan Cooper used the lake as a setting for the book The Grey King. Within the lake six sleepers lie, wakened by Will Stanton playing the Harp of Gold. Afterward, they ride to the aid of the Light in the book Silver on the Tree.</p><br>
<p>Barker Dam, also known as the Big Horn Dam, is a water-storage facility located in Joshua Tree National Park in California. The dam was constructed by early cattlemen, including CO Barker, in 1900. It was raised in 1949 by rancher William F. Keys. It is situated between Queen Valley and the Wonderland of Rocks near the Wall Street Mill. It is a gathering place for desert wildlife, including many species of birds and Desert Bighorn Sheep. Visitors can reach the dam via a short trail from a nearby parking lot and can see Native American petroglyphs a short distance to the west. There is also good bouldering on side trails near the dam. The park offers a Barker Dam Nature Hike led by a ranger.</p><br>
<p>The lowest 9 ft of the dam, the original portion, was constructed of concrete surfaced with stone on the downstream side. The height of the dam was raised an additional six feet with concrete in 1949–1950. The dam has several indentations. An inscription at top reads: "Big Horn Dam Built by Willis Keys, W.F. Keyes, Phyllis M. Keys, 1949–1950."</p><br>
<h2>Hiking trails</h2><br>
<p>The Barker Dam Loop trail is 1.5 mi round trip and has little elevation gain. It goes from the parking lot at Barker Dam, past the dam and several good boulder climbing areas and a wall of petroglyphs. The trail offers good birding near the lake and at several spots along the trail that are surrounded by brush. It is a popular trail and is crowded midday.</p><br>
<p>As of February 2013 the dam was closed to public access due to numerous instances of graffiti and carvings on the dam itself, but is since reopened.</p><br>
<p>Barker Dam is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>The Willard House and Clock Museum is a museum located in North Grafton, Massachusetts, United States.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>The Willard House and Clock Museum is located at the former farm homestead of the Willard brothers (Benjamin, Simon, Ephraim, and Aaron). The brothers made clocks there in the late 18th century, before they moved the business to Roxbury, where they became pillars of the emerging American clockmaking industry. The house was built about 1718. It stands in a rural setting, in the middle of a field that was part of the Willard farm back in the 18th century.</p><br>
<p>Like other contemporaneous horologists, the Willard family originally divided its life seasonally, between farming and the clock workshop. Eventually the business became profitable, at which point the house was further enlarged. While in Grafton, Simon, the most innovative and most famous of the Willard brothers, developed his first so called banjo clock, more properly called the "Willard Patent Timepiece", which was patented in 1802.</p><br>
<h2>Museum founding and history</h2><br>
<p>The museum was founded by Dr. Roger W. Robinson and his wife Imogene, collectors of Willard clocks, after they were able to acquire the Willard homestead. For a period in the late 1990s the museum was administered by the National Association of Watch and Clock Collectors, but soon was turned into an independent foundation again, governed by a board made up of representatives of the Willard family, the founding couple, the local community and some horological experts.</p><br>
<p>The original homestead farmhouse have been added to in recent years and in addition to the original rooms there are now two large galleries. The museum has over 80 Willard clocks, representing the craftsmanship of all the members of the family in the horological trade. While there are several clocks signed Grafton, the exhibits include also clocks made later after the Willard clock enterprise had moved on to Roxbury, Massachusetts, now part of Boston.</p><br>
<p>Besides hosting the worlds most comprehensive collection of Willard timepieces there are many Willard family memorabilia on display. The original house is furnished with period furniture, and in the reconstructed workshop building there is a small collection of historic horological tools in a display showing what Simon Willards original workshop may have looked like. The majority of clocks are shown in running condition.</p><br>
<p>There is a small gift shop, and the museum has a small Willard-centric library open to museum members by appointment.</p><br>
<p>Baelo Claudia is the name of an ancient Roman town, located 22 km outside of Tarifa, near the village of Bolonia, in southern Spain. Lying on the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar, the town was originally a fishing village and trade link when it was settled some 2,000 years ago. Although prosperous at the time of Emperor Claudius, it went into a decline hastened by earthquakes and was abandoned by the 6th century.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Baelo Claudia is situated on the northern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar. The town was founded in the end of the 2nd century BC as a result of trade with North Africa (it was a major port for Tangier, in Mauretania Tingitana, for example). It is possible that Baelo Claudia had some functions of governmental administration, but tuna fishing, salting, and the production of garum were the primary sources of wealth.</p><br>
<p>The city was eventually successful enough to be granted the title of municipium by Emperor Claudius.</p><br>
<p>The life of the inhabitants reached its greatest splendor during the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. In the middle of the 2nd century, however, the town declined, probably as a result of a major earthquake which wiped out a large part. In addition to such natural disasters, by the 3rd century, the town was beset by hordes of pirates, both Germanic and Barbary. Although it experienced a slight renaissance later in the century, by the 6th century, the town had been abandoned.</p><br>
<p>Excavations have revealed the most comprehensive remains of a Roman town in the whole of the Iberian Peninsula, with extremely interesting monuments such as the basilica, theatre, market, and the temple of Isis. The spectacular setting in El Estrecho Natural Park allows the visitor to see the coast of Morocco. A modern Visitor Centre showcases many artefacts and has a comprehensive introduction to the site. It also offers parking, shade, toilets, a shop and good views of the sea. Admission is free to citizens of the European Economic Area on production of an ID card.</p><br>
<h2>The archeological site</h2><br>
<p>The archeological site of Baelo Claudia preserves the most representative elements of the typical Roman city. There is a circular protective wall, the main gate, administrative buildings like the curia (local senate), the public archive, the forum, the judicial building, a temple to the Egyptian goddess Isis, as well as temples to Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva. Each god has its own individual temple, instead of one temple dedicated to them collectively; the only other Roman town believed to have a similar arrangement is Sbeitla in Tunisia. In addition, there are remnants of stores, a market, baths, and a theater.</p><br>
<p>Three aqueducts supplied the town with water. There are signs of an industrial zone with the remains of streets, installations for the production of garum, aqueducts, and a sewer system. No other site in the Iberian Peninsula affords such a complete vision of the Roman urban experience. This is the site&#39;s main interest to modern visitors, and it can be seen via an impressive path that circles the town.</p><br>
<h2>Sources</h2><br>
<p>The College of California was the predecessor of the University of California public university system.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>In 1853, in the recently established town of Oakland, California, noted educators Rev. Henry Durant and Dr. Samuel H. Willey founded the Contra Costa Academy to provide boys with a liberal arts education with a strong emphasis on the classics. It was nominally nonsectarian with a general Christian atmosphere, although its trustees, educators, and supporters consisted of a coalition of Congregationalists and Presbyterians.</p><br>
<p>This private college preparatory school grew quickly and by 1855, with the benefit of some government grants and a new charter, the newly renamed College of California opened in what by then had become the city of Oakland, on the four blocks bounded by Twelfth, Fourteenth, Franklin and Harrison Streets. Despite the new name, it did not add college-level courses until 1860.</p><br>
<p>Within a few years, the downtown Oakland site had become unsuitable, owing to a lack of room for expansion, and the crowdedness and general rowdiness of the area. In 1866, the College trustees sought out a quieter, more rural site for their College. They planned to finance this expansion by selling land near the prospective college site. To this end, they formed the "College Homestead Association" and purchased 160 acres (65 hectares) of land north of Oakland on a site that is part of the City of Berkeley today.</p><br>
<p>Sales of lots were less than had been hoped for. Even worse, although the Colleges trustees and supporters strongly believed in the importance of a liberal arts education, there was not much interest among local young people in pursuing one at the college level. Meanwhile, the State of California had established an Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College in 1866, but it existed only on paper as a placeholder to secure federal land-grant funds. In 1867, Governor Frederick Low suggested a merger of the already-functional and land-rich but cash-poor College of California with the state college, which had money but nothing else. On October 9, 1867, the Colleges trustees reluctantly agreed to the merger, on the condition that the new institution would be a complete university with a liberal arts college (the College of Letters, now the College of Letters and Science).</p><br>
<p>They were aware the new state institution would have to be entirely secular, but recognized it was more important to find some way to preserve the College of California&#39;s liberal arts educational mission as part of the new university.</p><br>
<p>The University of California was chartered with the enactment of the Organic Act on March 23, 1868, although it continued to use the College of California&#39;s Oakland facilities while the campus at Berkeley was being built.</p><br>
<p>In September 1873, the University moved, with great ceremony, to Berkeley.</p><br>
<p>The site of the College of California in Oakland has been designated California Historical Landmark #45.</p><br>
<p>The Clinton House is a historic building located in downtown Ithaca, New York. It is built primarily in the Greek Revival style, common in older buildings in Ithaca. It currently houses offices and a local charter school. It is directly adjacent to the Ithaca Commons.</p><br>
<p>The Clinton House was originally built in 1828–1829 as an upscale hotel and Ithacas first professional office building, with 150 rooms, an immense undertaking for the then 4,000-strong population of Ithaca. It was named for DeWitt Clinton, governor of New York from 1817–1822 and again from 1824–1827. At least four USA presidents have stayed in its rooms, as well as numerous film actors from Ithacas brief heyday as a center for the film industry.</p><br>
