1.
BNSF Railway (Metra)
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The BNSF Railway Line is a Metra commuter rail line operated by the BNSF Railway in Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. In 2010, the BNSF Railway Line continued to have the highest weekday ridership of the 11 Metra lines, in April 2014, the public timetable showed 47 trains leaving Chicago each weekday, of which 31 run to Aurora. Of the 16 trains that do not reach Aurora,3 terminate at Westmont,1 at Naperville,5 at Route 59,5 at Fairview Avenue,1 at Brookfield, during rush hours, many trains run express to Downers Grove and make all stops to Aurora. The east end is Union Station in downtown Chicago, the line traverses Chicago and its western and far western suburbs to Aurora. BNSF Railway operates it under a purchase of service agreement with Metra, management and crews are BNSF employees, the June 2007 timetable shows a 70 mph maximum allowed speed for passenger trains. Metra has studied the feasibility of extending the line beyond Aurora, possibly as far as Plano, the railroad between Chicago and Aurora was constructed in 1864 by the Chicago and Aurora Railroad, which later merged into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. The CB&Q operated the service until the railroad became part of the Burlington Northern in 1970. Burlington Northern merged with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1995 and it later changed its name to the abbreviation, BNSF. With three tracks, fast and frequent Amtrak and Metra passenger trains, and BNSF freight trains, the Clyde station at South Austin Boulevard and West 29th Street in Cicero was closed on April 1,2007 due to low ridership and its dilapidation. In the months before its closure, it was used by about 50 passengers a day, the BNSF Railways locomotive fleet consists mainly of the EMD F40PHM-2, with some EMD F40PH locomotives
2.
Reporting mark
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A reporting mark is an alphabetic code of one to four letters used to identify owners or lessees of rolling stock and other equipment used on certain railroad networks. In North America the mark, which consists of an code of one to four letters, is stenciled on each piece of equipment. The Association of American Railroads assigns marks to all carriers, under authority granted by the U. S, surface Transportation Board, Transport Canada, and Mexican Government. Under current practice, the first letter must match the initial letter of the railroad name, as it also acts as a Standard Carrier Alpha Code, the reporting mark cannot conflict with codes in use by other nonrail carriers. In another example, the mark for state-funded Amtrak services in California is CDTX because the state transportation agency owns the equipment used in these services. This is why the reporting mark for CSX Transportation, which is a railroad, is CSXT instead of CSX. This often resulted in five-letter reporting marks, an option not otherwise allowed by the AAR, the standard ISO6346 covers identifiers for intermodal containers. When the owner of a mark is taken over by another company. For example, when the Union Pacific Railroad acquired the Chicago and North Western Railway in the 1990s, some companies own several marks that are used to identify different classes of cars, such as boxcars or gondolas. If the acquiring company discontinues the name or mark of the acquired company, occasionally, long-disused marks are suddenly revived by the companies which now own them. For example, in recent years, the Union Pacific Railroad has begun to use the mark CMO on newly built covered hoppers, gondolas, CMO originally belonged to a predecessor of the CNW, which passed it on to them, from which the UP inherited it. Some of these still retain their temporary NYC marks. Because of its size, this list has been split into subpages based on the first letter of the reporting mark, railinc, a subsidiary of the AAR, maintains the active reporting marks for the North American rail industry. Railinc offers a free online look-up of reporting marks and other industry reference files through the Railincs Freight Rail 411 website, a railway vehicle must be registered in a national vehicle register using a 12-digit number derived from the old UIC system of vehicle numbering. The number contains the country in the third and fourth digit. The VKM must not contain special signs or digits, the VKM is preceded by the code for the country, where the vehicle is registered and a hyphen. Some examples, When a vehicle is sold it does not normally be transferred to another register, the Czech railways bought large numbers of coaches from ÖBB. The number remained the same but the VKM changed from A-ÖBB to A-ČD, the UIC introduced a uniform numbering system for their members based on a 12-digit number, largely known as UIC number
3.
Midwestern United States
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It was officially named the North Central region by the Census Bureau until 1984. Illinois is the most populous of the states and North Dakota the least, a 2012 report from the United States Census put the population of the Midwest at 65,377,684. The Midwest is divided by the Census Bureau into two divisions, the East North Central Division includes Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin, all of which are also part of the Great Lakes region. Major rivers in the include, from east to west, the Ohio River, the Upper Mississippi River. Chicago is the most populated city in the American Midwest and the third most populous in the entire country, other large Midwest cities include, Indianapolis, Columbus, Detroit, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Omaha, Minneapolis, Cleveland, Wichita and St. Louis. Chicago and its suburbs form the largest metropolitan area with 9.8 million people, followed by Metro Detroit. Paul, Greater St. Louis, Greater Cleveland, Greater Cincinnati, Kansas City metro area, the term Midwestern has been in use since the 1880s to refer to portions of the central United States. A variant term, Middle West, has used since the 19th century. Another term sometimes applied to the general region is the heartland. Other designations for the region have fallen out of use, such as the Northwest or Old Northwest, the Northwest Territory was one of the earliest territories of the United States, stretching northwest from the Ohio River to northern Minnesota and upper-Mississippi. The upper-Mississippi watershed including the Missouri and Illinois Rivers was the setting for the earlier French settlements of the Illinois Country, economically the region is balanced between heavy industry and agriculture, with finance and services such as medicine and education becoming increasingly important. Its central location makes it a crossroads for river boats, railroads, autos, trucks. Politically the region swings back and forth between the parties, and thus is heavily contested and often decisive in elections, after the sociological study Middletown, which was based on Muncie, Indiana, commentators used Midwestern cities as typical of the nation. The region has a higher ratio than the Northeast, the West. Traditional definitions of the Midwest include the Northwest Ordinance Old Northwest states, the states of the Old Northwest are also known as Great Lakes states and are east-north central in the United States. The Ohio River runs along the section while the Mississippi River runs north to south near the center. Many of the Louisiana Purchase states in the west-north central United States, are known as Great Plains states. The Midwest lies north of the 36°30′ parallel that the 1820 Missouri Compromise established as the line between future slave and non-slave states
4.
Western United States
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The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West, the Far West, or simply the West, traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because European settlement in the U. S. expanded westward after its founding, prior to about 1800, the crest of the Appalachian Mountains was seen as the western frontier. Since then, the frontier moved westward and eventually lands west of the Mississippi River came to be referred to as the West. The West contains several major biomes, the Western U. S. is the largest region of the country, covering more than half the land area of the United States. Given this expansive and diverse geography it is no wonder the region is difficult to specifically define, a majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the Great Plains or on the Mississippi River. The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there was on the boundaries of the West, within a region as large and diverse as the Western United States, smaller areas with more closely shared demographics and geography have developed as subregions. Meanwhile, the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can be considered part of the Northwest or Pacific Northwest, West Texas in the Chihuahuan Desert may be considered as part of the Western U. S. Fort Worth has long laid claim to be Where the West Begins, the West is still one of the most sparsely settled areas in the United States with 49.5 inhabitants per square mile. Only Texas with 78.0 inhabitants/sq mi, Washington with 86.0 inhabitants/sq mi. and California with 213.4 inhabitants/sq mi. exceed the national average of 77.98 inhabitants/sq mi. The entire Western region has also strongly influenced by European, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Native Americans. African and European Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the rates of citizenship and voting among Asians. The West also contains much of the Native American population in the U. S. particularly in the reservations in the Mountain. The Western United States has a sex ratio than any other region in the United States. Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became an issue, agencies of the federal government own. National parks are reserved for activities such as fishing, camping, hiking, and boating, but other government lands also allow commercial activities like ranching, logging. The largest city in the region is Los Angeles, located on the West Coast, Other West Coast cities include San Diego, San Bernardino, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland. Prominent cities in the Mountain States include Denver, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Boise, El Paso, and Cheyenne. Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges, which and they collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean
5.
Manitoba
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Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is one of the three provinces and Canadas fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres with a varied landscape. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited what is now Manitoba for thousands of years, in the late 17th century, fur traders arrived in the area when it was part of Ruperts Land and owned by the Hudsons Bay Company. In 1869, negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba led to an uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada. The rebellions resolution led to the Parliament of Canada passing the Manitoba Act in 1870 that created the province, Manitobas capital and largest city, Winnipeg, is Canadas eighth-largest census metropolitan area. Winnipeg is the seat of government, home to the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba, four of the provinces five universities and all four of its professional sports teams are in Winnipeg. The name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Cree, the name derives from Cree manitou-wapow or Ojibwa manidoobaa, both meaning straits of Manitou, the Great Spirit, a place referring to what are now called The Narrows in the centre of Lake Manitoba. It may also be from the Assiniboine for Lake of the Prairie, the lake was known to French explorers as Lac des Prairies. Thomas Spence chose the name to refer to a new republic he proposed for the south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel also chose the name, and it was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act of 1870 and it adjoins Hudson Bay to the northeast, and is the only prairie province to have a saltwater coastline. The Port of Churchill is Canadas only Arctic deep-water port and the shortest shipping route between North America and Asia, Lake Winnipeg is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Hudson Bay is the worlds second-largest bay, Manitoba is at the heart of the giant Hudson Bay watershed, once known as Ruperts Land. It was a area of the Hudsons Bay Company, with many rivers. The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, Manitobas major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, and Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Some traditional Native lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipegs east side are a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg. This basins rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, major watercourses include the Red, Assiniboine, Nelson, Winnipeg, Hayes, Whiteshell and Churchill rivers
6.
Saskatchewan
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Saskatchewan is a prairie and boreal province in west-central Canada, the only province without natural borders. It has an area of 651,900 square kilometres, nearly 10 percent of which is water, composed mostly of rivers, reservoirs. As of December 2013, Saskatchewans population was estimated at 1,114,170, residents primarily live in the southern prairie half of the province, while the northern boreal half is mostly forested and sparsely populated. Of the total population, roughly half live in the provinces largest city, Saskatoon, or the provincial capital, other notable cities include Prince Albert, Moose Jaw, Yorkton, Swift Current, North Battleford, and the border city Lloydminster. Saskatchewan is a province with large distances to moderating bodies of waters. As a result, its climate is continental, rendering severe winters throughout the province. Southern areas have very warm or hot summers, Midale and Yellow Grass near the U. S. border are tied for the highest ever recorded temperatures in Canada with 45 °C observed at both locations on July 5,1937. In winter, temperatures below −45 °C are possible even in the south during extreme cold snaps, Saskatchewan has been inhabited for thousands of years by various indigenous groups, and first explored by Europeans in 1690 and settled in 1774. It became a province in 1905, carved out from the vast North-West Territories, in the early 20th century the province became known as a stronghold for Canadian social democracy, North Americas first social-democratic government was elected in 1944. The provinces economy is based on agriculture, mining, and energy, Saskatchewans current premier is Brad Wall and its lieutenant-governor is Vaughn Solomon Schofield. In 1992, the federal and provincial governments signed a land claim agreement with First Nations in Saskatchewan. The First Nations received compensation and were permitted to buy land on the market for the tribes, they have acquired about 3,079 square kilometres. Some First Nations have used their settlement to invest in urban areas and its name derived from the Saskatchewan River. The river was known as kisiskāciwani-sīpiy in the Cree language, as Saskatchewans borders largely follow the geographic coordinates of longitude and latitude, the province is roughly a quadrilateral, or a shape with four sides. However the 49th parallel boundary and the 60th northern border appear curved on globes, additionally, the eastern boundary of the province is partially crooked rather than following a line of longitude, as correction lines were devised by surveyors prior to the homestead program. S. States of Montana and North Dakota, Saskatchewan has the distinction of being the only Canadian province for which no borders correspond to physical geographic features. Along with Alberta, Saskatchewan is one of only two land-locked provinces, the overwhelming majority of Saskatchewans population is located in the southern third of the province, south of the 53rd parallel. Saskatchewan contains two natural regions, the Canadian Shield in the north and the Interior Plains in the south
7.
