<p>The Easter Group is the central of three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos island chain. Nominally located at , it is about 20 kilometres by 12 kilometres, and consists of a number of islands including</p><br>
<p>* Rat Island</p><br>
<p>* Wooded Island</p><br>
<p>* Morley Island</p><br>
<p>* Suomi Island</p><br>
<p>* Alexander Island. Unlike the other groups the Easter Group has few shipwrecks. The group is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.</p><br>
<p>The group was discovered and named in April 1840 by the crew of HMS Beagle, under the command of John Clements Wickham. Stoke&#39;s journal, published as Discoveries in Australia in 1846, records the following for April 11:</p><br>
<p>The Pelsaert Group is the southernmost of the three groups of islands that make up the Houtman Abrolhos island chain. Nominally located at , it consists of a number of islands, the largest of which are Gun Island, Middle Island, and Pelsaert Island. The group is named after a Dutch "opperkoopman" who stranded nearby with the VOC-ship "Batavia" in 1629. The group contains the most southerly true coral reefs in the Indian Ocean. The group is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.</p><br>
<p>A great many ships have been wrecked in the Pelsaert Group. The most notable wreck is the Zeewijk, which was wrecked on the Half Moon Reef in 1727, the survivors staying on Gun Island for some time afterwards. Other wrecks include the Ocean Queen, wrecked on the Half Moon Reef in 1842; the Ben Ledi, wrecked off Pelsaert Island in 1879; and the Windsor, wrecked on the Half Moon Reef in 1908.</p><br>
<p>The Bob White Covered Bridge, also known as the Lower Covered Bridge or Woolwine Covered Bridge, was a county-owned wooden covered bridge that spanned the Smith River in Patrick County, Virginia, United States. It was located on the old portion of Bob White Road  off State Route 8 southeast of the community of Woolwine, about 13 miles  north of Stuart. Coordinates were 36&deg;46&prime;44.82&Prime;N latitude, 80&deg;14&prime;51.26&Prime;W longitude .</p><br>
<p>Built in 1921, the 80-foot (24-meter) bridge was a Queen-post truss construction over two spans. Its WGCB number was 46-68-01. The Bob White Covered Bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 22, 1973. It was one of two historic covered bridges remaining in Patrick County, maintained by the Patrick County government. The bridge washed away and was destroyed in major flooding on September 29, 2015, and subsequently removed from the National Register in 2017.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The Bob White Covered Bridge was constructed by Walter G. Weaver of Woolwine, named for the former Bob White Post Office, which in turn was named after the bobwhite quails that inhabit the area. It served as an access route to the Smith River Church of the Brethren, located on the south side of the river. The bridge was bypassed to the west with a concrete bridge in 1981. Although closed to motor traffic, the Bob White Covered Bridge still attracted numerous visitors. The bridge was the site of annual horse-drawn wagon rides as part of the Patrick County Covered Bridge Festival held every June.</p><br>
<p>Crested Butte is a prominent mountain summit in the Elk Mountains range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The 12,168 ft peak is located in Gunnison National Forest, 3.4 km northeast by east  of the Town of Crested Butte in Gunnison County, Colorado, United States. Ski lifts and runs of the Crested Butte Mountain Resort occupy the north side of the mountain.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for Crested Butte is "Dfc" which is continental subarctic. This climate type is dominated by the winter season with a long, bitterly cold period of minimal daylight hours, heavy snowfall and low humidity. The annual snowfall average is 198.4 in with January recording the highest average snowfall at 40 in. July is the warmest month with an average temperature of 57.2 &deg;F while January is the coldest month with an average temperature of 11.8 &deg;F. The average temperature for the year is 34.7 &deg;F.</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>Crested Butte is a laccolith, formed when magma intruded into Mancos Shale approximately 30 million years ago. Subsequently the softer, overlying sedimentary rock has eroded away, exposing the more resistant igneous rock. The bulk of Crested Butte is composed of quartz monzonite porphyry and granodiorite porphyry. The lower slopes consist of Mancos Shale overlain with debris from the granitic slopes above. The Mancos Shale at the base of Crested Butte can be an unstable substrate for building and result in geologic hazards such as landslides and earthflows.</p><br>
<p>Crested Butte is one of over a dozen laccoliths in the Elk and adjacent West Elk Mountains. The magma intrusions associated with these laccoliths resulted in contact metamorphism of the surrounding sedimentary rock and mineralization. The metamorphism also altered the bituminous coal present in the sedimentary rock into a higher quality coal, including anthracite, which was mined extensively in the Crested Butte area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.</p><br>
<p>South Candler Street–Agnes Scott College Historic District is a historic district in Decatur, Georgia that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994. It includes Agnes Scott College, also known as Decatur Female Seminary  and as Agnes Scott Institute , and Little Decatur.</p><br>
<p>In 1994 it included 88 contributing buildings, two contributing structures, and a contributing object, as well as 19 non-contributing buildings and two non-contributing structures.</p><br>
<p>The oldest house in the district is the Italianate C. M. Candler House (1870s) at 158 South Candler. Another old one is the George Washington Scott House (1883) at 312 South Candler Street which has a double gambrel roof and Queen Anne detailing.</p><br>
<p>The oldest building on the campus is Agnes Scott Hall (1891), known also simply as "Main," a three-story, brick building designed by local architects Bruce and Morgan.</p><br>
<p>Beira Lake is a lake in the center of the city of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The lake is surrounded by many large businesses in the city. It occupied approximately 165 hectares of land 100 years ago and has been reduced to mere 65 hectares today due to various reasons. During the colonial era of the Portuguese, and the English the lake was used for a wide variety of purposes It still retains its Portuguese name. It is connected to many intricate canals providing easy way of transporting goods within the city and suburban cities.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The lake was built by the Portuguese to provide protection to Colombo from enemies mainly local kings. In 1578, Mayadunne of the Kingdom of Sitawaka attempted to cut of supplies to the invaders but failed to drain the lake. His son Rajasingha I succeeded in 1587 to drain the crocodile infested lake by curring off several canals but failed to defeat the Portuguese as they brought reinforcements from India through sea.</p><br>
<p>After the Dutch laid siege and captured the lake it was expanded and created several islands such as the Slave Island some of them were large enough to have a village and a plantation of 600 coconut trees. After the British took control they removed the crocodiles and developed the area surrounding the lake for recreational activities such as rowing and yachting. The area around the lake was popular for parties including a grand ball that was held to celebrate the news of British victory in Waterloo.Ceylon&#39;s first botanical garden the Kew Gardens was opened in the slave island in 1810 to cultivate seedlings provided by the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in London.</p><br>
<p>By the 19th century land reclamation for development began and the land area of the lake was reduced, pollution also began to increase.</p><br>
<h2>Greater Beira</h2><br>
<p>Lined with many large warehouses, reminiscent of its past when tea used to be transported to the port of Colombo on barges via the port access canal, the lake now is very quiet with many of the warehouses been abandoned.</p><br>
<p>With maximum length of 1 mile, the lake has been home to Colombo Rowing Club for over 140 years.</p><br>
<p>The Sri Lanka Exhibition and Convention Centre is located on the waterfront, further the People&#39;s Bank and the Inland Revenue Department headquarters are located in close to the lake. The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Limited is housed in the nearby "Lake House" building.</p><br>
<p>The lake with many government owned properties has been earmarked for development including a casino district on its McCullum road water front.</p><br>
<h2>Flora and fauna</h2><br>
<p>The lake is home to species of storks, pelicans, monitor lizards and various species of fish.</p><br>
<h2>Pollution</h2><br>
<p>The lake gets its famous green color and usually bad odor due to the result of pollution over hundreds of years and algae that is present in the water. The bad smell is mostly prominent during dry weather, due to the high rates evaporation and it fades off with the arrival of The Rainy season</p><br>
<h2>Beira Lake Restoration</h2><br>
<p>The Beira lake plays a major role in the Western Region Megapolis Project. Under the project the Beira lake is expected to be cleaned and developed with Singaporean assistance and private sector involvement. Waterways will be cleared by blocking illegal water outlets and sewerage lines into the lake and relocating settlements that dump waste to the lake in the area to social housing units. Under the Megapolis plan after the restoration a Shopping district ,an Enternainment district and a promenade will be created in the area around the Beira lake alongside many hotels and mixed development projects.</p><br>
<p>Lyon Mountain is a mountain located in Clinton County, New York, of which its peak is the highest point.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is named for Nathaniel Lyon, an early settler of the area who moved from Vermont in 1803 and died circa 1850.</p><br>
<p>Lyon Mountain stands within the watershed of the Saint Lawrence River, and into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.</p><br>
<p>The northeast slopes of Lyon Mtn. drain into Chazy Lake, the source of the Great Chazy River, and Lake Champlain, which drains into Canada&#39;s Richelieu River, thence into the Saint Lawrence River.</p><br>
<p>The southeast slopes of Lyon Mtn. drain into Smithkill Brook, thence into True Brook, the Saranac River, and Lake Champlain.</p><br>
<p>The southwest end of Lyon drains into Cold Brook, thence into the North Branch of the Saranac River.</p><br>
<p>The west slopes of Lyon drain into Standish Brook, thence into Middle Kiln Brook, Upper and Lower Chateaugay Lakes, the source of the Chateaugay River, which drains into the Saint Lawrence River in Canada.</p><br>
<p>The northwest slopes of Lyon drain into Separator Brook, thence into Upper Chateaugay Lake.</p><br>
<p>Lyon Mountain Mountain Fire Observation Station, built in 1917, still stands atop the mountain, and can be accessed by hikers.</p><br>
<p>Lyon Mountain is within New York&#39;s Adirondack Park.</p><br>
<p>The original Winnibigoshish Lake Dam was built 1881-1884, in order to regulate the flow of water on the Upper Mississippi River. A constant flow was desired by loggers, fur traders, and millers downstream at St. Anthony Falls. The dam crosses the county line between Cass County and Itasca County, and lies within the Leech Lake Indian Reservation in the USA state of Minnesota. It is located 408 mi north of Saint Paul, and creates Lake Winnibigoshish, Minnesota&#39;s fifth largest lake, at 67,000 acre.</p><br>
<h2>Damage caused by the dam</h2><br>
<p>At the time of the construction of the original dam, the region was inhabited almost exclusively by Ojibwa Indians, who had lived on the shores of this part of the river for many generations, as documented by the explorer, Henry Schoolcraft. The United States Army Corps of Engineers used 2,000,000 board-feet (4720 cubic meters) of pine for the dam and related buildings, wiping out large sections of conifer forests. Along the shores were the Ojibwas hay fields, maple trees, gardens, cranberry marshes, wild rice marshes, villages, and burial mounds. A staple in their diet was fish, which they caught with nets placed in the swift and shallow river current. Construction of the dam raised the water level by 14 ft, not only obliterating the natives homes and history, but also wiping out their fisheries. Recent archeological research has shown that the burial mounds and ceramic fragments dated from 700&ndash;1000 ce. The construction of this dam was a significant milestone in the historical record of white, Western European settlers, Christian missionaries, and commercial interests eradicating the indigenous population from most of Minnesota.</p><br>
<h2>Replacement dam</h2><br>
<p>The 1899 dam, which is in the National Register of Historic Places, replaced the 1884 dam, substituting concrete for wooden components. By the 1920s, Minnesotans were flocking to the area in search of pristine camping, fishing, and hunting grounds. The Northlands Camp built a hotel, cabins, and a store for the throngs of tourists. Today, scores of locks and dams effectively control the water level on the Upper Mississippi River, aiding navigation and averting most adverse flooding, and the tourism continues to be a significant contributor to the region&#39;s economy.</p><br>
<p>Nutaarmiut Island  is an uninhabited island in the Qaasuitsup municipality in northwestern Greenland, with an area of 377 km&sup2;.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>The island is located in the southern part of Upernavik Archipelago, on the coast of Baffin Bay, approximately 17.5 km east-south-east of Upernavik town. To the west, the Akornat Strait separates the island from Qaarsorsuaq Island. To the northwest and northeast, small channels separate the island from Aappilattoq Island and several smaller skerries on the southern coast of the inner Upernavik Icefjord.</p><br>
<p>The Ammarqua Strait separates Nutaarmiut Island from four large islands in the east, Uilortussoq Island and Saninngassoq Island in the north; Nako Island and Akuliaruseq Island in the south. The Eqalugaarsuit Sulluat Fjord opens into Ammarqua Strait immediately to the east of the southern cape. In the southeast, the Ineraq Island and the double Singarnaq-Annertussoq Island separate Nutaarmiut Island from the open Baffin Bay.</p><br>
<p>Khirbet Kerak  or Beth Yerah ") is a tell  located on the southern shore of the Sea of Galilee in modern-day Israel.</p><br>
<p>"Khirbet Kerak ware" is a type of Early Bronze Age Syro-Palestinian pottery first discovered at this site. It is also found in other parts of the Levant (including Jericho, Beth Shan, Tell Judeideh, and Ugarit). Khirbet Kerak culture appears to have been a Levantine version of the Early Transcaucasian Culture.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The tell of Khirbet Kerak lies where the Sea of Galilee empties into the Jordan river and rises 15 meters above the level of the Sea of Galilee.) ran north and west of it.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Early Bronze Age (3300/3500-2200 BCE) - The 2009 discovery at the tell of a stone palette with Egyptian motifs, including an ankh, points to trade/political relations with the First dynasty of Egypt, at approximately 3000 BCE. Excavators have identified four levels of occupation from the Early Bronze Age (EB). Architectural development shows the procession from (sometimes oval) pit dwellings (I) to mud-brick (II), to basalt foundations with mud-brick (III), and then on to basalt structures (IV), over approximately 1000 years. The basalt houses belong to the same phase as the Khirbet al-Kerak pottery, dated to the Early Bronze Age III. From the earliest phases, the settlement was protected from the south and west by a city wall (the north and east facing the Sea of Galilee). The wall consisted of three connecting parallel walls, forming a massive wall, 25 ft thick, built of mud-bricks. The gate was on the south and was built of basalt. Evidence of an urban, orthogonal layout was found, dating to the EB II, supporting the claim that the city was one of the regional urban centers of the period.</p><br>
<p>A large (90×120 feet) building ("the circles building") was built in the EBIII, at the northern part of the tel. Of this building only the basalt foundations of the walls remain, in the form of a pavement 30 ft wide. In this pavement, ten sunken large circles were found. Each circle is intersected by two partition walls forming four compartments. In the courtyard were ovens in which Khirbet al-Kerak pottery was found. The building is generally identified as a public granary. At full capacity, the granary could hold an estimated 1700 tons of grain.</p><br>
<p>Below this building, remains dated to both EB I(b) and EB II were found. At some point, the building was parceled out to various artisans during EB III––clearly not the original purpose for which the structure was built.</p><br>
<p>New excavation at Tel Bet Yerah of layers associated with Khirbet Kerak Ware have been conducted in 2014 by R. Greenberg et al. In these contexts, significant discontinuity from the local tradition was found. This is showing influence from the world of Eastern Anatolia and the Upper Euphrates region. As a result, the introduction of Khirbet Kerak Ware in the Levant ca 2800 BCE is probable. It is further suggested that this provides evidence of kin-based group migration.</p><br>
<p>Middle Bronze Age (2200–1550 BC) - Around 2000 BC, the city was destroyed or abandoned. From the Middle Bronze Age I, a paved street, a potters workshop and other remains were excavated. Middle Bronze Age II is represented by a tomb. Parts of the city walls are also dated to the MB.</p><br>
<p>Biblical period - There are no signs of habitation from 1200-450 BC until the site&#39;s reuse during the Persian period.</p><br>
<h3>Bet Yerah</h3><br>
<p>Beth Yerah means "House of the Moon (god)". Though it is not mentioned in the Hebrew Bible or other Bronze or Iron Age sources,</p><br>
<p>The name Bet Yerah has generally been accepted and applied to the site of Khirbet Kerak, though the evidence for its being located there is circumstantial. Established in the Hellenistic period (c. 4th century BCE), Bet Yerah ceased to exist with the end of that period (c. 1st century BCE). It was given the Greek name Philoteria by Ptolemy II Philadelphus for his sister, as indicated by remains dating to the Ptolemaic rule (3rd century BCE). Hellenistic remains identified as those of ancient Philoteria by Amihai Mazar consist of, "a considerable number of spacious town-houses built on an orthogonal plan within the confines of the Early Bronze Age fortifications. The total extent of the settlement was about 700 meters from north to south, and 200 meters from east to west. Ceramic and other finds of the 3rd-2nd centuries BCE were abundant in this settlement, and some houses had remains of decorated wall plaster." Four villas in Philoteria/Bet Yerah dating to the late Hellenistic period are the oldest known examples of the big mansion (domus), a type of domestic architecture seen in Roman-Byzantine period Palestine. One of them measures 22 x 12 metres and consists of 11 rooms decorated with marble, stucco, and mosaics that were accessed by way of an entrance to a colonnaded courtyard.</p><br>
<p>During the Roman period, a fortress was built there and the place became known and named for this feature. The Jerusalem Talmud mentions Bet Yerah as sitting alongside Sinnabri (al-Sinnabra), describing both as walled cities, but also uses the name Kerakh to refer to Bet Yerah. Kerakh, meaning "fortress," was the Aramaic name for the site in the Roman period, and it is from this name that the Arabic Khirbet al-Kerak ("ruins of the castle") is derived.</p><br>
<h3>Al-Sinnabra</h3><br>
<p>Al-Sinnabra or Sinn en-Nabra, as it is known in Arabic, was known in the Hellenistic times by the Greek name Sennabris. In the Byzantine period, a church was constructed there and it shows signs of having been reused as a dar, or manor house, during the early Islamic period.</p><br>