<p>The Clinton House was built in 1831, which was during the Greek Revival Stage of America (1820–1860). The columns out front and the enormous windows and doors are sure signs of the style.</p><br>
<p>Today, The Clinton house houses many business offices and the New Roots Charter School.</p><br>
<p>Shaver Lake is an artificial lake on Stevenson Creek, in the Sierra National Forest of Fresno County, California. At elevation 5,500 ft, several smaller streams also flow into the lake, and it receives water from the underground tunnels of Southern California Edison&#39;s Big Creek Hydroelectric Project. The town Shaver Lake is located on its south-west shore.</p><br>
<p>The lake was formed with the construction of Shaver Lake Dam, which was built by Southern California Edison and completed in 1927. The 180-foot dam was built in 50-foot (15-m) blocks, with a keyway to hold it in place and a 75-centimeter (30-inch) copper sheet to make it watertight. Its capacity is 135,283 acre.ft. Some water from the lake is discharged into Stevenson Creek for fish and other wildlife, but the rest is diverted to Big Creek, where it powers several hydroelectric plants in succession.</p><br>
<p>The area now covered by the lake was extensively logged before the dam was built, and an extensive log flume system several miles long was constructed to bring logs down the mountain. The town to this day maintains a nostalgic logging theme. Several buildings in town are in fact old, converted sawmills. Adjacent to the lake is Camp Edison, built and operated by SCE.</p><br>
<p>The reality TV shows Endurance High Sierras and Capture were filmed at Shaver Lake in summer 2006 and summer 2013, respectively.</p><br>
<p>The Shaver Lake Trophy Trout Project is a non-profit organization to educate the public on fishing and make Shaver Lake a fishing destination.</p><br>
<p>Camp Chawanakee, a Boy Scout Camp run by the Sequoia Council, is held on a peninsula in the South of Shaver Lake. BSA troops from all over California attend each Summer.</p><br>
<p>Grizzly Peak is a summit in the Berkeley Hills above Berkeley, California. The peak is located on the border between Alameda and Contra Costa counties, within the boundaries of Tilden Regional Park, and directly behind the University of California, Berkeley campus.</p><br>
<p>The peak was named for the California grizzly bear which inhabited the local area until the late 1800s. The last sighting locally was by a man who was reportedly killed by a grizzly in Strawberry Canyon below Grizzly Peak in the 1860s. The first local killing of a grizzly by a European occurred in 1772, also along Strawberry Creek just west of what is today the UC Berkeley campus, within what is now downtown Berkeley. The shooting by Spanish soldiers was recorded by Father Juan Crespi. The last grizzly in all of California was killed in the Sierra foothills east of Fresno in August 1922.</p><br>
<p>Grizzly Peak became more accessible in 1932 when Grizzly Peak Boulevard was constructed along the ridge line of the Berkeley Hills. The name was extended to the previously-constructed ridge line stretch of Euclid Avenue to the north shortly thereafter. This portion was and remains a residential area of Berkeley while the original stretch is largely undeveloped. Grizzly Peak Boulevard now extends from Kenyon Avenue in Kensington in the north, through Berkeley and Oakland to an intersection with Skyline Blvd. above Oakland to the south. Before Grizzly Peak Boulevard was constructed, the location of its current intersection with Claremont (before 1892 known as Telegraph Road) and Fish Ranch Road was historically an important pass through the Berkeley Hills, before the tunnel that preceded today&#39;s Caldecott Tunnel was constructed through the hills in 1903; an inn and stage stop called the Summit House was located here.</p><br>
<p>Kingsmill is a name which has been used in James City County, Virginia since the mid-18th century. Initially the name of a plantation, in modern times, the name is attached to a geographic area which includes a large planned residential community, a resort complex, a theme park, a brewery, and a commercial park.</p><br>
<p>The Kingsmill area is located between the north bank of the James River just east (downstream) of the site where the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown was established in 1607 and Interstate Highway 64. Highway access to most of the areas many businesses and attractions is from USA Route 60 between the eastern city limits of Williamsburg and the adjacent community of Grove, or from Virginia State Route 199, which forms a semi-circular beltway of sorts around Williamsburgs southern side.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Kingsmill Plantation</h3><br>
<p>A prominent member of the Virginia Company, Richard Kingsmill, became the namesake of the Kingsmill Plantation. The Virginia Company was a for-profit organization chartered in England which was charged with the founding and settlement of Virginia under the reign of King James I. Richard Kingsmill was given one of the first land grants of 300 acre in the southwest area of what later became a much larger plantation. In the mid-1730s, British Colonel Lewis Burwell III established a 1,400 acre plantation which he named Kingsmill Plantation. It included a mansion, outbuildings and garden. He was the colonial customs inspector for the upper James River. Along the river, Burwells Landing, site of his inspection station, also featured a tavern, storehouse, warehouse, and ferry house. Quarterpath Road extended between Burwells Landing and Williamsburg.</p><br>
<p>The Kingsmill area saw action during the American Revolutionary War. The house burned in 1843. Only the office and the kitchen still stand; they are among the earliest brick dependencies still extant in Virginia.</p><br>
<h3>American Civil War</h3><br>
<p>Action during the American Civil War (1861–65) also skirted Kingsmill Plantation lands. In 1862, Union troops under Major General George B. McClellan engaged in a failed attempt to seize the Confederate capital of Richmond. Slowly and carefully, much to the frustration of USA President Abraham Lincoln, McClellan assembled huge naval forces and a massive siege train of land-based troops, arms and supplies around a staging area based at the union stronghold of Fort Monroe at the tip of the Virginia Peninsula, where the harbor of Hampton Roads had been under federal control via siege for about a year already.</p><br>
<p>Forces under McClellan for what has become known as the Peninsula Campaign dwarfed all previous American expeditions at the time, transporting 121,500 men, 44 artillery batteries, 1,150 wagons, over 15,000 horses, and tons of equipment and supplies. An English observer remarked that it was the "stride of a giant."</p><br>
<p>McClellan&#39;s plan initially was to utilize the James and York rivers, especially the former, which was known to be navigable to Richmond, in combination with his land-based forces, to attack simultaneously and overwhelm the unknown resources of the rebels at Richmond. However, even as several months were spent through the winter of 1862 training new troops and bringing these many Union assets into position, the portion of the scheme which depended upon control of the James River ran into trouble. In March, the Battle of Hampton Roads between the first ironclad warships took place. Although the conflict between the two ships was inconclusive, the new technologies were to change naval warfare dramatically, and control of the harbor of Hampton Roads was brought into serious question.</p><br>
<p>Although the Union never lost control of the entrance to the harbor, and was able to retake Norfolk and Norfolk Naval Shipyard at Portsmouth shortly thereafter, Union ships were unable to move past heavily defended Drewry&#39;s Bluff east of Richmond along the James River. It appeared unlikely that situation would improve. McClellan realized that his plan to take Richmond would almost certainly depend upon his land forces alone.</p><br>
<p>In early April 1862, McClellan&#39;s massive siege train began moving cautiously westerly up the Peninsula toward the Confederate citadel. Throughout the campaign, McClellan was convinced (erroneously) that he was facing much larger opposing forces than he was. At times, he even estimated these forces to greatly outnumber his own, frequently and bitterly complaining to Lincoln (his Commander-in-Chief), who had withheld from McClellan a much smaller force of federal troops to maintain a defensive position around Washington, D.C.</p><br>
<p>The Confederate strategy of the early portion of the Peninsula Campaign became one of delays, providing vital time for defenses to be built outside Richmond. The advancing Union forces were confronted with a series of three defensive lines erected across the Peninsula, which were manned primarily by greatly outnumbered forces led by General John B. Magruder. The first, about 12 mi north of Fort Monroe, contained infantry outposts and artillery redoubts, but was insufficiently manned to prevent any Union advance. Its primary purpose was to prevent the Union from learning much about the second line. Known as the Warwick Line, this second, and by far largest of the three defensive lines, was about a dozen miles east of Williamsburg, along the Warwick River. It was anchored by Yorktown on the north and Mulberry Island on the south. It consisted of redoubts, rifle pits, and fortifications behind the Warwick River. By enlarging two dams on the river, the Confederates developed the river as a significant military obstacle in its own right. The third defensive line was a series of forts just east of Williamsburg, which waited unmanned for use by the army if it had to fall back from Yorktown.</p><br>
<p>Although greatly outnumbered, defenders along the first and second lines under former thespian "Prince" John Magruder took advantage of the poor visibility due to the seasonally heavy undergrowth of the naturally-wooded and swampy terrain. They used elaborate ruse tactics and guerrilla raids to intimidate McClellan and his leaders into thinking they were facing far larger forces, which increased their caution and greatly slowed their progress westward. Stephen Sears, the author of the To The Gates of Richmond, described Magruders having his troops march back and forth behind the lines with great fanfare to appear to be a larger force, as "performances of the Prince John Players." Magruders efforts appeared successful, as the ever-cautious McClellan moved very slowly with his forces. These were substantially larger than those of the Confederate defenders, even when the latter were reinforced by the arrival of the Army of Northern Virginia under General Joseph E. Johnston. Meanwhile, the Confederates built their long defensive line outside Richmond.</p><br>
<p>While there were several armed conflicts with loss of life, after finally overtaking the first line and meeting minimal resistance, McClellan chose to carefully amass his troops and plan a major offensive, taking the better part of 30 days to do so. He had huge cannons brought up the York River by ship and installed in a position favorable for his planned assault of Yorktown. The night before McClellan was finally positioned to launch his major offensive against Warwick Line, the Confederate troops quietly withdrew and retreated toward Richmond via Williamsburg. Discovering only empty works and Quaker gun in the abandoned fortifications on May 3, McClellan sent his cavalry troops racing after the escaping Confederates. He also loaded a division of infantry aboard ships to sail up the York River to the west in an attempt to outflank the Confederates&#39; apparent retreat toward Richmond.</p><br>