British Columbia
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British Columbia is the westernmost province of Canada, with a population of more than four million people located between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the U. S. states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska. The first British settlement in the area was Fort Victoria, established in 1843, subsequently, on the mainland, the Colony of British Columbia was founded by Richard Clement Moody and the Royal Engineers, Columbia Detachment, in response to the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. Port Moody is named after him, in 1866, Vancouver Island became part of the colony of British Columbia, and Victoria became the united colonys capital. In 1871, British Columbia became the province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu, the capital of British Columbia remains Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the original European colonies. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, in October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371. British Columbia evolved from British possessions that were established in what is now British Columbia by 1871, First Nations, the original inhabitants of the land, have a history of at least 10,000 years in the area. Today there are few treaties and the question of Aboriginal Title, notably, the Tsilhqotin Nation has established Aboriginal title to a portion of their territory, as a result of the recent Supreme Court of Canada decision. BCs economy is diverse, with service producing industries accounting for the largest portion of the provinces GDP and it is the endpoint of transcontinental railways, and the site of major Pacific ports that enable international trade. Though less than 5% of its vast 944,735 km2 land is arable and its climate encourages outdoor recreation and tourism, though its economic mainstay has long been resource extraction, principally logging, farming, and mining. Vancouver, the provinces largest city and metropolitan area, also serves as the headquarters of many western-based natural resource companies and it also benefits from a strong housing market and a per capita income well above the national average. The Northern Interior region has a climate with very cold winters. The climate of Vancouver is by far the mildest winter climate of the major Canadian cities, the provinces name was chosen by Queen Victoria, when the Colony of British Columbia, i. e. the Mainland, became a British colony in 1858. The current southern border of British Columbia was established by the 1846 Oregon Treaty, British Columbias land area is 944,735 square kilometres. British Columbias rugged coastline stretches for more than 27,000 kilometres and it is the only province in Canada that borders the Pacific Ocean. British Columbias capital is Victoria, located at the tip of Vancouver Island. Only a narrow strip of the Island, from Campbell River to Victoria, is significantly populated, much of the western part of Vancouver Island and the rest of the coast is covered by thick, tall and sometimes impenetrable temperate rainforest
8.
Eastern United States
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It is geographically diverse, spanning the Northeast and Southeast as well as the eastern part of the Central United States. In 2011 the 26 states east of the Mississippi had an population of 179,948,346 or 58. 28% of the total U. S. population of 308,745,358. The Southern United States constitutes a region in the south-eastern. In the last few decades, the Southern US has been attracting internal and international migrants, the American South is among the fastest-growing areas in the United States. In one of the earliest English settlements in the New World, English Pilgrims from Europe first settled in New England in 1620, New England produced the first examples of American literature and philosophy and was home to the beginnings of free public education. In the 19th century, it played a prominent role in the movement to abolish slavery in the United States and it was the first region of the United States to be transformed by the Industrial Revolution. The Midwestern United States is one of the four regions within the United States that are recognized by the United States Census Bureau. The region consists of seven states in the central and inland northeastern US, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, a 2006 Census Bureau estimate put the population at 66,217,736. Both the geographic center of the contiguous U. S. the United States Census Bureau divides this region into the East North Central States and the West North Central States. Chicago is the largest city in the region, followed by Indianapolis, chicago has the largest metropolitan statistical area, followed by Detroit, and Minneapolis – Saint Paul. Marie, Michigan is the oldest city in the region, having been founded by French missionaries, the term Midwest has been in common use for over 100 years. Another term sometimes applied to the general region is the heartland. Other designations for the region have fallen into disuse, such as the Northwest or Old Northwest, since the book Middletown appeared in 1929, sociologists have often used Midwestern cities as typical of the entire nation. The region has a higher ratio than the Northeast, the West. Four of the associated with the Midwestern United States are traditionally referred to as belonging to the Great Plains region. However, in recent years they are included in the Midwestern region. The following is a list of the 24 largest cities in the East by population, East Coast of the United States Eastern Canada Territories of the United States on stamps
9.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway
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The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, often abbreviated as Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. Chartered in February 1859, the reached the Kansas-Colorado border in 1873 and Pueblo, Colorado. To create a demand for its services, the set up real estate offices. Despite the name, its main line never served Santa Fe, New Mexico, as the terrain was too difficult, the Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport, an enterprise that included a tugboat fleet and an airline. Its bus line extended passenger transportation to areas not accessible by rail, the AT&SF was the subject of a popular song, Harry Warren & Johnny Mercers On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, written for the film, The Harvey Girls. The railroad officially ceased operations on December 31,1996, when it merged with the Burlington Northern Railroad to form the Burlington Northern & Santa Fe Railway. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway was chartered on February 11,1859, to join Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, with Santa Fe, in its early years, the railroad opened Kansas to settlement. Much of its revenue came from wheat grown there and from cattle driven north from Texas to Wichita, rather than turn its survey southward at Dodge City, AT&SF headed southwest over Raton Pass because of coal deposits near Trinidad, Colorado and Raton, New Mexico. D&RG paid an estimated $1.4 million to Santa Fe for its work within the Gorge and agreed not to extend its line to Santa Fe, while Santa Fe agreed to forego its planned routes to Denver and Leadville. Building across Kansas and eastern Colorado was simple, with few natural obstacles and it set up real estate offices in the area and promoted settlement across Kansas on the land that was granted to it by Congress in 1863. It offered discounted fares to anyone who traveled west to land, if the land was purchased. AT&SF reached Albuquerque in 1880, Santa Fe, the destination of the railroad, found itself on a short branch from Lamy. In March 1881 AT&SF connected with the Southern Pacific at Deming, New Mexico, the railroad then built southwest from Benson, Arizona, to Nogales on the Mexican border where it connected with the Sonora Railway, which the AT&SF had built north from the Mexican port of Guaymas. The Atlantic & Pacific Railroad was chartered in 1866 to build west from Springfield, Missouri, the infant A&P had no rail connections. The line that was to become the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway would not reach Springfield for another four years, A&P started construction in 1868, built southwest into what would become Oklahoma, and promptly entered receivership. In 1879 A&P struck a deal with the Santa Fe and Frisco railroads to construct a line for each. The railroads would jointly build and own the A&P railroad west of Albuquerque, in 1883 A&P reached Needles, California, where it connected with an SP line. A&P also built a line between Tulsa, Oklahoma and St. Louis, Missouri for the Frisco, but the Tulsa-Albuquerque portion remained unbuilt, by January 1890, the entire system consisted of some 7,500 miles of track
10.
Burlington Northern Railroad
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The Burlington Northern Railroad was a United States-based railroad company formed from a merger of four major U. S. railroads. Burlington Northern operated between 1970 and 1996 and that corporation was purchased by Berkshire Hathaway in 2009 which is controlled by investor Warren Buffett. The merged railroad was going to be called Great Northern Pacific & Burlington Lines. The merger was approved in 1970 even though a challenge occurred in the Supreme Court. To further expand the Burlington Northern railroad, a track was constructed in 1972 into the Powder River Basin to serve various coal mines. On November 21,1980, the St. Louis - San Francisco Railway was acquired, in 1971, BN/C&S/FW&D carried 64116 million revenue ton-miles of freight, in 1979 the total was 135004 million. Most of the increase was Powder River coal from Wyoming, a fount of traffic unprecedented in United States railroad history, the Burlington Northern, along with handling freight trains, briefly operated inter-city passenger trains. The BN also operated a commuter line inherited from the CB&Q from Chicago Union Station to the suburb of Aurora. On September 22,1995, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway merged with the Burlington Northern to create the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, on January 24,2005, the railroad shortened its name to BNSF Railway. The Burlington Northern traversed the most northerly routes of any railroad in the western United States and these routes started at Chicago, Illinois and ran west-northwest to La Crosse, Wisconsin. From here the routes continued northwest through Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota to Grand Forks, from Grand Forks the routes ran west through North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho to Spokane, Washington. At Spokane the routes split into three, the Spokane, Portland and Seattle ran southwest to the Tri-Cities, then followed the north bank of the Columbia River to Vancouver, Washington. With the acquisition of the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway the route was extended into the South Central and Southeastern United States. Transport Statistics shows BN operated 23609 miles of line and 34691 miles of track at the end of 1970, it shows 4547 SLSF miles of line not including QA&P, at the end of 1981 BN showed 27374 miles of line and 40041 miles of track. The livery of the Burlington Northern traces its history to Chicago, Burlington, EMD GP40 #629 was painted in a green, black and white scheme that introduced the BNs lettering and logo. The green color was known as Cascade Green due to the reflections of pine trees. As the final approval of the merger was approaching the Spokane, Portland, by the 1980s the locomotives and rolling stock had an unfortunate habit of camouflaging into the scenery and causing accidents at railroad crossings. By 1987 the study did not show vast improvement of the visibility and was dropped
11.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
12.
Fort Worth, Texas
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Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. The city is in North Central Texas and covers nearly 350 square miles in the counties of Denton, Parker, Wise, according to the 2015 census, estimates, Fort Worths population is 833,319. The city is the second-largest in the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, the city was established in 1849 as an Army outpost on a bluff overlooking the Trinity River. Today, Fort Worth still embraces its Western heritage and traditional architecture, USS Fort Worth is the first ship of the United States Navy named after the city. Fort Worth is home to the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, also of note is the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, designed by Tadao Ando. The Amon Carter Museum of American Art, designed by Philip Johnson, the Sid Richardson Museum, redesigned by David M. Schwarz, has one of the most focused collections of Western Art in the U. S. emphasizing Frederic Remington and Charles Russell. The Treaty of Birds Fort between the Republic of Texas and several Native American tribes was signed in 1843 at Birds Fort in present-day Arlington, Texas. Article XI of the treaty provided that no one may pass the line of trading houses without permission of the President of Texas and these trading houses were later established at the junction of the Clear Fork and West Fork of the Trinity River in present-day Fort Worth. At this river junction, the U. S, War Department established Fort Worth in 1849 as the northernmost of a system of 10 forts for protecting the American Frontier following the end of the Mexican–American War. The City of Fort Worth continues to be known as where the West begins, originally 10 forts had been proposed by Major General William Jenkins Worth, who commanded the Department of Texas in 1849. In January 1849, Worth proposed a line of 10 forts to mark the western Texas frontier from Eagle Pass to the confluence of the West Fork, One month later, Worth died from cholera in South Texas. General William S. Harney assumed command of the Department of Texas, Arnold to find a new fort site near the West Fork and Clear Fork. On June 6,1849, Arnold, advised by Middleton Tate Johnson, established a camp on the bank of the Trinity River, in August 1849, Arnold moved the camp to the north-facing bluff, which overlooked the mouth of the Clear Fork of the Trinity River. The United States War Department officially named the post Fort Worth on November 14,1849, E. S. Terrell from Tennessee claimed to be the first resident of Fort Worth. The fort was flooded the first year and moved to the top of the bluff, the fort was abandoned September 17,1853. As a stop on the legendary Chisholm Trail, Fort Worth was stimulated by the business of the cattle drives, millions of head of cattle were driven north to market along this trail. Fort Worth became the center of the drives, and later. It was given the nickname of Cowtown, during Civil War, Fort Worth suffered from shortages of money, food, and supplies
13.
