Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Bland, Richard Parks, 1835–99, American statesman, b. near Hartford, Ky. He taught in rural schools in Kentucky and Missouri before he went to the gold fields of California in 1855. He was a prospec...

(Encyclopedia) Pribilof Islands prĭbˈĭlŏfˌ [key], group of four volcanic islands, off SW Alaska in the Bering Sea, c.230 mi (370 km) N of the Aleutian Islands; explored and named in 1786 by Gerasim Pribilof, a ...

(Encyclopedia) Gateway Arch National Park, 90.9 acres (36.8 hectares), St. Louis, Mo., est. 1935 as Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, designated a national park and renamed 2018. Located on the Mississippi, the...

(Encyclopedia) Everglades, marshy, low-lying subtropical savanna area, c.4,000 sq mi (10,000 sq km), S Fla., extending from Lake Okeechobee S to Florida Bay. Characterized by water, sawgrass, hammocks (islandlike ma...

(Encyclopedia) McCormick, Cyrus Hall, 1809–84, inventor of the reaper, b. Rockbridge co., Va. His father, Robert McCormick (1780–1846), had worked intermittently for over 20 years at his blacksmith shop on a rea...

(Encyclopedia) packaging, containment and packing prior to sale with the primary purpose of facilitating the purchase and use of a product. Before 1800 packaging was restricted almost entirely to containment for shi...

(Encyclopedia) Sitka sĭtˈkə [key], city (1990 pop. 8,588), Sitka census div., SE Alaska, in the Alexander Archipelago, on Baranof Island; inc. 1971. Fishing, its first industry, remains important; salmon, halibut...

(Encyclopedia) Preemption Act, statute passed (1841) by the U.S. Congress in response to the demands of the Western states that squatters be allowed to preempt lands. Pioneers often settled on public lands before th...

(Encyclopedia) Vane, Sir Henry, 1589–1655, English courtier; father of the Puritan leader Sir Henry Vane, the younger. He gained the favor of James I, was knighted in 1611, and acquired wealth by the purchase of p...

(Encyclopedia) Nacogdoches năkˌədōˈchĭs [key], city (1990 pop. 30,872), seat of Nacogdoches co., E Tex., in a pine and hardwood forest area; settled 1779. Industries in the city include lumbering, livestock an...