<p>Only two roads led from the abandoned Warwick Line to be used by the massive equipment and numerous troops of the Union siege train in pursuing the fleeing Confederates, who had a head start. These were the Williamsburg-Yorktown Road and the Williamsburg-Lee&#39;s Mill Road. They converged about 1 mi east of Williamsburg. The weather had been rainy, and both armies slogged along the dirt roads of the sandy terrain. These undoubtedly became deeper in mud and more difficult to traverse.</p><br>
<p>The Williamsburg Line was the third line of defensive fortifications across the Peninsula. It was anchored by College Creek, a tributary of the James River, on the south and Queens Creek, a tributary of the York River on the north. Under the leadership of local planter Benjamin S. Ewell, president of the College of William and Mary, a series of 14 redoubts were built along the line. Named Fort Magruder, Redoubt Number 6, was the center of the convergence of the roads from Yorktown and Lees Mill. It was shaped as an elongated pentagon, with walls 15 ft high and nine feet thick. The earthworks were protected by a dry moat nine feet deep. It mounted eight guns. Several of the redoubts were located just east of the Quarterpath Road, which lead from Williamsburg to the landing for Kingsmill Plantation on the James River.</p><br>
<p>Despite the significant head start of the southern forces, cavalry forces from each side met, and began skirmishing on May 4. Union General George Stonemans cavalry encountered and began skirmishing with Brig. Gen. J.E.B. Stuarts cavalry, the Confederate&#39;s rearguard. Learning of this, and frustrated by the slow progress of his own forces which were passing through Williamsburg, Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston detached a portion of his troops to confront the advancing Union troops. On May 5, 1865, the single-day Battle of Williamsburg took place. During the day, several groups of Union troops battled with Confederates near the Williamsburg line, with much of the action at or near Fort Magruder. Confederate casualties, including the cavalry skirmishing on May 4, were 1,682. Union casualties were 2,283.</p><br>
<p>Although McClellan claimed a Union victory in his reports, and he took the Williamsburg Line within slightly more than 24 hours, most historians rate the Battle of Williamsburg as a Confederate victory. The Williamsburg Line had served its intended purpose. The primary goal of the defenders had been to enable the retreat of the main Confederate force to the defenses of Richmond, and this was accomplished.</p><br>
<p>Those Union forces sent up the York River by McClellan met limited success in stopping fleeing rebels. Their conflict on May 7 became known as the Battle of Elthams Landing. That conflict in New Kent County was little more than a heavy skirmish, resulting in 194 Union casualties and 48 Confederate. The remaining battles of McClellans campaign were fought either outside the gates of Richmond or during his later retreat to the protection of the Union Navy at Harrison&#39;s Landing (better known in modern times as Berkley Plantation).</p><br>
<p>In the areas along the Williamsburg Line, including the Quarterpath Road north of modern-day Virginia State Route 199 and along USA Route 60, portions of the redoubts were preserved. This includes the core of Fort Magruder (in James City County on today&#39;s Penniman Road). Several additional preserved redoubts remain along the Colonial Parkway north of Fort Magruder.</p><br>
<h3>Williamsburg: the closest center of commerce</h3><br>
<p>Located along a ridge of higher ground along the Virginia Peninsula midway between the York and James rivers, Williamsburg had been established in the early 17th century as a fortified settlement known as Middle Plantation. During the American Revolutionary War, under the leadership of Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson, the capital of Virginia was relocated many miles inland to Richmond, located at the fall line on the James River.</p><br>
<p>Although the Quarterpath Road led to the James River at Burwells Landing, (as did the old Jamestown Road), to reach the landings and the river were significant distances in the era before railroads or motor vehicles. Also, in differing directions by land from Williamsburg, and at a shorter distance, persons could get to other landings on the College Creek or Queens Creek, which led to the very navigable portions of the James and York rivers, respectively. The distances to navigable water from Williamsburg were obstacles that inhibited trade and put the town into lesser position compared to communities with better water access.</p><br>
<p>An early plan to establish a relatively short canal to enable shipping to Williamsburg from either or both of the navigable waterways a dozen or less miles nearby was initiated. Some construction was undertaken, but was never completed. The proposed canal instead became a little-known footnote in Williamsburg&#39;s history.</p><br>
<p>As the town did not have ready access to a major waterway nor transportation pathway, throughout the formative years of the United States, Williamsburg did not develop as a major center of commerce of any great significance. For at least 140 years after 1781, Williamsburg was best known as the home of the often struggling College of William and Mary (established by Royal Charter by Englands only joint monarchy in 1693). It also had the first mental asylum in what became the United States, a pioneering institution which modern successor became known as Eastern State Hospital. Williamsburg seemed somewhat forgotten and "passed by," and was the subject of occasional humor along those lines. On June 26, 1912, the Richmond Times-Dispatch newspaper ran an editorial which dubbed the town Lotusburg&#39; for "Tuesday was election day in Williamsburg but nobody remembered it. The clerk forgot to wake the electoral board, the electoral board could not arouse itself long enough to have the ballots printed, the candidates forgot they were running, the voters forgot they were alive."</p><br>
<p>In the early 1880s, through the vision and efforts of railroad builder and industrialist Collis P. Huntington and his associates, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) had been extended from Richmond through Williamsburg to reach Newport News Point, at the confluence of the James and the Elizabeth rivers in Warwick County, where coal shipping facilities were established. Soon, a town quickly developed as the City of Newport News in 1896. A great shipyard, which became Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company was also established there.</p><br>
<p>The railroad had been built primarily as a transportation line to enable shipping of bituminous coal from the rich coalfields of southwestern Virginia and southern West Virginia. But it also connected Williamsburg, as well as James City and Warwick counties, with the expanding transcontinental railroads of the country. Passenger and freight services were provided, and stations were built along the line, including one at Grove Station, located a few miles north and east of Kingsmill near the adjacent Carter&#39;s Grove Plantation at Grove, Virginia.</p><br>
<p>Carters Grove Plantation and Carters Grove Wharf were the next major feature immediately east of Kinsgmill along the north bank of the James River. Carter&#39;s Grove was still an active plantation in the early 20th century, but the Kingsmill Plantation and surrounding properties had fallen into ruins and disuse. With much of it primarily both wooded and hilly, the land at Kingsmill was not particularly well-suited to agriculture. It stood largely vacant and unused as major changes began at Williamsburg and the nearby region beginning in 1926.</p><br>
<h3>Colonial Williamsburg</h3><br>
<p>In the first half of the 20th century, much of the property in the area of the old Kingsmill Plantation was acquired by Standard Oil heir John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his associates and by Colonial Williamsburg.</p><br>
<p>Championed initially by the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin, who was affiliated with both Bruton Parish Church (which he helped restore in 1907 in time for the Jamestown Exposition), and working with the College of William and Mary&#39;s president at the time, J.A.C. Chandler, the Colonial Williamsburg project was funded and endowed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., along with his wife, Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. The Rockefellers officially developed Colonial Williamsburg to celebrate the patriots and the early history of the United States. Many of the missing Colonial structures were reconstructed on their original sites during the 1930s. Others were restored to estimates of 18th century appearance, with traces of later buildings and improvements removed. Dependency structures and animals add to the ambiance. Most buildings are open for tourists, with the exception of buildings serving as residences for Colonial Williamsburg employees.</p><br>
<p>Notable structures include the Capitol and the Governor&#39;s Palace, each recreated and landscaped as to what is known of their late 18th century condition, as well as Bruton Parish Church and the Raleigh Tavern. The Wren Building on the campus of William and Mary was one of the first buildings to be restored.</p><br>
<p>The Rockefellers had many homes in New York and Maine. However, it was not long before the couple came to regard Williamsburg as their favorite and the town as one in which they felt "at home" according to statements to that effect made by their children and grandchildren. This is also evidenced by many of their actions as well as those of their family and other members of the patriarch of the Rockefeller family who have continued the sentiment. Their love and concern for the citizenry of the area may be shown in many ways which extend beyond the principal missions and direct accomplishments of Colonial Williamsburg.</p><br>
<p>Notable among these was Abby&#39;s efforts to facilitate educational opportunities for persons of African-American heritage during a very difficult period for such efforts in Virginia, notably her role with the establishment of the Bruton Heights School complex, which went far to equalize educational opportunities for blacks in the Greater Williamsburg community many years before judicial rulings and governmental mandates brought similar efforts elsewhere.</p><br>
<p>At the urging of Dr. Goodwin, John and Abby Rockefeller made their home at Bassett Hall, located between the northern end of the historic Quarterpath Road and the southeastern edge of the Historic District. Their funds helped acquire vast tracts of land throughout the area, including property which extended east to include the old Kingsmill Plantation. It has been said that they had dreams of acquiring one of the old working James River plantations still extant in their lifetimes, but that goal eluded them.</p><br>
<p>In the late 1920s Rockefeller had attempted to acquire Shirley, long the seat of the Carter family, located halfway between Richmond and Williamsburg that he felt was the ideal plantation with which to supplement the historical messages of the colonial capital he was restoring. Though its owners were much reduced in circumstances, the plantation wasn’t for sale. The Carters did however agree in 1928, to sell a Charles Willson Peale portrait of General Washington that they owned to Rockefeller for the not inconsiderable sum of $75,000 (equal to approximately $1 million in 2015).</p><br>