Rail freight transport
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Rail freight transport is the use of railroads and trains to transport cargo as opposed to human passengers. Trains may haul bulk material, intermodal containers, general freight or specialized freight in purpose-designed cars, Rail freight practices and economics vary by country and region. When considered in terms of ton-miles or tonne-kilometers hauled per unit of energy consumed, maximum economies are typically realized with bulk commodities, especially when hauled over long distances. However, shipment by rail is not as flexible as by highway, moving goods by rail often involves transshipment costs, particularly when the shipper or receiver lack direct rail access. These costs may exceed that of operating the train itself, a factor that practices such as containerization aim to minimize. Traditionally, large shippers build factories and warehouses near rail lines and have a section of track on their property called a siding where goods are loaded onto or unloaded from rail cars, other shippers have their goods hauled by wagon or truck to or from a goods station. When long enough, or based on a schedule, each long distance train is dispatched to another classification yard. At the next classification yard, cars are resorted and those that are destined for stations served by that yard are assigned to local trains for delivery. Others are reassembled into trains heading to classification yards closer to their final destination, a single car might be reclassified or switched in several yards before reaching its final destination, a process that made rail freight slow and increased costs. Many freight rail operators are trying to reduce costs by reducing or eliminating switching in classification yards through techniques such as unit trains. In many countries, railroads have been built to haul one commodity, such as coal or ore, Rail freight uses many types of goods wagon or freight car. Most coal and aggregates are moved in wagons or gondolas or open wagons that can be filled and discharged rapidly. A major disadvantage of rail freight is its lack of flexibility, in part for this reason, rail has lost much of the freight business to road transport. Many governments are now trying to encourage more freight trains, because of the environmental benefits that it would bring. Compared tо road transport whісh employs thе uѕе оf trucks, rail transportation ensures thаt goods thаt соuld оthеrwіѕе bе transported оn а number оf trucks аrе transported іn а single shipment, thіѕ saves а lot аѕ fаr аѕ cost connected tо thе transportation аrе concerned. In Europe many manufacturing towns developed before the railway, many factories did not have direct rail access. This meant that freight had to be shipped through a station, sent by train. When lorries replaced horses it was economic and faster to make one movement by road
14.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
15.
Union Pacific Railroad
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The Union Pacific Railroad is a freight hauling railroad that operates 8,500 locomotives over 32,100 route-miles in 23 states west of Chicago, Illinois and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Union Pacific Railroad network is the largest in the United States and it is also one of the worlds largest transportation companies. Union Pacific Railroad is the operating company of Union Pacific Corporation. Union Pacific Corporations main competitor is the BNSF Railway, the second largest freight railroad. Together, the two railroads have a duopoly on all freight rail lines in the U. S. The original company was incorporated on July 1,1862, under an act of Congress entitled Pacific Railroad Act of 1862. The act was approved by President Abraham Lincoln, and it provided for the construction of railroads from the Missouri River to the Pacific as a war measure for the preservation of the Union. It was constructed westward from Council Bluffs, Iowa to meet the Central Pacific Railroad line, the line was constructed primarily by Irish labor who had learned their craft during the recent Civil War. The two lines were joined together at Promontory Summit, Utah,53 miles west of Ogden on May 10,1869, hence creating the first transcontinental railroad in North America. Under the guidance of its dominant stockholder Dr. Thomas Clark Durant, the namesake of the city of Durant, Iowa, the first rails were laid in Omaha. It built or purchased local lines that gave it access to Denver, Colorado, to Portland, Oregon and it also owned narrow gauge trackage into the heart of the Colorado Rockies and a standard gauge line south from Denver across New Mexico into Texas. UP was entangled in the Crédit Mobilier scandal, exposed in 1872 and its independent construction company the Crédit Mobilier had bribed congressmen. The UP itself was not guilty but it did get bad publicity, the financial crisis of 1873 led to financial troubles but not bankruptcy. The company was reorganized as the Union Pacific Railway on January 24,1880, the new company declared bankruptcy during the Panic of 1893. When it emerged in 1897 it reverted to the original name, the corporate headquarters of the Union Pacific Corporation were located in New York City from its initial founding in the 1860s until Drew Lewis became CEO in the mid-1980s. He relocated it to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, later the headquarters was shifted to Dallas, Texas, before relocating to Omaha to join the operating headquarters. From the ICC annual reports, except 1979 is from Moodys, on December 31,1925 UP-OSL-OWRN-LA&SL-StJ&GI operated 9,834 route-miles and 15,265 track-miles. At the end of 1980, Union Pacific operated 9,266 route-miles and 15,647 miles of track, Moodys shows 220,697 million revenue ton-miles in 1993 on the expanded system
16.
Railroad classes
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There are six US Class I freight railroad companies. Canada has two Class I freight railroads, both of which have trackage in the US, mexico has two Class I freight railroads, one with trackage in the US. In addition, the passenger railroads in the US and Canada, Amtrak. Initially, the ICC classed railroads by their gross revenue. Class I railroads had an operating revenue of at least $1 million. All such corporations were subject to reporting requirements on a quarterly or annual schedule, if a railroad slipped below its class qualification threshold for a period, it was not necessarily demoted immediately. For instance, in 1925, the ICC reported 174 Class I railroads,282 Class II railroads, since dissolution of the ICC in 1996, the Surface Transportation Board has become responsible for defining criteria for each railroad class. The bounds are typically redefined every several years to adjust for inflation, the initial $1 million criterion established in 1911 for a Class I railroad was used until January 1,1956, when the figure was increased to $3 million. In 1956, the ICC counted 113 Class I line-haul operating railroads and 309 Class II railroads, the Class III category was dropped in 1956 but reinstated in 1978. In a special move in 1979, all switching and terminal railroads were re-designated Class III, Class II and Class III designations are now rarely used outside the rail transport industry. The Association of American Railroads typically divides non–Class I companies into three categories, Regional railroads, operate at least 350 miles or make at least $40 million per year, local railroads, non-regional but engage in line-haul service. Switching and terminal railroads, mainly switch cars between other railroads or provide service from other lines to a common terminal, the Class II maximum criterion was increased in 1992 to $250 million annually, which resulted in the Florida East Coast Railway having its status changed to Class II. Rail carriers with less than $20 million in revenue are designated as Class III, in Canada, a Class I rail carrier is defined as a company that has earned gross revenues exceeding $250 million for each of the previous two years. Class 1 railroads are some of the most efficient forms of transportation, in 2013, eleven railroads in North America were designated as Class I. In the United States, Amtrak and seven freight railroads are designated Class I based on 2011 measurements released in 2013, a Class II railroad in the United States hauls freight and is mid-sized in terms of operating revenue. As of 2011, a railroad with revenues greater than $37.4 million, switching and terminal railroads are excluded from Class II status. Railroads considered by the Association of American Railroads as Regional Railroads are typically Class II, the last major change of the upper bound for a Class II railroad was in 1992, when the Florida East Coast Railway was changed from a Class I railroad to Class II. Changes since then have been adjustments for inflation, a Class III railroad has an annual operating revenue of less than $20 million
17.
Transcontinental railroad
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A transcontinental railroad is a contiguous network of railroad trackage that crosses a continental land mass with terminals at different oceans or continental borders. Such networks can be via the tracks of either a single railroad, although Europe is crisscrossed by railways, the railroads within Europe are usually not considered transcontinental, with the possible exception of the historic Orient Express. Transcontinental railroads helped open up unpopulated interior regions of continents to exploration, in many cases they also formed the backbones of cross-country passenger and freight transportation networks. In the United States of America, a series of railroads built over the last third of the 19th century created a nationwide transportation network that united the country by rail. Its construction was possible by the US Government under Pacific Railroad Acts of 1862,1864 and 1867. A transcontinental railroad in the United States is any continuous rail line connecting a location on the U. S, Pacific coast with one or more of the railroads of the nations eastern trunk line rail systems operating between the Missouri or Mississippi Rivers and the U. S. The first concrete plan for a railroad in the United States was presented to Congress by Asa Whitney in 1845. The worlds First Transcontinental Railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the eastern and western halves of the United States, begun just before the American Civil War, its construction was considered to be one of the greatest American technological feats of the 19th century. Known as the Pacific Railroad when it opened, this served as a link for trade, commerce. Shipping and commerce could thrive away from navigable watercourses for the first time since the beginning of the nation, much of this line is currently used by Amtraks California Zephyr, although some parts were rerouted or abandoned. The transcontinental railroad provided fast, safe, and cheap travel, the fare for a one-week trip from Omaha to San Francisco on an emigrant sleeping car was about $65 for an adult. It replaced most of the far slower and more hazardous stagecoach lines, the number of emigrants taking the Oregon and California Trail declined dramatically. The sale of the land grant lands and the transport provided for timber. The Central Pacific Railroad faced a shortage in the more sparsely-settled West. It recruited Cantonese laborers in China, who did prodigious work building the line over and through the Sierra Nevada mountains, the Southern Pacific Railroad was completed in 1881. The Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 authorized land grants for new lines that would aid in the construction of a railroad, although through train service was in operation as of that date, the road was not deemed to have been officially completed until November 6,1869. This distinction existed until March 25,1873, when the Union Pacific Missouri River Bridge at Omaha was opened,1881 or 1882, the SP meets the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway at Deming, New Mexico, connecting Atchison, Kansas to Los Angeles. January 12,1883, the SP completes its own section, meeting the subsidiary Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway at the Pecos River in Texas
18.