<p>An Arab Islamic palatial complex or qasr in al-Sinnabra, known by the same name, served as a winter resort to Muawiya, Marwan I, and other caliphs in Umayyad-era Palestine (c. 650-704 AD). For decades, part of this complex was misidentified as a Byzantine era (c. 330-620 CE) synagogue; excavations carried out in 2010 confirmed an architectural analysis made by Donald Whitcomb in 2002 suggesting the building to be the qasr of al-Sinnabra. Constructed in the 7th century by Muawiya and Abdel Malik, another Umayyad caliph who also commissioned the building of the Dome of the Rock in the Old City of Jerusalem, it likely represents the earliest Umayyad complex of this type yet to be discovered.</p><br>
<p>During the Crusades, it was the site of the 1113 Battle of Al-Sannabra, and in the lead up to the Battle of Hittin in 1187, Saladin and his forces passed through al-Sinnabra before moving on to command the roads around Kafr Sabt.</p><br>
<h2>Archaeology</h2><br>
<p>The tell was first surveyed in the 1920s first by Eleazar Sukenik and then later by William Foxwell Albright.</p><br>
<p>In 1933, Na&#39;im Makhouly, a Christian Palestinian from Nazareth, who was an inspector for the Mandate Department of Antiquities at the time of the construction of the Samak-Tiberias highway that cut across the tell, conducted a salvage excavation.</p><br>
<p>During the 1940s, parts of the tell were excavated by Benjamin Mazar, Michael Avi-Yonah, Moshe Sheteklis, and Emanuel Dunayevsky. In 1946, in the northern quadrant of the tell, a fortified compound consisting of a series of large structures, including a bathhouse adjoined to large apsidal hall that is decorated with colorful mosaics, was discovered just above the granary (AKA the Circles Building), an Early Bronze Age structure uncovered in previous excavations.</p><br>
<p>Between 1950 and 1953,</p><br>
<p>P.L.O. Guy and Pesach Bar-Adon, two Israeli archaeologists excavated the compound, falsely identifying a building there as a 5th-6th century synagogue, because of the presence of a column base engraved with a seven-branched candelabrum.</p><br>
<p>Excavations by the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago in 1960 uncovered a Byzantine church to the north of the fortified compound.</p><br>
<p>In 1976, Ruth Amiran conducted a salvage excavation on the tell. More salvage excavations were carried out by Nimrod Getzov in 1994 and 1995.</p><br>
<p>In the summer of 2003, excavations were renewed in the northern part of the site with a pilot excavation in the granary. Excavations undertaken by Israeli archaeologists headed by Raphael Greenberg from Tel Aviv University&#39;s Institute of Archaeology in 2010 confirmed that the fortified compound was in fact the Arab Islamic palatial complex of al-Sinnabra.</p><br>
<p>Nordvik Bay  is a gulf in the Laptev Sea in the north of Russia. Lat 73° 45&#39; and long 112°.</p><br>
<p>Nordvik Bay and most of its surrounding area belongs to the Sakha Republic administrative division of the Russian Federation.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>It is located Southeast of the mouth of the Khatanga Gulf, between two small peninsulas. The landspit in the west is the Uryung Tumus Peninsula, where there was formerly a village called Nordvik and an infamous penal colony that lies now deserted. The peninsula in the east is called Nordvik Peninsula, with Cape Paksa at its northern end, and on its eastern side lies the Anabar Bay.</p><br>
<p>Nordvik Bay is 39 km wide and it has a regular semicircular shape. It is quite shallow, its average depth being around 6 m. It is circled by lowlands and, since the climate in the area is exceptionally severe, with prolonged, bitter winters, Nordvik Bay is covered by ice most of the year.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The name literally means "North Bay" in Norwegian. It was discovered and named by the Russian Great Northern Expedition in 1739.</p><br>
<p>During the 1930s this area experienced a limited boom owing to the first icebreaker convoys plying the Northern Sea Route. Tiksi Bay and Mys Schmidta had become airports and Nordvik was "a growing town."</p><br>
<p>Belbaşı is a cave and a late Paleolithic/Mesolithic site in southern Turkey, located southwest of Antalya.</p><br>
<h2>Overview</h2><br>
<p>Belbaşı culture is a term sometimes used to describe the prehistoric culture whose clearly identifiable traces at the site were explored in the 1960s, as well as being sometimes used to include also the succeeding Mesolithic/proto-Neolithic culture of Beldibi Cave nearby, at only a few kilometers distance to the north; or, in a wider sense, to cover the entire sequence constituted by half a dozen caves west of Antalya, encompassing, in this sense, also the Neolithic sites at, from south to north, Çarkin, Öküzlü and Karain Cave caves. Other sources may start the sequence at Beldibi, thus referring to a Beldibi culture, or treat each cave individually. Such a sequence from late Paleolithic to Neolithic in such closely located sites is unknown elsewhere.</p><br>
<p>Belbaşı culture tool kit includes tangled arrowheads, triangular points and obliquely truncated blades.</p><br>
<p>Beldibi culture further offers colored rock engravings on the walls of the cave, hitherto the only known cave art in western Asia, as well as furniture art decorated with naturalistic forms and geometric ornament. Its phases contained imported obsidian, presumably from eastern Taurus Mountains or from the north of the River Gediz, and early forms of pottery. Bones of deer, ibex and cattle occur, and subsistence was likely assisted by coastal fishing from the very close Mediterranean Sea and by the gathering of wild grain. There is as yet no evidence of food production or herding.</p><br>
<p>Since the proto-Neolithic of Beldibi being a development from the Mesolithic of Belbaşı is only a possibility, although a strong one, sources differ in their choice of terms for the cultures concerned.</p><br>
<p>The lithic assemblage of both cultures were based upon microliths.</p><br>
<h2>Connections with other prehistoric cultures</h2><br>
<p>Belbaşı culture shows indications of an early connection to the Kebaran industry assemblages of Palestine. Their settlements were stable, typical of Natufian culture sites in this respect, and many later evolved into agricultural villages, similar to Jericho’s forerunner Tell es-Sultan, settled around 7,800 years BCE.</p><br>
<p>Their most lasting effect was felt not in the Near East, where they seem to have left no permanent mark on the cultural development of Anatolia after 5,000 years BCE, but in Europe, for it was to this new continent that the neolithic cultures of Anatolia introduced the first beginnings of agriculture and stock breeding.</p><br>
<p>The Grande Casse  is the highest mountain of the Vanoise Massif in the Graian Alps in the region of Savoie, France. It is located in the heart of the Vanoise National Park, near the village of Pralognan-la-Vanoise, which is about 25 km southeast of the nearest town, Moûtiers. It has a steep 600 m high north face. The other sides of the mountain are more gentle, mostly consisting of broken rocks. A high ridge connects it to the nearby peak of Grande Motte.</p><br>
<p>The ridge connecting the Grande Casse and the Grande Motte is the watershed between the Tarentaise Valley in the north and Maurienne valley to the south.</p><br>
<h2>Climbing</h2><br>
<p>Despite its height it has a relatively easy normal route to the summit. Climbers usually start from the Les Grands Couloirs glacier and ascend the southwest side of the mountain. The north face is an extreme skiing destination.</p><br>
<p>The first ascent was made by William Mathews along with guides Michel Croz and E. Favre via the southwest face on 8 August 1860. The north face was climbed on 6 August 1933 by the Italians Aldo Bonacossa and L. Binaghi.</p><br>
<p>The Refuge Félix Faure (2,516 m), used for the normal route, is located at the Col de la Vanoise.</p><br>
<h3>Main routes to the summit</h3><br>
<p>This is an overview of the most common routes to the summit:</p><br>
<p>Normal route, "Les Grands couloirs" (PD+, 400 m with a gradient of around 40°), commonly climbed by skiers and climbers.</p><br>
<p>Petite face nord (AD, 600 m at 45-50°).</p><br>
<p>Couloir Messimy (AD, 45-50°).</p><br>
<p>North face, "Couloir des italiens" (D, 800 m at 55-60°).</p><br>
<p>The Bizzell Memorial Library, known also as Bizzell Library, is a three-story brick structure located at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, Oklahoma. It is an elaborate Collegiate Gothic or Cherokee Gothic building, designed by the architecture firm Layton Hicks & Forsyth and constructed in 1928 during the administration of OU&#39;s fifth president, William Bennett Bizzell.</p><br>
<h2>Building history</h2><br>
<p>When the university opened in 1890, the university library was located in the only campus building, which was destroyed by fire in 1903. A new library was constructed and opened in 1904, but the university&#39;s needs and collections quickly outgrew a space that was intended to last for decades. The Oklahoma Legislature appropriated $75,000 in 1917 to construct yet another library building that could be expanded in the future, but subsequent legislatures did not appropriate necessary funds to allow the project to move forward.</p><br>
<p>In 1927, state officials budgeted $500,000 for construction of a new, three-story library. New facilities included a "treasure room" to hold rare books and special collections and separate spaces for graduate and undergraduate work. A reading room, known today as the Great Reading Room, held the bulk of the 105,000 volumes the university then owned. The new library was dedicated on February 21, 1929.</p><br>
<p>Under George Lynn Cross, the University&#39;s seventh president, a 1958 addition effectively tripled the size of the structure. After a generous donation by Doris W. Neustadt, a 1982 addition was completed during the William S. Banowsky administration.</p><br>
<p>Presently, Bizzell serves as the flagship research library in the state of Oklahoma and of the University&#39;s system of eight libraries on the Norman campus that hold a combined 5 million volumes. Bizzell also houses the University Libraries administration; the History of Science, Nichols Rare Books, Bass Business and Bizzell Bible Special Collections; and the University of Oklahoma School of Library and Information Studies. The University of Oklahoma Library System is a member of the Association of Research Libraries and is the second largest system of libraries in the Big 12 Conference.</p><br>
<h2>Desegregation landmark</h2><br>
<p>The library is historically significant for its association with the racial desegregation court case of George McLaurin, a retired black professor who applied to the university to pursue a doctorate in education. McLaurin was at first denied admission to the university solely on the basis of race, in accordance with Oklahoma law at the time. After a court ruling, he was admitted, but under the separate but equal doctrine he was given a desk in the mezzanine of this building, rather than being allowed use of the regular reading room. He appealed the segregation up to the Supreme Court, in McLaurin v. Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education. In this and three companion cases, the Supreme Court overturned Plessy v. Ferguson. The decisions were precedents for the more famous Brown v. Board of Education case in 1954.</p><br>
<p>For its association with segregation and the court case overturning it, the building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001.</p><br>
<p>The Sheknsna Reservoir or the Sheksninskoe Reservoir  is a water reservoir on Sheksna River and Lake Beloye, in Belozersky, Vashkinsky, Kirillovsky, and Sheksninsky Districts of Vologda Oblast in Russia. The reservoir is formed by the dam of the Sheksna Hydropower Plant, located in the urban-type settlement of Sheksna.</p><br>
<p>The Sheksna Reservoir is a part of the Volga-Baltic Waterway and is used for both cruise and cargo traffic. Both the Northern Dvina Canal, which connects the basins of the Volga and the Northern Dvina via Lake Kubenskoye, and the Belozersky Canal, bypassing Lake Beloye, connect to the Sheksna Reservoir.</p><br>
<p>In the beginning of the 19th century, the Mariinsky Canal system was open to connect the river basins of the Volga and the Neva via Lake Onega. The system was heavily used, however, in the 20th century it could not support the increased cargo traffic anymore, and it was decided to reconstruct the old system, building Volga-Baltic Waterway. The Sheksna dam was a part of this project. The construction took place in 1963-1964. The length of the reservoir dam is 1,100 m, the dam complex includes 2 locks. The lower pound of the dam is the Rybinsk Reservoir.</p><br>
<p>The only two towns on the shores of the reservoir are Belozersk and Kirillov. The reservoir is built as a relatively narrow river upstream of Sheksna, and opens up further upstream.</p><br>
<p>Starokadomsky Island  is an hourglass-shaped island in the Laptev Sea, Russian Arctic.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Starokadomsky Island is located off the southeastern end of the Severnaya Zemlya archipelago and northeast of the Taymyr Peninsula. Maly Taymyr Island lies on its southeastern side, separated by a 6 km wide sound.</p><br>
<p>The maximum length of Starokadomsky Island is 18 km and its maximum width only 7 km. It is surrounded by narrow beach ridges and swales. The small detached islands off Starokadomsky&#39;s northern end are known as Mayskiye Ostrova.</p><br>
<p>Ostrov Vesenniy is the easternmost one.</p><br>
<p>The Vilkitsky Strait runs south of Starokadomsky and Maly Taymyr. Its waters, as well as the waters surrounding the two islands, are covered with pack ice during the long and bitter winters. There are many ice floes even in the short summer, between June and September.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Starokadomsky Island was discovered in 1913 by Boris Vilkitsky in the course of the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition. It was named after Dr. Leonid Starokadomsky, one of the leaders of the Arctic Ocean Hydrographic Expedition.</p><br>
<p>In present times Starokadomsky Island belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation and is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve – the largest nature reserve of Russia and one of the biggest in the world.</p><br>
<p>The Croswell Opera House is a historic theater located at 129 East Maumee Street in Adrian, Michigan. It is recognized as the oldest theater in the state and among the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States. The theater was designated as a Michigan Historic Site on March 2, 1976 and later added to the National Register of Historic Places as the Adrian Union Hall-Croswell Opera House on April 18, 1985.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Early history</h3><br>
<p>The Croswell Opera House, or Adrian Union Hall as it was originally called, was completed in 1866. It was financed by the Adrian Union Hall Company, whose stockholders included future Michigan governor Charles Croswell. Its first public event, taking place on March 19, was a lecture by temperance advocate John Bartholomew Gough.</p><br>
<p>The hall served many functions during its early years. It hosted concerts, lectures, festivals, and theatrical performances by both traveling troupes and amateur local groups. Famous speakers who visited the opera house included Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Frederick Douglass, Thomas Nast, Henry Ward Beecher, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. During the 19th century it hosted performances by Edwin Booth, John Philip Sousa, and Buffalo Bill Cody; the early 20th century saw appearances by Mrs. Patrick Campbell and Maude Adams.</p><br>
<p>The Croswell has gone by many different names. During its first few years of operation, the local newspaper usually referred to it as "New Hall." Around 1869, it started to be called the Opera House. When Charles Croswell retired as governor in 1881, he returned to Adrian and began buying up shares in the Adrian Union Hall Company, eventually becoming the majority shareholder; he then tasked his son, Charles Croswell Jr., with managing the theater. At this time it became known as Croswells Opera House. Charles Croswell Jr. gave up the managers job after his father&#39;s death in 1886, but although the possessive was dropped, the name stuck.</p><br>
<p>A new lobby was added to the original building in 1882. In 1885, the theaters first electric lights were installed — just two of them — and the entire theater was outfitted for electricity in 1895. The lighting apparatus was designed by Harry A. Fee, who is better known for creating Hidden Lake Gardens in nearby Franklin Township. In 1896, to meet the demands of that eras increasingly elaborate theatrical productions, the stage was expanded and the roof above the stage raised.</p><br>
<h3>The movie theater years</h3><br>
<p>In the early 20th century, the Croswell faced increasing competition from movie theaters. It was purchased in 1919 by Harry Angell and Robert Codd, who undertook two major renovations. The first, in 1919, converted the Croswell into a movie house. A long arcade-style lobby was added to the front of the building, as was a projection booth. Then, in 1921, the original balcony was torn out and replaced and the entire auditorium remodeled. It was during this renovation that the Croswell&#39;s interior took on its modern appearance.</p><br>
<p>The Croswell was leased in 1927 by Butterfield Theatres, which would continue to operate it for the next 40 years. It was wired for sound in 1929; the first talking picture shown was Weary River.</p><br>
<p>During World War II, the Croswell raised more than $1 million for the war effort by holding "war bond premieres." The management would bring in a popular new film, and tickets were not for sale; only a newly purchased war bond would entitle a person to admission. Charity toy drives and children&#39;s food matinees were also common.</p><br>
<p>By the 1960s, however, the Croswell faced increasing competition from drive-in theaters and television. A theater with about 1,000 seats — the Croswell&#39;s capacity at the time — but only one screen was impractical to operate. In March 1967, the Butterfield chain announced it would not renew its lease, and owner Harry Angell put the building up for sale. The last movie of the Butterfield era, The Sound of Music, closed on September 16, 1967.</p><br>
<h3>Revival of live theater</h3><br>
<p>With Butterfields decision to pull out, the Croswell was in danger of being demolished. But Charlie Hickman, the owner of local manufacturing company Brazeway, stepped forward to buy the building, and a new nonprofit organization was chartered to take over its operation. The newly revived Croswell staged its first summer season of live theater in 1968, beginning with a production of Neil Simons Barefoot in the Park. This was followed by Summer and Smoke, Oliver!, and Once More, With Feeling.</p><br>
<p>That fall, a new group, the Croswell Players, was formed to continue offering theater during the fall, winter and spring. Eventually, the Croswell&#39;s summer and winter theater programs would merge.</p><br>
<p>In 1970, the tradition of bringing high-profile speakers to Adrian to speak at the Croswell was revived. Speakers in the theater&#39;s Town Hall series, which ran from 1970 to 1996, included Gloria Steinem, Helen Thomas, Arianna Huffington, Ralph Nader, Julian Bond, Art Linkletter, Jeane Dixon, Bella Abzug, Kitty Carlisle, Charlton Heston, and "Dear Abby" author Pauline Phillips.</p><br>
<p>A capital campaign to renovate the theater was announced in May 2015, with changes to include new public spaces, more restrooms, Americans with Disabilities Act improvements, and electrical and other infrastructure upgrades. Construction began in 2016 and the theater reopened in May 2017.</p><br>
