Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) South Pass, broad, level valley (alt. c.7,550 ft/2,301 m), SW Wyo., cutting across the Rocky Mts. It was used by trappers and explorers before Jedediah Smith inaugurated its use as a route for settler...

(Encyclopedia) South Platte plăt [key], river, c.450 mi (720 km) long, rising in the Rocky Mts. in many branches, which then join in central Colorado. It flows in a narrow canyon E and NE to Denver, then NE across ...

(Encyclopedia) Ishikawa ēshēˈkäwä [key], prefecture, 1,619 sq mi (4,193 sq km), central Honshu, Japan. The ...

(Encyclopedia) Mount Olympus: see Cyprus; Olympic Mountains; Olympus. ...

(Encyclopedia) Ymir ēˈmĕr [key], in Norse mythology, primeval giant and progenitor of a race of giants. Odin and his brothers slew Ymir; from his skull they fashioned the sky, from his flesh the earth, from his b...

(Encyclopedia) Pulangi po͞olängˈgē [key], river, c.200 mi (320 km) long, rising in the mountains of N Mindanao, the Philippines, and flowing SW to Liguasan Marsh. As the Mindanao River, it flows NW to Illana Bay...

(Encyclopedia) gopher or pocket gopher, name for the burrowing rodents of the family Geomyidae, found in North America and Central America. The gopher is gray, buff, or dark brown. Its combined head and body length ...

(Encyclopedia) Panamint Range pănˈəmĭnt [key], rugged fault-block mountains, SE Calif., near the Nev. line. Telescope Peak (11,045 ft/3,367 m high) is the tallest peak. The range forms the western boundary of De...

(Encyclopedia) Wutai Shan wo͞o-tī shän [key], mountain range, extending c.150 mi (240 km) across NE Shanxi and NW Hebei prov., NE China. The mountains, rising to c.10,035 ft (3,058 m), are sacred to Buddhists and...

(Encyclopedia) Barisan bärēsänˈ [key], volcanic mountain range, c.1,000 mi (1,600 km) long, paralleling the western coast of Sumatra island, Indonesia. It rises to Mt. Kerinci (12,467 ft/3,800 m high). Numerous ...