Duopoly
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A duopoly is a form of oligopoly where only two sellers exist in one market. In practice, the term is used where two firms have dominant control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of due to its simplicity. The Bertrand model, in which, in a game of two firms, each one of them assume that the other will not change prices in response to its price cuts. When both firms use this logic, they reach a Nash equilibrium. Existence of only two sellers 2, presence of monopoly elements, so long products are differentiated, the firms enjoy some monopoly power, as each product will have some loyal customers 4. There are two modes of duopoly, i. e. Cournot’s Model and Chamberlain’s Model. Third Parties have encountered various blocks in getting onto ballots at different levels of government as well as other electoral obstacles, a commonly cited example of a duopoly is that involving Visa and MasterCard, who between them control a large proportion of the electronic payment processing market. In 2000 they were the defendants in a U. S. Department of Justice antitrust lawsuit, an appeal was upheld in 2004. Examples where two companies control a large proportion of a market are, Airbus and Boeing in the market for commercial airplanes. See also, Competition between Airbus and Boeing, televisa and Azteca in the Mexican Television market. RAI and Mediaset in the Italian Television market, radio Televisyen Malaysia and Media Prima in the Malaysian Television market. Air Canada and WestJet in the Canadian Aviation market, woolworths and Coles in the Australian supermarket market. Mitre 10 MEGA and Bunnings Warehouse in the Australian and New Zealand retail/trade timber, intel and AMD in X86 CPU market and Nvidia and AMD in consumer and professional PC GPU market. The BNSF Railway and Union Pacific Railroad have a duopoly on freight traffic in the Western United States. Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation operate a duopoly on freight traffic in the Eastern United States. Apple and Microsoft in the electronics industry, apples iOS and Googles Android in the mobile operating system market. Globe Telecom and Smart Communications in the Philippine Telecomunnications industry, first American Financial Corporation and Fidelity National Financial in the American title insurance sector
19.
Berkshire Hathaway
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Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is an American multinational conglomerate holding company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska, United States. The company wholly owns GEICO, BNSF Railway, Lubrizol, Dairy Queen, Fruit of the Loom, Helzberg Diamonds, FlightSafety International, Pampered Chef, and NetJets, and also owns 43. Berkshire Hathaway averaged a growth in book value of 19. 7% to its shareholders for the last 49 years, while employing large amounts of capital. In the early part of Buffetts career at Berkshire, he focused on investments in publicly traded companies. According to the Forbes Global 2000 list and formula, Berkshire Hathaway is the fourth largest public company in the world, Berkshire Hathaway traces its roots to a textile manufacturing company established by Oliver Chace in 1839 as the Valley Falls Company in Valley Falls, Rhode Island. Chace had previously worked for Samuel Slater, the founder of the first successful textile mill in America, Chace founded his first textile mill in 1806. In 1929 the Valley Falls Company merged with the Berkshire Cotton Manufacturing Company established in 1889, in Adams, the combined company was known as Berkshire Fine Spinning Associates. Hathaway had been successful in its first decades, but it suffered during a decline in the textile industry after World War I. At this time, Hathaway was run by Seabury Stanton, whose investment efforts were rewarded with renewed profitability after the Depression, after the merger Berkshire Hathaway had 15 plants employing over 12,000 workers with over $120 million in revenue and was headquartered in New Bedford. However, seven of those locations were closed by the end of the decade, in 1962, Warren Buffett began buying stock in Berkshire Hathaway after noticing a pattern in the price direction of its stock whenever the company closed a mill. Eventually, Buffett acknowledged that the business was waning and the companys financial situation was not going to improve. In 1964, Stanton made a tender offer of $11 1⁄2 per share for the company to buy back Buffetts shares. A few weeks later, Warren Buffett received the offer in writing. Buffett later admitted that this lower, undercutting offer made him angry, instead of selling at the slightly lower price, Buffett decided to buy more of the stock to take control of the company and fire Stanton. However, this put Buffett in a situation where he was now majority owner of a business that was failing. Buffett initially maintained Berkshires core business of textiles, but by 1967, he was expanding into the insurance industry, Berkshire first ventured into the insurance business with the purchase of National Indemnity Company. In the late 1970s, Berkshire acquired an equity stake in the Government Employees Insurance Company, in 1985, the last textile operations were shut down. Buffett claimed that had he invested that money directly in insurance businesses instead of buying out Berkshire Hathaway, Berkshires class A shares sold for $258,000
20.
Intermodal freight transport
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The method reduces cargo handling, and so improves security, reduces damage and loss, and allows freight to be transported faster. Reduced costs over road trucking is the key benefit for inter-continental use and this may be offset by reduced timings for road transport over shorter distances. Intermodal transportation goes back to the 18th century and predates the railways, some of the earliest containers were those used for shipping coal on the Bridgewater Canal in England in the 1780s. Coal containers were soon deployed on the canals and railways and were used for road/rail transfers. Wooden coal containers used on railways go back to the 1830s on the Liverpool, in 1841 Isambard Kingdom Brunel introduced iron containers to move coal from the vale of Neath to Swansea Docks. By the outbreak of the First World War the Great Eastern Railway was using wooden containers to trans-ship passenger luggage between trains and sailings via the port of Harwich. The early 1900s saw the first adoption of covered containers, primarily for the movement of furniture, a lack of standards limited the value of this service and this in turn drove standardisation. In the U. S. such containers, known as vans, were in use from as early as 1911. By modern standards these containers were small, being 1.5 or 3.0 meters long, normally wooden and with a curved roof, from 1928 the London, Midland and Scottish Railway offered door to door intermodal road-rail services using these containers. This standard failed to become popular outside the United Kingdom, because no freight handling was required, fewer personnel were needed and loading times were decreased. Truck trailers were first carried by railway before World War II, an arrangement often called piggyback, by the small Class I railroad, the Canadian Pacific Railway was a pioneer in piggyback transport, becoming the first major North American railway to introduce the service in 1952. In the United Kingdom the big four railway companies offered services using standard RCH containers that could be craned on, moving companies such as Pickfords offered private services in the same way. In 1933 in Europe under the auspices of the International Chamber of Commerce was established The International Container Bureau, in June 1933, Bureau International des Containers et du Transport Intermodal decided about obligatory parameters for containers uses in international traffic. Containers handled by means of lifting gear, such as cranes, overhead conveyors, etc. for traveling elevators, constructed after July 1,1933. Obligatory Regulations, Clause 1. —Containers are, as form, either of the closed or the open type. The International Organization for Standardization then issued standards based upon the U. S. Department of Defense standards between 1968 and 1970. The White Pass and Yukon Route railway acquired the worlds first container ship, the Clifford J. Rogers, built in 1955, in the United Kingdom the modernisation plan and in turn the Beeching Report strongly pushed containerization. The British Railways freightliner service was launched carrying 8-foot high pre-ISO containers, the older wooden containers and the pre-ISO containers were rapidly replaced by 10-foot and 20-foot ISO standard containers, and later by 40-foot containers and larger
21.
Bulk cargo
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Bulk cargo is commodity cargo that is transported unpackaged in large quantities. It refers to material in liquid or granular, particulate form, as a mass of relatively small solids, such as petroleum/crude oil, grain, coal. This cargo is usually dropped or poured, with a spout or shovel bucket, into a bulk carrier ships hold, railroad car/railway wagon, smaller quantities can be boxed and palletised. Bulk cargo is classified as liquid or dry, the Baltic Exchange is based in London and provides a range of indices benchmarking the cost of moving bulk commodities, dry and wet, along popular routes around the seas. Some of these indices are used to settle Freight Futures. The most famous of the Baltic indices is the Baltic Dry Indices and this is a derived function of the Baltic Capesize index, Baltic Panamax index, Baltic Supramax index and the Baltic Handysize index. The BDI has been used as a bellwether for the economy as it can be interpreted as an indicator of an increase or decrease in the amount of raw commodities countries are importing/exporting. Bauxite Bulk minerals Cements Chemicals Coals and cokes Agricultural products such as dry edibles Grains Iron, Bulk Cargoes, A Guide to Good Practice. UK, The North of England P&I Association, stability and Trim for the Ships Officer. Keever, John M. American Merchant Seamans Manual, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. New York and Geneva, United Nations, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. New York and Geneva, United Nations
22.
Coal
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Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock usually occurring in rock strata in layers or veins called coal beds or coal seams. The harder forms, such as coal, can be regarded as metamorphic rock because of later exposure to elevated temperature and pressure. Coal is composed primarily of carbon, along with quantities of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen. A fossil fuel, coal forms when plant matter is converted into peat, which in turn is converted into lignite, then sub-bituminous coal, after that bituminous coal. This involves biological and geological processes that take place over time, throughout history, coal has been used as an energy resource, primarily burned for the production of electricity and heat, and is also used for industrial purposes, such as refining metals. Coal is the largest source of energy for the generation of electricity worldwide, the extraction of coal, its use in energy production and its byproducts are all associated with environmental and health effects including climate change. Coal is extracted from the ground by coal mining, since 1983, the worlds top coal producer has been China. In 2015 China produced 3,747 million tonnes of coal –47. 7% of 7,861 million tonnes world coal production, in 2015 other large producers were United States, India, European Union and Australia. The word originally took the col in Old English, from Proto-Germanic *kula. In Old Turkic languages, kül is ash, cinders, öčür is quench, the compound charcoal in Turkic is öčür kül, literally quenched ashes, cinders, coals with elided anlaut ö- and inflection affixes -ülmüş. At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying wetland areas, due to natural processes such as flooding, these forests were buried underneath soil. As more and more soil deposited over them, they were compressed, the temperature also rose as they sank deeper and deeper. As the process continued the plant matter was protected from biodegradation and oxidation and this trapped the carbon in immense peat bogs that were eventually covered and deeply buried by sediments. Under high pressure and high temperature, dead vegetation was slowly converted to coal, as coal contains mainly carbon, the conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called carbonization. The wide, shallow seas of the Carboniferous Period provided ideal conditions for coal formation, the exception is the coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event, where coal is rare. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants — this coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae, in its dehydrated form, peat is a highly effective absorbent for fuel and oil spills on land and water. It is also used as a conditioner for soil to make it able to retain. Lignite, or brown coal, is the lowest rank of coal, jet, a compact form of lignite, is sometimes polished and has been used as an ornamental stone since the Upper Palaeolithic
23.