<p>The 2017 season will mark the Croswell&#39;s 50th summer as a producing theater.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The Croswell was originally designed by Horatio Nelson White. In 1865, while the theater was still under construction, a correspondent for the Detroit Free Press visited Adrian and gave this description:During this season, notwithstanding the high wages, cost of lumber and all building materials, there have been many fine buildings, dwellinghouses and stores erected. The first one particularly attracting attention on entering the city from the depot is “Union Hall,” a large brick structure erected and owned by a joint-stock company at a cost of $35,000. This building is located on the lower end of Maumee street, and fronts directly on it. It is one hundred and fifteen feet and ten inches deep, by sixty-four feet and four inches wide, and built of such a height that the main hall will finish thirty-two feet in the clear. The principal audience room is at some little distance from the street, and is reached through an arched passage-way, on each side of which is an elegant and commodious store. It is eighty feet in depth and sixty-three feet wide, with a gallery on three sides containing three rows of seats, calculated to seat with comfort fifteen hundred people. In the erection of the gallery a new feature is introduced, which, by means of trusses, braces and iron ties, makes it self-supporting, and entirely does away with the necessity of columns or ungainly brackets to support it. There is a large stage, 30x32 feet, which is fitted up for theatrical exhibitions, with scenery, dressing-rooms, &c. In the arrangement of the scenery, some new ideas are carried out, several of the side scenes folding up, while the principal fines, five in number, are suspended from large cylinders overhead, being hoisted and lowered by means of machinery, completely doing away with the squeaking, rattling and confusion generally attendant upon the shifting and sliding of the different pieces, and as a whole scene is raised or lowered at once, the ridiculous gap often seen in the center of an elegant painting is obviated. In the basement are the furnaces for heating the building, a large storeroom capable of containing all the seats of the hall, when it is cleared for the benefit of those tripping the “light fantastic toe,” and a large dining room, which extends the entire length of the building. The ceiling and walls are to be frescoed, and if finished according to design, will present an elegant and tasteful appearance, reflecting much credit on the designers and owners, and the city. In the erection of the structure there is no attempt at the gaudy or gorgeous, everything in and about it is plain, sold and substantial. It was designed by H. N. White, of Syracuse, New York, and erected under the supervision of Mr. Smith, a master-builder of this city.Writing some time later, local historian R.I. Bonner reported that the Croswell was patterned after Wieting Hall in Syracuse.</p><br>
<p>The physical appearance of the Croswell changed several times over the course of the 19th century. A 14-foot addition was built on the front of the theater in 1882, and the stage roof was raised in 1896 to accommodate more elaborate scenery.</p><br>
<p>The 1919 and 1921 renovations were directed by architect J.C. Brompton, who also designed the Riviera Theatre in Three Rivers. In 1919, a projection booth was built onto the front of the building and a long arcade-style lobby was added; previously, patrons had to walk down a long alley from Maumee Street and wait outdoors before a show. In 1921, the original horseshoe-shaped balcony was torn out and replaced and the entire interior of the theater was redesigned.</p><br>
<p>Some of the theaters distinctive features include ornate plaster detailing around the entire auditorium, two tall organ towers on either side of the stage with decorate urns built into them, and large panels on the walls reminiscent of the ones that can be seen in Bromptons RIviera Theatre.</p><br>
<p>From 1921 until the 1970s, only minor changes were made to the Croswells interior. In 1976, an addition was built on the back of the theater for a scene shop and offices. Two buildings on either side of the Croswells front lobby were purchased in 1978 and 1979 and added to the theater, becoming space for rehearsals, offices and an art gallery.</p><br>
<p>The theater was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.</p><br>
<h2>Current use</h2><br>
<p>The Croswell is a producing theater and operates year round, staging six to eight full-scale musicals per year, along with straight plays, children&#39;s theater, and occasional concerts. It is owned by the Croswell Opera House and Fine Arts Association, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Its artistic director since 2009 is Jere Righter.</p><br>
<h3>Musical theater</h3><br>
<p>The majority of shows produced at the Croswell are musicals. A live orchestra, rather than recorded music, is employed for all of the theater&#39;s full-length musicals.</p><br>
<p>The Croswell&#39;s 2017 season will include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, In the Heights, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Beauty and the Beast, and Meet Me in St. Louis.</p><br>
<h3>Original work</h3><br>
<p>In addition to established works, the Croswell has premiered several new plays and musicals, including:</p><br>
<p>A Dragon&#39;s Tale, a musical by Michael and Betsy Lackey (1985).</p><br>
<p>The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, a musical by Don Wilson and Dave Zabriskie (2004).</p><br>
<p>Breakfast at Frannies, a play by Terry Hissong that was named one of Writers Digest magazine&#39;s top plays of the year (2009).</p><br>
<p>Obsession, a musical retelling of the Frankenstein story, by Michael and Betsy Lackey (2011).</p><br>
<p>Another new play, Family Digs, will be produced in October 2017.</p><br>
<h3>Educational programs</h3><br>
<p>The Croswell offers a number of educational programs, including summer performance and technical theater camps, an all-area high school musical, paid summer internships for college students, and a variety of children&#39;s performances.</p><br>
<h2>Prominent alumni</h2><br>
<p>Theater professionals with a Croswell background include:</p><br>
<p>Tobin Ost, scenic designer who was nominated for a Tony Award in 2012 for his work on Newsies.</p><br>
<p>Leah Crocetto, opera singer, a 2010 winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and 2009 winner of the José Iturbi International Music Competition.</p><br>
<p>Shonn Wiley, a member of the Chicago cast of Jersey Boys and founding member of Under the Streetlamp.</p><br>
<p>The River Glyde rises in the town of Bailieborough in Cavan. Some smaller tributaries of the Glyde are the River Dee and the Killanny Rivers which contain stocks of sea trout and salmon. The Glyde flows in a south-easterly direction before entering the sea at Annagassan in Louth, site of the recently rediscovered ninth-century Viking longphort Linn Duachaill. The River Glyde is 34.75 mi long.</p><br>
<p>The salmon and sea trout season here is from 1 February - 20 August. The upper reaches of the Glyde are known as the Lagan River which is deep and slow-flowing. The Lagan and Kilanny River meet at Tully, Co. Louth, and form the River Glyde.</p><br>
<p>The Glyde Rangers Gaelic Athletic Association team, founded in 1926, from Tallanstown in Co. Louth is named after the River Glyde.</p><br>
<p>Pickerel Lake is a 955-acre spring-fed lake located in Day County, South Dakota, United States. Pickerel Lake is part of the Glacial Lakes Region that encompasses much of Northeast South Dakota and stretches along the Coteau des Prairies hills. The area was formed thousands of years ago by glacial activity. Many of the depressions left behind were filled by melting glaciers. This area is also referred to as the Prairie Pothole Region. Pickerel Lake is one of the deepest natural lakes in South Dakota. The name originated from an American Indian name meaning "where you spear long fish." Excursion boats were common until the early 1900s. A fish hatchery was built in 1929 and abandoned in 1979, when a new facility was built at Blue Dog Lake.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation</h2><br>
<p>Pickerel Lake boasts many water-based recreational activities such as boating and fishing. Pickerel Lake Recreation Area is a state park that has two campgrounds referred to as the East Unit and West Unit offering a total of 77 campsites and six cabins.</p><br>
<p>Lake Wateree is a 19 square miles reservoir in Kershaw, Fairfield, and Lancaster counties, South Carolina, in the United States. It is one of South Carolina&#39;s oldest man-made lakes. It has 242 mi of shoreline and includes Lake Wateree State Park, a bird refuge, and Shaw Air Force Base Recreation center. Its name, like that of the river, recalls the now-extinct Wateree Native Americans, who lived in the area until dispossessed by European settlers.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>The lake is surrounded by three of South Carolina&#39;s counties: Kershaw, Fairfield and Lancaster. It is about 30 mi northeast of Columbia, east of I-77 just off SC 97.</p><br>
<h2>Origin</h2><br>
<p>Owned and managed by Duke Energy (formerly Duke Power), Lake Wateree was created in 1919 when the Wateree River was dammed. The Wateree Hydro Station produces 56 megawatts of electricity. This created a lake of nearly 14,000 acre with 190 mi of shoreline touching three counties.</p><br>
<h2>Wildlife</h2><br>
<p>Lake Wateree is another South Carolina lake known for its great fishing and bountiful wildlife. The fish include Largemouth Bass, Striped bass, White Perch, White bass, Crappie, Channel catfish, Arkansas Blue Catfish, Shellcrackers, Bream.</p><br>
<p>Other wildlife that call Lake Wateree home include deer, fox, squirrel, turtle, dove, turkey, alligator, and various species of duck, hawk, eagle, egret, Heron and osprey.</p><br>
<p>The Byrranga Mountains  are a mountain range in the middle of the Taymyr Peninsula, Siberia, Russia.</p><br>
<p>Even though they were first explored in 1736, the Byrranga Mountains are one of the least known areas of the Arctic. The climate is continental and harsh, with frequent blizzards in the winter.</p><br>
<p>This mountain range falls into the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation and is part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve, the largest nature reserve in Russia. However, the area is very remote, there is almost no population, and access is very difficult for the lack of roads and settlements.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>They are located north and west of Lake Taymyr and running for about 1,100 km, forming a looping curve that runs roughly in a southwest to northeast direction. The name is from Nganasan бъранга large rocky mountain.</p><br>
<p>The range has deep canyons and ravines, as well as a few small glaciers in its eastern zones. These mountains are not very high, being on average about 500 m. The highest peak is 1,121 m.</p><br>
<p>Rivers Khutudabiga and Chetyrekh have their sources in the Byrranga Range. The lower Taymyr River flows northwards cutting across these mountains. The lowlands located to the north and the south of these mountains are covered with tundra, small lakes and wetlands (bogs and marshes).</p><br>
<h2>Geology</h2><br>
<p>The Byrranga range is mainly made up of siltstones and intrusive rocks of neutral composition. There are also vast areas of exposed limestone formation.</p><br>
<p>Kuara  is an archaeological site in Dhi Qar Province . According to the Sumerian king list, Kuara was also the home of Dumuzid, the fisherman, legendary third king of Uruk. The citys patron deity was Meslamtaea . In Sumerian mythology, Kuara was also considered the birthplace of the god Marduk , Enki&#39;s son. The cults of Marduk and Ninehama were centered in Kuara.</p><br>
<h2>History of archaeological research</h2><br>
<p>The location was excavated for a few days in 1855 by J. E. Taylor. He found a few inscribed bricks, and a single cuneiform tablet. While working at Eridu for the British Museum in 1918, R. Campbell Thompson excavated there briefly. In more modern times, Fuad Safar conducted soundings at Kuara.</p><br>
<h2>Kuara and its environment</h2><br>
<p>Tell al-Lahm is located on the western bank of the mouth of the Euphrates, about 30 km southeast of Ur. The site consists of two tells or settlement mounds, with some peripheral ridges, near a dry canal bed.</p><br>
<h2>Occupation history</h2><br>
<p>Kuara was established ca. 2500 BC, during the Sumerian Early Dynastic II period. It was a seaport to the Persian Gulf, and traded with the port of Dilmun. In 709 BC, the Assyrian king Sargon II was trying to capture Marduk-apal-iddina II, who fled to Kuara, whereupon Sargon&#39;s army laid siege and destroyed the city. Alluvial soil carried by the Euphrates continually extended the land farther into the Persian Gulf; thus the modern site is far from the sea, even though it was a sea port 4500 years ago.</p><br>
<p>North Island is the northernmost island in the Houtman Abrolhos, a coral reef archipelago in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mid West Western Australia. Located about 14 km  from the nearest island group, it is one of the largest islands in the Houtman Abrolhos, and one of the few to support dune systems. It has relatively diverse flora dominated by chenopod shrubs and fauna that includes the introduced tammar wallaby, around seven species of reptile, and about 15 resident bird species.</p><br>
<p>First recorded and surveyed in 1840, North Island has been a seasonal camp for western rock lobster fishermen since the beginning of the 20th century, and this remains the principal focus of human activity on the island. There is also a small amount of tourism, though for the most part it is reserved as conservation habitat for vegetation communities and rare birds.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Discovery</h3><br>
<p>The earliest recorded sighting of North Island occurred in May 1840, during the third survey voyage of HMS Beagle, commanded by John Clements Wickham. It was sighted from the peak of Flag Hill on East Wallabi Island in early May, explored on 22 May, and given its name due to "its relative position to the remainder of Houtman&#39;s Abrolhos". Before he left the island, Wickham left a letter in a bottle atop the highest hill, which he accordingly christened Record Hill.</p><br>
<p>A map of the island first appeared in 1845 on a British Admiralty chart entitled "The Houtman Rocks". The following year, Wickham&#39;s lieutenant, John Lort Stokes, published the first account of the island in his Discoveries in Australia. He observed:</p><br>
<h3>Development of industry and infrastructure</h3><br>
<p>A western rock lobster fishery developed on the island in the early 20th century. There are records of the island being used as a base for crayfishers as early as 1902, and for many years it was used as an anchorage by anglers. It was not until 1947, however, that a seasonally inhabited permanent camp was established there. According to former crayfisher Ron Bertelsen, the first camp was established by skippers George Barker and George Nelson and deckhand John Long, who relocated there when lobsters around Pigeon Island grew scarce. They camped at the southern end of North Island in a camp initially built from packing case timbers. A local carrier boat, the Betty Margaret, serviced the camp. From about 40 seasonal inhabitants in 1940, the population grew to about 130 by 2003. An airstrip was built in 1979.</p><br>
<h3>Visits by naturalists</h3><br>
<p>A number of naturalists have visited the island, starting with the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Abrolhos Islands in 1913. This expedition spent little time on North Island, as shore collecting was not very successful there, and other islands appeared better suited to their work. Expedition members nevertheless published substantial information about the island, including a description of its physiography</p><br>
<p>Australian ornithologist Dom Serventy visited the island in 1945 but left no published account. In 1959, a group from the University of Western Australia&#39;s Department of Zoology, accompanied by the English botanist Mary Gillham, travelled to the island; a brief article on its physiography, vegetation and vertebrate fauna was published the following year by Glen Storr. and Judith Harvey and Vanda Longman in 1999.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>Nominally located at 28&deg;18&prime;9&Prime;S latitude, 113&deg;35&prime;41&Prime;E longitude, giving it an area of about 180 hectares (450 ac).</p><br>
<p>Two high points are named Record Hill and Latitude Hill. These are the only gazetted places on the island, although some other features have informal names: The most northerly and southerly point on the island have been called "North Point" and "South Point" respectively, and in 1960 a high point in the northwest corner of the island was referred to as "Northwest Hill".</p><br>
<p>On the eastern side is a seasonally inhabited permanent fishers&#39; camp. There is an unnamed lighthouse on the western side, a trig point on the eastern side, and a gravel airstrip near the centre.</p><br>
<p>The island is surrounded by a coral reef flat. This extends about km (1 mi) to the west of the island, and over 3 km (2 mi) to the north and south, but the reef margin lies quite close to the island on the eastern side. Most of the reef is not navigable, but a passage through the reef just north of the island is named Suda Bay Passage; one just south of the island is named Barker Passage; and there are a few breaks or channels on the eastern side of the island where boats may obtain shelter in bad weather. An area of reef immediately north of the island is named The Flat, and at the northern extreme of the reef is a breaker named The Big Breaker. About 200 m (660 ft) west of the island is a small rock informally known as "Shag Rock", but with no official name; it differs from Shag Rock in the Wallabi Group further south.</p><br>
<p>Like the rest of the Houtman Abrolhos, North Island is Australian territory. It is a part of Western Australia, and falls within the boundaries of the federal Electoral Division of Durack and the state electoral district of Geraldton. It is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Nature Reserve, an A-class reserve managed by Western Australia&#39;s Department of Fisheries.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and physiography</h2><br>
<p>The basement of North Island is the Wallabi Limestone, a dense calcretised, coral limestone platform that underlies the entire Wallabi Group. Arising abruptly from a flat shelf, it is about 40 m thick, and of Quaternary origin. Areas of reef that formed during the Eemian interglacial (about 125,000 years ago), when sea levels were higher than at present, are now emergent in places, and these form the basement of the group&#39;s central platform islands, namely West Wallabi Island, East Wallabi Island and North Island.</p><br>
<p>North Island&#39;s basement for the most part does not exceed 1.5 m in elevation. Much of it is capped by aeolianite, and nearly all of it is covered with sand, but there are some exposed outcrops. The southern margin of the island, for example, takes the form of a low cliff, which is severely undercut by the sea in many places.</p><br>
<p>There are extensive dunes of unconsolidated Holocene sand along both the western and eastern sides of the island. The topography of these dunes varies with time: in 1913, Dakin recorded the dunes as being a good deal higher in the east than in the west, but in 1960 Storr found the eastern dunes to be severely eroded, apparently because of a fire that burnt much of the island&#39;s vegetation in 1935. In the centre of the island is a low plain with a sinkhole in its southwest corner and a small salt lake near its northern edge. The soil in the centre of the plain is shallow loam, whereas the rim is deeper and composed largely of shell fragments.</p><br>
<h2>Climate</h2><br>
<p>An automatic weather station has been installed on the island since 1990, and hourly measures of precipitation, air temperature, wind speed, wind direction, relative humidity and atmospheric pressure have been publicly available since then. This is the only weather station in the Houtman Abrolhos, so its data underlies climatic models of the island chain as a whole. Based on the data for North Island, the Houtman Abrolhos has been described as having a Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and cooler, wet winters. Mean temperatures range from 9.3 to 19.5 °C in July, and from 19.1 to 32.4 °C in February. This is a substantially smaller range than on the mainland: the summer temperature is typically a degree cooler, while winter temperatures are a good deal warmer. This is due to the influence of the ocean, in particular the Leeuwin Current.</p><br>
<p>Eighty-six percent of the island&#39;s rain falls between April and September; on average there are 89 rain days, resulting in 469 mm of rain. The wettest month is June, when over 100 mm typically falls. In contrast, only about 70 mm can be expected to fall between October and March.</p><br>
