Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) Mount Rainier National Park rānērˈ, rə– [key], 235,625 acres (95,395 hectares), SW Wash., in the Cascade Range; est. 1899. The area is dominated by Mt. Rainier, a volcanic peak 14,410 ft (4,392 ...

(Encyclopedia) Biscayne Bay bĭskānˈ [key], shallow, narrow inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, c.40 mi (60 km) long, SE Fla. Famous resort areas, including Miami and Miami Beach, are on the NW and NE respectively. Touri...

(Encyclopedia) Delaware Water Gap dĕlˈəwâr, –wər [key], scenic gorge, 2 mi (3.2 km) long, cut by the Delaware River through Kittatinny Mt., on the N.J.–Pa. line; located in a mountain resort area around Str...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Caroline, settlement near the mouth of the St. Johns River, NE Fla.; est. 1564 by French Huguenots under René de Laudonnière. A Spanish force led by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés attacked the fort...

(Encyclopedia) Fort Union, trading post of the American Fur Company, erected in 1828 near the confluence of the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers, on the Mont.-N.Dak. line; it controlled converging routes of travel fr...

(Encyclopedia) Joshua Tree National Park, 1,022,703 acres (414,050 hectares), S California. Lying between the high Mojave Desert and the low Colorado Desert, this park has a unique ecosystem in which are preserved r...

(Encyclopedia) Kings Canyon National Park, 461,901 acres (187,070 hectares), E central California. Largely wilderness, the park features summits of the High Sierra and two enormous canyons on the Kings River. Genera...

(Encyclopedia) Skagit skăjˈĭt [key], river, c.150 mi (240 km) long, rising in the Cascade Range, British Columbia, and flowing SW through Wash. into Puget Sound. Gorge High Dam, Diablo Dam, and Ross Dam provide e...

(Encyclopedia) White Sands, uninhabited desert area, S central N.Mex. It is a center for U.S. military-weapons research and testing. On July 16, 1945, the first atomic bomb was exploded at Holloman Air Force Base (f...

(Encyclopedia) Rainbow Bridge National Monument, 160 acres (65 hectares), S Utah; est. 1910. Rainbow Bridge, the largest natural bridge in the world, is a symmetrical, pink, sandstone arch, 309 ft (94 m) high, 33 ft...