<p>After Abby and John D. Rockefeller Jr. had each died, beginning in the 1960s, their son Winthrop Rockefeller served as chairman of the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. He was also governor of the state of Arkansas. During his dual tenures, he became aware of an opportunity to acquire Carters Grove Plantation, located adjacent to Colonial Williamsburgs extensive holdings near the old Kingsmill Plantation lands, and still extant as both a home and working farm. Also established by a Burwell (in 1755), Carters Grove had most recently been owned since 1928 by Pittsburgh industrialist Archibald McCrea and his wife Mary "Mollie" Corling (Johnston) Dunlop McCrea, originally of Petersburg. It was purchased from her estate by an arm of the Rockefeller Foundation and eventually transferred to the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. For many years during Winthrops tenure, Carter&#39;s Grove was used to host dignitaries visiting Colonial Williamsburg, as well as enable archaeological research as well as host some public presentations for Colonial Williamsburg patrons.</p><br>
<p>Additionally, while serving as both Governor of Arkansas and chairman of Colonial Williamsburg, Winthrop learned that Anheuser-Busch head August Busch, II was considering establishing a brewery and possibly other developmental investments in eastern Virginia. While the details are unknown publicly, he and Bush apparently collaborated on a deal which resulted in the brewing conglomerate&#39;s development of diversified activities in the Williamsburg area, which grew to include not only the brewery, but the Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park, and Kingsmill Resort, the Kingsmill on the James residential planned community, and several large commercial parks. To help negotiate the deal, the land which had once been Kingsmill Plantation was made available for purchase. Along with the later acquisition of smaller nearby water park, the A-B developments this fostered in the Williamsburg community generated thousands of new jobs and millions of dollars of new tax revenues.</p><br>
<p>Both Winthrop Rockefeller, who died in 1973, and August Busch II, who died in 1989 have been credited by some historians with helping develop the Greater Williamsburg area into one of the top tourism destinations in the world. They apparently felt that augmenting the attractions of the Historic Triangle of Colonial Virginia (Jamestown, Colonial Williamsburg, and Yorktown) with other attractions would help draw future families to the region, as well as help balance out the local economy, stimulate the hospitality industry (restaurants and lodging), and add employment opportunities.</p><br>
<p>Due to operational logistics, Carter&#39;s Grove Plantation was eventually sold (with restrictive covenants regarding use and future development) by Colonial Williamsburg. The global economy also eventually resulted in A-B setting out to divest its theme parks, the resort and other developments to new ownership.</p><br>
<h2>21st century: Kingsmill area</h2><br>
<p>As of 2013, Colonial Williamsburg and the developments initiated by the Rockefellers and Busch family, continued to provide Williamsburg, James City County, and much of the surrounding area with a substantial base of employment and economic activity.</p><br>
<p>Major Kingsmill area developments include:</p><br>
<p>Busch Gardens Williamsburg theme park</p><br>
<p>Quarterland Commons Commercial Park</p><br>
<p>Kingsmill Resort golf resort</p><br>
<p>Kingsmill on the James planned community (Notable and/or notorious residents have included Curtis Strange, Sam Wallace, Jeremiah Denton, Donald Regan, Marv Levy, and John W. Hinckley, Jr.)</p><br>
<p>Huntington Lake is a reservoir in Fresno County, California on Big Creek, located in the Sierra Nevada at an elevation of 2,120 meters . Several smaller streams also flow into the lake and it receives additional water from the underground tunnels of Southern California Edison&#39;s Big Creek hydroelectric project. Water from the lake flows into Big Creek, but some is diverted by underground tunnels to the Eastwood Powerhouse, which discharges into Shaver Lake.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Huntington Lake was constructed in 1912 as a part of the enormous Big Creek Hydroelectric Project envisioned by John S. Eastwood to provide power for a growing California. The lake was named for Henry Edwards Huntington, the railroad magnate who financed the earliest work to develop the Big Creek project which includes a system of lakes, tunnels, steel penstocks and power houses.</p><br>
<p>Four dams form the lake, which has a capacity of 88,834 acre.ft and a surface area of 1,441 acre. There were originally three dams, completed in 1913, but a fourth dam, completed in 1919, was built to increase the lake&#39;s capacity. The other three dams were raised and covered with concrete.</p><br>
<p>State Route 168 passes along the east shore of the lake where China Peak, a ski resort, is located.</p><br>
<p>On December 6, 1943, a B-24 bomber with six men aboard crashed into Huntington Lake. The crew had taken off from nearby Hammer Field in Fresno, California to search for a second B-24 which had disappeared a day earlier during a night training flight. Two members of the original eight man crew, a radio operator and the co-pilot, bailed out of the troubled plane and survived. Some have speculated that the pilot may have mistaken the lake for a sierra meadow and tried to make an emergency landing during a snow storm. The wreckage of the plane, and the remains of its crew were discovered by a survey team in August 1955, when the lake had been drained for dam repairs. The original B-24 they had been searching for was discovered in July 1960 in Hester Lake, a small body of water in a remote area not far from Huntington. Neither plane has been recovered.</p><br>
<h3>Impact of the 2012–15 North American drought</h3><br>
<p>Water levels in the lake began falling during the 2012–15 North American drought. By July, 2014, the lake was at a third of its normal level, and the High Sierra Regatta was canceled for the first time in 60 years.</p><br>
<h2>Sailing</h2><br>
<p>Huntington Lake is the site of the High Sierra Regatta, an annual sailing event organized by the Fresno Yacht Club.</p><br>
<p>Terwilliger Hot Springs, also known as Cougar Hot Springs, are geothermal pools in the Willamette National Forest in the U.S. state of Oregon, 53 mi east of Eugene. The springs drain into Rider Creek, which in turn drains into Cougar Reservoir.</p><br>
<p>Visitors over the years built up four pools out of river stones. The pools&#39; sizes range from 3 to 12 ft across and 2 to 3 ft deep. The water source is above the topmost pool where the spring flows from a rock face at approximately 112 &deg;F. The pools are on a hillside and cascade from one to the next so that each pool step lower is cooler than the one above it. The pool floors are mostly bedrock but some gravel, sand and debris remain at the bottom of the pools. The pools are closed Thursday mornings for weekly cleaning by the concessionaire.</p><br>
<p>The pools were renovated in 2009. A group of volunteers, led by a Eugene-based stonemason, removed concrete and built pools using a natural mortar. The new walls will be more stable and easier for volunteers to clean. The renovated pools, the construction of which cost an estimated $40,000, are expected to last for generations.</p><br>
<p>Access to the springs is subject to a fee. Since 2012, the rates have been $6 per person per day or $60 per person for a seasonal pass to visit. Clothing in the bathing areas is optional, and access is permitted for day use only. Pets are not allowed at the pools, but there is a designated area before the pools where pets can be tied up.</p><br>
<p>Albany Hill is a prominent hill along the east shore of San Francisco Bay in the city of Albany, California. Geologically, the hill is predominantly Jurassic sandstone, carried to the western edge of North America on the Pacific Plate and scraped off there in the course of subduction. Albany Hill is part of a range of hills uplifted long before today&#39;s Berkeley Hills. These hills include Fleming Point and Point Isabel , Brooks Island, the Potrero San Pablo, and the hills across San Pablo Strait.</p><br>
<p>Albany Hills indigenous Ohlone name is unknown. The 1772 Fages expedition referred to the landmark as "El Serrito," and it was named Cerrito de San Antonio by the Luís María Peralta family after the name of their ranch, Rancho San Antonio, a Spanish land grant which encompassed much of the East Bay. The name was changed to Albany Hill shortly after the city incorporated as Ocean View changed its name to Albany. The adjacent city of El Cerrito was named after the hills original Spanish name.</p><br>
<h2>Early history</h2><br>
<p>The north side of Albany Hill was long used by Native Americans, as evidenced by large mortar stones and remnants of a shell midden. Oaks on the north side, the willow grove where tributary Middle Creek joins Cerrito Creek, salt and fresh wetlands to the north (now filled), and the nearby Bay would have made this a bountiful seasonal home.</p><br>
<p>Beginning in the late 19th century, Judson Powder Works manufactured dynamite at the northwest foot of the hill. The company had been forced to move from San Francisco and then nearby Fleming Point in Berkeley because of continuing accidental explosions. The eucaluptus trees now on the hill were planted by the dynamite manufacturers to catch debris and muffle sound of these explosions. The stop on the transcontinental railroad tracks just to the west was called Nobel Station, after the inventor of dynamite.</p><br>
<p>In 1905, a massive accidental explosion of nitroglycerin killed 23 workers. The explosion carved a massive crater in the north flank of the hill, which is today evident by a large dip in the tree-line. After this incident, dynamite making was forced north to less-settled areas, making an eventual last stand at Pt. Pinole, now a regional park. Quarrying on the hill continued for many years, leaving scars on the rock and eventually obliterating a low summit northwest of Albany Hill, approximately where Richmond&#39;s Pacific East Mall is now located.</p><br>
<h2>Modern history and ecology</h2><br>
<p>As a large open space, the only nearby high elevation next to the Bay, and in the path of sea winds blowing through the Golden Gate, Albany Hill is an ecological island. It is a haven for plants normally found in much cooler areas, for example Nootka rose (Rosa nutkana), stinging phacelia (Phacelia malvifolia), and coast horkelia (Horkelia californica ssp. californica) The Native American practice of regular burning to avoid brush buildup (and major fires) was continued by the dynamite companies and later the city, into the 1960s. Perhaps as a result, the hill harbors unusually large numbers of native wildflowers and other plants. The oak forest on the cool north face remains much as it was pre-European-settlement. The non-native eucalyptus trees on the summit attract migrating and wintering monarch butterflies. Hawks, owls, wild turkeys, and deer are among the animal inhabitants; herons, kingfishers, and egrets fish the creek.</p><br>
