Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

115 results found

Kings, river, United States

(Encyclopedia)Kings, river, 125 mi (201 km) long, rising in three forks in the Sierra Nevada, E Calif., and flowing SW to Tulare Lake in the San Joaquin valley. Its middle and southern forks flow through the great ...

Bowers, Eilley

(Encyclopedia)Bowers, Eilley, c.1827–1903, American frontier figure, b. Eilley Orrum in Scotland. She became a Mormon and moved (1855) to Nevada with her second husband. He returned (1857) to Salt Lake City, but ...

San Joaquin

(Encyclopedia)San Joaquin săn wäkēnˈ [key], river, c.320 mi (510 km) long, rising in the Sierra Nevada, E Calif., and flowing W then N through the S Central Valley to form a large delta with the Sacramento Rive...

Cordilleras

(Encyclopedia)Cordilleras kôrdĭlˈərəz, Span. kōrdēyāˈräs [key] [Span., originally=little string], general name for the entire chain of mountain systems of W North America, extending from N Alaska to Nicar...

Fair, James Graham

(Encyclopedia)Fair, James Graham, 1831–94, American financier, b. near Belfast, Ireland. He emigrated to America as a child, grew up on an Illinois farm, and went west in 1851 in search of gold. In partnership wi...

Clovis

(Encyclopedia)Clovis. 1 City (2020 pop. 120,124, Fresno co., S central Calif., near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada range; inc. 1912. It is a growing trade ...

Puyehue–Cordón Caulle

(Encyclopedia)Puyehue–Cordón Caulle, volcanic complex, SE Chile, in the Andes Mts. within Puyehue National Park. The volcanic chain comprises (NW to SE) the Cordillera Nevada caldera (5,902 ft/1,799 m high), the...

O'Brien, William Shoney

(Encyclopedia)O'Brien, William Shoney, c.1826–1878, American silver magnate, b. Dublin, Ireland. He was brought to the United States as a child and worked in a New York grocery store before going to California in...

Mackay, John William

(Encyclopedia)Mackay, John William măkˈē [key], 1831–1902, American financier, b. Dublin, Ireland. He immigrated to the United States in 1840. In 1859 he joined the rush to Nevada, where silver had been discov...

King, Clarence

(Encyclopedia)King, Clarence, 1842–1901, American geologist, b. Newport, R.I., grad. Sheffield Scientific School, Yale, 1862. After serving as a volunteer assistant in the California state geological survey (1863...

Browse by Subject