Canadian National Railway
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The Canadian National Railway Company is a Canadian Class I railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec that serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CNs slogan is North Americas Railroad, CN is a public company with 24,000 employees. It had a capitalization of 32 billion CAD in 2011. CN was government-owned, having been a Canadian Crown corporation from its founding to its privatization in 1995, bill Gates was, in 2011, the largest single shareholder of CN stock. Its range once reached across the island of Newfoundland until 1988, the railway was referred to as the Canadian National Railways between 1918 and 1960, and as Canadian National/Canadien National from 1960 to the present. On November 17,1995, the government privatized CN. Over the next decade, the company expanded significantly into the United States, purchasing Illinois Central Railroad and Wisconsin Central Transportation, now primarily a freight railway, CN also operated passenger services until 1978, when they were assumed by Via Rail. The Newfoundland mixed trains lasted until 1988, while the Montreal commuter trains are now operated by Montreals AMT, the absorption of the Intercolonial Railway would see CNR adopt that systems slogan The Peoples Railway. The federal governments Department of Railways and Canals took over operation of the GTPR until July 12,1920, the Canadian National Railway was organized on October 10,1922. After several years of arbitration, the GTR was absorbed into CNR on January 30,1923, Canadian National Railways was born out of both wartime and domestic urgency. Railways, until the rise of the automobile and creation of taxpayer-funded all-weather highways, were the only viable long-distance land transportation available in Canada for many years. As such, their operation consumed a great deal of public, in the early 20th century, many governments were taking a more interventionist role in the economy, foreshadowing the influence of economists like John Maynard Keynes. This political trend, combined with broader geo-political events, made nationalization an appealing choice for Canada, the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and allied involvement in the Russian Revolution seemed to validate the continuing process. The need for a rail system was paramount in a time of civil unrest. CN Telegraph originated as the Great North West Telegraph Company in 1880 to connect Ontario and Manitoba, in 1915, facing bankruptcy, GNWTC was acquired by the Canadian Northern Railways telegraph company. When Canadian Northern was nationalized in 1918 and amalgamated into Canadian National Railways in 1921, CN Telegraphs began co-operating with its Canadian Pacific owned rival CPR Telegraphs in the 1930s, sharing telegraph networks and co-founding a teleprinter system in 1957. In 1967 the two services were amalgamated into a joint venture CNCP Telecommunications which evolved into a telecoms company, CN sold its stake of the company to CP in 1984. This led to the creation of a network of CNR radio stations across the country, as anyone in the vicinity of a station could hear its broadcasts the networks audience extended far beyond train passengers to the public at large
24.
Montreal
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Montreal, officially Montréal, is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the 2nd-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or City of Mary, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, the city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694, Montreals metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included. Legally a French-speaking city,60. 5% of Montrealers speak French at home,21. 2% speak English and 19. 8% speak neither, Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris, historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film, Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North Americas leading host city for international events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress. According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, in the 2017 edition of their Best Student Cities ranking, Quacquarelli Symonds ranked Montreal as the worlds best city to study abroad. Also, Montreal has 11 universities with 170,000 students enrolled, the Greater Montréal region has the highest number of university students per capita among all metropolitan areas in North America. It is the only Canadian city to have held the Summer Olympics, currently, the city hosts the Canadian Grand Prix of Formula One, the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Just for Laughs festival. In 2012, Montreal was ranked as a Beta+ world city, in Kanien’kéha, or Mohawk language, the island is called Tiohtià, ke Tsi or Ka-wé-no-te. In Anishinaabemowin, or Ojibwe language, the land is called Mooniyaang, though the city was first named by French colonizers Ville Marie, or City of Mary, its current name comes from Mount Royal, the triple-peaked hill in the heart of the city. The most popular theory is that the name derives from Mont Réal, Cartiers 1535 diary entry, naming the mountain, according to the Commission de toponymie du Québec and the Geographical Names Board of Canada, Canadian place names have only one official form. Thus, Montreal is officially spelled with an accent over the e in both English and French. In practice, this is limited to governmental uses. English-speaking Montrealers, including English-language media, regularly omit the accent when writing in English, archaeological evidence demonstrates that First Nations native people occupied the island of Montreal as early as 4,000 years ago. By the year AD1000, they had started to cultivate maize, within a few hundred years, they had built fortified villages. Archeologists have found evidence of their habitation there and at locations in the valley since at least the 14th century
25.
Surface Transportation Board
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The Surface Transportation Board of the United States is a bipartisan, decisionally-independent adjudicatory body organizationally housed within the U. S. Department of Transportation. The STB was established in 1996 to assume some of the functions that had been administered by the Interstate Commerce Commission when the ICC was abolished. Other ICC regulatory functions were eliminated or transferred to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration or to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics within DOT. The Board has wide discretion, through its authority from federal, state and local laws. The Board provides a forum for the resolution of surface-transportation disputes and it has the authority to limit or remove regulatory requirements where appropriate. The Board is composed of three members nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate for five-year terms, the Board’s chairman is designated by the President from among the members. As its chief executive, the coordinates and organizes the agency’s work and acts as its representative in legislative matters. Chairman Elliott is in his term at the Board, having previously served as the agency’s chairman from August 13,2009 until December 31,2014. The vice chairman represents the Board and assumes the duties as appropriate. Additionally, the vice chairman oversees matters involving the admission, discipline and she was designated vice chairman, served as acting chairman, and was again designated vice chairman on January 7,2016, in the agency’s annual rotation of the vice chairmanship. Ann D. Begeman was sworn in May 2,2011, as a member of the Board, assisting the Board in carrying out its responsibilities is a staff of 150 with experience in economics, law, accounting, transportation analysis, finance and administration. The Office of Economics analyzes rate cases, conducts economic and financial analyses of the railroad industry, the Office of the Managing Director handles administrative matters such as personnel, budget and information technology. The Office of Proceedings is an office, consisting almost entirely of attorneys and paralegal specialists. The office applies the Interstate Commerce Act, as amended by the ICC Termination Act of 1995, the Office of the General Counsel responds to questions on a variety of legal issues. However, its mission is two-fold, to defend the STBs decisions in court. Unlike most Federal agencies, the STB has independent litigating authority, STB and DOJ attorneys, in most cases, jointly defend the agencys decisions, with the STBs attorneys preparing written briefs and presenting oral arguments on behalf of the Federal Government. In performing defensibility assessments, OGC attorneys meet with other STB staff to discuss cases before draft decisions are prepared, defensibility assessments are key to issuing sound decisions that are less likely to be challenged and, if challenged, are more likely to be upheld
26.
Warren Buffett
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Warren Edward Buffett is an American business magnate, investor, and philanthropist. He is considered by some to be one of the most successful investors in the world and he attended New York Institute of Finance to specialize his economics background and soon after began various business partnerships, including one with Graham. After meeting Charlie Munger, Buffett created the Buffett Partnership and his firm would eventually acquire a textile manufacturing firm called Berkshire Hathaway and assume its name to create a diversified holding company. He is noted for his adherence to value investing and for his personal frugality despite his immense wealth, Buffett is a notable philanthropist, having pledged to give away 99 percent of his fortune to philanthropic causes, primarily via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Buffett was born in 1930 in Omaha, Nebraska and he was the second of three children and the only son of Leila and Congressman Howard Buffett, Buffett began his education at Rose Hill Elementary School. In 1942, his father was elected to the first of four terms in the United States Congress, after finishing high school and finding success with his side entrepreneurial and investment ventures, Buffett wanted to skip college to go directly into business, but was overruled by his father. Buffett displayed an interest in business and investing at a young age, much of Buffetts early childhood years were enlivened with entrepreneurial ventures. One of his first business ventures, Buffett sold chewing gum, Coca-Cola bottles and he worked in his grandfathers grocery store. While still in school, he made money delivering newspapers, selling golf balls and stamps. On his first income tax return in 1944, Buffett took a $35 deduction for the use of his bicycle, in 1945, as a high school sophomore, Buffett and a friend spent $25 to purchase a used pinball machine, which they placed in the local barber shop. Within months, they owned several machines in three different barber shops across Omaha, the business was sold later in the year for $1,200 to a war veteran. Buffetts interest in the market and investing dated to schoolboy days he spent in the customers lounge of a regional stock brokerage near his fathers own brokerage office. On a trip to New York City at age ten, he made a point to visit the New York Stock Exchange, at 11, he bought three shares of Cities Service Preferred for himself, and three for his sister Doris Buffett. At the age of 15, Warren made more than $175 monthly delivering Washington Post newspapers, in high school, he invested in a business owned by his father and bought a 40-acre farm worked by a tenant farmer. He bought the land when he was 14 years old with $1,200 of his savings, by the time he finished college, Buffett had accumulated $9,800 in savings. In 1947, Buffett entered the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and he would have preferred to focus on his business ventures, however, he enrolled due to pressure from his father. Warren studied there for two years and joined the Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and he then transferred to the University of Nebraska–Lincoln where at 19, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. After being rejected by Harvard Business School, Buffett enrolled at Columbia Business School of Columbia University upon learning that Benjamin Graham taught there and he earned a Master of Science in Economics from Columbia in 1951
27.
U.S. Route 84
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U. S. Route 84 is an east–west U. S. Highway. It started as a short Georgia–Alabama route in the original 1926 scheme, the highways eastern terminus is a short distance east of Midway, Georgia, at an interchange with Interstate 95. The road continues toward the nearby Atlantic Ocean as a county road and its western terminus is in Pagosa Springs, Colorado, at an intersection with U. S.160. The section from Brunswick, Georgia to Roscoe, Texas has been designated by five state legislatures as part of the El Camino East/West Corridor, the designation is intended to promote the route for both tourism and NAFTA-facilitated trade with Mexico. States are asking for Federal funds to widen the US84 El Camino East/West Corridor, the western terminus of US84, Pagosa Springs, Colorado, was made famous by C. W. McCall in the 1975 song and album Wolf Creek Pass. US84 actually ends approximately 1 mile east of downtown Pagosa Springs at a T-intersection with US160, south of Pagosa Springs, the 28 miles of the Colorado section of US84 pass through a portion of San Juan National Forest. The highway climbs Confar Hill, a divide between the Rio Blanco and Navajo River, before descending into the village of Chromo and passing into New Mexico. US84 enters Rio Arriba County, New Mexico 28 miles south of its terminus at US160, about 6 miles south of the Colorado–New Mexico state line, US64 comes from the west and travels concurrently with US84 for the next 28 miles. Therefore, only 37 miles of US84 is located west of the Continental Divide, about 12 miles east of the intersection, US 64/US84 enters the town of Chama. At a T-intersection, New Mexico State Road 17 enters from the north and terminates at said intersection, while US 64/US84 enter from the south and west. After heading south from Chama, US 64/US84 combine for about 14 miles to Tierra Amarilla, about 57 miles down the road, US84 is joined by US285 south of the small community of Chili. About 5 miles further, US 84/US285 enter the city of Española from the north as North Paseo de Onate Street, at the south end of the town, US 84/US285 become the Santa Fe Highway and an expressway. About 9 miles further, US 84/US285 becomes a limited-access freeway,15 miles further south, the two return to surface street status and then travel past downtown Santa Fe via St. Francis Drive. On the south side of Santa Fe at Interstate 25s exit 282A, all four highways head east and slightly to the south to avoid the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. Just before turning north, US285 exits the freeway at exit 290, following a path southeast and then south for 42 miles, US84 merges with I-40 at I-40s exit 256. After 17 miles I-40/US84 enter Santa Rosa, about 21 miles from its confluence with I-40, US84 diverges at exit 277. The highway then travels south/southeast for 42 miles until merging with US60 in downtown Fort Sumner, from the intersection with US60, US 60/US84 travel east, passing through Taiban and Melrose before intersecting US70 after 61 miles in Clovis. From the intersection with US70, US 64/US 70/US84 travels east 8.7 miles entering Texico, here, about 280 feet before the Texas–New Mexico state line, US60 splits from US 70/US84 with US 70/US84 continuing east into Farwell, Texas
28.