<p>The hill provides a view of Albany, Berkeley — notably, UC Berkeley&#39;s Sather Tower — and the Berkeley Hills from one side. From the other, it looks out onto the Bay, with San Francisco in the distance. Looking south from the hill, the high-rises in downtown Oakland and Emeryville are visible. From earliest European settlement, residents have enjoyed open space on the hill, "sledding" on dry grass and swinging from rope swings.</p><br>
<p>From the early 20th century on, particularly in the 1970s, numerous schemes were proposed for development of Albany Hill, from dynamiting it for bay fill to building high-rise hotels or blasting out the top as a reservoir. Protest by local residents defeated most of these. Eventually the city retained an environmental consultant to prepare an Environmental Impact Report on alternative development schemes and development densities. After a series of public hearings the consultant&#39;s recommendation design was chosen leading to the present development pattern of clustered high-rise residential use and preservation of the majority of the hill. In 1996, citizens voted in an advisory measure to buy the open land, and in 1998 they passed Measure R. a special levy including $3 million to buy land on the hill. In 2008, the remaining open space hill was declared a Priority Conservation Area by Bay Area and state agencies. However, as of 2011 the money remained largely unspent, and the city has never rezoned the land, which remains designated for high-rise apartments in its plans.</p><br>
<p>Just under of almost 40 acres of open space on the hill is protected from development. A public park extends from Cerrito Creek up the north side of the hill. Large condominiums on the west side of the hill maintain significant areas of open space as part of their development agreements, and the north part of the summit ridge and a portion of the northeast slope is owned by the city. However, south of the highest point, an 11-acre privately owned parcel runs from Pierce Street on the west up over the summit and down to Taft Street. Most users treat this land as park, but the city has never negotiated a legal right-of-way allowing public access.</p><br>
<p>Although the city hired a consultant and adopted a master plan for the park in 1991, as of 2011 it had carried out none of the modest improvements the plan called for, such as improved trails, steps, and signage. Steps and benches were rotten and trails gullied and uneven. The 1991 plan included thinning eucalyptus and controlling brush to create a savannah-like habitat that would limit fires. However, the city consistently limited spending on vegetation management to a small fraction of the annual interest earned on the unused money levied to buy the private land. On November 15, 2008, strong dry northeast winds whipped up a fire in a forested area on the west side of the hill above a large apartment complex (555 Pierce Street). Recent heavy rains and a prompt response by the Albany and Berkeley fire departments limited the blaze to 2 acre, with no structures burned. Fire remains a serious threat. The city stepped up brush control, although not spending, after the fire. In 2011, the City Council voted to retain a new consultant and create a new plan.</p><br>
<p>Two volunteer groups work on the hill. has worked to maintain and increase native vegetation on the hill itself by removing non-native invasive plants, while Friends of Five Creeks has done extensive restoration along Cerrito and Middle Creeks and adjoining groves and meadows at the foot of the hill.</p><br>
<p>The River Finn  is a river that flows through County Donegal in the Republic of Ireland and County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. It rises in Lough Finn in County Donegal and flows east through a deep mountain valley to Ballybofey and Stranorlar  and on to the confluence with the River Mourne at Lifford. From Castlefin downstream the river is tidal, becoming deeper towards Strabane. The Finn is 40 mi long and together with its tributary the Reelin River, drains a catchment area of 195 square miles. The River Foyle is formed by the confluence of the River Mourne and the River Finn, west of Lifford Bridge. The area which the River Finn flows through is called the Finn Valley. The village of Clady, near Strabane in County Tyrone, is on the River Finn. The football club in Ballybofey, Finn Harps, is named after the river.</p><br>
<h2>Angling</h2><br>
<p>The upper reaches of the Reelin and the Finn are fast downstream to Ballybofey and can give excellent fishing. From Ballybofey downstream the river becomes deeper and slower. In all there is more than 25 mi of salmon fishing on the river from Flushtown right up to Bellanmore Bridge and part of the Reelan too. There is good sea trout fishing at Liscooley and Killygordan and from Ballybofey to Bellanamore Bridge. The Finn and its tributary the Reelan are probably the most prolific salmon and grilse rivers in Donegal and indeed throughout the Foyle catchment. Fish species such as roach, perch, eels and brown trout are caught in the Finn system.</p><br>
<h2>Area of special scientific interest</h2><br>
<p>The River Foyle and tributaries Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) includes the River Foyle and its tributaries i.e. that part of the River Finn which is within Northern Ireland, the River Mourne and its tributary the River Strule (up to its confluence with the Owenkillew River) and the River Derg, along with two of its sub-tributaries, the Mourne Beg River and the Glendergan River. The area encompasses 120 km of watercourse and is notable for the physical diversity and naturalness of the banks and channels, especially in the upper reaches, and the richness and naturalness of its plant and animal communities. Of particular importance is the population of Atlantic Salmon, which is one of the largest in Europe. Research has indicated that each sub-catchment within the system supports genetically distinct populations.</p><br>
<p>Hisham&#39;s Palace  is an important early Islamic archaeological site five km north of the town of Jericho, at Khirbat al-Mafjar in the West Bank. Spreading over 60 hectares , it consists of three main parts: a palace, an ornate bath complex, and an agricultural estate. Also associated with the site is a large park or agricultural enclosure  which extends east of the palace. An elaborate irrigation system provided the complex with water from nearby springs.</p><br>
<h2>History of Study</h2><br>
<p>The site was discovered in 1873.The northern area of the site was noted, but not excavated, in 1894 by F.J Bliss, but the major source of archaeological information comes from the excavations of Palestinian archaeologist, D.C. Baramki between 1934 and 1948. In 1959 Baramkis colleague, colonial administrator for the British Mandate government Robert W. Hamilton, published the major work on Hishams Palace, Khirbat al-Mafjar: An Arabian Mansion in the Jordanian Valley. Baramkis archaeological research is unfortunately absent from this volume, and as such, Hamiltons analysis is exclusively art historical. Baramkis research on the archaeological aspects of the site, particularly the ceramics, was published in various preliminary reports and articles in the Quarterly of the Palestinian Department of Antiquities. Many of the finds from Baramki and Hamiltons excavations are now held in the Rockefeller Museum in Jerusalem.</p><br>
<p>In 2006, new excavations were carried out under the direction of Dr. Hamdan Taha of the Palestinian National Authority Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. Current research is being conducted by the Jericho Mafjar Project, a collaboration between the ministry and archaeologists from the University of Chicago.</p><br>
<p>In 2015, an agreement was signed between the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and the Japan International Cooperation Agency to enable the 825 square meter mosaic in the palace, one of the largest in the world, to be uncovered and readied for display.</p><br>
<h2>Context</h2><br>
<p>It is difficult to establish a secure historical framework for Hishams Palace. No textual sources reference the site, and archaeological excavations are the only source of further information. An ostracon bearing the name "Hisham" was found during the course of Baramkis excavations. This was interpreted as evidence for the site&#39;s construction during the reign of the caliph Hishām ibn ʿAbd al-Malik. Robert Hamilton subsequently argued that the palace was a residence of al-Walid b. al-Yazid, a nephew of Hisham who was famous for his extravagant lifestyle. Archaeologically it is certain that the site is a product of the Umayyad dynasty in the first half of the 8th century, although the specifics of its patronage and use remain unknown.</p><br>
<p>As an archaeological site, Hisham&#39;s Palace belongs to the category of Desert castles. These are a collection of monuments dating to the Umayyad dynasty and found throughout Syria, Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. Although there is great variation in the size, location, and presumed function of these different sites, they can be connected to the patronage of different figures in the Umayyad ruling family. Some of the desert castles, for example Qasr Hallabat or Qasr Burqu, represent Islamic occupations of earlier Roman or Ghassanid structures. Other sites like Qastal, Qasr Azraq, or al-Muwaqqar are associated with trade routes and scarce water resources. With a few exceptions, the desert castles conform to a common template consisting of a square palace similar to Roman forts, a bath house, water reservoir or dam, and often an agricultural enclosure. Various interpretations for the desert castles exist, and it is unlikely that one single theory can explain the variety observed in the archaeological record.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The largest building at the site is the palace, a roughly square building with round towers at the corners. It originally had two stories. Entrance was through a gate on the center of the east side. The inner rooms were aligned around a central paved portico, which featured an underground cellar or sirdab, for refuge from the heat. The room to the south of the portico was a mosque with a mihrab built into the outer wall. East of the palace entrance was a pavilion and fountain. Another larger mosque was located to the northeast of the palace entrance.</p><br>
<p>The bath complex is located just north of the palace across an open area. This free-standing structure is approximately thirty meters square, and three of its sides feature round excedrae which project out from the building. The east face of the bath had an ornate entrance in its center, flanked by excedrae. Inside the main square hall was a pool. The entire interior floor surface of the bath complex was paved with spectacular mosaic decoration. A special reception room, or diwan, was entered from the northwest corner. The floor of this room was paved with the famous "tree of life" mosaic, depicting lions and gazelles at the foot of a tree. The actual bathing rooms were attached to the northern wall of the complex, and were heated from below the floor by hypocausts.</p><br>
<p>The palace, bath complex, and external mosque are enclosed by a retaining wall. The southern gate was knownfrom Baramkis excavations, but the recent discovery of a northern gate in alignment indicates that the development of Hishams Palace was conceived of as a complete unit to be constructed at once.</p><br>