<p>It is nearly always windy. During summer a high-pressure ridge lies to the south, causing persistent winds from the southeast or southwest at speeds exceeding 17 kn almost half the time. During autumn and winter, the ridge moves north, increasing atmospheric pressure over the islands and creating variable winds. Winter tends to produce both the strongest gales and the most frequent periods of calm. In addition to these winds, there is daily pattern of land breezes in the morning, followed by the onset of south-westerly sea breezes in the afternoon. This pattern is caused by temperature differences between the land and the ocean; it is not as strong in the Houtman Abrolhos chain as on the mainland, but is present.</p><br>
<p>Three classes of storm have been identified in the region. Brief squalls may occur between December and April. A tropical cyclone occurs in the area about once in three years, between January and April; these may generate extremely high wind speeds that are potentially destructive. During winter, extra-tropical cyclones sometimes pass south of Geraldton, generating winter gales with gusts of up to 35 m/s, the wind direction from the northwest initially, then gradually moving around to southerly.</p><br>
<h2>Flora</h2><br>
<p>Most of North Island is dominated by chenopod shrubs, generally less than a metre (3 ft) high. The beach vegetation is largely Spinifex longifolius (beach spinifex), Salsola kali (prickly saltwort), Atriplex cinerea (grey saltbush) and naturalised Cakile maritima (sea rocket). Stable dunes are vegetated by Atriplex paludosa (marsh saltbush), Scaevola crassifolia (thick-leaved fan-flower), Olearia axillaris (coastal daisy-bush), Myoporum insulare (blueberry tree) and Exocarpos sparteus (broom ballart). Sheltered areas behind dunes support Salsola kali and Myoporum insulare and also Nitraria billardierei (nitre bush), the last of these being the only plant on the island to grow over m (5 ft) high. In areas where limestone is close to the surface, the vegetation consists of Pimelea microcephala (shrubby rice-flower), Spyridium globulosum (basket bush) and Acanthocarpus preissii.</p><br>
<p>The rim of the central plain is vegetated by a dense shrubland of Rhagodia baccata (berry saltbush), Atriplex paludosa and Threlkeldia diffusa (coast bonefruit). Nearer the centre, the vegetation consists of Frankenia pauciflora (seaheath), Muellerolimon salicorniaceum and Tecticornia arbuscula (bulli bulli), although T. arbuscula is replaced by Tecticornia halocnemoides (shrubby samphire) where the soil is shallow. The most low-lying area of the central plain, south of the salt lake, is water-logged in winter; it is vegetated by a dense mat of Sarcocornia quinqueflora (beaded samphire), Sporobolus virginicus (marine couch) and Suaeda australis (seablite).</p><br>
<p>The dune, limestone and salt lake vegetation communities on North Island are considered to have high conservation significance. The dune and limestone communities have high biodiversity, are highly sensitive to disturbance and regenerate slowly. The salt lake community is considered significant because of the rarity of salt lakes on offshore islands.</p><br>
<p>According to a survey published in 2001, the following vascular plants occur on North Island:</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<h3>Mammals</h3><br>
<p>No land mammals are known to be native to North Island, but the Australian sea lion (Neophoca cinerea) occasionally hauls out on the island&#39;s beaches, and it has been suggested that the island once had a native population of tammar wallaby (Macropus eugenii).</p><br>
<p>Stokes explicitly stated the tammar wallaby to be absent from North Island in 1840, The species was not found by Serventy during his 1945 visit, nor by Storr in 1959, but the latter found plenty of remains, mostly mandibles. Storr interpreted these remains as predating the 1920s introduction, suggesting that a native population of tammars became extinct on the island before 1840. but the theory has not been accepted by later researchers.</p><br>
<p>In 1985, five tammar wallabies were introduced onto North Island, and the population established successfully. Possible reasons for this success include the absence of the wallabies natural predator, the carpet python (Morelia spilota imbricata); the availability of additional food and water from the fishers huts, which are occupied during the harshest time of the year; and the presence of the air strip, which apparently provides additional food for them. The wallabies overgrazed and ringbarked the native vegetation, particularly the area burnt in 1935, By February 2008, the wallaby population had been reduced to around 25 individuals.</p><br>
<p>The only other mammal known to occur on the island is the naturalised house mouse (Mus Musculus). Eight European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) were introduced in 1934, and were found to be "exceedingly numerous" by 1945, but by 1960 they were extinct, apparently from predation by feral cats. Neither rabbits nor cats are now reported as naturalised on the island.</p><br>
<h3>Reptiles</h3><br>
<p>Reptiles recorded on North Island include Binoes prickly gecko (Heteronotia binoei), the gecko Christinus marmoratus, the Jew lizard (Pogona barbata), Kings skink (Egernia kingii), the western limestone ctenotus (Ctenotus australis), the western worm lerista (Lerista praepedita), and the Abrolhos bearded dragon (Pogona minor minima). The carpet python was reported as present on the island in very low numbers before 1960, but it has never been observed there by naturalists, and is now absent.</p><br>
<p>The green turtle (Chelonia mydas) has been observed in large numbers near the shore, and it has been claimed that they breed on the island, If it is true, then North Island would be the species&#39; most southerly breeding site in Western Australia.</p><br>
<h3>Birds</h3><br>
<p>The birds most often mentioned in relation to North Island are the Abrolhos painted buttonquail (Turnix varius scintillans), a rare subspecies of the widespread painted buttonquail (Turnix varius) known only from the Wallabi Group and protected under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1950; and the brush bronzewing (Phaps elegans), one of the most common birds on North Island, the mainland populations of which are decreasing.</p><br>
<p>Other birds known to breed on North Island include the osprey (Pandion haliaetus cristatus), greater crested tern (Thalasseus bergii),</p><br>
<p>The most common visitors to the island are the bar-tailed godwit (Limosa lapponica baueri), grey-tailed tattler (Tringa brevipes), ruddy turnstone (Arenaria interpres interpres), red-necked stint (Calidris ruficollis) and curlew sandpiper (Calidris ferruginea). Other observed visitors include the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo novaehollandiae), nankeen kestrel (Falco cenchroides cenchroides), banded lapwing (Vanellus tricolor), greater sand plover (Charadrius leschenaultii), whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus variegatus), greenshank (Tringa nebularia), sanderling (Calidris alba), willie wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys leucophrys) and brown songlark (Cincloramphus cruralis).</p><br>
<p>North Island is part of the Houtman Abrolhos Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because of its importance for supporting large numbers of breeding seabirds.</p><br>
<h2>Human uses</h2><br>
<p>The entire Houtman Abrolhos is protected by an A-class nature reserve that is wholly vested in Western Australia&#39;s Minister for Fisheries for purposes of "Conservation of Flora and Fauna, Tourism, and for Purposes Associated with the Fishing Industry".</p><br>
<h3>Fishing industry</h3><br>
<p>North Islands primary human use is as a seasonal camp for Western Rock Lobster fishers. During lobster season, which runs from 15 March to 30 June, North Islands camp is occupied by about 130 fishers.</p><br>
<h3>Conservation</h3><br>
<p>North Island is considered to have high conservation value with respect to its populations of brush bronzewing and Abrolhos painted buttonquail, and its dune, limestone and salt lake vegetation communities. The potential existence of historically significant artefacts on Record Hill, namely the bottle left by Wickham and Stokes in 1840, has not been assessed.</p><br>
<p>A 514 hectare area of reef immediately south of North Island is designated a Reef Observation Area (ROA). Fishing is prohibited in this area, except for the use of lobster pots. One of four ROAs in the Houtman Abrolhos, these protected areas are intended to help conserve species of territorial fish that are fished elsewhere, and to provide divers with the opportunity to observe large populations that are not frightened by their approach.</p><br>
<h3>Tourism</h3><br>
<p>With extensive sand beaches, seabird breeding areas, and good dive sites in the Reef Observation Area to the south of the island, North Island is considered an attractive tourist site. However, all of the island&#39;s limited anchorage and jetty space is occupied by commercial fishers, so landings from private or charter boats are possible only by prior arrangement. Moreover, visitors are not permitted to camp on the island. North Island accounts for about 3.5% of private recreational boat trips to the Houtman Abrolhos and about 1% of commercial charter boat trips. The most recent tourism plan for the Houtman Abrolhos supports the continued use of North Island by private charter boats and the use of the airstrip for tourism purposes, but recommends against the establishment of a land-based tourist site there.</p><br>
<p>Pamana Island  is a small island off Rote Island in Indonesia&#39;s East Nusa Tenggara province of Lesser Sunda Islands, and the southernmost point of Asia. It lies exactly on latitude 11°S. Administratively this island is part of Rote Ndao Regency. It borders the Ashmore and Cartier Islands to the south.</p><br>
<h2>Fauna</h2><br>
<p>The island is inhabited by some deer, various bird species and is visited annually by turtles who come to lay their eggs.</p><br>
<h2>Legend</h2><br>
<p>It is said in some legends that the island was inhabited in the 17th Century, until all the inhabitants were massacred in a reprisal and their bodies discarded into the lake and its drinking water. From that day the island has been left to itself.</p><br>
<h2>Literature</h2><br>
<p>Loch Ewe  is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most notable of which, situated on the north-eastern shore, is the Aultbea settlement. The four-mile long River Ewe enters Loch Ewe from the following thirteen lochs of the surrounding basins :</p><br>
<p>Loch Maree</p><br>
<p>Loch Fada</p><br>
<p>Loch Garbhaig</p><br>
<p>Loch Coulin</p><br>
<p>Loch Clair</p><br>
<p>Loch Tollaidh</p><br>
<p>Loch Kernsary</p><br>
<p>Loch Ghiuragarstidh</p><br>
<p>Loch Mhic&#39; Ille Rhiabhaich</p><br>
<p>Loch a&#39; Bhaid-Luachraich</p><br>
<p>Loch Sguod</p><br>
<p>Loch an t-Slagain</p><br>
<p>Loch Drainc</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Due to the rugged and inaccessible terrain in which it is located, Loch Ewe has always been an assembly point for maritime trade. Around 1610 the area at the head of Loch Ewe, today known as Poolewe, was urbanised around an iron furnace utilising charcoal produced in the surrounding woodlands for fuel. English ironmasters found it more economic to ship the ore to Poolewe for smelting than to ship the processed charcoal to England to run furnaces there.</p><br>
<p>The crofting villages which were established in the 1840s, as a result of the local parish&#39;s estate being reformed from run-rig to fixed holdings properties, were always quite small. Bualnaliub, nine miles (fifteen kilometres) to the north of Poolewe, had eleven houses and fifty people at the 1841 census – twenty-three of whom were from the same (McIver) family. Mellon Charles, thence four miles (six and a half kilometres) to the west, had two hundred and sixteen people in forty-one houses – including seventeen houses headed by a McLennan. Ormiscaig, roughly halfway between them, had ten houses (four headed by McGregors) totalling forty-eight people. One hundred and forty years later, in 1981, the population was ten at Bualnaluib, twenty-four at Ormiscaig and one hundred and ten at Mellon Charles.</p><br>
<p>In 1911 a 70-foot lighthouse was built on the promontory between Gairloch and Poolewe.</p><br>
<p>Loch Ewe was used as an assembly point for the Arctic Convoys during World War II. Ships from the British, American and other ports gathered here before sailing to Murmansk from September 1942 following the disaster of Convoy PQ 17 in order to confuse German intelligence.</p><br>
<p>At the German surrender in April 1945 Loch Ewe became the British marshalling point for many of the German U-boats that had surrendered while at sea.</p><br>
<h3>Tournaig</h3><br>
<p>According to the published correspondence of a local resident, the Royal Navy established watchkeeping defences around an inlet to the south-east of Loch Ewe, sourcing the area for its cod, haddock, and mackerel reserves:</p><br>
<h3>NATO Z-berths and POL depots</h3><br>
<p>As of 2006, the Mellon Charles base is still in use, with two berths authorised for nuclear-powered submarine use. The jetty at Aultbea is designated a "Z-berth" to allow NATO&#39;s nuclear submarines to return for servicing without warning. A second Z-berth is located in the middle of Loch Ewe itself, marked by a buoy but not appearing on any Ordnance Survey maps.</p><br>
<p>The Naval Boom Defence depot at Mellon Charles marks the start of the original protective netting which guarded the entrance to the loch. Part of the base is designated a Petroleum, Oil and Lubricants (POL) depot. This provides for the maintenance of visiting warships.</p><br>
<h2>Culture</h2><br>
<p>Loch Ewe is often praised for its scenic beauty, especially in the vistas from the so-called midnight walk (the A832 single-track road to the left of Loch Kernsary) about a mile and a half to the north of Tournaig. This is the subject of many strathspeys still sung today in local ceilidh. Additionally, it has several outposts above the Aultbea foreshore (around Aird Point) giving photo opportunities for tourists travelling inland.</p><br>
<h3>Ancient Mariner folklore</h3><br>
<p>In his compedium of folk and faerie (encounters with the Daoine Sìth race) tales of the mainland, Sir George Douglas records that the ancestral dialogues and mythological apologues of the Scottish peasantry, and the folkish customs employed in recounting them, "still linger in the remote western islands of Barra; where, in the long winter nights, the people would gather in crowds to listen to those whom they considered good exponents of the art. At an earlier date, – but still, at that time, within living memory, – the custom survived at Poolewe in Ross-shire where the young people were used to assemble at night to hear the old ones recite the tales which they had learned from their fore-fathers. Here, and at earlier dates in other parts of the country also, the demand for stories would further be supplied by travelling pedlars, or by gaberlunzie men, or pauper wandering musicians and entertainers, or by the itinerant shoemaker or tailor – Whip-the-Cat as he was nicknamed, – both of which last were accustomed to travel through thinly-populated country districts, in the pursuit of their calling, and to put up for the night at farm-houses, – where, whilst plying their needles, they would entertain the company with stories.</p><br>
<p>"The arrival of one of these story-tellers in a village was an important event. As soon as it became known, there would be a rush to the house where he was lodged, and every available seat – on bench, table, bed, beam, or the floor – would quickly be appropriated. And then, for hours together – just like some first-rate actor on a stage – the story-teller would hold his audience spell-bound. During his recitals, the emotions of the recitor were occasionally very strongly excited, as were also those of his listeners, who at one time would be on the verge of tears, at another give way to laughter. There were many of these listeners, by the way, who believed firmly in all the extravangances narrated.</p><br>
<p>And such rustic scenes as these, as I, have by no means been without their marked upon Scottish literature."</p><br>
<h3>Dialect</h3><br>
<p>Ross-shire dialect English is spoken in Red Point (nearby Gairloch) and Poolewe. It is "somewhat similar to that of the Southern Hebridean dialects." Pre-aspiration involves "a very distinct and long h, often with a slight velar friction; though this h is different from x, which has more friction, and there exist such pairs as bohk a buck boc ~bcxk poor bochd. When the occlusive is palatal, h is not affected by the palatality."</p><br>
<p>Snowy Mountain is a mountain located in Hamilton County, New York. Initially known as Squaw Bonnet, its summit is the highest point in the county. While most maps show the elevation as 3899 feet, some suggest that more recent surveys have it as 3904 feet or even 3908 feet.</p><br>
<p>The mountain is the highest in the Adirondack Mountains south of the 4,000 ft High Peaks region. It is one of thirteen mountain in New York with more than 2,000 ft of topographic prominence. Snowy Mountain is flanked to the northeast by Squaw Mountain (3239 feet), and to the southwest by Lewey Mountain (3742 feet). A subsidiary ridge comes off the summit to the east ending at unnamed Peak 3149 (3149 feet) which forms the head of a large bowl overlooking the Griffin Brook drainage.</p><br>
<p>Snowy Mountain stands within the watershed of the Hudson River, which drains into New York Bay. The south end of the northwest side of Snowy Mountain drains into Little Squaw Brook, thence into the Cedar River, and the Hudson River. The north side of Snowy Mountain drains into Squaw Brook, thence into Indian Lake, Lake Abanakee, the Indian River, and the Hudson River. The northeast end of Snowy Mountain drains into Beaver Brook, thence into Indian Lake. The southeast slopes of Snowy Mountain drain into Indian Lake via Griffin Brook, Forks Brook, Willow Brook, and Falls Brook.</p><br>
<p>It is the location of the recently restored Snowy Mountain Fire Observation Station, i.e. fire tower, listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. In 1909, after the disastrous forest fires of 1903 and 1908, New York State began erecting observation towers on strategically located peaks, such as Snowy Mountain, as part of a comprehensive forest fire suppression program for the Adirondack Mountains. That year a fifteen foot high log tower and a small log cabin were erected on the summit of Snowy Mountain. A telephone line was strung from the tower to Indian Lake village, a distance of 11 1/2 miles. Upon sighting smoke, the observer would call in the location of a suspected forest fire. With reports from observers on other nearby mountains, the exact location of the fire could be calculated by triangulation and fire suppression crews dispatched most expeditiously. In 1917, a steel tower 22 feet high replaced the log tower. In 1933, the steel tower was raised 33 feet so observers could see over the surrounding trees (one must assume that Verplanck Colvin and his men cleared the summit of most, if not all, trees in 1872 for triangulation sightings to distant peaks during the Adirondack Survey). In 1971, the Snowy Mountain fire tower was closed when NYS decided that it was unnecessary for protecting the Adirondack Park from forest fires (airplanes could do the job equally well). Several years later (it was there in 1986, but gone in 2006), the observer&#39;s cabin was removed.</p><br>
<p>Due to its high elevation and the restored fire tower, Snowy Mountain is a popular hiking destination. While the trip is nearly an eight mile walk involving more than 2000 feet of elevation gain, many find its views well worth the effort.</p><br>
<p>While the history of ascending this peak is surely incomplete, this much is known: The earliest known ascent is said to have been in 1771 by Archibald Campbell, a surveyor from Albany, NY. In that year, Joseph Totten and Stephen Crossfield were negotiating the purchase of a huge land tract from the Mohawk Nation (Six Nation Confederacy)for Edward and Ebenezer Jessup who had great influence with Sir William Johnson, NY Governor Dunmore and General Tryon. One can imagine that Campbell was dispatched to the area to find out something about what was being purchased. Verplanck Colvin and his crew climbed it on 4 August 1872 for the Adirondack Survey. Mills Blake, Colvins assistant, and his crew climbed it again ten years later on 7 November 1882 to complete some triangulations, again for the Adirondack Survey. One might wonder about their itinerary for they were again on the summit on 9 and 10 November. Due to the four mile approach, it seems likely that the survey crew bivouacked on the summit at least for the last two days. There is some speculation that Colvin may have been among the group on the 9th. While technically not winter, some consider this to be the earliest known winter&#39; ascent. Colvin made his second (perhaps 3rd) ascent of this peak on 22 June 1885 when he certainly bivouacked on the summit.</p><br>
