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North Platte, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)North Platte, river, c.680 mi (1,090 km) long, rising in the Park Range, N Colo., and flowing in a great bend N through SE Wyo., then east across the plains of W central Nebr. to join the South Platte...

Waukegan

(Encyclopedia)Waukegan wôkēˈgən [key], residential and industrial city (1990 pop. 69,392), seat of Lake co., NE Ill., on Lake Michigan; inc. 1859. It has a good harbor and is the first port of call in Illinois ...

Montcalm, Louis Joseph de

(Encyclopedia)Montcalm, Louis Joseph de mŏntkämˈ, Fr. lwē zhôzĕfˈ də môNkälmˈ [key], 1712–59, French general. His name in fuller form was Louis Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, marquis de Saint-Véran. A vete...

Donner Party

(Encyclopedia)Donner Party, group of emigrants to California who in the winter of 1846–47 met with one of the most famous tragedies in Western history. The California-bound families were mostly from Illinois and ...

Petersburg

(Encyclopedia)Petersburg, city (1990 pop. 38,386), politically independent and in no county, SE Va., on the Appomattox River; inc. 1850. A port of entry and an important tobacco market, it has industries producing ...

San Juan, city, Puerto Rico

(Encyclopedia)San Juan, city (1990 pop. 437,745), capital, largest city, chief port, and commercial and cultural center of Puerto Rico, NE Puerto Rico. Coffee, tobacco, sugar, and fruit are exported from the busy p...

Tlingit

(Encyclopedia)Tlingit tlĭngˈgĭt [key], group of related Native North American tribes, speaking a language that forms a branch of the Nadene linguistic stock (see Native American languages). The 14 divisions of t...

botanical garden

(Encyclopedia)botanical garden, public place in which plants are grown both for display and for scientific study. An arboretum is a botanical garden devoted chiefly to the growing of woody plants. The plants in bot...

Buchanan, James

(Encyclopedia)Buchanan, James, 1791–1868, 15th President of the United States (1857–61), b. near Mercersburg, Pa., grad. Dickinson College, 1809. Buchanan was nominated as a Democratic candidate for the pres...

French and Indian Wars

(Encyclopedia)French and Indian Wars, 1689–1763, the name given by American historians to the North American colonial wars between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th cent. They were really cam...