Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

460 results found

Nez Percé

(Encyclopedia)Nez Percé nĕz pûrs, nā pĕrsāˈ [key] [Fr.,=pierced nose], Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Sahaptin-Chinook branch of the Penutian linguistic stock (see Native American langu...

Gibson, Paris

(Encyclopedia)Gibson, Paris, 1830–1920, American pioneer and politician, b. Brownfield, Maine. After serving in the Maine legislature he moved to Minneapolis, where he built the first flour mill and started woole...

Taylor, Glen Hearst

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Glen Hearst, 1904–84, U.S. senator (1945–51), b. Portland, Oreg. He joined (1919) a stock theatrical company and after 1926 became a business manager in various entertainment enterprises. ...

Palin, Sarah Heath

(Encyclopedia)Palin, Sarah Heath pāˈlĭn [key], 1964–, U.S. politician, b. Sandpoint, Idaho, as Sarah Louise Heath, grad. Univ. of Idaho (B.S. 1987). Her family moved to Alaska not long after she was born. In 1...

Western Federation of Miners

(Encyclopedia)Western Federation of Miners (WFM), a radical labor union that organized the miners and smelter workers of the Rocky Mountain states. Created in 1893 by the merger of several local miners' unions, the...

São Francisco

(Encyclopedia)São Francisco souN frəsēshˈko͝o [key], river, c.1,800 mi (2,900 km) long, rising in the Serra de Canastra, SW Minas Gerais state, Brazil, and flowing northeast, then southeast through the sertão...

New Year's Day

(Encyclopedia)New Year's Day, among ancient peoples the first day of the year frequently corresponded to the vernal or autumnal equinox, or to the summer or winter solstice. In the Middle Ages it was celebrated amo...

apatite

(Encyclopedia)apatite ăpˈətīt [key], mineral, a phosphate of calcium containing chlorine or fluorine, or both, that is transparent to opaque in shades of green, brown, yellow, white, red, and purple. Apatite is...

Owyhee

(Encyclopedia)Owyhee ōˈwīhē [key], river, c.300 mi (480 km) long, rising in several branches in SW Idaho, N Nev., and SE Oreg. and flowing N across NE Oreg. to the Snake River; named in 1826 for two Hawaiian em...

Wasatch Range

(Encyclopedia)Wasatch Range wôˈsăch [key], part of the Rocky Mts., extending c.250 mi (400 km) south from SE Idaho to central Utah. Mt. Timpanogos, the highest peak (12,008 ft/3,660 m), is the site of Timpanogos...