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Poncha Pass

(Encyclopedia)Poncha Pass pŏnˈchə [key], 9,012 ft (2,747 m) high, central Colo., in the northern tip of the Sangre de Cristo Mts. One of the lowest mountain passes in Colorado, it was often used in the 19th cent...

Mesilla

(Encyclopedia)Mesilla māsēˈyä [key], town (1990 pop. 1,975), SW N.Mex., on the Rio Grande and near Las Cruces; settled c.1850. The whole Mesilla Valley became part of the United States under the Gadsden Purchas...

Chrysler, Walter Percy

(Encyclopedia)Chrysler, Walter Percy krīˈslər [key], 1875–1940, American industrialist, founder of the Chrysler Corp., b. Wamego, Kans. He began as a machinist's apprentice and rose within the industry to beco...

Huc, Évariste Régis

(Encyclopedia)Huc, Évariste Régis āvärēstˈ rāzhēsˈ ük [key], 1813–60, French Roman Catholic missionary and explorer, a Lazarist priest. In 1844 while in China on a mission, he and two companions began a...

Rock Springs

(Encyclopedia)Rock Springs, city (1990 pop. 19,050), alt. c.6,270 ft (1,910 m), Sweetwater co., SW Wyo., on Bitter Creek; inc. 1888. It is a cattle and sheep shipping point and the center of large natural trona min...

Butterfield, John

(Encyclopedia)Butterfield, John, 1801–69, American stagecoach proprietor and expressman, b. near Albany, N.Y. Beginning as a stage driver out of Albany, he rose to ownership of a large network of stage lines. He ...

Point Roberts

(Encyclopedia)Point Roberts, uninc. town (1990 pop. 750), Whatcom co., NW Wash., on the Strait of Georgia near the tip of the Point Roberts, or Tsawwassen, peninsula, extending south from British Columbia, Canada, ...

Bhamo

(Encyclopedia)Bhamo bäˈmō, bəmōˈ [key], town (1981 est. pop. 14,000), NE Myanmar, on the upper Ayeyarwady River. Located c.900 mi (1,450 km) from the sea, it is the head of navigation on the Ayeyarwady. Bhamo...

Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, Canadian fur trader and explorer

(Encyclopedia)Mackenzie, Sir Alexander, 1764?–1820, Canadian fur trader and explorer, b. Scotland. His family took him to the colony of New York in 1774, and later he was sent to Canada. He entered (c.1779) a Mon...

otter

(Encyclopedia)otter, name for a number of aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the weasel family, found on all continents except Australia. The common river otters of Eurasia and the Americas are species of the genus Lu...