<p>To the north of the bath complex are the ruins of a large square structure which has clearly gone through many phases of reuse and reconstruction. This part of the site was initially assumed to be a khan or caravanserai, but recent excavations have indicated that the northern area had an agricultural function connected to the hayr during the Umayyad and Abbasid periods.</p><br>
<h2>Decoration</h2><br>
<p>The decorative elements at Hishams Palace are some of the finest representations of Umayyad period art and are well documented in the publications of Robert Hamilton. The most famous artistic aspect of the site is the "tree of life" mosaic in the diwan of the bath complex, although the mosaic floor of the main bath hall is no less impressive. All of the mosaics found at Hishams Palace are of very high quality and feature a wide variety of colors and figural motifs.</p><br>
<p>The carved stucco found at the site is also of exceptional quality. Of particular note is the statue depicting a male figure with a sword, often presumed to be the caliph, which stood in a niche above the entrance to the bath hall. Additional male and female figures carved in stucco, some semi-nude, adorn the bath complex. Geometric and vegetal patterns are also quite common.</p><br>
<p>While Hamilton described the carvings at Hishams Palace as amateurish and chaotic, many subsequent art historians have noted similarities with Iranian themes. Hana Taragan has argued that the artistic themes seen at the site are Levantine examples of an Islamic visual language of power that coalesced from Sasanian influences in Iraq. Priscilla Soucek has also drawn attention to the sites representation of the Islamic myth of Solomon.</p><br>
<h2>Occupational History</h2><br>
<p>The site is commonly thought to have been destroyed and abandoned by the earthquake of 747/8, but an analysis of Baramkis detailed reporting shows that this is incorrect. Instead the ceramic record indicates that the occupation continued through the Ayyubid-Mamluk period, with a significant phase of occupation between 900–1000. Further excavations will no doubt contribute to a more detailed picture of the sites continued use through different periods.</p><br>
<h2>Heritage</h2><br>
<p>Hishams Palace is the most archaeologically important Islamic monument in Palestine, and is a major attraction for both visitors and Palestinians. In 2010, according to figures collected by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the site received 43,455 visitors. The site is a common field trip destination for Palestinian schoolchildren. Foreign visitors who enter Palestine through the nearby Allenby Bridge often make Hishams Palace their first stop. The site has been visited by foreign dignitaries, and was recently the set for a production of Shakespeare&#39;s Richard II.</p><br>
<p>According to Global Heritage Fund (GHF), the rapid urban development of Jericho, as well as expansion of agricultural activity in the area, are limiting archaeologists’ access to the site, much of which remain unexplored. Conservation efforts aimed at protecting important structures have been hindered by lack of resources. In a 2010 report titled Saving Our Vanishing Heritage, GHF identified Hisham&#39;s Palace as one of 12 worldwide heritage sites most "On the Verge" of irreparable loss and destruction. H. Taha, director of antiquities has published reports concerning the preservation of this and other sites in the Jericho region.</p><br>
<p>Dockery Plantation was a 25,600 acre cotton plantation and sawmill in Dockery, Mississippi, on the Sunflower River between Ruleville and Cleveland, Mississippi. It is widely regarded as the place where Delta blues music was born. Blues musicians resident at Dockery included Charlie Patton, Robert Johnson and Howlin&#39; Wolf. The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The plantation was started in 1895 by Will Dockery (1865–1936), a graduate of the University of Mississippi who originally bought the land for its timber but soon recognised the richness of its soil. At the time, much of the Delta area was still a wilderness of cypress and gum trees, roamed by panthers and wolves and plagued with mosquitoes. The land was gradually cleared and drained for cotton cultivation, which encouraged an influx of black labourers. Some became settled sharecroppers, who would work a portion of the land in return for a share of the crop, while others were itinerant workers. Dockery earned a good reputation for treating his workers and sharecroppers fairly and thus attracted workers from throughout the South.</p><br>
<p>Dockery’s land was relatively remote, but was opened up for development by a new branch of the Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, known as the Yellow Dog. Around 1900, Dockery had a rail terminal built on his plantation, so connecting his land with the main rail system at Rosedale. Because of its circuitous route, this local line was known as the "Pea Vine".</p><br>
<p>Dockery Plantation eventually supported over 2,000 workers, who were paid in the plantation’s own coins. In addition to the railroad terminal, it had its own general store, post office, school, doctor, and churches. The workers’ quarters included boardinghouses, where they lived, socialized and played music, particularly guitars, which had been introduced to the area by Mexican workers in the 1890s. Dockery took no interest in his workers&#39; music, but he made it easy for them to travel and to spend their leisure time as they pleased.</p><br>
<p>Charley Patton and his family are believed to have moved around 1900 to the Dockery Plantation, where he came under the influence of an older musician, Henry Sloan. In turn, Patton became the central figure of a group of blues musicians including Willie Brown, Tommy Johnson, and Eddie "Son" House, who played around the local area. Because of its location, central to Sunflower County’s black population of some 35,000 in 1920, the plantation became known as a centre for informal musical entertainment. By the mid-1920s, the group widened to include a younger generation of musicians, including Robert Johnson, Chester "Howlin’ Wolf" Burnett, Roebuck "Pops" Staples, and David "Honeyboy" Edwards. Some of these were itinerant workers while others lived more permanently on the farms.</p><br>
<p>In 1936, the plantation was inherited by Joe Rice Dockery (1906–1982). With agricultural mechanisation and the employment attractions of the larger cities further north, the plantation settlements gradually disappeared, although some of the historic buildings remain. The farm later diversified to produce corn, rice and soybeans. Later members of the Dockery family have established a foundation to fund research into the Delta blues.</p><br>
<p>The property was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Today the site hosts a small number of private tours, lectures, and events in partnership with the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, Delta State University, and other academic and cultural institutions.</p><br>
<h2>Historical marker</h2><br>
<p>A marker designating Dockery Plantation as a site on the Mississippi Blues Trail is an acknowledgment of the important contribution of the plantation to the development of the blues in Mississippi.</p><br>
<p>The marker was placed in Cleveland, Mississippi. Governor Haley Barbour stated</p><br>
<p>The Elk City Reservoir is a reservoir located 7 mi east of Elk City, Kansas. The dam that forms the lake was constructed by the USA Army Corps of Engineers. It has approximately 4,500 acres  of water, and 12,000 acres  of wildlife, and a total of over 50 miles  of shoreline.</p><br>
<p>There are six hiking trails at the Elk City Reservoir, two of which are notable for receiving a National Trails designation. The scenic Elk River hiking trail is 15 miles (24 km) long, and goes from the west edge of the dam westward to the bridge on Elk River. The Table Mound hiking trail is 2.75 miles long and runs along the east side of the lake from a scenic overlook at the dam to the Timber Road campground. Other trails include the 2/3 miles long Post Oak Self-Guided Nature Trail at the scenic overlook, the 1 mile long Green Thumb Nature Trail at the Timber Road campground, the paved and handicapped accessible 3.3 miles long South Squaw Multipurpose trail, and the 2.33 miles long Timber Ridge Hiking Trail southwest of the lake. There is also a four miles long Eagle Rock Mountain Biking Trail which begins along the Elk River just north of the reservoir outlet.</p><br>
<p>Bernam River  is located between the Malaysian states of Perak and Selangor, demarcating the border of the two states. Bernam River flows from Mount Liang Timur in the east on the Titiwangsa Mountains to the Straits of Malacca in the west. The peak of Mount Liang Timur itself marks the point where Pahang, Perak and Selangor meet.</p><br>
<p>The eastern part of the river is suitable for palm oil and rubber tree plantation while swamps fill the western areas. A percentage of the swampy areas have been reclaimed and dried up by a drainage system. Some has been converted into paddy fields.</p><br>
<p>Archeologists have discovered several archaeological sites along the river, where ancient artifacts were found. Excavation works had been carried out by experts from various local universities and Muzium Sultan Alam Shah.</p><br>
<p>Carter G. Woodson Home National Historic Site at 1538 9th Street NW, in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, D.C., preserves the home of Carter G. Woodson . Woodson, the founder of Black History Month, was an African-American historian, author, and journalist.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The property served as Dr. Woodson&#39;s home from 1915 until his death in 1950. From this three-story Victorian rowhouse, Woodson managed the operations of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, published the Negro History Bulletin and the Journal of Negro History, operated Associated Publishers, and pursued his own research</p><br>
<p>and writing about African-American history. The home continued to serve as the national headquarters of the Association until the early 1970s.</p><br>
<p>The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 but became vacant in the 1990s. In 2001, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed the site on its annual "Americas Most Endangered PlacesAmericas 11 Most Endangered Historic</p><br>
<p>Places" list. With advocacy by the NTHP, the DC Preservation League, community activists, and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, the National Historic Site was authorized by Public Law 108-192 on December 19, 2003, and established by Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton on February 27, 2006. The property was acquired by the National Park Service in 2005. The home is still vacant and closed to the public but the rehabilitation of the home is currently being planned by the National Park Service in partnership with local architecture firm Beyer Blinder Belle.</p><br>
