Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) barbed wire, wire composed of two zinc-coated steel strands twisted together and having barbs spaced regularly along them. The need for barbed wire arose in the 19th cent. as the American frontier mov...

(Encyclopedia) Great Salt Lake, shallow body of saltwater, NW Utah, between the Wasatch Range on the east and the Great Salt Lake Desert on the west; largest salt lake in North America. Fed by the Weber, Jordan, and...

(Encyclopedia) Great Mother Goddess, in ancient Middle Eastern religions, mother goddess, the great symbol of the earth's fertility. She was worshiped under many names and attributes. Similar figures have been known...

(Encyclopedia) blizzard, winter storm characterized by high winds, low temperatures, and driving snow; according to the official definition given in 1958 by the U.S. Weather Bureau, the winds must exceed 35 mi (56 k...

(Encyclopedia) Morris, Wright (Wright Marion Morris), 1910–98, American writer, b. Central City, Nebr. He was for many years professor of English at San Francisco State College (now San Francisco State Univ.). Fro...

(Encyclopedia) prairie schooner, wagon covered with white canvas, made famous by its almost universal use in the migration across the Western prairies and plains, and so called in allusion to the white-topped schoon...

(Encyclopedia) Knyphausen, Wilhelm, Baron von vĭlˈhĕlm bärônˈ fən kənüpˈhouzən [key], 1716–1800, German general in British service in the American Revolution. He served in the army of Frederick the Grea...

(Encyclopedia) Smoky Hill River, c.560 mi (900 km) long, rising on the Great Plains, E Colo., and flowing E across Kansas to join the Republican River and form the Kansas River at Junction City. The Saline River is ...

(Encyclopedia) Webb, Walter Prescott, 1888–1963, U.S. historian, b. Panola co., Tex. He joined the faculty of the history department at the Univ. of Texas in 1918, received his Ph.D. in 1932, and became full profe...

(Encyclopedia) Great Barrier Reef, largest complex of coral reef in the world, c.1,250 mi (2,000 km) long, in the Coral Sea, forming a natural breakwater for the coast of Queensland, NE Australia. Composed of more t...