<p>It is not known when the hiking trail was built, but one can imagine that it may have existed before the fire tower in 1909.</p><br>
<p>Rockclimbing at Snowy Mountain: In the mid-1990s, the peak was visited by Neal Knitel and Jonas Morelli who attempted a route on the left side of the summit cliff. They never returned to complete their route because "it was too far and there was other stuff to do." In 2002, unbeknownst to each other, two parties began working climbing routes at Snowy Mountain: Karl Swisher and Sid Perkins, and Ed Palen and Bob Starinsky. By 2008, seven high quality routes had been put up. All are bolt-protected face climbing on highly featured rock.</p><br>
<p>Part-way up the Griffin Brook drainage toward Peak 3149, lie the Snowy Mountain Boulders, a unique collection of boulders featuring the largest collection of huecos in the Adirondack Park. This unique bouldering area was initially noticed by Dave Buzzelli in 2003 while on the approach to the slides on Peak 3149 for skiing. Over 40 bouldering problems have been put up here since 2006.</p><br>
<p>The Best Western Plus Windsor Hotel at 125 West Lamar Street in Americus, Georgia was built in 1892 to attract winter visitors from the northeastern United States. The five-story Queen Anne hotel was designed by a Swedish-born architect, Gottfried Leonard Norrman, working in Atlanta. It featured a hundred rooms and a three-story atrium. It closed in the early 1970s, but later reopened with 53 guest rooms.</p><br>
<p>The Windsor is a contributing property within the National Register Americus Historic District. Vice-President Thomas R. Marshall gave a speech from the balcony in 1917, and the soon-to-be New York Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke in the dining room in 1928. Former President Jimmy Carter (born in nearby Plains, Georgia) has been a supporter of the hotel since its reopening.</p><br>
<p>Blind Department Building and Dow Hall, State School for the Blind were two buildings that were part of the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, a public school administered by the state in Faribault, Minnesota, United States. The two structures, Dow Hall and the Blind Department Building, were significant components of a system of state-administered special education for the physically and mentally handicapped segments of the population. Both buildings have been demolished, and their listing was removed from the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.</p><br>
<h2>Blind Department building</h2><br>
<p>Alexander Faribault moved into his impressive Second Empire home on the east side of the Straight River in 1856. In 1874, the home was sold to the state to house the State School for the Blind.</p><br>
<h2>Dow Hall</h2><br>
<p>Dow Hall (1883) was built specifically to house the School for the Blind. The buildings construction was indicative not only that education was worthwhile for people with disabilities, but also that differing disabilities required programs tailored to the students specific needs.</p><br>
<p>The building was demolished some time after 1996 due to potential safety hazards. The legislation authorizing the demolition specified that a historical marker must be placed at the site with artifacts of the historic building. The stonework of the ground floor of the foundation is visible at the site.</p><br>
<p>Black Mountain is a mountain located in Washington County, New York, of which its peak is the highest point.</p><br>
<p>Isolated from the rest of the Adirondack Mountains by Lake George, Black Mtn. has the seventh highest topographic prominence of all the mountains in New York.</p><br>
<p>Black Mountain stands within the watershed of Lake Champlain, thence into Canada&#39;s Richelieu River, the Saint Lawrence River, and into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.</p><br>
<p>The northwest and south sides of Black Mtn. drain into Lake George, thence into La Chute River, and Lake Champlain.</p><br>
<p>The northeast side of Black Mtn. drains into Pike Brook, thence into the South Bay of Lake Champlain.</p><br>
<p>Black Mountain is within New York&#39;s Adirondack Park.</p><br>
<p>On the top of Black Mountain is a weather station and wind turbine as well as a fire tower that is now out of commission and has been fenced off from the public.</p><br>
<p>Innischonnell  is an island in Loch Awe, Scotland. It is part of Kilchrenan and Dalavich parish, in Argyll. The island is fourteen miles east of Kilmartin, Argyll.</p><br>
<h2>Castle</h2><br>
<p>The castle that stands on the wooded island of Innis Chonnell has thick outer walls. It was the original stronghold of the Clan Campbell from possibly the eleventh century or earlier. It was the seat of Cailean Mór (Sir Colin Campbell) who was killed fighting the Clan MacDougall at the Battle of Red Ford in 1296. Later John MacDougall held the castle against Robert the Bruce in 1308. Sir Colin Campbells son, Sir Neil Campbell, married Bruces sister, Mary, and Sir Neil fought for the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314. Innis Chonnel Castle was abandoned by the Campbells as their residence in the fifteenth century, but it was still used as a prison. The young Domhnall Dubh ("Black Donald"), son of Aonghas Óg (Angus) and heir to the Lordship of the Isles, was imprisoned in the castle after the Battle of Bloody Bay, which took place off the coast of the Isle of Mull in 1484. He escaped but after invading Badenoch in 1503 he was recaptured and imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle for forty years. Innis Chonnell Castle was ruinous by the nineteenth century.</p><br>
<p>The Palms is an apartment building located at 1001 East Jefferson Avenue in Detroit, Michigan. It was one of the first buildings in the United States to use reinforced concrete as one of its major construction materials. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.</p><br>
<h2>Significance</h2><br>
<p>The six-story apartment building was initially built as a high-class residence between 1901 and 1903 at a cost of about $80,000. However, the historical importance of this building lies in its construction. The building was designed by the architectural firm of George D. Mason and Albert Kahn Associates, who used reinforced concrete as one of the major construction materials&mdash;one of the first buildings in the nation constructed in such fashion. The technique of using reinforced concrete was not fully developed until Julius Kahn, brother of Albert, developed the "Kahn System" of reinforcing the concrete and formed the Trussed Concrete Steel Company in Detroit to produce the steel bar that was developed for this system. In 1905, Building No. 10 of the Packard Plant was built using the new Kahn System.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The Palms and Book families were the investors in the construction of this building; it was named after Francis Palms, who lived in the nearby Croul-Palms House. The building is constructed in a "U" shape, with an exterior of solid masonry faced in limestone. The façade is symmetrical, with octagonal towers at the corners. The original floor plans called for apartments that occupied an entire wing of the building, consisting of a double parlor in the front and a dining room with fireplace to the back separated by bedrooms, libraries, baths and more. However, in the 1930s the building was divided into smaller apartments. Much of the original details still exist on the interior and exterior. The building was listed on the State Register in 1979, the National Register in 1985, and received Local Historic District designation in 1980.</p><br>
<h2>Sources</h2><br>
<p>"Palms Apartments," City of Detroit Planning and Development Department, 1980</p><br>
<p>The Isaac Meason House, also known as Mount Braddock, is a historic house located in Dunbar Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. Completed in 1802, it is one of only two surviving Palladian-style stone mansions from the period in the United States. Isaac Meason, for whom it was built, was an American Revolutionary War hero and early political power broker in the area, becoming the richest person in Fayette County due to his interest in iron furnaces. The house was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1990 for its architecture.</p><br>
<h2>Description and history</h2><br>
<p>The Isaac Meason House stands outside the hamlet of Mount Braddock, roughly midway between Connellsville and Uniontown at the southern end of Cellurale Drive off United States Route 119. It is prominently sited at the top of a local hill, with a circular stone wall with a gate at its center providing access to its front yard. It is a 2-1/2 story structure built out of locally quarried sandstone with an ashlar finish, and is built following a classical Palladian villa pattern. It has a central main block, flanked symmetrically by narrow hyphens connecting to single-story wings. Small outbuildings are then symmetrically placed beyond the outer wings, with the main driveway passing through the northern gap. The central bays of the center block on both the front and rear elevations are topped by a gabled pediment.</p><br>
<p>Little is known about Isaac Meason, beyond his origins in Virginia and his success in the Pennsylvania iron industry; he established an iron foundry in Uniontown in 1791, believed to be the first commercially successful operation in the region. This house was built for him by Adam Wilson, a builder about whom little is also known, but is believed to have been brought to the United States from Scotland by Meason. It took about five years to build, and was completed in 1802. While there are a number of formal Palladian-style mansion houses built in the Federal period that survive, most only have a five-part plan, lacking the outbuildings, or have outbuildings built of wood if the main house is masonry. This house is, along with "Mount Airy" in Warsaw, Virginia, one of two that have the full suite of seven elements executed entirely in stone.</p><br>
<p>The house remained in the Meason family until 1887.</p><br>
<p>The Spade Ranch is a large cattle ranch located in the Sandhills of western Nebraska between the towns of Gordon and Ellsworth. Founded in 1888 by Bartlett Richards, the ranch was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.</p><br>
<p>A beef ranching operation in the Nebraska Sandhills, the Spade Ranch, encompasses land in both Sheridan and Cherry Counties. Founders Bartlett Richards and William Comstock successfully managed the ranch into the early twentieth century. At its peak size in 1905 with open range grazing and ready markets for cattle, the Spade, encompassed over 500,000 acre with a herd of 60,000 cattle. Under the direction of the Bixby Family, associates of Richards and Comstock since 1908 and owners of the ranch since 1923, the Spade Ranch has continued to produce quality beef cattle as part of Nebraska&#39;s large beef industry. That the ranges remain cattle country today attests to the vision of early Nebraska Sandhills ranchers.</p><br>
<p>The Spade Ranch is named for the cattle brand that founders Bartlett Richards and William Comstock used to mark their cattle. The brand resembles an Ace of Spades on playing cards. The Spade brand is still in use as the ranch brand today.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<h3>Foundation and growth</h3><br>
<p>Nebraskas early beef cattle industry first developed between the Platte Rivers and along the valleys of the Republican River and South Loup River. H.L. Newman a wealthy St. Louis banker and stock-raiser and brother E.S. Newman established headquarters in 1878 at the mouth of the Antelope Creek, 12 mi south-east of the present town of Gordon, Nebraska and range along the Niobrara River covered an area of 30 by 65 mi with 15,000 head of cattle. John Bratt, the Keystone Cattle Company, and the Bosler Brothers had penetrated along the south rim of the Sandhills, but it wasnt until the spring of 1879 that the economic importance of the Sandhills were discovered. That year storm-driven cattle from the Newman Ranch disappeared South into the Sandhills area previously avoided by cattlemen. An expedition was organized, with ranch foreman Billy Irwin in charge, to venture into the Sandhills and round-up the scattered cattle. During the roundup of those cattle other wild cattle were found, the wild cattle had grown fat even though untended during several winters. On the fourth week out and running low on provisions, the Newman cowboys camped along a lake where all they had to eat was bean soup. They called the lake Bean Soup Lake, four miles (6 km) east of what would later become the headquarters of the Spade Ranch. One of the Newman cowboys on the 1879 round-up, was later Omaha mayor James Dahlman.</p><br>
<p>Word of the Newman Ranch&#39;s successful roundup of 1879 spread and rangeland along the Niobrara filled as fast as cattlemen could move in stock and erect shacks and corrals, but no ranch headquarters had as yet located within the Sandhills themselves. Bennett Irwin, one of the cattlemen on the 1879 roundup into the Sandhills, had as early as 1884 began to file on land in a large valley to the west of Bean Soup Lake called the Home Valley. The Home Valley is at the beginning of a series of large valleys capable of producing many thousands of tons of hay, making it an ideal location for settlement and development of a ranch.</p><br>
<p>On August 10, 1888, Bartlett Richards bought Bennett Irwin&#39;s filing near Bean Soup Lake in Sheridan County. The Log House from the Newman Ranch was disassembled and moved to its new location in the Home Valley, making it the first building erected at the newly formed Spade Ranch. During the 1890s, Richards developed his almost 800 square miles in Sheridan and Cherry Counties into manageable units. Ranching activities occurred year round. Following the breeding schedule, spring was calving and round up. Summer activities included harvesting hay to use for cattle feed in the fall and winter. Additional laborers were often hired to help with this task. During the fall fireguards were plowed to prevent fires from spreading, as the pastures had dried by the summer and cattle were shipped by railroad to markets in Omaha and Chicago. Year round activities included providing beef for the Indian agencies and building fences. Initially, fences created corrals at the ranch headquarters. By the early 1890s, fencing of grazing areas increased. The number of widespread roundups in the area may have increased the desire to fence in areas.</p><br>
<p>The Spade Ranch was one of the larger operations near the Pine Ridge Agency and supplied beef to the Dakota reservation. The Chadron Advocate reported in 1891," Bartlett Richards has received the beef contract at Pine Ridge Agency for the ensuing year. The amount is 6,000,000 pounds. This will require 6,000 head of cattle." The Spade continued a contract with the Pine Ridge Agency until 1896. Even though the agency provided good business, most of the steady business came from shipping cattle to packers or feeders in the corn belt.</p><br>
<p>In December 1895, the Richard and Cairnes partnership was formed with assets totaling $475,000.00 ( $12,087,227.00 current). Richards and Cairnes, Inc., included Richards as president, John Cairnes of Boston as vice president, and Jarvis Richards, secretary and treasurer. John Cairnes only attended one board meeting and in 1899 sold his stock to Richards and resigned. William Comstock took Cairnes place on the board, and they remained partners until Richards death in 1911.</p><br>
<p>As early as the 1880s, Richards established the Spade Ranch&#39;s cattle shipping point in Ellsworth, southwest of the Spade Ranch. In 1898, Richards and Cairnes, Inc., built a store, hotel, and stockyards in the small community. The store served as office headquarters for the Spade Ranch and included a general store and post office. The hotel built across the street from the store, provided free accommodations for the Spade Ranch cowboys.</p><br>
<p>In May 1899, the two companies (Richards and Cairnes, Inc., and Richards and Comstock) merged to form the Nebraska Land and Feeding Company. Bartlett Richards, William Comstock, Jarvis Richards, DeForest Richards, and E.C. Harris of Chadron were named directors. At the time of the merger, the company range included 16,000 head of cattle. Bankers authorized loans of $150,000.00 ($3,817,019.11 current) to purchase additional cattle.</p><br>
<p>William Comstock stayed in the home valley of the Spade Ranch headquarters, which is approximately 25 mi north of Ellsworth. Comstock had a sod house at the headquarters, another soddie as a ranch office, a good-sized bunkhouse, the log cookhouse (the log building moved from the Newman Ranch), a barn, feed yards, large corrals for working with cattle, breaking horses, branding, and dipping cattle, a blacksmith shop, a machine shop and the ranch store. The ranch store featured staple groceries, clothing, supplies, and a place to pick up mail carried from the Ellsworth post office. Later Comstock built a large frame house in the center of Spade operations. One additional house was built as a home for Spade foreman, Mike Peterson. Peterson worked for the Spade for several years, but rather than work for a wage, he received both land and stock.</p><br>
<p>By January 1899, telephone lines were constructed from Gordon to Ellsworth, and lines were proposed to extend to Rushville, Hay Springs, and Chadron under the new "Ranch Telephone Company". The Ranch Telephone Company was incorporated with Richards as president. Telephone lines connected the cattle-shipping points on the Burlington Railroad—Ellsworth, Lakeside, and Bingham—with Comstock&#39;s headquarters at the ranch.</p><br>
<p>Richards moved his headquarters from Chadron to Ellsworth in 1901 to be closer to the ranch. He completed his brick house in Ellsworth in the summer of 1902. The Richards family had a winter residence built in Coronado, California, that same year.</p><br>
<p>Richards began to concentrate on upgrading the breeding operation. He experimented with grain feeds to take care of calves and other special feeding problems, and he put windmills for adequate water. Richards and Comstock were the first cattlemen in the area to use chloro-naptholeum, a livestock dip that removed lice, mange, Texas itch, and other external parasites. The Spade Ranch was the agent for this patented product west of the Mississippi River. In 1903, the Spade&#39;s Hereford cattle won the Grand Prize at the American Royal Stock Show in Kansas City, Missouri for the best of any breed in both yearling and calf competition.</p><br>
<h4>War widow claims</h4><br>
<p>In 1901, Richards had 400 sections of land surveyed north of Ellsworth and placed a four-wire fence around the 250,000 acre. This area included government-owned land with 30 reservoirs, each of which had two or three windmills and water tanks for the stock. The fencing of pastures was necessary to prevent scattering of cattle and preserve breeding. To protect grazing lands from settlers, some ranches, such as the Spade, filed 160 acre homesteads where they had built fences. For example, the Spade Ranch paid Civil War veterans, their widows, and others to make the land claims and then transfer the leases to the ranch. This method allowed ranches to protect ranges and buy time in hope that a leasing law would be passed. The first batch of Civil War widows filed for the Spade Ranch in July 1902 and, within a month, enough widow claims had been added to cover the western side of Richard&#39;s southern pasture.</p><br>
<h3>Fencing controversy and trials</h3><br>
<p>In general, cattlemen did not feel that fencing was wrong. They believed they were fencing land unsuitable for any other uses, especially farming. Further, they believed a method of leasing land was a way to give value to the government land in the Sandhills and allow fencing to be legal. The House Committee on Public Lands held hearings on leasing and grazing legislation between January and June 1902.</p><br>
<p>Richards testified in favor of the Bowersock Bill, making the following plea:</p><br>