<p>Lake Bronson State Park is a state park off of Kittson County Highway 28 East near Lake Bronson in the northwestern corner of Minnesota.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The park is now dominated by Lake Bronson. As well as being a transition between prairie and forest lands which allows for a variety of wildlife. Thousands of years ago the area was covered by Glacial Lake Agassiz. Lake Agassiz retreated in stages leaving gravel ridges along a generally flat terrain. Streams quietly cut through these ridges and the dam that created Lake Bronson is blocking one of these ridges along the South Branch of the Two Rivers.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Kittson County has no natural lakes, which is unusual for Minnesota. In the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, Kittson County was going through a drought. Local officials decided to build a reservoir on the South Branch of Two Rivers near the city of Bronson. Supporters lobbied the state and federal government to fund the project, and in 1936, funding was finally made available. By this time, the plan had evolved into a recreation area in addition to the reservoir. Kittson County was lacking in recreation facilities, and officials realized that county residents and tourists would appreciate a park.</p><br>
<p>Construction of the reservoir started in April 1936 with crews from the Works Progress Administration. It was difficult to find a stable bedrock foundation for the dam, so crews needed to squeeze water from the "quicksand" foundation. Pumps were used to pull water from the quicksand while the dam was built. Since the sand would get wet and soft again, the pumps were not a permanent solution. Rather, the dam was designed with ten seepage pipes that drain into a drainage tunnel passing through the dam&#39;s three spillways. The dam, completed in June 1937, created a 325 acre reservoir and was well received by local residents.</p><br>
<p>The land surrounding the new reservoir was designated a state park, and several fieldstone structures were built. The most prominent of these was a 45 ft hexagonal stone water tower. Other structures, such as an office, a garage, a picnic shelter, and bathing facilities followed. In 1939, the city of Bronson renamed itself "Lake Bronson" to commemorate the new reservoir.</p><br>
<p>The park is now a prime recreational destination in northwest Minnesota, visited by tourists from North Dakota and southern Canada as well as Minnesotans. Fishing, swimming, canoeing, and water skiing are popular on the lake, and snowmobiling and cross-country skiing are enjoyed during the winter. The park was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.</p><br>
<h2>Media References</h2><br>
<p>The park is continually mentioned in David Robbins Endworld series of books, as it is the home of the Family (the main characters in the Series) known as The Home.</p><br>
<p>The Sierra de Gredos is a mountain range in central Spain that spans the provinces of Ávila, Salamanca, Cáceres, Madrid, and Toledo. It is part of the much larger Central System of mountain ranges. Its highest point is Pico Almanzor, at 2,592 metres and it has been declared a natural park by the Autonomous Community of Castile and León. The Sierra de Gredos is one of the most extensive mountain ranges of the Central System; it comprises five river valleys: the Alto Tormes, the Alto Alberche, the Tiétar Oriental, the Tiétar Occidental y la Vera, and the Valle del Ambroz. The first known inhabitants were the Vettones, a pre-Roman Celtic people. The central part of the range encomprises the Sierra de Gredos Regional Park.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Sierra de Gredos comprises mainly granite, which is a common type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock which is granular and phaneritic in texture. This rock consists mainly of quartz, mica, and feldspar. In some Gredos rocks the feldspar crystals are especially large, attaining a size of several centimeters in some cases. There is also some granodiorite and outcrops of metamorphic rocks.</p><br>
<p>During a large part of the Paleozoic Era, from 600 to 350 million years ago, the whole area was covered by the Tethys Ocean where horizontal layers or strata of sediments accumulated due to the process of erosion in the unflooded regions. These sediments were fractured and folded due to the actions of the Variscan Orogeny and extensive areas emerged from the sea. At the end of the Paleozoic molten magma rose up which turned into granite as it cooled. Erosion continued for a long time until between 40 and 2 million years ago, when another convulsion, known as the Alpine Orogeny, created the mountains that today comprise the Central System. The tectonic style of the Sierra de Gredos is the so-called Germanic style, i.e. with large upraised fault blocks, known as horst, bounded by graben.</p><br>
<p>The Sierra de Gredos is divided into three sectors: the Eastern sector up to the Puerto del Pico fault, the Central sector up to the Puerto de Tornavacas fault, and the Western sector which is the Sierra de Béjar.</p><br>
<h2>Eastern section</h2><br>
<p>Rises in the south near the North Tietar fault. The northern limit of the horst is structured by a system of faults that run to the north-east, such as the Burguillo fault, and also in an east-west direction, like the Navaluenga fault, along which the Alberche river runs. The highest peaks of this sector are the following:</p><br>
<p>Alto del Mirlo 1.770 m (Casillas)</p><br>
<p>La Escusa 1.960 m</p><br>
<p>Gamonosa 1.993 m (Casavieja)</p><br>
<p>Lanchamala 1.999 m (Piedralaves)</p><br>
<p>El Torozo 2.025 m</p><br>
<p>Risco de Miravalles 2.010 m (Gavilanes)</p><br>
<p>Risco del Artuñero 2.011 m</p><br>
<p>Cabezo de Gavilanes 2.190 m (Gavilanes)</p><br>
<h2>Lakes</h2><br>
<p>Laguna Grande de Gredos</p><br>
<p>Las Cinco Lagunas</p><br>
<p>Laguna del Barco</p><br>
<p>Laguna de los Caballeros</p><br>
<p>Laguna de la Nava</p><br>
<p>Lagunas del Trampal</p><br>
<p>Laguna del Duque</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>The main species to be found in the Sierra de Gredos are the following:</p><br>
<p>The Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica)</p><br>
<p>The roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)</p><br>
<p>The red-legged partridge (Alectoris rufa)</p><br>
<p>The golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos)</p><br>
<p>The Spanish imperial eagle (Aquila adalberti)</p><br>
<p>The European honey buzzard (Pernis apivorus)</p><br>
<p>The cinereous vulture (Aegypius monachus)</p><br>
<p>The griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus)</p><br>
<h3>Endemic species</h3><br>
<p>The common toad of Gredos (Bufo bufo gredosicola)</p><br>
<p>The fire salamander of Almanzor (Salamandra salamandra almanzoris)</p><br>
<p>The European snow vole of Avila (Microtus nivalis abulensis)</p><br>
<p>The western Spanish ibex (Capra pyrenaica victoriae)</p><br>
<p>The lagartija carpetana (Iberolacerta cyreni), a species of lizard</p><br>
<h2>Flora</h2><br>
<p>The variety of plant life in the Sierra de Gredos is closely related to the altitude at which it is found. In ascending order, the following species of trees can be found: holm oak (or holly oak), chestnut, alder, rowan (or mountain ash), birch, aspen, willow, Pyrenean oak, replaced in some areas by pine. At higher altitudes there are mostly bushes of the genus Cytisus (brooms), juniper and several species of camomile.</p><br>
<p>Four different layers of vegetation have been identified:.</p><br>
<p>the base layer, or holm oak layer, 300–550 m</p><br>
<p>the Pyrenean oak layer, 550–1800 m</p><br>
<p>the broom layer, 1800–2300 m</p><br>
<p>and the open field layer at the peaks, 2300–2600 m</p><br>
<p>Litton Reservoirs  are two reservoirs near the village of Litton, Somerset, England. They are operated by Bristol Water.</p><br>
<p>They lie on the boundary between Bath and North East Somerset and Mendip districts.</p><br>
<p>The individual lakes are called Lower Litton and Upper Litton. The former is 8 acre in size, the latter 16 acre and much deeper. They were built around 1850 by the Bristol Waterworks Company in conjunction with the "Line of Works" to bring water from the Mendip Hills to Bristol.</p><br>
<p>A public footpath goes around the lakes and across the dam. The banks are home to a variety of flowers including; Primroses (Primula vulgaris), Common Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta, sometimes Endymion non-scriptus or Scilla non-scripta), Wood anemone (Anemone nemorosa), Violets and Campion.</p><br>
<p>Several species of birds are frequent visitors including; Moorhen (Gallinula), Coot (Fulica), Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos), Swan and Tufted duck (Aythya fuligula).</p><br>
<p>Fishing (under permit) is generally for rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and brown trout (Salmo trutta). Fish breeding takes place in the netted area immediately below the upper dam is the site for fish breeding.</p><br>
<h2>Photographs</h2><br>
<p>Folsom Powerhouse State Historic Park is a historical site preserving an 1895 alternating current  hydroelectric power station—one of the first in the United States.</p><br>
<p>Before the Folsom powerhouse was built nearly all electric power houses were using direct current (DC) generators powered by steam engines located within a very few miles of where the power was needed. The use of rushing water to generate hydroelectric power and then transmitting it long distances to where it could be used was not initially economically feasible as long as the electricity generated was low-voltage direct current. Once it was invented, AC power made it feasible to convert the electrical power to high voltage by using the newly invented transformers and to then economically transmit the power long distances to where it was needed. Lower voltage electrical power, which is much easier and safer to use, could be easily gotten by using transformers to convert the high voltage power to lower voltages near where it was being used. DC power cannot use a transformer to change its voltage. The Folsom Powerhouse, using part of the American Rivers rushing water to power its turbines connected to newly invented AC generators, generated three phase 60 cycle AC electricity (the same thats used today in the United States) that was boosted by newly invented transformers from 800 volts as generated to 11,000 volts and transmitted to Sacramento over a 22 mi (35 km)-long distribution line, one of the longest electrical distribution lines in the United States at the time.</p><br>
<h2>Introduction</h2><br>
<p>In Sacramento the 11,000 volts AC power was transformed down to a lower voltage near where it was needed for use. The Folsom Powerhouse was one of the first examples of significant electrical power being generated and economically shipped to where it could be used. Hydroelectric power had been demonstrated as a viable source of economical power despite being located a significant distances from the users. The Folsom Powerhouse is located 23 mi above Sacramento on the American River in the city of Folsom.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The power station remained in operation until 1952 when the original Folsom dam across the American River was destroyed to make way for the new much larger Folsom Dam. The powerhouse was shut down after 57 years of continuous operation. Pacific Gas and Electric, who bought the original hydroelectric plant in 1902, donated the plant and most of its equipment to the State of California when the new Folsom Dam and hydroelectric plant was built. The State of California designated the site as California Historical Landmark Number #633. The 35 acre historic park was established in 1956. The powerhouse was designated a USA National Historic Landmark in 1981. The two-story brick and granite Powerhouse looks much as it did in 1895. Its imposing generators, and the Tennessee marble-faced control switchboard stand as imposingly as they did more than a hundred years ago. Historic photos, interpretive exhibits and docent guided tours by the California State Park Service explain how the powerhouse worked. Some of the original water turbines, generators, etc. are still in place.</p><br>