Llano Estacado
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Llano Estacado commonly known as the Staked Plain, is a region in the Southwestern United States that encompasses parts of eastern New Mexico and northwestern Texas. The Llano Estacado lies at the end of the Western High Plains ecoregion of the Great Plains of North America. The Canadian River forms the Llanos northern boundary, separating it from the rest of the High Plains, the Llano has no natural southern boundary, instead blending into the Edwards Plateau near Big Spring, Texas. This geographic area stretches about 250 miles north to south, and 150 miles east to west and it covers all or part of 33 Texas counties and four New Mexico counties. The landscape is dotted by numerous small lakes, depressions that seasonally fill with water. The Llano Estacado has a semiarid climate, characterized by long, hot summers. Rainfall is very low, the region receives fewer than 23 in of rainfall annually. High summer temperatures mean most of the amount of precipitation is lost to evaporation. The Texas State Historical Society states it covers all or part of 33 Texas counties, six fewer than as depicted by a US Geological Survey map, interstate 40 crosses the northern portion from east of Amarillo to Tucumcari, New Mexico. There was not a stone, nor bit of rising ground, nor a tree, nor a shrub, in the early 18th century, the Comanches expanded their territory into the Llano Estacado, displacing the Apaches who had previously lived there. The region became part of the Comancheria, a Comanche stronghold until the defeat of the tribe in the late 19th century. Rachel Plummer, while a captive of the Comanche in 1836, after his 1852 expedition to explore the headwaters of the Red and Colorado Rivers, General Randolph Marcy wrote, a tree, shrub, or any other herbage to intercept the vision. The almost total absence of water causes all animals to shun it, in his report for the United States Army, When we were upon the high table-land, a view presented itself as boundless as the ocean. Not a tree, shrub, or any object, either animate or inanimate, relieved the dreary monotony of the prospect. The great Sahara of North America and it is a region almost as vast and trackless as the ocean—a land where no man, either savage or civilized permanently abides. A treeless, desolate waste of uninhabitable solitude, which always has been, during the 1854 Marcy-Neighbors expedition, Dr. George Getz Shumard noted, Beyond the mountain appeared a line of high bluffs which in the distance looked like clouds floating upon the horizon. Herman Lehmann was captured by the Apache in 1870 and described the Llano Estacado as the country was open, but not exactly a desert. Robert G. Carter described it in 1871 while pursuing Quanah Parker with Ranald S. Mackenzie. all were over and out of the canyon upon what appeared to be a vast, almost illimitable expanse of prairie
29.
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad
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The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad was a railroad that operated in the Midwestern United States. Its primary connections included Chicago, Minneapolis-St. Paul, St. Louis, Kansas City, because of this extensive trackage in the midwest and mountain states, the railroad used the advertising slogans Everywhere West, Way of the Zephyrs, and The Way West. It merged into Burlington Northern in 1970, in 1967, it reported 19,565 million net ton-miles of revenue freight and 723 million passenger miles, corresponding totals for C&S were 1,100 and 10 and for FW&D were 1,466 and 13. At the end of the year CB&Q operated 8,538 route-miles, C&S operated 708, the earliest predecessor of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, the Aurora Branch Railroad, was chartered by act of the Illinois General Assembly on October 2,1848. The Aurora Branch was built from Aurora, through Batavia, to Turner Junction in what is now West Chicago, the line was built with old strap rail and minimal, if any, grading. The line from Aurora to Chicago was built through the towns of Naperville, Lisle, Downers Grove, Hinsdale, Berwyn. It was opened in 1864, and passenger and freight service began, regular commuter train service started in 1864 and remains operational to this day, making it the oldest surviving regular passenger service in Chicago. Both the original Chicago line, and to a lesser extent. With a steady acquisition of locomotives, cars, equipment, and trackage, the Burlington Route was able to enter the trade markets in 1862. From that year to date, the railroad and its successors have paid dividends continuously, the B&MR continued building west into Nebraska as a separate company, the Burlington & Missouri River Rail Road, founded in 1869. During the summer of 1870 it reached Lincoln, the designated capital of Nebraska and by 1872 it reached Kearney. That same year the B&MR across Iowa was absorbed by the CB&Q, by the time the Missouri River bridge at Plattsmouth, Nebraska was completed the B&MR in Nebraska was well on its way to the Mile High city of Denver, Colorado. That same year, the Nebraska B&MR was purchased by the CB&Q, Burlingtons rapid expansion after the American Civil War was based upon sound financial management, dominated by John Murray Forbes of Boston and assisted by Charles Elliott Perkins. Perkins was an administrator who eventually forged a system out of previously loosely held affiliates. Ultimately, Perkins believed the Burlington Railroad must be included into a powerful transcontinental system, though the railroad as far west as Denver and Billings, Montana, it had failed to reach the Pacific Coast during the 1880s and 1890s, when construction was less expensive. Though approached by E. H. Harriman of the Union Pacific Railroad, with its river line to the Twin Cities, the Burlington Route formed a natural connection between Hills home town of St. Paul, Minnesota, and the railroad hub of Chicago. Moreover, Hill was willing to meet Perkins $200-a-share asking price for the Burlingtons stock, by 1900, Hills Great Northern, in conjunction with the Northern Pacific Railway, held nearly 100 percent of Burlingtons stock. In 1901 a rebuffed Harriman tried to gain an indirect influence over the Burlington by launching a raid on the Northern Pacific
30.
St. Louis-San Francisco Railway
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The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, also known as the Frisco, was a railroad that operated in the Midwest and South Central U. S. from 1876 to April 17,1980. It was purchased and absorbed into the Burlington Northern Railroad in 1980, the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway was incorporated in Missouri on September 7,1876. It was formed from the Missouri Division and Central Division of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad and this land grant line was one of two railroads authorized to build across Indian Territory. Louis-San Francisco mileage on the great plains, after bankruptcy the Frisco emerged as the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad, incorporated on June 29,1896, which also went bankrupt. On August 24,1916 the company was reorganized as the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway, though the line never went west of Texas, the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway had two main lines, St. Louis–Tulsa–Oklahoma City and Kansas City–Memphis–Birmingham. The junction of the two lines was in Springfield, Missouri, home to the main shop facility and headquarters. From March,1917, through January,1959, the Frisco, in a joint venture with the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and this luxurious train, a streamliner from 1947, ran from St. Louis to Dallas, Texas, Ft. Worth, Texas and San Antonio, Texas. It was the last passenger railroad to end Jim Crow or segregation of passengers by race, the Frisco merged into the Burlington Northern Railroad on November 21,1980. The city of Frisco, Texas was named after the railroad, the logo is modeled after a stretched-out raccoon skin. While the Texas Special was the most famous passenger train the Frisco ever operated, other secondary and branchlines have been sold to shortline operators or have been abandoned altogether. Kansas City – Springfield – Memphis – Birmingham, Operated by BNSF St. Louis – Springfield – Tulsa – Dallas, Operated by BNSF Fort Scott, Kansas to Afton, Oklahoma, now on static display in Collierville, Tennessee. Frisco 1352, built by Alco in 1912 as a 2-8-0 Consolidation, disassembled in Taylorsville, Illinois, awaiting restoration to operating condition. Frisco 1355, 2-8-2 Mikado, displayed on Garden Street, Pensacola, Florida, Frisco 1501, 4-8-2 Mountain-type, built in 1926. Static display in Schuman Park, Rolla MO since 1955, several parts from Frisco 1501 were donated to Frisco 1522 to make/keep 1522 operational. Video Frisco 1522, 4-8-2 Mountain-type, built in 1926 and it was at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri until 1988, when it began pulling excursions. In 2002, it was returned to the Museum of Transportation Frisco 1527, 4-8-2 Mountain-type, static display in Langan Park, Mobile, AL since 1964. Frisco 1529, 4-8-2 Mountain-type, built by Baldwin in 1926, the train hosted President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1934, and was eventually the last steam engine to make a passenger run for Frisco. Now on static display in Frisco Park in Amory, Mississippi, Frisco 1621, a 2-10-0, being a Russian Class Ye, built in 1918 and on static display at the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis, Missouri
31.
Chicago
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Chicago, officially the City of Chicago, is the third-most populous city in the United States. With over 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the state of Illinois, and it is the county seat of Cook County. In 2012, Chicago was listed as a global city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Chicago has the third-largest gross metropolitan product in the United States—about $640 billion according to 2015 estimates, the city has one of the worlds largest and most diversified economies with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. In 2016, Chicago hosted over 54 million domestic and international visitors, landmarks in the city include Millennium Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile, Art Institute of Chicago, Museum Campus, the Willis Tower, Museum of Science and Industry, and Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicagos culture includes the arts, novels, film, theater, especially improvisational comedy. Chicago also has sports teams in each of the major professional leagues. The city has many nicknames, the best-known being the Windy City, the name Chicago is derived from a French rendering of the Native American word shikaakwa, known to botanists as Allium tricoccum, from the Miami-Illinois language. The first known reference to the site of the current city of Chicago as Checagou was by Robert de LaSalle around 1679 in a memoir, henri Joutel, in his journal of 1688, noted that the wild garlic, called chicagoua, grew abundantly in the area. In the mid-18th century, the area was inhabited by a Native American tribe known as the Potawatomi, the first known non-indigenous permanent settler in Chicago was Jean Baptiste Point du Sable. Du Sable was of African and French descent and arrived in the 1780s and he is commonly known as the Founder of Chicago. In 1803, the United States Army built Fort Dearborn, which was destroyed in 1812 in the Battle of Fort Dearborn, the Ottawa, Ojibwe, and Potawatomi tribes had ceded additional land to the United States in the 1816 Treaty of St. Louis. The Potawatomi were forcibly removed from their land after the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, on August 12,1833, the Town of Chicago was organized with a population of about 200. Within seven years it grew to more than 4,000 people, on June 15,1835, the first public land sales began with Edmund Dick Taylor as U. S. The City of Chicago was incorporated on Saturday, March 4,1837, as the site of the Chicago Portage, the city became an important transportation hub between the eastern and western United States. Chicagos first railway, Galena and Chicago Union Railroad, and the Illinois, the canal allowed steamboats and sailing ships on the Great Lakes to connect to the Mississippi River. A flourishing economy brought residents from rural communities and immigrants from abroad, manufacturing and retail and finance sectors became dominant, influencing the American economy. The Chicago Board of Trade listed the first ever standardized exchange traded forward contracts and these issues also helped propel another Illinoisan, Abraham Lincoln, to the national stage
32.
