Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

500 results found

Froude, William

(Encyclopedia)Froude, William fro͞od [key], 1810–79, English engineer and naval architect, brother of J. Anthony Froude; educated at Oxford. In 1837 he worked on the Bristol and Exeter railroad, constructing the...

Galesburg

(Encyclopedia)Galesburg, city (2020 pop. 30,052), seat of Knox co., W Ill., in a farm, livestock, and coal area; chartered 1841. A trade, rail, and industrial center,...

Gatún Lake

(Encyclopedia)Gatún Lake gäto͞onˈ [key], artificial lake, 163 sq mi (422 sq km), Colón Prov., Panama, formed by the impounding of the Chagres River. Gatún Dam (completed 1912), 11⁄2 mi (2.4 km) long and 115...

Joplin

(Encyclopedia)Joplin jŏpˈlĭn [key], city (1990 pop. 40,961), Jasper and Newton counties, SW Mo., at the edge of the Ozarks; settled c.1839, inc. 1873. It is a railroad center, the shipping and processing point o...

Jarvis, Thomas Jordan

(Encyclopedia)Jarvis, Thomas Jordan, 1836–1915, governor of North Carolina (1879–85), b. Jarvisburg, Currituck co., N.C., grad. Randolph-Macon College (B.A., 1860; M.A., 1861). Wounded at Drewry's Bluff (1864) ...

Drake, Francis Marion

(Encyclopedia)Drake, Francis Marion, 1830–1903, Union army officer in the Civil War, railroad president, and governor of Iowa (1896–98), b. Rushville, Ill. He helped defend St. Joseph, Mo., against Confederate ...

creosote

(Encyclopedia)creosote krēˈəsōt [key], volatile, heavy, oily liquid obtained by the distillation of coal tar or wood tar. Creosote derived from beechwood tar has been used medicinally as an antiseptic and in th...

Amarillo

(Encyclopedia)Amarillo ămərĭlˈō, –ˈə [key], city (2020 pop. 200,393), seat of Potter co., N Tex.; inc. 1899. The commercial and industrial center of the Texas Panhandle, Amaril...

Penn Central Company

(Encyclopedia)Penn Central Company, former U.S. transportation company, formed in 1968 by the merger of the New York Central RR and the Pennsylvania RR. By the early 1970s the railroad was bankrupt; in 1976 the U.S...

Plano

(Encyclopedia)Plano plāˈnō [key], city (1990 pop. 128,713), Collin co., N Tex., less than 20 mi (32 km) NE of Dallas; inc. 1873. In a farm and livestock area on the blackland prairie, Plano is a booming financia...