Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) panic, crisis in financial and economic conditions, marked by public loss of confidence in the financial structure. Panics are characterized by a general rush of investors to convert their assets into...

(Encyclopedia) Big Bend Ranch State Park, Texas: see under Big Bend National Park. ...

(Encyclopedia) Foote, Henry Stuart, 1804–80, U.S. senator (1847–52) and governor of Mississippi (1852–54), b. Fauquier co., Va. An able criminal lawyer, he practiced in several different states. In the U.S. Se...

(Encyclopedia) tall tale, extravagantly and humorously exaggerated story of the backwoods exploits of an American frontiersman. Originating in the 1820s, the genre remained popular well into the 20th cent. One of th...

(Encyclopedia) Olympia, city (1990 pop. 33,840), state capital, and seat of Thurston co., W Wash., at the southern tip of Puget Sound, on Budd Inlet; inc. 1859. A port of entry, it ships lumber products and agricult...

(Encyclopedia) Sacramento săkrəmĕnˈtō [key], city (1990 pop. 369,365), state capital and seat of Sacramento co., central Calif., on the Sacramento River at its confluence with the American River; settled 1839, ...

(Encyclopedia) United Irishmen or United Irish Society, Irish political organization. It was founded at Belfast in 1791 by Theobald Wolfe Tone. Disgruntled by the use of English patronage to control Irish politics, ...

(Encyclopedia) jackrabbit, popular name for several hares of W North America, characterized by very long legs and ears. Jackrabbits are powerful jumpers and fast runners. In normal progress leaps are alternated with...

(Encyclopedia) Vancouver, city (1990 pop. 46,380), seat of Clark co., SW Wash., on the Columbia River opposite Portland, Oreg., with which it is connected by bridges; inc. 1857. A rapidly growing suburb of Portland ...

(Encyclopedia) Hollins, George Nichols, 1799–1878, American naval officer, b. Baltimore. His active career spanned the years from the War of 1812, in which he served under Decatur, to the end of the Civil War, in ...