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Alaska Range

(Encyclopedia)Alaska Range, S central Alaska, rising to the highest mountain in North America, Denali (Mt. McKinley; 20,310 ft/6,190 m). The range divides S central Alaska from the great plateau of the interior. Mt...

Hubbard Glacier

(Encyclopedia)Hubbard Glacier, SE Alaska, largest tidewater glacier in North America, on Disenchantment Bay at head of Yakutat Bay, at the northern end of the Alaskan panhandle. Extending 76 mi (122 km) from Mt. Lo...

Whistler, town, Canada

(Encyclopedia)Whistler, town (1990 est. pop. 4,459), SW B.C., W Canada, 60 mi (97 km) N of Vancouver, near Alta and Green lakes in Whistler Valley in the Coast Mts. A popular summer resort area since the 1920s, it ...

Pinophyta

(Encyclopedia)Pinophyta pīˌnŏfˈətə [key], division of the plant kingdom consisting of those organisms commonly called gymnosperms. The gymnosperms, a group that includes the pine, have stems, roots and leaves...

Smith, John, English colonist in America

(Encyclopedia)Smith, John, c.1580–1631, English colonist in America, b. Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England. A merchant's apprentice until his father's death in 1596, he thereafter lived an adventurous life, travel...

Webster, Pelatiah

(Encyclopedia)Webster, Pelatiah, 1726–95, American writer, b. Lebanon, Conn., grad. Yale, 1746. A Philadelphia businessman, he is remembered for his advocacy in his Dissertation of the Political Union and Constit...

bat

(Encyclopedia)bat, winged mammal of the order Chiroptera, which includes 900–1,000 species classified in about 200 genera and 17 families. Bats range in size from a wingspread of over 5 ft (150 cm) to a wingsprea...

lost tribes

(Encyclopedia)lost tribes, 10 Israelite tribes that, according to the Bible, were transported to Assyria by Tiglathpileser III or Shalmaneser after the conquest of Israel in 722 b.c. Numerous conjectures have been ...

schooner

(Encyclopedia)schooner sko͞oˈnər [key], sailing vessel, rigged fore-and-aft, with from two to seven masts. Schooners can lie closer to the wind than square-rigged sailing ships, need a smaller crew, and are very...

Finley, Samuel

(Encyclopedia)Finley, Samuel, 1715–66, Presbyterian minister, president of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton), b. Ireland. He went to North America in 1734 and is believed to have studied under William Ten...