<p>Congress hesitated to pass a leasing act, and the United States Department of the Interior was determined to remove the fences. By November 1902, the Rushville Standard reported that Bartlett Richards had been ordered to remove his fences in Sheridan and Cherry Counties. The fenced enclosed about 60 civil townships, which would be enough to support 960 families at two sections per family. The Secretary of the Interior, Ethan A. Hitchcock, following the Roosevelt administration&#39;s direction, set out to enforce the 1885 Van Wyck Law, which forbade the fencing of public lands.</p><br>
<p>In 1905, Richards and Comstock were indicted and brought to trial for the illegal fencing of 212,000 acre of government land. They first entered a plea of not guilty, but quickly reconsidered and plead guilty to "asserting ownership and exclusive occupancy of government lands". Attorney Richard S. Hall told the court as the plea was entered for his clients:"It is our intention to comply with the law. We are removing the fences as rapidly as we can, but such as may remain, we have nothing to do with. Wherever the government shows us we have an unlawful fence, we will remove it." The fences they had "nothing to do with" may refer to those on a common boundary with other ranches or on widow claims.</p><br>
<p>On November 13, 1905, Richards and Comstock were sentenced to the custody of a United States Marshal for six hours and a fine of $300 and half of court costs. The modest sentence may have reflected a finding that they did not intimidate settlers and that their employees were at work removing the fences. Controversially, newspaper accounts charged that Richards and Comstock took part in a victory celebration instead of serving time. The Secretary of the Interior was upset about the news and fired District Attorney Baxter and Marshal Thomas L. Mathews, the officer in charge of Richards and Comstock&#39;s six-hour sentence. In reality, during their sentence, Richards and Comstock returned to the hotel to pack, write letters, shop, eat dinner, and arrive at the train station for the 11 p.m. train to Ellsworth.</p><br>
<p>In August 1906, new changes were brought against all Spade officials for "conspiracy to defraud the government of the title and use of public lands, subornation of perjury, and conspiracy to suborn perjury". The case was called to trial on November 12, 1906, in the Federal District Court in Omaha before Judge William H. Munger. Richards and Comstock did not testify. United States Secret Service men spent 13 months investigating and getting evidence. Affidavits were taken from 600 witnesses, subpoenas were issued for 165 witnesses, and 132 people offered evidence in trail.</p><br>
<p>On December 20, 1906, the jury delivered a guilty verdict on 35 of the 38 counts. A motion for a new trial was overruled and the sentence to Bartlett Richards and William Comstock was $1,500 fines and eight months in prison. Richards and Comstock appealed the verdict and were released on a $5,000 bond. The appellate court affirmed the guilty verdict on December 3, 1909. On October 17, 1910, the Supreme Court declined to hear the appeals of Richards, Comstock, and their associates, and ordered them to pay the fines and prepare to serve their sentences beginning on December 7.</p><br>
<p>Comstock, Jameson, and Triplett surrendered in late November and Richards arrived in Omaha on December 7, 1910. All four were transferred to the Adams County jail in Hastings to serve their sentences. Again the press covered the story of their imprisonment with false accounts. It was reported that Richards and Comstock were receiving special treatment but, in reality, the two were in the same surroundings as other prisoners and were granted very few privileges.</p><br>
<p>In June 1911 Richards was allowed to go to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, for gallstone surgery and returning to the Hastings jail on August 10. Richards had long-standing intestinal troubles and never fully recovered from surgery. Bartlett Richards died while incarcerated at Hastings, Nebraska in the early morning hours of September 4, 1911 before his wife could arrive by train from the family home in Coronado, California. When Will Comstock first heard the news of the partner&#39;s death, he is reported to have said, "May the angels guide you into Paradise, and may the martyrs come to meet you." The next day William Comstock was released and his sentence commuted by order of President William Taft so as to attend the funeral of his business partner in San Diego.</p><br>
<p>The trials and appeals had caused financial strain on the ranch and holdings of the Nebraska Land Company. Before his imprisonment, Richards had been ill and no longer directly managed the ranch. During his imprisonment, there was no direct supervision of the ranch affairs. Following Richards death, Comstock took control of the Spade Ranch and the Comstock and Richards families shared quarters at the Ellsworth house in the summers. In 1912, Comstock closed the C Bar and Overton Ranches, reducing the official land holding of the Spade Ranch. William Comstock died of cancer in the fall of 1916. Despite Comstocks advice to the contrary, Mrs. Richards kept control of the ranch.</p><br>
<p>It was difficult to maintain the ranch, because the era of free range was over. By 1916, Kinkaiders had claimed the land in the middle of the Spade range. Range land, once free, now had to be leased or bought from the homesteaders. The Nebraska Land and Feeding Company borrowed $200,000 ($3,893,991.77 current) from the New York Trust Company through a first mortgage on the Spade Land. The ranch survived until the depression of 1922-1923, during which time the mortgages on the land were foreclosed. By this time, the holdings of the Spade Ranch had been reduced to about 60,000 acre. The Richards family spent their last summer in Ellsworth in 1923 and the ranch was turned over to the bank.</p><br>
<h3>Reviving the Spade – the Bixby acquisition</h3><br>
<p>With the New York Trust Companys takeover of the Spade Ranch following the Nebraska Land and Feeding Companys foreclosure the future of the Spade was in question. In late 1923 Edward M. Brass, and his business partner, Edward P. Meyers, both prominent cattlemen, business men and owners of the Sandhill Land and Cattle Company secured the lease on the Spade Ranch. Brass and Meyers seemed to have uncanny foresight of economic change. Prior to 1922 they had sold most of their cattle at good prices and then leased their ranches out then with cattle prices low in 1923-24, they bought back into the cattle business. Beginning in 1924 management of the ranch was given to Lawrence Y. Bixby, cattleman and former employee of the Nebraska Land and Feeding Company.</p><br>
<p>Lawrence had first arrived at the Spade Ranch in 1909 at the age of thirteen and grew up observing and working for its owners. In 1908 Bixbys father James, an eastern professor who had moved west for a position at the Spade School, filed on and moved to a section of land four miles (6 km) east of the Spade Ranch Headquarters. On March 3, 1909 the rest of the Bixby family arrived at the depot in Ellsworth. From the back of the wagon, as they freighted north from Ellsworth, Lawrence led their milk cow, Old Roanie, and as they passed the Spade Ranch store, Mike Peterson saw them from the front porch. The Spade Foreman laughed when he saw the Bixby piano in the wagon. "Ill just give them six months," he said. Bixbys mother Jennie worked as a ranch cook at the Spade Headquarters Cookhouse. Lawrence would later recall, "Every time some old drunken cook drank up the extract, the foreman would send someone after mother. I used to go up and help her at the cookhouse. I rode Old Plunger and had an eleven dollar Sears Roebuck saddle." In March 1909 James took Lawrence to a cattle sale near Hay Springs, Nebraska. There they bought 28 head of heifers for $467.00. This was the start of Bixbys herd and with the help of a neighbor they trailed the cattle south for the Spade. They stayed the first night at Newtons Ranch and the next at Sam Greens. "Mr. Green couldnt read nor write," Lawrence wrote, "but he would tell us wonderful stories about Quantrills Raiders. We stopped at the Spade and branded our heifers with the J Lazy B but before long Newton came with the sheriff and said he was short two white-faced heifers. We had no way to prove what we knew had happened, so we had to see them go". James chose the tranquil name of Cloverleaf Ranch for their new homestead but in the first year a rattlesnake bit their dog Spot, James killed a wolf and a neighbor threatened to contest Lawrences sister Inas homestead filing unless they gave him a cow, calf and a spool of wire.</p><br>
<p>In 1909 Bartlett Richards bought 20,000 head of cattle from Mexico and in November of that year a very strong snow storm incapacitated the area. "The Spade lost 10,000 of those cattle," Lawrence said, "and there was a pile of hides in Ellsworth as high as the depot." Lawrence and his brother Ona skinned cattle for 50 cents a head, 25 cents per calf and everyday the intense cold brought more losses to the Spade. When Lawrence was old enough to file on a homestead, he described his land on the Alkali Lake Meadow as a quarter-mile deep and two miles wide, but he met requirements and received patent on the string of 40s in 1918. In 1925 Brass and Meyers arranged with Lawrence to buy the hay and have him care for and feed their cattle which were branded with Sandhills Land and Cattle Companys Sugar Bowl brand. Early on, Brass assisted Bixby with a $2,000.00 ($24,031.37 current) down payment on a loan to buy 2,000 acres (810 ha) of the Spade land. Beginning in 1925, Bixby slowly began to obtain sections of the old Spade Ranch range by hard work and perseverance, aided by bankers willing to take a chance. In 1926, Brass and Meyers suggested Bixby move to the ranch headquarters in the Spade home valley. The same year Lawrence was asked by the Union Pacific assistant treasurer C.T. Cullen for permission to bring a hunting party to the Spade and for a number of years the men came in a private railroad car, bringing their own cook and paid handsomely for hunting rights on Bixby land and lakes. Mr. Cullen dropped by the day Lawrence was checking applications for the district school, where he was a board member. "Hire this one with the Irish eyes," Mr. Cullen suggested and in time Miss Eleanor Riordan of York, Nebraska began teaching Cherry County District #168. Lawrence conscientiously kept in touch with the young teacher and the day after her term ended they were married in Alliance, Nebraska on May 26, 1927.</p><br>
<p>Edward Brass had no son and Lawrences father James had died in 1918 so a deepened friendship between the young rancher and veteran cattleman became a strong business bond. When a buyer carrying a Brass and Meyers checkbook loaded them in 1929 with 14,000 head of Texas yearlings, Brass depended on Bixby to find the rangeland. The ranch leases that Bixby negotiated and held included 10,000 acres from Emmett Green, 10,000 acres at Spring Lake, a lease from Lester Hull on the Old Overton at 30,000 acres, the 19,000 acre Coffee Ranch on Leander Creek near Merriman and 20 sections on the Old Matador Ranch west of Kyle, South Dakota near Bear Creek. Edward Brass died in 1929, leaving Meyers in full control of the Sandhills corporation. In the late 1920s with Bixby running 12,000 head of Brass and Meyers hereford cattle, 3000 head of his own herefords and a large draft and quarter remuda the ranch prospered but during the depression of the 1930s, Meyers reduced the companys total number of cattle and Bixbys 13-year relationship with the Sandhills Corporation ended in 1937. "In the fall of 1937, I turned back 6,200 head of Sugar Bowl cattle. Ed Brass was dead, E.P. Meyers and Frank Wagoner were gone and the big Brass and Meyers deal was about over. We had 3,000 cows, 25,000 acres of the Spade and all I had to wonder was could I ever pay for it. Ed Brass was a great teacher and cowman. I tried to do everything that way he taught me, and I owe him a lot." Bixby said. By 1940 Bixby had been able to regain 40 square miles (100 square kilometers) of original Spade Ranch range, including the home valley headquarters.</p><br>
<p>During his ownership Bixby planted thousands of trees in the home valley around the Spade Ranch and installed airstrips for the ranch airplanes. In addition to reviving the Spade Ranch, Lawrence Bixby also returned the Richards Home in Ellsworth, Nebraska to noteworthy status. Since the time of the Richards ownership, the house had been divided into apartments and was in disrepair. In 1953-1954, Lawrence and wife Eleanor moved to the Ellsworth house after it was rehabilitated. In 1965 the ranch headquarters included the large 1889 Comstock-Bixby house where Lawrences son Jim and family lived, another residence built in 1952 for Lawrences other son Larry and family, three large bunkhouses, the 1879 log cookhouse, large 1889 horse barn, cattle dipping vat, livestock scales, feed yards, large corrals for working with cattle and breaking horses, calving barns, 1895 blacksmith shop, cattle feed storage facilities, a machine shop and a large three aircraft hangar. Starting in the early 1950s Lawrence served as a high-ranking officer in the Nebraska Stock Growers Association, the Nebraska Beef Council and as president of the Nebraska Flying Farmers and Ranchers Association. In 1954, Bixby donated $60,000 ($473,460.44 current USD) to help pave Nebraska Highway 27 from Ellsworth to Gordon, which passed by the ranch.</p><br>
<p>Lawrence Bixby admired Bartlett Richards as a man and as a cattleman. "The homesteaders would have starved to death without Richards," he said. " He loaned them milk cows, gave them horses and let them charge at the Spade Ranch Store. Even after the Kinkaid Act people couldnt exist by trying to farm or raise cattle on 640 acres (260 ha). They left and Richards bought their land at fair prices. Through Bixbys efforts, Bartlett Richards was inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, in 1970. In 1981 Bixby himself was named a patron member of the Hall and his photograph was etched on a silver plaque in the Founders Hall section. In 1980, the original headquarters and Ranch had listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>State Historical Preservation Officer Marvin F. Kivett explained:</p><br>
<p>Lawrence Bixby died of heart failure May 26, 1982, an Alliance Times Herald headline read:</p><br>
<p>Following Lawrence Bixbys death in 1982 ranch operations were passed to son James D. Bixby. Jim who had won notoriety in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Calf Roping circuit retained a very large quarterhorse remuda and maintained the Spades tradition of using only horse and cowboy for daily ranch operations. During his ownership Bixby transitioned the cow herd from Hereford to Angus Cattle due to changing market demands. Jim was very active on and off the ranch until his death from cancer in 1990.</p><br>
<p>The Spade has been operated by Jims son Bret Y. Bixby, a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Steer Roper, since 1990. Bret, like his father and grandfather before him maintains the Spades usage of horse and rider.</p><br>
<h3>The Spade Ranch today</h3><br>
<p>The Spade Ranch continues to operate today in the traditional western fashion. Most of the original buildings in the Home Valley of the Spade are extant and functioning in their original capacity. Although ranching operations have changed considerably since the early days of Richards and Comstock, cowboys and ranch hands are still employed by the Bixby&#39;s. The number of employees needed to operate the ranch has significantly decreased over the last few years due to advancements in technology and equipment. During the summer months of July and August hay is harvested out the large meadows to be used to feed cattle during winter. Calving season begins in February and tapers off by early April. This is a very critical time and the calving herd requires around the clock supervision. Large roundups are carried out in the spring and fall to ready cattle for market and branding. Branding at the Spade is a large yearly event – cattle are roped from horseback, wrestled by hand and branded with the Spade brand. The Branding is traditionally concluded with a large western dinner. Cattle are no longer shipped to market by train, but rather by cattle truck. Aircraft are used to locate cattle in large pastures, spot downed fences and for ranch business abroad. Bixby Black Angus cattle are nationally recognized for both their quality and genetics. The Bixby Family works closely with the Nebraska State Historical Society and Chadron State College in the preservation and research of the Sandhills region of Nebraska.</p><br>
<p>Although some ranches around the Spade are no longer working cattle ranches, the Spade Ranch continues to operate as a beef cattle ranch. Richards and Comstock&#39;s legacy was carried on by Lawrence Bixby, whose legacy is carried on by his descendants. Historically, the Spade Ranch is an important feature of the landscape of Sheridan County, and it continues to be one today.</p><br>
<h3>Books</h3><br>
<p>Bartlett Richards: Nebraska Sandhills Cattleman written by son Bartlett Richards, Jr. with Ruth Van Ackeren, details the life of Bartlett Richard, Sr. with his personal and business correspondence from his first arriving at Cheyenne, Wyoming in August 1879, his education and apprenticeship with some of the most powerful Havard taught cattle barons of the time, through the rise of his enormous cattle ranching empires in Wyoming and Nebraska, the controversial land trials at the hands of the government and to his unexpected death in 1911.</p><br>
<p>Lawrence Bixby: Preserver of the Old Spade Ranch written by Ruth Van Ackeren and Robert M. Howard, follows the story of Lawrence Bixby who picked up the pieces of the crumbling Spade Empire to form a second ranching dynasty that forged a path through twentieth century ranching by raising market topping Hereford cattle, award-winning Percheron and Belgian Workhorses and producing revered prize winning Calf Roping Quarterhorses, while doing all possible to protect and preserve the ranch he called home.</p><br>
<p>The Salmagundi Club, sometimes referred to as the Salmagundi Art Club, is a fine arts center located in New York City. It was founded in 1871 in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, New York City. Since 1917, it has been located at 47 Fifth Avenue., its membership roster totals roughly 900 members.</p><br>
<p>The Salmagundi Club has served as a center for fine arts, artists and collectors, with art exhibitions, art classes, artist demonstrations, art auctions and many other types of events. It is also a sponsor of the United States Coast Guard Art Program (COGAP).</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>It was founded in 1871. Originally called the New York Sketch Class, and later the New York Sketch Club, the Salmagundi Club had its beginnings at the eastern edge of Greenwich Village in sculptor Jonathan Scott Hartley&#39;s Broadway studio, where a group of artists, students, and friends at the National Academy of Design, which at the time was located at Fourth Avenue and Twenty-third Street, gathered weekly on Saturday evenings.</p><br>
<p>The club formally changed its name to The Salmagundi Sketch Club in January 1877. The name has variously been attributed to salmagundi, a stew which the group has served from its earliest years, or to Washington Irving&#39;s Salmagundi Papers.</p><br>
<p>Growing rapidly, the organization was housed in a series of rented properties including 121 Fifth Avenue, 49 West 22nd Street, 40 West 22nd Street and finally 14 West Twelfth Street, where it remained for 22 years. In April 1917, following a three-year search, the club purchased Irad and Sarah Hawley&#39;s 1853 Italianate-style brownstone townhouse at 47 Fifth Avenue between East Eleventh and East Twelfth Streets from the estate of William G. Park for $100,000.00 and erected a two-story annex in the rear at an additional cost of $20,000.00 to house its primary art gallery and a billiard room. A housewarming event on Feb 5th, 1918 was attended by more than 500 persons. In 1969 the building was designated a historical landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. In 1975 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<p>In 1918, the club spearheaded a national effort to produce range-finder paintings used to train military gunners for World War I. The club provided the canvas and painting materials for these special-purpose paintings.</p><br>
<h2>Membership</h2><br>
<p>The Salmagundi Club was a male-only club for its first century, although artworks by women were accepted and praised. A sister club for women artists, the Pen and Brush Club, was formed around the corner from Salmagundi in 1894. Salmagundi began admitting women members in 1973.</p><br>