<p>Before AC electric generators and the newly invented transformers were invented only DC electrical generators could be used to generate electrical power and they were restricted by their low voltage requirements to economically transmitting power for only a few miles. Too much power was lost in transmission at low voltage for long distance power transmission to be practical. This meant the original power stations were restricted (at that time) to local steam generating plants built right in each local neighborhood. Pearl Street Station was the first central power plant in the United States. It was located at 255-257 Pearl Street in downtown Manhattan on a site measuring 50 by 100 feet (15 by 30 m), just south of Fulton Street. It began with one direct current generator powered by a coal burning steam engine, and it started generating electricity on September 4, 1882, serving an initial load of 400 incandescent lamps used by 85 customers located within about 2 mi of the station. Using transformers to convert the generated power to a much higher voltage for transmission allowed the power plants and users to be separated by hundreds of miles if needed. The high voltage could then use transformers to obtain lower voltages for final use.</p><br>
<p>Single point failures were minimized in the plant design. The AC generators and their associated water turbines were so large that they could not be shipped by rail and were shipped 19,000 mi around Cape Horn by ship. Only two of the four alternating current generators were operating on July 13, 1895 when the powerhouse provided the first electricity to Sacramento via 22 mi of transmission lines, making it one of the first places in the United States to transmit long-distance hydroelectric power. The Folsom power plant predates Niagara Falls Adams power House generating AC electrical transmission for local use and shipment to Buffalo, New York in 1897. The International Electro-Technical Exhibition - 1891 in Frankfurt am Main Germany demonstrated an earlier instance of long distance AC transmission of hydroelectric power. Westinghouse Electric Company and General Electric were in a race to develop better equipment and bring it to the United States.</p><br>
<h2>Water supply</h2><br>
<p>The water for the original Folsom hydroelectric plant was obtained from a diversion dam, 650 ft long, 24 ft wide at the top; 87 ft wide at the bottom and 89 ft tall, across the American River built in the 1890s.</p><br>
<p>The dam diverted a large stream of water into a 2.5 mi long diversion canal—the East Canal. This canal was 50 ft wide and 8 ft deep, carrying about 85,000 ft&sup3; of water per minute. The canal paralleled the river but sloped much less steeply gradually getting about 85 ft above the river. The dam and canal were completed in 1893 under the direction of Horatio Gates Livermore who originally thought to use the power of the falling water to power a sawmill. Livermore utilized in part contracted prison labor from the nearby Folsom State Prison to help build the dam and canal. The geometry of the canal forebay and the American River gave the Folsom power plant a Hydraulic head of water of about 85 ft (about 70 ft was usable) before its water was discharged back into the American River. Initially only about 35 ft of this hydraulic head was used. The water from the canal ended in a forebay where water borne debris was separated from the water and it was fed into four large 8 ft penstocks and two smaller penstocks. All penstocks had water gates that could be closed to turn the water off on any turbine for maintenance. The AC generators, some of the largest designed and built up to that time, were powered via four penstocks full of rushing water driving four large turbines.</p><br>
<h2>Turbines</h2><br>
<p>The four large water turbines, some of the largest built up to that time, were made by S. Morgan Smith Works of York, Pennsylvania. There were two small penstocks plus turbines for the two DC generators.</p><br>
<p>Rushing water from the American River passing through four large water turbines powered the four AC generators and two more turbines powered smaller DC generators.</p><br>
<h2>Governors</h2><br>
<p>The four large turbines were connected directly to the alternating current generators and their speed controlled by adjusting the water flow, with a centrifugal governor, to obtain 300 shaft rpm—needed to generate a steady 60 cycle current.</p><br>
<h2>Alternators</h2><br>
<p>The four alternating current generators are some of the most powerful rotating armature 3-phase machines ever built.</p><br>
<p>Newly invented by Elihu Thomson, they weighed almost 30 tons each (57,887 pounds) and were 8.5 ft. These original AC generators used many DC generator components in their first design. The 750-kilowatt (1,005 horsepower) alternating current generators were made in the newly incorporated General Electric plant in Schenectady, New York.</p><br>
<p>The alternators had rotating armatures with 216 radial 4 inch slots formed into the perimeter. Each slot holds two insulated 3 1/2 foot rectangular inductive bars of related phase, an inner circle of 216 bars and an outside circle of 216 bars. The induction bars are twice bent into offsets in the same direction. The middle of the bar has a straight section 3 feet long, to get from the front of the rotor to the back. The inner circle of bars is connected to the outer circle by small conductive jumper blocks on the front and back of the rotor. The rotor&#39;s three phases are connected to six branch circuits. Each of the six branch circuits make their way three times progressively around the rotor in right hand flattened spirals.</p><br>
<p>Supplying power for the 24 stator (non-rotating) field coil magnets on the AC generators was a small direct current generator with another DC generator in standby mode for immediate substitution if needed. If one DC generator failed or needed maintenance the other one could be used.</p><br>
<p>All four AC generators power were connected to each other, when long-term demand increased and it was found that tying generators together improved frequency control, by synchronizing action.</p><br>
<h2>Switch panel</h2><br>
<p>To allow customers to use electric clocks regulated by synchronous motors, a Frequency "Indicator" was added to the Powerhouse switchboard.</p><br>
<p>File:Alternator Frequency Meter.JPGFolsom Powerhouse Frequency Indicator</p><br>
<p>To allow parallel alternators and power grid, a Synchroscope was added to the Switch Panel.</p><br>
<h2>Transmission lines</h2><br>
<p>The AC power generated (about 4,020 horse power or 3MW) at the Folsom hydroelectric facility was converted to 11,000 volts at the power plant by twelve new (in 1895) air cooled transformers invented by William Stanley, Jr. and transmitted to Sacramento on twelve bare #1 AVG copper wires held by ceramic insulators that were attached to the cross beams mounted on two sets of 40 ft cedar poles. The multiple wires allowed four independent three phase lines to be used. This allowed for repairs, maintenance and new installations without shutting the whole system down. The poles were planted about 105 ft apart to string the power lines. Telephone lines were run beneath the power lines. Once in Sacramento the high voltage power was shipped near where it was going to be used and transformed down to a lower voltage for use—the same as electrical power is shipped and used today. By 1895 almost 900 electric street railways and nearly 11,000 miles (18,000 km) of track had been built in the United States and they were then one of the main users of electrical energy. Direct current electric motors, as used on electrical streetcars, were restricted in use to being only a few miles from the DC generators. DC power, despite its restrictions, had become very useful. A rotary converter, a type of motor generator, was used to convert alternating current (AC) to direct current (DC) for railway electrification from an AC power source. Factories were also heavy power users.</p><br>
<p>Transforming AC voltages up to high voltages for long distance transmission and down to lower voltages at locations close to their use was a very attractive way to get access to a new source of power. Improvements in transformer design allowed the original air cooled transformers at the Folsom powerhouse to be replaced in 1900 with more efficient oil cooled transformers.</p><br>
<p>The alternating current electric induction motor was independently introduced in 1888 by Galileo Ferraris and Nikola Tesla, by 1895 was beginning to allow electrical power to replace steam as a power source. The induction motor allowed alternating current to be used directly without any conversions. The first heavy AC motor users were various factories which typically replaced their steam power plants. Alternating current electrical power and its easy conversion with transformers from low to high voltage and back to low voltage made possible the widespread electrical grids we routinely use today for a myriad of tasks.</p><br>
<p>On September 9, 1895, the new power provided by the powerhouse was celebrated in a "Grand Electric Carnival" decorating the Sacramento state capital with thousands of light bulbs to celebrate the 45th anniversary of California statehood.</p><br>
<h2>Lower powerhouse</h2><br>
<p>A second powerhouse was constructed below the original facility in 1897 to house an additional 750-kilowatt AC generator to meet the growing residential and public transit electricity demands of Sacramento. This generator was separated from the turbine turning it by about a 20 ft rope belt pulley system. As new uses and users for electricity increased, by the early 1900s the demand for electricity in Sacramento and its adjacent cities had out-paced the capacity of the expanded Folsom Powerhouse. Larger hydroelectric plants and dams were built along the Yuba, Feather, and Tuolumne Rivers in order to provide power for Northern California. The San Francisco-based California Gas and Electric Company bought the Folsom Powerhouse by 1902. When the company was reorganized into the Pacific Gas and Electric Company in 1906, it retooled the powerhouse and forebay.</p><br>
<p>Franks Tract State Recreation Area is a state park unit of California, USA, featuring a flooded area in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. It is accessible only by water. Franks Tract is situated between the False River and Bethel Island. The recreation area is used primarily for fishing and waterfowl hunting. In times of high water, the entire site can be submerged except for portions of the old levees. The 3,523 acre park was established in 1959. It is managed from nearby Brannan Island State Recreation Area, 6 mi to the northwest.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Franks Tract was once the United States&#39; second-largest source of peat, after the Everglades. The site was originally reclaimed between 1902 and 1906 and given over to farming of potatoes, beans, asparagus, sugar beets, onions, seed crops, small grains, and corn. In February 1937 Franks Tract was inundated and reclaimed by October, but in February 1938 the False River levee broke and Franks Tract was flooded and never reclaimed. The United States Navy used a 500 acre portion of the area as a bombing target known as Antioch Bombing Target from 1943 to 1952.</p><br>
<h2>Franks Tract gallery</h2><br>
