Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Valdez văldēzˈ [key], city (1990 pop. 4,068), Valdez-Chitina-Whittier census div., S Alaska, at the head of Valdez Arm inside Prince William Sound; inc. 1901. It has tourist and fishing industries,...

(Encyclopedia) wilderness, land retaining its primeval character with the imprint of humans minimal or unnoticeable. In the United States, the Wilderness Act of 1964 established the National Wilderness Preservation ...

(Encyclopedia) Sequoia National Park, 402,510 acres (162,960 hectares), E central Calif.; est. 1890. In the park are 35 groves of giant sequoias, spectacular granite mountains, and deep canyons. The General Sherman ...

(Encyclopedia) Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, N Alaska. Located N of the Arctic Circle, the park (7,523,898 acres/3,046,113 hectares) and adjacent preserve (948,629 acres/384,060 hectares) make up t...

(Encyclopedia) McPhee, John Angus, 1931–, American journalist and nonfiction writer, b. Princeton, N.J., A.B. Princeton, 1953. He was an editor at Time magazine (1957–64) before becoming (1965) a staff writer at...

(Encyclopedia) Continental Divide, the “backbone” of a continent. In North America, from N Alaska to New Mexico, it moves along the crest of the Rocky Mts., which separates streams with outlets to the west of th...

(Encyclopedia) Alexander Archipelago ärkĭpĕlˈəgō [key], island group off SE Alaska. The islands are the exposed tops of the submerged coastal mountains that rise steeply from the Pacific Ocean. Deep, fjordlike...

(Encyclopedia) Greely, Adolphus Washington, 1844–1935, American army officer and arctic explorer, b. Newburyport, Mass. Entering the Union army at 17, he emerged a brevet major of volunteers at the end of the Civi...

(Encyclopedia) grizzly bear or grizzly, large, powerful North American brown bear, characterized by gray-streaked, or grizzled, fur. Grizzlies are 6 to 8 ft (180–250 cm) long, stand 31⁄2 to 4 ft (105–120 cm) a...

(Encyclopedia) fur trade, in American history. Trade in animal skins and pelts had gone on since antiquity, but reached its height in the wilderness of North America from the 17th to the early 19th cent. The demand ...