Southern California
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Southern California, often abbreviated as SoCal, is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises Californias 10 southernmost counties. The region is described as eight counties, based on demographics and economic ties, Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, Santa Barbara. The more extensive 10-county definition, which includes Kern and San Luis Obispo counties, is used and is based on historical political divisions. Southern California is an economic center for the state of California. The 8-county and 10-county definitions are not used for the greater Southern California Megaregion, the megaregions area is more expansive, extending east into Las Vegas, Nevada and south across the Mexican border into Tijuana.5 million people. With over 22 million people, Southern California contains roughly 60 percent of Californias population, located east of Southern California is the Colorado Desert and the Colorado River at the border with Arizona. The Mojave Desert is located at the border with the state of Nevada while towards the south is the Mexico–United States border, within Southern California are two major cities, Los Angeles and San Diego, as well as three of the countrys largest metropolitan areas. With a population of 3,792,621, Los Angeles is the most populous city in California and the second most populous in the United States. South of Los Angeles and with a population of 1,307,402 is San Diego, the second most populous city in the state and the eighth most populous in the nation. The counties of Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, San Bernardino, and Riverside are the five most populous in the state, the motion picture, television, and music industry are centered in the Los Angeles area in Southern California. Hollywood, a district within Los Angeles, gives its name to the American motion picture industry, headquartered in Southern California are The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures, Universal, MGM, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Brothers. Universal, Warner Brothers, and Sony also run major record companies, Southern California is also home to a large homegrown surf and skateboard culture. Companies such as Vans, Volcom, Quiksilver, No Fear, RVCA, some of the worlds biggest action sports events, including the X Games, Boost Mobile Pro, and the U. S. Open of Surfing, are all held in Southern California. Southern California is also important to the world of yachting, the annual Transpacific Yacht Race, or Transpac, from Los Angeles to Hawaii, is one of yachtings premier events. The San Diego Yacht Club held the Americas Cup, the most prestigious prize in yachting, from 1988 to 1995, Southern California is home to many sports franchises and sports networks such as Fox Sports Net. Many locals and tourists frequent the Southern California coast for its popular beaches, the desert city of Palm Springs is popular for its resort feel and nearby open spaces. Southern California is not a geographic designation and definitions of what constitutes Southern California vary. Geographically, Californias North-South midway point lies at exactly 37°958.23 latitude, around 11 miles south of San Jose, however, when the state is divided into two areas, the term Southern California usually refers to the 10 southernmost counties of the state
33.
Texas
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Texas is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the U. S. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the states struggle for independence from Mexico. The Lone Star can be found on the Texan state flag, the origin of Texass name is from the word Tejas, which means friends in the Caddo language. Due to its size and geologic features such as the Balcones Fault, although Texas is popularly associated with the U. S. southwestern deserts, less than 10 percent of Texas land area is desert. Most of the centers are located in areas of former prairies, grasslands, forests. Traveling from east to west, one can observe terrain that ranges from coastal swamps and piney woods, to rolling plains and rugged hills, the term six flags over Texas refers to several nations that have ruled over the territory. Spain was the first European country to claim the area of Texas, Mexico controlled the territory until 1836 when Texas won its independence, becoming an independent Republic. In 1845, Texas joined the United States as the 28th state, the states annexation set off a chain of events that caused the Mexican–American War in 1846. A slave state before the American Civil War, Texas declared its secession from the U. S. in early 1861, after the Civil War and the restoration of its representation in the federal government, Texas entered a long period of economic stagnation. One Texan industry that thrived after the Civil War was cattle, due to its long history as a center of the industry, Texas is associated with the image of the cowboy. The states economic fortunes changed in the early 20th century, when oil discoveries initiated a boom in the state. With strong investments in universities, Texas developed a diversified economy, as of 2010 it shares the top of the list of the most Fortune 500 companies with California at 57. With a growing base of industry, the leads in many industries, including agriculture, petrochemicals, energy, computers and electronics, aerospace. Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 and has the second-highest gross state product. The name Texas, based on the Caddo word tejas meaning friends or allies, was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves, during Spanish colonial rule, the area was officially known as the Nuevo Reino de Filipinas, La Provincia de Texas. Texas is the second largest U. S. state, behind Alaska, though 10 percent larger than France and almost twice as large as Germany or Japan, it ranks only 27th worldwide amongst country subdivisions by size. If it were an independent country, Texas would be the 40th largest behind Chile, Texas is in the south central part of the United States of America. Three of its borders are defined by rivers, the Rio Grande forms a natural border with the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the south
34.
Denver
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Denver, officially the City and County of Denver, is the capital and most populous municipality of the U. S. state of Colorado. Denver is in the South Platte River Valley on the edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The Denver downtown district is immediately east of the confluence of Cherry Creek with the South Platte River, Denver is nicknamed the Mile-High City because its official elevation is exactly one mile above sea level, making it the highest major city in the United States. The 105th meridian west of Greenwich, the reference for the Mountain Time Zone. Denver is ranked as a Beta- world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. With a 2015 estimated population of 682,545, Denver ranks as the 19th-most populous U. S. city, and with a 2. 8% increase in 2015, the city is also the fastest-growing major city in the United States. The 10-county Denver-Aurora-Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 2,814,330 and ranked as the 19th most populous U. S. metropolitan statistical area. The 12-city Denver-Aurora, CO Combined Statistical Area had an estimated 2015 population of 3,418,876, which ranks as the 16th most populous U. S. metropolitan area. Denver is the most populous city of the 18-county Front Range Urban Corridor, Denver is the most populous city within a 500-mile radius and the second-most populous city in the Mountain West after Phoenix, Arizona. In 2016, Denver was named the best place to live in the USA by U. S. News & World Report and this was the first historical settlement in what was later to become the city of Denver. The site faded quickly, however, and by the summer of 1859 it was abandoned in favor of Auraria, Larimer named the townsite Denver City to curry favor with Kansas Territorial Governor James W. Denver. Larimer hoped the name would help make it the county seat of Arapaho County but, unbeknownst to him. The location was accessible to existing trails and was across the South Platte River from the site of seasonal encampments of the Cheyenne, the site of these first towns is now the site of Confluence Park near downtown Denver. Larimer, along with associates in the St. Charles City Land Company, sold parcels in the town to merchants and miners, Denver City was a frontier town, with an economy based on servicing local miners with gambling, saloons, livestock and goods trading. In the early years, land parcels were often traded for grubstakes or gambled away by miners in Auraria, in May 1859, Denver City residents donated 53 lots to the Leavenworth & Pikes Peak Express in order to secure the regions first overland wagon route. Offering daily service for passengers, mail, freight, and gold, in 1863, Western Union furthered Denvers dominance of the region by choosing the city for its regional terminus. The Colorado Territory was created on February 28,1861, Arapahoe County was formed on November 1,1861, Denver City served as the Arapahoe County Seat from 1861 until consolidation in 1902. In 1867, Denver City became the territorial capital, with its newfound importance, Denver City shortened its name to Denver
35.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
36.
Interstate Commerce Commission
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The Interstate Commerce Commission was a regulatory agency in the United States created by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. Congress expanded ICC authority to other modes of commerce beginning in 1906. The agency was abolished in 1995, and its functions were transferred to the Surface Transportation Board. The Commissions five members were appointed by the President with the consent of the United States Senate and this was the first independent agency. The ICC was established by the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, the creation of the commission was the result of widespread and longstanding anti-railroad agitation. A central issue was rate discrimination between similarly situated customers and communities, various sections of the Interstate Commerce Act banned personal discrimination and required shipping rates to be just and reasonable. President Cleveland appointed Thomas M. Cooley as the first chairman of the ICC, Cooley had been Dean of the University of Michigan Law School and Chief Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court. The Commission had a troubled start because the law that created it failed to give it adequate enforcement powers, the Commission is, or can be made, of great use to the railroads. It satisfies the popular clamor for a government supervision of the railroads, - William H. H. Miller, US Attorney General, circa 1889. Following passage of the 1887 act, the ICC proceeded to set maximum shipping rates for railroads, however, in the late 1890s several railroads challenged the agencys ratemaking authority in litigation, and the courts severely limited the ICCs powers. Congress expanded the powers through subsequent legislation. The 1893 Railroad Safety Appliance Act gave the ICC jurisdiction over railroad safety, removing this authority from the states, and this was followed with amendments in 1903 and 1910. The Hepburn Act of 1906 authorized the ICC to set railroad rates. A long-standing controversy was how to interpret language in the Act that banned long haul-short haul fare discrimination, the Valuation Act of 1913 required the ICC to organize a Bureau of Valuation that would assess the value of railroad property. This information would be used to set rates, in 1934, Congress transferred the telecommunications authority to the new Federal Communications Commission. In 1935, Congress passed the Motor Carrier Act, which extended ICC authority to regulate interstate bus lines and trucking as common carriers. Between 1920 and 1923, William Z. Ripley, a professor of economy at Harvard University. His plan became known as the Ripley Plan, in 1929 the ICC published Ripleys Plan under the title Complete Plan of Consolidation
37.
Southern Pacific Transportation Company
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The Southern Pacific Transportation Company, earlier Southern Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Company, and usually called the Southern Pacific or Espee, was an American Class I railroad. It was absorbed in 1988 by the company controlled the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. The railroad was founded as a holding company in 1865. By 1900 the Southern Pacific Company was a railroad system incorporating many smaller companies, such as the Texas and New Orleans Railroad and Morgans Louisiana. It extended from New Orleans through Texas to El Paso, across New Mexico and through Tucson, to Los Angeles, through most of California, including San Francisco, Central Pacific lines extended east across Nevada to Ogden, Utah, and reached north through Oregon to Portland. By the 1980s route mileage had dropped to 10,423 miles, in 1988 the Southern Pacific was taken over by D&RGW parent Rio Grande Industries. The combined railroad kept the Southern Pacific name due to its recognition in the railroad industry. Along with the addition of the SPCSL Corporation route from Chicago to St. Louis, by 1996 years of financial problems had dropped SPs mileage to 13,715 miles, and it was taken over by the Union Pacific Railroad. Southern Pacific founded important hospitals in San Francisco, Tucson, in the 1970s, it also founded a telecommunications network with a state-of-the-art microwave and fiber optic backbone. This evolved into Sprint, a company name that came from the acronym for Southern Pacific Railroad Internal Networking Telephony. The original aim was to construct a railroad from Galveston Bay to a point on the Red River near a trading post known as Coffees Station, the GRR built 2 miles of track in Houston in 1855. Track laying began in earnest in 1856 and on 1 September 1856 GRR was renamed the Houston and Texas Central Railway. SP acquired H&TC in 1883 but it continued to operate as a subsidiary under its own management until 1927, when it was leased to another SP-owned railroad, the Texas and New Orleans Railroad. The Buffalo Bayou, Brazos and Colorado Railway, was chartered in Texas on 11 February 1850 by a group that included General Sidney Sherman, bBB&C was the first railroad to commence operation in Texas and the first component of SP to commence operation. Surveying of the route alignment commenced at Harrisburg, Texas in 1851, the first 20 miles of track opened in August 1853. SP was founded in San Francisco, California in 1865 by a group of businessmen led by Timothy Phelps with the aim of building a connection between San Francisco and San Diego, California. The company was purchased in September 1868 by a group of known as the Big Four, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins. The Big Four had, in 1861, created the Central Pacific Railroad, CPRR was merged into SP in 1870
38.
Great Northern Railway (U.S.)
