Columbia Encyclopedia

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The Dalles Dam

(Encyclopedia)The Dalles Dam, 260 ft (79 m) high and 8,875 ft (2,705 m) long, on the Columbia River between Oregon and Wash., NE of The Dalles, Oreg.; built 1952–57 by the U.S. Corps of Engineers. The dam, a majo...

Bernina

(Encyclopedia)Bernina bĕrnēˈnä [key], mountain group, part of the Rhaetian Alps on the Swiss-Italian border, SE Switzerland. Piz Bernina is the highest (13,304 ft/4,055 m) peak. The group has many glaciers; Mor...

harness

(Encyclopedia)harness, comprehensive term for the gear of a draft animal, excluding the yoke, by which it is attached to the load that it pulls. Although harnesses are used on dogs (for drawing travois and dogsleds...

Dilke, Sir Charles Wentworth

(Encyclopedia)Dilke, Sir Charles Wentworth dĭlk [key], 1843–1911, British statesman. A radical leader in the Liberal party, he helped pass the parliamentary Reform Acts of 1884–85 as well as laws giving the mu...

Aconcagua

(Encyclopedia)Aconcagua äkōnkäˈgwä [key], peak, 22,835 ft (6,960 m) high, Mendoza prov., W Argentina, in the Andes, near the Chilean border. It is the highest peak of the Western Hemisphere. The snowcapped Aco...

Laver, Rod

(Encyclopedia)Laver, Rod (Rodney George Laver) lāˈvər [key], 1938–, Australian tennis player. He left school at age 15 to pursue tennis and in 1962 became the first male grand-slam winner in tennis since Don B...

Walker, Herschel Junior

(Encyclopedia)Walker, Herschel Junior, 1962–, American football player, b. Wrightsville, Ga. After winning the 1982 Heisman Trophy, as college football's best player, at the Univ. of Georgia, he played (1983–85...

United States Merchant Marine Academy

(Encyclopedia)United States Merchant Marine Academy, at Kings Point, N.Y.; for the training of merchant marine officers; established 1936, opened 1943. The academy became coeducational in 1974. Candidates must be b...

Sestriere

(Encyclopedia)Sestriere sĕstrēârˈ [key], village, alt. 6,670 ft (2,033 m), Piedmont, NW Italy, in the Alps. It is a fashionable winter sports center, located near the French border and the Montgenèvre Pass not...

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