<p>Members of the Salmagundi Club have included Thomas P. Barnett, William Richardson Belknap, Ralph Blakelock, A. J. Bogdanove, James Wells Champney, William Merritt Chase, Frederick Stuart Church, Jay Hall Connaway, John Henry Dolph, Charles Dana Gibson, Gordon H. Grant, Edmund Greacen, William Hart, Childe Hassam, Ernest Martin Hennings, Harry Hoffman, Alexander Pope Humphrey, George Inness, Jr., John LaFarge, Ernest Lawson, Frank Mason, Leopold Matzal, Samizu Matsuki, John Francis Murphy, Spencer Baird Nichols, Richard C. Pionk, Howard Pyle, Will J. Quinlan, Norman Rockwell, Harry Roseland, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Leopold Seyffert, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Edward Charles Volkert, J. Alden Weir, Jack Wemp, Stanford White, Stuart Williamson, and N.C. Wyeth.</p><br>
<p>Honorary members have included Paul Cadmus, Schuyler Chapin, Winston Churchill, Buckminster Fuller, Al Hirschfeld, and Thomas Hoving.</p><br>
<h2>Club presidents</h2><br>
<p>Joseph Hartley, 1871-1889</p><br>
<p>George W. Maynard, 1888-1889</p><br>
<p>Charles Yardley Turner, 1883-1889</p><br>
<p>Thomas Moran, 1893-1896</p><br>
<p>W. Lewis Fraser, 1896-1897</p><br>
<p>Alexander Theobald Van Laer, 1897-1898</p><br>
<p>Robert C. Minor, 1898-1899</p><br>
<p>Alexander Theobald Van Laer, 1899-1900</p><br>
<p>George H. McCord, 1900-1901</p><br>
<p>George Inness, Jr., 1901-1903</p><br>
<p>J. Scott Hartley, 1903-1905</p><br>
<p>Alexander Theobald Van Laer, 1905-1908</p><br>
<p>Henry B. Snell, 1908-1910</p><br>
<p>Frank Knox Morton Rehn, 1910-1911</p><br>
<p>Carleton Wiggins, 1911-1913</p><br>
<p>Charles Vezin, 1913-1914</p><br>
<p>F. Ballard Williams, 1914-1919</p><br>
<p>Emil Carlsen, 1919-1920</p><br>
<p>J. Massey Rhind, 1920-1922</p><br>
<p>Hobart Nichols, 1922-1924</p><br>
<p>W. Granville Smith, 1924-1926</p><br>
<p>Franklin De Haven, 1926-1929</p><br>
<p>Bruce Crane, 1929-1933</p><br>
<p>Louis Betts, 1933-1935</p><br>
<p>George Elmer Brown, 1935-1937</p><br>
<p>Frederick W. Hutchinson, 1937-1939</p><br>
<p>Gordon Grant, 1939-1941</p><br>
<p>George Lober, 1941-1944</p><br>
<p>Frederick K. Detwiller, 1944-1946</p><br>
<p>Henry O&#39; Connor, 1946-1947</p><br>
<p>Silvio B. Valerio, 1947-1949</p><br>
<p>Percy Albee, 1949-1953</p><br>
<p>Russell Rypsam, 1953-1955</p><br>
<p>Henry Laussucq, 1955-1957</p><br>
<p>Junius Allen, 1957-1959</p><br>
<p>A. Henry Nordhausen, 1959-1963</p><br>
<p>Francis Vandeveer Kughler, 1963-1966</p><br>
<p>Martin Hannon, 1966-1970</p><br>
<p>John N. Lewis, 1970-1976</p><br>
<p>Martin Hannon, 1976-1977</p><br>
<p>Raymond R. Goldberg, 1977-1979</p><br>
<p>Richard Clive, 1979-1981</p><br>
<p>Carl L. Thomson, 1981-1983</p><br>
<p>Ruth B. Reininghaus, 1983-1987</p><br>
<p>Edward A. Brennan, 1987-1990</p><br>
<p>Kenneth W. Fitch, 1990-1991</p><br>
<p>Robert Volpe, 1991-1994</p><br>
<p>Richard C. Pionk, 1994-2007</p><br>
<p>Claudia Seymour, 2007-2013</p><br>
<p>Robert Pillsbury, 2013–present</p><br>
<p>Marchington Lake is a lake in the Hudson Bay drainage basin located near Sioux Lookout in the Kenora District of northwestern Ontario, Canada.</p><br>
<h2>Hydrology</h2><br>
<p>The lake lies roughly south-west to north-east, a distance of 22.5 km. There are two major bays on the lake: Northeast Bay, which forms the north-east end, and McDougall Bay, which forms a large hook at the south-west corner. Another arm forms a 5 km spike leading south-east from Northeast Bay.</p><br>
<p>The Marchington River flows into the lake at McDougall Bay and is also the outflow of the lake, at the south-west corner at McDougall Mills. The Sturgeon River is another main source, and flows into the lake at the spike-shaped arm at the south-eastern end. The North River flows into the middle of the lake on the north-west side. Other inflows are (clockwise from north-east) Watin Creek, Kinniwap Creek, Mall Creek, Martin Creek and Kee Creek. The Marchington River flows via the English River, the Winnipeg River and the Nelson River to Hudson Bay.</p><br>
<h2>Economy</h2><br>
<p>The CN transcontinental main line crosses the lake at its south-eastern arm near Robinson, travels inland, then continues along the south-west corner of the lake past Ghost River and McDougall Mills.</p><br>
<p>Lau Lagoon is a part of Solomon Islands. It is located on the northeast coast of Malaita Island. The lagoon is more than 35 kilometers long and contains about 60 artificial islands built on the reef.</p><br>
<p>The Lau lagoon is home to a number of different villages, the largest of which is Forau. Forau has around 1,500 permanent residents but can swell to three times that number during important local feasts or religious holidays (e.g. Christmas, Easter). The road from Auki ends at Fouia wharf opposite the islands of Sulufou and Adagege in the Lau Lagoon. Funa&#39;afou island, which is located situated near the edge of the Makwanu Passage, has about 200 inhabitants. The Lau Lagoon is otherwise only accessible by sea.</p><br>
<h2>History of the Lau people</h2><br>
<p>The people of the Lau Lagoon call themselves wane i asi salt-water people as distinct from wane i tolo bush people who live in the interior of the island.</p><br>
<p>There was a history of conflict between the bush people and the salt-water people. The people of Lau Lagoon build islands on the reef as these provided protection against attack. These islands were formed literally one rock at a time. A family would take their canoe out to the reef which protects the lagoon and then dive for rocks, bring them to the surface and then return to the selected site and drop the rocks into the water. Living on the reef was also healthier as the mosquitoes, which infested the coastal swamps, were not found on the reef islands. The Lau people continue to live on the reef islands.</p><br>
<h2>Agricultural and fishing practices</h2><br>
<p>On the main land are the gardens in which the women grow swamp taro (Cyrtosperma merkusii), sweet potato and yam. Supplementary crops include papaya, bananas, sugar cane, coconut and green vegetables.</p><br>
<p>The men fish in the lagoon or in the ocean. The Lau fisherman have a number of fishing techniques that they have developed to with particular reference to fish habits and habitats of the lagoon. The Lau fisherman recognise a tenure or ownership over areas of the lagoon and adjacent sea, which is divided into owned and free areas. The areas that have higher resource potential are those that are recognised as being owned and are inherited by patrilineal descent groups. The recognition of ownership allows the Lau fisherman to manage the marine reserve so as to maintain an ecologically sustainable use of the marine resources. The management of the marine resources also allows the Lau fisherman to fulfil the social and cultural goals of the community by ensuring a large catch to meet the needs of the Lau as well as providing a surplus which allows for the economic and social exchange between the Lau fishing community and the agriculturalists of the central areas of Malaita as the Lau are unable to produce sufficient starchy food crops and other vegetables from their own gardens. The fish stocks of the Lau Lagoon and sea areas was once plentiful, but it is becoming harder to come by due to pressure from international fisheries.</p><br>
<p>There are markets at which vegetables and fish are traded. These markets are located at either river sides a few kilometres upstream from the coast, or along the coast including in the Lau Lagoon. Markets appear to be located at territorial boundaries between wane i asi salt-water people as distinct from wane i tolo Bush people.</p><br>
<h2>Traditional practices</h2><br>
<p>Malaitan shell-money, manufactured in the Langa Langa Lagoon, is the traditional currency used in Malaita and throughout the Solomon Islands. The money consists of small polished shell disks which are drilled and placed on strings. It can be used as payment for bride price, funeral feasts and compensation, with the shell-money having a cash equivalent value. It is also worn as an adornment and status symbol. The standard unit, known as the tafuliae, is several strands 1.5 m in length. The shell money is still produced by the people of Langa Langa Lagoon, but much is inherited, from father to son, and the old traditional strings are now rare.</p><br>
<p>The Lau Lagoon was known as a place where dolphin drive hunting occurred. The dolphins were used as a food source, with the teeth strung together to make belts that are also used as money. The people of Lau Lagoon have stopped hunting dolphin. The wane i asi salt-water people of South Malaita have continued to hunt dolphin; In 2010, the villages of Fanalei, Walende, and Bitamae in South Malaita signed a MoU with the non-governmental organisation, Earth Island Institute, to stop hunting dolphin. However, in early 2013 the agreement broke down and some men in Fanalei resumed hunting.</p><br>
<p>Middletown Valley, also historically known as Catoctin Valley, is a valley in western Frederick County in the state of Maryland.</p><br>
<h2>Geography</h2><br>
<p>It is bound to the west by South Mountain, to the east by Catoctin Mountain, to the south by the Potomac River and to the north by the convergence of South Mountain and Catoctin Mountain, south of Quirauk Mountain. Geographically, it can be considered an extension of the Loudoun Valley which lies below the Potomac in Virginia. The valley derives its name from Middletown, the largest town in the Valley.</p><br>
<p>The use of the Catoctin Valley terminology was prevalent up through the American Civil War but afterwards was abandoned due to confusion between it and the northern portion of the Loudoun Valley also referred to as Catoctin Valley.</p><br>
<p>The Byam Martin Mountains are a rugged mountain range extending east to west across Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada. It is one of the most northern ranges in the world and is an extension of the Baffin Mountains which in turn form part of the Arctic Cordillera mountain system. The highest mountain in the range is Angilaaq Mountain, 1,951 m, located near the island&#39;s center. Sharp peaks and ridges, divided by deep glacier-filled valleys are typical features in the range and has been extensively modified by glacial erosion. The Byam Martin Mountains have not been conducive to habitation. While there are no permanent settlements in the Byam Martin Mountains, Inuit from Pond Inlet and elsewhere regularly travel to the range.</p><br>
<p>The Byam Martin Mountains are made up of Archean-Aphebian igneous crystalline rock and Proterozoic metasedimentary and metamorphic rock, such as gneiss.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The first known expedition to the Byam Martin Mountains was by Pat Baird in 1939. He traversed Bylot Island from the Aktineq Glacier to Bathurst Bay on the east coast and returned down the Sermilik Glacier. On June 7, 1939 he climbed an unnamed, 6,000 ft mountain at coordinates 73deg 06.7N 078deg 30.5W. Mount Thule 1,711m (5,614 ft) was climbed in 1954 by American Ben Ferris, a member of the Harvard Mountaineering Club. In 1963, British explorer Bill Tilman sailed his boat to the north coast and traversed the island from north to south, but did not climb any of the larger peaks. Laurie Dexter, an Anglican minister and Arctic resident, explored and climbed peaks on the southern coast. In 1974, Dr. George Van Brunt Cochran climbed an unnamed peak west of the Narsarsuk Glacier on the south coast. In 1977, a Canadian expedition led by Rob Kelly and four others, traversed the island from NW to SE. They climbed 20 peaks, including Pat Bairds unnamed peak on July 27, 1977. In June 1981, another Canadian expedition led by Jack DeBruyn with three other members of the Grant MacEwan Mountain Club from Edmonton, Alberta, traversed the island from NW to S. They climbed 15 peaks, with 14 first ascents, and also Pat Bairds unnamed peak on July 3, 1981. In 1984, another Canadian expedition led by Mike Schmidt and others traversed the island from N to SE, climbing 28 peaks, with 16 first ascents.</p><br>
<p>St. Mark&#39;s Episcopal Cathedral located at 231 E. 100 South in Salt Lake City, Utah is the cathedral church of the Diocese of Utah in the Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Built in 1871, it is the third oldest Episcopal Cathedral in the United States and the second oldest continuously used worship building in Utah. It was designed by noted architect, Richard Upjohn, in the Gothic Revival style. On September 22, 1970, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The original cornerstone was laid in 1870 under the supervision of Bishop Daniel Sylvester Tuttle with funding from Episcopalians in New York and Pennsylvania. The Cathedral was consecrated on May 14, 1874. A fire in 1935 gutted the sanctuary, but the church was rebuilt following the original design.</p><br>
<p>The early Episcopal Church left its mark in the community such that by 1880, members of the church had established Saint Marks School for Boys, Rowland Hall School for Girls, and Saint Marks Hospital. Rowland Hall / St. Mark&#39;s School is now merged and offers education today for K–12.</p><br>
<h2>Today</h2><br>
<p>Current outreach includes Hildegarde&#39;s Pantry, Community of Faith Celebrations, Community of Hope, and Feed My Sheep programs. In addition the Cathedral is often used for musical events and the Cathedral hall has been used for many Civic events over the years.</p><br>
<p>In 2005 construction began on a new Cathedral Center that opened in early 2007. This space includes the Dean&#39;s hall that provides a meeting and dining area for up to 300 people. There are also offices, meeting and other space that serve the Cathedral and community that it reaches out to in many ways.</p><br>
<p>West Lake  is the biggest freshwater lake of northwest center of Hanoi, Vietnam. With a shore length of 17 km  and 500 hectare  in area, this is the largest lake of the capital and a popular place for recreation with many surrounding gardens, hotels and villas. A small part of West Lake is divided by Thanh Nien road to form Trúc Bạch Lake. One district of Hanoi is named after the lake, Tây Hồ District.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>West Lake was created from a curved part of Red River and appeared in several Vietnamese legends. One legend suggests that West Lake was shaped after the battle between Lạc Long Quân and a nine-tailed fox spirit, and that&#39;s why the lake was once called "Fox Corpse Swamp" (Đầm Xác Cáo). Another folk story claimed that original name of the lake was "Golden Buffalo Lake" (Hồ Trâu Vàng, or Han Viet: Hồ Kim Ngưu) because it was formed from struggle of a buffalo after the disappearance of her calf. In the 11th century, the lake was named "Foggy Lake" (Han Viet: Hồ Dâm Đàm) due to its misty condition. Ultimately its name was changed to "West Lake" in 1573 to avoid the given name of king Lê Thế Tông, which was Duy Đàm.</p><br>
<p>West Lake is bordered by many significant places in the history of Hanoi and Vietnam. Trấn Quốc Pagoda, the oldest pagoda in Vietnam, was built in the 6th century by Lý Nam Đế and is located on a small island in the middle of the lake. Near Tran Quoc Pagoda is Quán Thánh Temple, one of the Four Sacred Temples of ancient Hanoi (Vietnamese: Tứ trấn Thăng Long). Chu Van An High School, one of the oldest high schools in Vietnam, is also located close to the lake.</p><br>
<h2>Recreation activities</h2><br>
<p>As Hanoi&#39;s largest lake, located right in the center of Hanoi, West Lake is abundant with gardens, hotels, restaurants and other entertainment centers. For this reason, real estate prices near West Lake are staggering, and the surrounding quarters are often full of many imposingly large edifices occupied by wealthy Vietnamese people and expatriates.</p><br>
<p>Magnolia House, also known as the Johnson-Kinney House, located in Bennettsville, South Carolina, is a fine example of an excellently preserved late antebellum neoclassical, or "bracketed Greek Revival" home in rural South Carolina. Magnolia is a two-story frame house constructed in 1853 by Bennettsville lawyer, William Dalrymple Johnson. Johnson was a signer of the South Carolina Ordinance of Secession.</p><br>
<p>Notable details of the structure include a one-story porch supported by ten Doric columns, which extends along the northern exposure and front portion of the eastern side. Also, matching double leaf, five paneled doors are at the front and rear entrances, framed by rectangular transoms and sidelights with unusual rectangular pane design. Boxed cornices are bracketed all around. Behind the house are a barn and the old slave quarters, which were built around the year 1853.</p><br>
<p>The Bank of Italy Building, also known as the Clay-Montgomery Building, is a building in San Francisco, California.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>Following the destruction of the original headquarters, the Bank of Italy was briefly run from two locations, one on the Washington Street wharf and the other from the home of Giannini&#39;s brother on Van Ness Avenue. Shortly thereafter, more permanent accommodations were found in a building on Montgomery Avenue near the site of the original headquarters.</p><br>
<p>The building was designed by Frank T. Shea of Shea & Lofquist, architects. The ground floor facade is built from granite cladding while the upper ones, which mimic the design forms, are from less expensive terra-cotta. The interior is a jewel box of white marble and gold leaf detailing with a spectacular coffered ceiling.</p><br>
<p>During this period, Giannini and the bank directors decided to construct their own bank building. A parcel of land was purchased for $125,000 at the corner of Clay and Montgomery Streets. Due to demands on the bank&#39;s funds following the fires, construction was not started for nearly a year after the land purchase.</p><br>
<p>The building opened on August 17, 1908 and served as the headquarters of the Bank of Italy until 1921 when operations were moved to a newer building at 1 Powell Street. Following the headquarters move, the building served as the headquarters for Giannini&#39;s Liberty Bank System. In the 1930s, the building became a Bank of America branch.</p><br>
<p>On September 4, 2012 mens luxury retailer (formerly known as On The Fly) opened a retail location on the buildings ground floor, with tailoring and barber services in the basement vault.</p><br>
<h2>Preservation</h2><br>
<p>The Bank of Italy Building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1978, and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1978.</p><br>
<p>The external structure is predominantly original with the exception of the replacement of the original doors and the addition of another entrance. Additionally, the windows that originally existed on the south side of the building were bricked over when the neighboring Scatena Building was constructed.</p><br>
<p>The interior of the upper floors (2-8) have seen extensive modification and little remains of the original design. The basement has also been heavily modified with the exception of the original safe containing 5,000 safe deposit boxes. The first floor retains much of the original plaster and marble work. The tables, marble counters, wainscoting, and light fixtures are also originals. The original bronze teller cages have been replaced with newer protective cages that retain the look of the originals.</p><br>
<p>The Grand Theater is part of a complex of historic buildings in Salem, Oregon, United States that was originally owned by the fraternal organization Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places  as the Chemeketa Lodge No. 1, Odd Fellows Buildings. The theater building is also known as the I.O.O.F. Temple.</p><br>
<p>The Grand Theater was built as a lodge hall and opera house by the Oddfellows in 1900, and was designed by the architectural firm of Pugh & Gray. John Philip Sousa performed at the grand opening on November 29, 1900. An annex containing a hotel and bus terminal and designed by architect Morris Whitehouse was built in 1921. The two former I.O.O.F. buildings were added to the NRHP in 1988. The buildings currently hold retail businesses, offices, and a ballroom and other facilities that are rented for special events, while the theater serves as a film and music venue.</p><br>
<p>Pico 31 de Março, or Pico Trinta e Um de Março in full, also known as Pico Phelps, is a mountain on the Brazil–Venezuela border. At 2,974 m above sea level, it is Brazils second highest mountain. It is part of the Neblina massif, and the latters summit Pico da Neblina, Brazil&#39;s highest summit, is only 687 m away. Pico 31 de Março can be considered a secondary summit of Pico da Neblina. Therefore, it is usually climbed by expeditions primarily aiming to reach the other peak. Pico 31 de Março is linked to Pico da Neblina by a col that can be easily traversed in a short trek of about an hour.</p><br>
<h2>Discovery and naming</h2><br>
<p>The peak was first discovered in 1954 by the Basset Maguires expedition to the north side of the mountain massif. It was later climbed during the first attempt to climb Pico da Neblina, by a Brazilian army expedition. It received its name (meaning "March 31 Peak" in Portuguese) as a self-homage by the military regime instated in Brazil a few months earlier on that date, in a coup détat which was then officially called the "March 31 Revolution." The peak was finally reached in the following year by another army expedition to Pico da Neblina. The name was not changed after Brazil returned to democratic rule in 1985. The peak is known as Pico Phelps in Venezuela, and it is that country&#39;s highest point outside of the Andes.</p><br>
<h2>Location</h2><br>
<p>Pico da Neblina, in whose massif Pico 31 de Março is located, is the highest point on the Guiana Shield. Neblina means "fog" in both Portuguese and Spanish. The mountains are contained in the Brazilian Pico da Neblina National Park; their northern slopes are also protected in Venezuela&#39;s Serranía de la Neblina National Park. The twin parks, together with the neighbouring Parima Tapirapecó National Park (Venezuela), form a protected area complex of about 80,000 km², possibly the largest national park system on tropical rainforests in the world.</p><br>
<h2>Elevation measurements</h2><br>
<p>For 39 years, based on a never before contested measurement performed in 1965 by topographer José Ambrósio de Miranda Pombo, using a theodolite, the elevation of Pico 31 de Março was thought to be 2,992 m, but a much more accurate measurement performed in 2004 with state-of-the-art GPS equipment by cartographer Marco Aurélio de Almeida Lima, member of a Brazilian army expedition, put it at 2,972.66 m. This was then officially recognised by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the federal government&#39;s official geographic survey and census agency, which jointly organised the expedition.</p><br>
<p>In February 2016, IBGE slightly revised again the official altitude of Pico 31 de Março to 2,974.18 m, a 1.52-metre difference. There was no new expedition or field measurement at the time; the new value is simply a mathematical recalculation of the altitude, based on the previously obtained GPS field data, taking into account a newly available, more precise mapping of the Brazilian territory regarding the geoid (the imaginary surface based on the Earth&#39;s gravitational field that is the reference for altitudes). This explains why Pico da Neblina and Pico 31 de Março, which are next to each other, had both exactly the same altitude correction.</p><br>
<h2>Geology and topography</h2><br>
<p>The Neblina massif is a glaciated tor composed of a tilted block of sandstone overlying Precambrian metamorphic rocks. In contrast to the sharp tooth shape of its higher neighbour, Pico 31 de Março has a smoother shape and is sometimes difficult to be clearly distinguished from Pico da Neblina on photographs, depending on the angle and distance from which the photograph was taken. Due to its equatorial latitude, while it can be cold on top, sub-freezing temperatures and frost appear to be rare (no permanent measurements are undertaken), and there is no snow. One non-authoritative source gives an average temperature of 20 &deg;C during the day and 6 &deg;C at night for nearby Pico da Neblina.</p><br>
<h2>Access</h2><br>
<p>Due to its location in a national park in a border area that is also part of Yanomami territory, access to the area is restricted and depends on a special permit by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation (ICMBio). The permit can be obtained at ICMBio&#39;s office in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, but all climbers must take an accredited local guide. A four-day trek each way should be expected, three of which consisting of a jungle trek in the rainforest that can be as hard and challenging as the climb itself. Rescue is close to impossible in the area.</p><br>
<p>Onchocerciasis or "river blindness," a parasitic disease that can cause permanent blindness and is transmitted by a black fly, is endemic in the area, albeit with a low incidence; malaria and yellow fever transmission are also possible. Therefore, climbers are advised not only to take the utmost precaution in avoiding insect bites, but also to discuss preventive and/or therapeutic strategies with their physicians.</p><br>
<p>Christ Episcopal Church is an Episcopal congregation in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, part of the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee. The church building and parish house, located at 302 West 3rd Street , are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.</p><br>
<h2>History</h2><br>
<p>The earliest members of the Christ Church congregation were foundry workers who had immigrated from England and were working in South Pittsburg for the Southern States Coal, Iron, and Land Company, which was based in London.</p><br>
<p>After the Southern States company donated land for a church, the congregation began construction of a new church building in 1882. Tennessee Episcopal Bishop Charles T. Quintard advised them on the buildings design. He wrote that the new church should be "graceful and churchly," with a "good, deep, recessed channel," building dimensions "at least twice as long as... wide," and a steeply pitched roof. He also advised that "emplaned weather boarding" was an appropriate material. The church building was completed in 1884. With support from Bishop Quintard and St. Pauls Episcopal Church in Chattanooga, Christ Church parish was formally established in May 1887. The following year a rectory was built, the bell tower was added to the church, and the church was consecrated by Bishop Quintard. The church&#39;s parish house was completed in about 1889. An addition in 1960 connected the parish house to the church.</p><br>
<p>The church and parish house were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>Christ Church is an example of the Gothic Revival architectural style. Both the church and the parish house are single-story three-bay buildings. Consistent with Bishop Quintard&#39;s recommendation, at 27 by 57 feet (8 by 17 m) the church building is more than twice as long as it is wide. The church building and its interior decor, including a hand-carved altar and baptismal font, are built entirely from wood (except for a brick foundation). The square bell tower is two stories in height, has an open belfry, and is topped by a steep flared pyramidal roof. There are several stained glass windows, including a Tiffany Studios window installed in 1915. The church has a Moller organ that was installed in 1928.</p><br>
<p>In 1974, the Historic American Buildings Survey described Christ Church and its parish house as "among the few frame Gothic Revival buildings in the state of Tennessee." Together with buildings at Rugby, Tennessee, they were said to "exemplify the imaginative understanding of high style design associated with the Episcopal church in east Tennessee in the Victorian era."</p><br>
<h2>Clergy</h2><br>
<p>As of 2014, the rector is the Rev. Kim Merritt Hobby. The Rev. Gary England is the deacon assigned to Christ Church by the Rt. Rev. George Young, Bishop of East Tennessee.</p><br>
<p>The Church of the Incarnation built in 1896 is an historic Carpenter Gothic Episcopal church building located at 111 North 5th Street in Highlands, Macon County, North Carolina. The Rev. John A. Deal, the first Episcopal missioner in Macon County, was responsible for founding the Church of the Incarnation as well Saint Agnes Episcopal Church in Franklin, the county seat. Its first building, a Victorian Gothic Revival wood frame building, was built in 1896; it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. In 2002, a new sanctuary was built on the property and the 1896 building became the chapel. The Church of the Incarnation is still an active parish in the Episcopal Diocese of Western North Carolina. The rector is the Rev. Bruce Walker.</p><br>
<p>Paint Branch is a 14.0 mi stream that flows through Montgomery County and Prince George&#39;s County, Maryland. It is a tributary of the Northeast Branch, which flows to the Anacostia River, Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay.</p><br>
<p>The headwaters of Paint Branch are located near Spencerville (about 11.5 mi north of Washington, D.C.) and the stream flows south for 14 mi to its confluence with the Northeast Branch. The watershed area is 20.8 square miles and includes portions of the communities of Spencerville, Cloverly, Fairland, Colesville, White Oak and College Park.</p><br>
<h2>Tributaries</h2><br>
<p>Left Fork</p><br>
<p>Right Fork</p><br>
<p>Gum Springs Tributary</p><br>
<p>Good Hope Tributary</p><br>
<p>Snowden&#39;s Mill Branch</p><br>
<p>Fairland Farms</p><br>
<p>Columbia Park Tributary</p><br>
<p>Hollywood Branch</p><br>
<p>Martin Luther King Tributary</p><br>
<p>Tanley Road Tributary</p><br>
<p>Stewart-April Lane Tributary</p><br>
<p>West Farm Branch</p><br>
<p>Little Paint Branch</p><br>
<p>Indian Creek</p><br>
<p>Jose Castro House, now known as the Castro-Breen Adobe, in San Juan Bautista, California, USA, is a historic Monterey Colonial adobe home built by José Antonio Castro in 1840. Castro was Commandant General of Alta California. In 1848 Castro sold the house to Patrick Breen, survivor of the ill-fated Donner party of 1846, and the Breen family lived in the house until 1935. They sold it to the State of California who adapted it as a museum and incorporated it into the San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District.</p><br>
<h2>Origins</h2><br>
<p>José Antonios father José Tiburcio Castro was a soldier, member of the diputacion (Alta California legislature), administrator of Mission San Juan Bautista after it was secularized, and grantee of Rancho Sausal. The elder Castro used his position to obtain land grants for relatives and friends. His son was granted land on the San Juan Bautista plaza, where he built an adobe house in 1841. Jose Antonio Castro used the house as an administrative base for his military operations (soldiers barracks were next door) and let his secretary use it as a residence.</p><br>
<h2>Architecture</h2><br>
<p>The house, also known as the Castro-Breen Adobe, is a two-story Monterey Colonial-style adobe, and includes the characteristic full-length covered porches on both long sides. The style of architecture originated in California, blending Spanish colonial architecture with New England style. Massachusetts native Thomas O. Larkin built the first known Monterey-style house in 1835 in Monterey, California. Adding a wood frame in the adobe walls allows for more windows than traditional adobe construction, and can support a second floor. In the Monterey style, the porches and extended roof eaves protect the adobe bricks and outer shell from water damage. The pane glass windows beside the front door of the José Castro House are not typical of Monterey architecture and reflect the influence of Greek Revival architecture, which was also popular in the mid-19th century. Today, the José Castro House property includes a half-acre orchard and garden.</p><br>
<h2>Current uses</h2><br>
<p>San Juan Bautista State Historic Park uses the José Castro House as a fully furnished museum, where visitors are welcome to explore and see what the inside of the house looked like in the mid-19th century. Several other historic buildings in the plaza that are part of the San Juan Bautista Historic District are also open to the public. These buildings include the San Juan Bautista Mission, Plaza Hotel, and Zanneta House. The park offers guided tours of the plaza, a gift shop in the Plaza Hotel, costumed re-enactments every first Saturday of the month, and activities for children. The San Juan Bautista Mission is a stop on the Juan Bautista de Anza National Historic Trail.</p><br>
<h2>Landmark status</h2><br>
<p>The Jose Castro House was declared a California Historical Landmark in 1935 It is part of the San Juan Bautista Plaza Historic District, which is itself a National Historic Landmark District. The house has been open to the public since 1935.</p><br>
<p>The Casa de Estudillo, also known as the Estudillo House, is a historic adobe house in San Diego, California, United States. It was constructed in 1827 by José María Estudillo and his son José Antonio Estudillo, early settlers of San Diego, and was considered one of the finest houses in Mexican California. It is located in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park, and is designated as both a National and a California Historical Landmark in its own right.</p><br>
<p>Besides being one of the oldest surviving examples of Spanish architecture in California, the house gained much prominence by association with Helen Hunt Jackson&#39;s wildly popular 1884 novel Ramona. The Casa de Estudillo is one of three National Historic Landmarks in Southern California that were closely tied to Ramona, a novel of Californio life shortly after the American acquisition of California; the other two are Rancho Camulos and Rancho Guajome.</p><br>
<h2>Description</h2><br>
<p>The large building is a U-shaped structure, measuring 113 ft on the front side, and 98 ft on each of the wings. It is constructed in the Spanish Colonial style, meaning that the house&#39;s 13 rooms are set consecutively in the building and connected only by an external covered corredor (as opposed to an interior hallway).</p><br>
<p>The main portion (the center) contains the entrance, facing west. To its left is the chapel and to its right is the schoolroom. Both rooms originally were smaller, with bedrooms located at the ends of building, but a 1910 restoration eliminated those walls to enlarge the rooms. Two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen (which was added at a later date), and the servants&#39; dining room are in the north wing, while the south wing has three bedrooms and the family dining room. The house is topped by a cupola from which bullfights and festivals in the adjacent plaza could be seen.</p><br>
<h2>Ramona</h2><br>
<h3>Association with the novel</h3><br>
<p>José Antonio Estudillo died in 1852, and his family stayed until 1887, when they moved to Los Angeles, leaving the house in the hands of a caretaker. Meanwhile, the 1884 publication of Ramona, a novel set in Southern California which painted a romanticized portrait of Californio life, generated a nationwide interest in the region. This, combined with the opening of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe Railway lines (and the ensuing rate war, which drove prices down to as low as $1 from St. Louis, Missouri to Los Angeles), meant that hordes of tourists made their way to Southern California to see the locations in the novel. Unfortunately, Jackson died in 1885 without ever having disclosed what the actual locations in the novel were, which caused a great deal of speculation.</p><br>
<p>In 1887, a front page article of the San Diego Union declared the Estudillo home to be "Ramonas Marriage Place", saying, "To sleepy Old Town (the house) is known as the Estudillos, but the outside world knows it as the marriage place of Ramona." This was despite Jackson never having visited the house, but in the novel, Ramona was married in a "long, low adobe building which had served no mean purpose in the old Presidio days, but was now fallen in decay; and all its rooms, except those occupied by the Father, had been long uninhabited". Despite the novel being a work of fiction, visitors flocked to the building thinking it was the actual location of Ramonas marriage. To be clear, the Union did not simply invent this story; a tourist had already scratched the name "Alessandro" (Ramonas husband in the novel) in one of the walls. The caretaker decided to capitalize on the attendant publicity and began selling off pieces of the house as souvenirs. Naturally, the buildings condition began to deteriorate rapidly.</p><br>
<h3>1910 restoration</h3><br>
<p>In 1906, the dilapidated building was purchased by the San Diego Electric Railway Company, owned by prominent San Diego citizen John D. Spreckels (who also owned the Union). In his vision, the house would anchor a number of tourist attractions connected via his railway which would realize his twin goals of developing San Diego into a popular locale and generate revenue for his company. To this end, he hired architect Hazel Wood Waterman to renovate the house to a condition more closely matching descriptions in the novel. The original cupola and balcony was removed because there was none mentioned in the novel, and several doors and windows were moved. Waterman was exacting in her specifications: She wanted the building to look aged as well as have the "charm of the work of half-skilled Indian hands", although modern conveniences such as electricity and indoor plumbing were included. Upon its completion in 1910, it was marketed as a Ramona-related tourist attraction, and remained popular as such for years to come, drawing 1,632 visitors on one day in 1940.</p><br>
<p>Spreckels hired Tommy Getz, a theater showman, to manage the property, and it was under Getzs guidance that the property truly gained its Ramona association. He began strongly marketing the property: Tchotchkes of all sorts were labeled with "Ramonas Marriage Place", and more postcards were printed for the adobe than any other Ramona attraction. Due to its association with Ramona&#39;s marriage, the house was used to host weddings as well. Getz eventually purchased the adobe from Spreckels in 1924.</p><br>
<p>The association with the novel was so keen that the application for National Historic Landmark status was entitled, "Casa Estudillo/Ramonas Marriage Place." The Journal of San Diego History goes so far as to say that without the novels influence and the popularity of the house, the historic buildings that make up Old Town San Diego would have been razed. In fact, for a time, the Estudillos&#39; relationship to the house was nearly forgotten.</p><br>
<p>After Getz&#39;s death in 1934, his daughter Margeurite Weiss continued to operate the business for another thirty years, finally selling it 1964 to the Title Insurance and Trust Company, which then sold it to local businessman Legler Benbough, who donated it to the State of California in 1968.</p><br>
<h3>1968 restoration</h3><br>
<p>The state Park Service then set about restoring it to its pre-Ramona state, including the missing cupola. The house now stands as a museum and is furnished as it would likely have been during Estudillos ownership, but with an added kitchen. The state seemed embarrassed at the propertys association with the novel: The long-standing "Ramona&#39;s Marriage Place" sign was removed, and brochures printed in the 1970s make no mention of the novel at all. By the 1990s, the state began to acknowledge the long-standing relationship to the book.</p><br>
<p>Ramona no longer has the same hold on the countrys imagination as it once did. It is estimated that only 1% of visitors to the Casa de Estudillo now are aware of the houses ties to the novel.</p><br>
<h2>Photo gallery</h2><br>
<h2>Further reading</h2><br>
<p>The Herzogstand is a mountain in the Bavarian foothills of the Alps, 75 km south of the city of Munich. It has an elevation of 1,731 m and is northwest of Lake Walchen. Maximilian II of Bavaria had a hunting lodge built underneath today&#39;s so-called Herzogstand-house in 1857. His successor, King Ludwig II, had a royal lodge built further up the mountain in 1865. The Herzogstand Aerial Tramway, renewed in 1994 following a fire in 1992, runs to Herzogstand-house at 1,575 m above sea level, and then continues on to the summit of Farnkopf at 1,627 m.</p><br>
<p>The most popular ascent (AV way 446) leads from the valley station of the aerial tramway across the south side to Herzogstand-house and on to the summit of the mountain. An alternative descent leads along the somewhat exposed but well-secured ridge to the Heimgarten mountain (1,790 m), passing a lodge to the south of the Ohlstaedter Alm (1,423 m). The descent east of the Rotwandkopf continues down to the spa town of Walchensee (Kochel).</p><br>
<h2>Transmitter</h2><br>
<p>The summit of Herzogstand has been used since 1920 for radiotechnical purposes; a VLF transmission antenna was erected between 1920 and 1934. Today, an FM radio transmitter on Fahrenbergkopf broadcasts the following stations:</p><br>