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The Great Northern Railway was an American Class I railroad. Running from Saint Paul, Minnesota, to Seattle, Washington, the Great Northerns route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the U. S. The Great Northern was the privately funded – and successfully built – transcontinental railroad in U. S. history. No federal land grants were used during its construction, unlike all other transcontinental railroads, the Great Northern was built in stages, slowly to create profitable lines, before extending the road further into the undeveloped Western territories. In a series of the earliest public relations campaigns, contests were held to promote interest in the railroad, fred J. Adams used promotional incentives such as feed and seed donations to farmers getting started along the line. Contests were all-inclusive, from largest farm animals to largest freight carload capacity and were promoted heavily to immigrants & newcomers from the East. The earliest predecessor railroad to the GN was the St. Paul & Pacific Railroad, James Jerome Hill convinced John S. Kennedy, Norman Kittson, Donald Smith, George Stephen, and others to invest $5.5 million in purchasing the railroad. On March 13,1878, the roads creditors formally signed an agreement transferring their bonds, on September 18,1889, Hill changed the name of the Minneapolis and St. Cloud Railway to the Great Northern Railway. On February 1,1890, he transferred ownership of the StPM&M, Montana Central Railway, the Great Northern had branches that ran north to the Canada–US border in Minnesota, North Dakota, and Montana. It also had branches that ran to Superior, Wisconsin, and Butte, Montana, connecting with the mining fields of Minnesota. In 1898 Hill purchased control of parts of the Messabe Range iron mining district in Minnesota. The Great Northern began large-scale shipment of ore to the mills of the Midwest. At its height, Great Northern operated over 8,000 miles, the railroad’s best known engineer,1889 to 1903, was John Frank Stevens. Stevens earned wide acclaim in 1889 when he explored Marias Pass, Montana, Stevens was an efficient administrator with remarkable technical skills and imagination. He discovered Stevens Pass through the Cascade Mountains, set railroad construction standards in the Mesabi Range of northern Minnesota and he then became the chief engineer in charge of building the Panama Canal. The logo of the railroad, a Rocky Mountain goat, was based on a goat William Kenney, the mainline began at Saint Paul, Minnesota, heading west and topping the bluffs of the Mississippi River, crossing the river to Minneapolis on a massive multi-piered stone bridge. The Stone Arch Bridge stands in Minneapolis, near the Saint Anthony Falls, the mainline headed northwest from the Twin Cities, across North Dakota and eastern Montana. The line then crossed the Rocky Mountains at Marias Pass, and then followed the Flathead River and then Kootenai River to Athol, Idaho and Spokane, the main line west of Marias Pass has been relocated twice
39.
Northern Pacific Railway
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The Northern Pacific Railway was a transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the western United States from Minnesota to the Pacific Coast. It was approved by Congress in 1864 and given nearly 40 million acres of land grants, which it used to raise money in Europe for construction. The railroad had about 6800 miles of track and served an area, including extensive trackage in the states of Idaho, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon, Washington. In addition the company had a branch to Winnipeg, Manitoba. The main activities were shipping wheat and other products, cattle, timber and minerals, bringing in consumer goods, transporting passengers. The company was headquartered first in Brainerd, Minnesota, then in Saint Paul and it had a tumultuous financial history, and in 1970 it merged with other lines to form the Burlington Northern Railroad. Congress granted the railroad a potential 60 million acres of land in exchange for building rail transportation to an undeveloped territory, Josiah Perham was elected its first president on December 7,1864. It could not use all the land and in the end took just under 40 million acres, for the next six years, backers of the road struggled to find financing. Though John Gregory Smith succeeded Perham as president on January 5,1865, groundbreaking did not take place until February 15,1870, at Carlton, Minnesota,25 miles west of Duluth, Minnesota. The backing and promotions of famed financier Jay Cooke in the summer of 1870 brought the first real momentum to the company, over the course of 1871, the Northern Pacific pushed westward from Minnesota into present-day North Dakota. Surveyors and construction crews had to maneuver through swamps, bogs, the difficult terrain and insufficient funding delayed by six months the construction phase in Minnesota. The NP also began building its line north from Kalama, Washington Territory, on the Columbia River outside of Portland, Oregon, towards Puget Sound. Four small construction engines were purchased, the Minnetonka, Itaska, Ottertail and St. Cloud, in Minnesota, the Lake Superior and Mississippi Railroad completed construction of its 155-mile line stretching from Saint Paul to Lake Superior at Duluth in 1875. It was leased to the Northern Pacific the following year, and was absorbed by the Northern Pacific. The Northern Pacific Railroad reached Fargo, Dakota Territory, early in June 1872, the following year, in June 1873, the N. P. reached the shores of the Missouri River, at Edwinton D. T. In the west, the track extended 25 miles north from Kalama, surveys were carried out in North Dakota protected by 600 troops under General Winfield Scott Hancock. Headquarters and shops were established in Brainerd, Minnesota, a named for the President John Gregory Smiths wife Anna Elizabeth Brainerd. A severe stock market crash and financial collapse after 1873, led by the Credit Mobilier Scandal, in 1886, the company put down 164 miles of main line across North Dakota, with an additional 45 miles in Washington
40.
Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway
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The Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway was a United States-based railroad incorporated in 1905. It was a joint venture by the Great Northern Railway and the Northern Pacific Railway to build a railroad along the bank of the Columbia River. Remnants of the line are operated by BNSF Railway. The railroad was chartered in 1905 by James J. H. Harrimans Union Pacific, construction began in 1906 under the name Portland & Seattle Railway, proceeding eastward from Vancouver, Washington. 1906 also saw the start of construction of the line between Vancouver and Portland, including work on three new bridges, crossing the Columbia River, the Oregon Slough and the Willamette River. The northernmost of these was the first bridge of any kind to be built across the lower Columbia River, despite legal challenges from Harriman, within a year the line had been built as far as Pasco, Washington along the Columbia River, where it connected with NP. The first section to open was from Pasco west to Cliffs, operation was extended west to Lyle, another 145 miles, on January 15,1908, as construction continued on the 221-mile section from there to Vancouver. In January 1908 Spokane was added to the name, making it the Spokane. SP&S freight and passenger service to Portland was inaugurated in November 1908, by 1909 the railroad had completed construction of its line up to Spokane along the Snake River. In 1910 SP&S gained control of the Oregon Electric interurban railway, under the control of the SP&S the railroad was extended southward to Eugene, Oregon by 1912. SP&S also operated a subsidiary railroad in western Oregon, the Oregon Traction Company. A third route on which the SP&S operated extended southward from Wishram, Washington to Bend, Oregon was the Oregon Trunk Railroad. In the end, the railroad opened using mostly the track of the Oregon Trunk, with a portion of the Oregon & Washington Railway & Navigation Company track. During World War II the SP&S carried war materials to the Pacific Theatre, new industries located along the Columbia River, new industries served by the SP&S included aluminum plants, sawmills, chemical factories and grain elevators. In 1954 an SP&S train derailed after hitting a rockslide on the route to Bend, part of the train landed in the Deschutes River, including a boxcar, which landed in a rapid that was later named Boxcar Rapids after the incident, which killed all crew members. The SP&Ss passenger operations mostly involved hosting connections with trains, such as the Empire Builder and North Coast Limited. Oriental Limited, Mainstreeter, and Western Star connected with, however, some of these SP&S trains were named. The Inland Empire Express and North Bank Limited provided daily, through service between Portland and Spokane, the Columbia River Express operated between Portland and Pasco, connecting at Pasco with Northern Pacific #5/#6 for service to/from Spokane
41.
Seattle
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Seattle is a seaport city on the west coast of the United States and the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 684,451 residents as of 2015, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. In July 2013, it was the major city in the United States. The city is situated on an isthmus between Puget Sound and Lake Washington, about 100 miles south of the Canada–United States border, a major gateway for trade with Asia, Seattle is the fourth-largest port in North America in terms of container handling as of 2015. The Seattle area was inhabited by Native Americans for at least 4,000 years before the first permanent European settlers. Arthur A. Denny and his group of travelers, subsequently known as the Denny Party, arrived from Illinois via Portland, the settlement was moved to the eastern shore of Elliott Bay and named Seattle in 1852, after Chief Siahl of the local Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. Logging was Seattles first major industry, but by the late-19th century, growth after World War II was partially due to the local Boeing company, which established Seattle as a center for aircraft manufacturing. The Seattle area developed as a technology center beginning in the 1980s, in 1994, Internet retailer Amazon was founded in Seattle. The stream of new software, biotechnology, and Internet companies led to an economic revival, Seattle has a noteworthy musical history. From 1918 to 1951, nearly two dozen jazz nightclubs existed along Jackson Street, from the current Chinatown/International District, to the Central District, the jazz scene developed the early careers of Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Ernestine Anderson, and others. Seattle is also the birthplace of rock musician Jimi Hendrix and the alternative rock subgenre grunge, archaeological excavations suggest that Native Americans have inhabited the Seattle area for at least 4,000 years. By the time the first European settlers arrived, the people occupied at least seventeen villages in the areas around Elliott Bay, the first European to visit the Seattle area was George Vancouver, in May 1792 during his 1791–95 expedition to chart the Pacific Northwest. In 1851, a party led by Luther Collins made a location on land at the mouth of the Duwamish River. Thirteen days later, members of the Collins Party on the way to their claim passed three scouts of the Denny Party, members of the Denny Party claimed land on Alki Point on September 28,1851. The rest of the Denny Party set sail from Portland, Oregon, after a difficult winter, most of the Denny Party relocated across Elliott Bay and claimed land a second time at the site of present-day Pioneer Square, naming this new settlement Duwamps. For the next few years, New York Alki and Duwamps competed for dominance, david Swinson Doc Maynard, one of the founders of Duwamps, was the primary advocate to name the settlement after Chief Sealth of the Duwamish and Suquamish tribes. The name Seattle appears on official Washington Territory papers dated May 23,1853, in 1855, nominal land settlements were established. On January 14,1865, the Legislature of Territorial Washington incorporated the Town of Seattle with a board of managing the city
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Montgomery, Alabama
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Montgomery /mɒntˈɡʌməri/ is the capital of the U. S. state of Alabama and is the county seat of Montgomery County. Named for Richard Montgomery, it is located on the Alabama River, as of the 2013 Census, Montgomery has a population of 201,332. It is the second-largest city in Alabama, after Birmingham, and is the 115th largest in the United States, the Montgomery Metropolitan Statistical Area had a 2010 estimated population of 374,536. It is the fourth-largest in the state and 136th among United States metropolitan areas, the city was incorporated in 1819 as a merger of two towns situated along the Alabama River. In February 1861, Montgomery was selected as the first capital of the Confederate States of America, until the seat of government moved to Richmond, Virginia, in May of that year. During the mid-20th century, Montgomery was a center of events and protests in the Civil Rights Movement, including the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Two ships of the United States Navy have been named after the city, Montgomery has also been recognized nationally for its downtown revitalization and new urbanism projects. It was one of the first cities in the nation to implement Smart Code Zoning, prior to European colonization, the east bank of the Alabama River was inhabited by the Alibamu tribe of Native Americans. The Alibamu and the Coushatta, who lived on the west side of the river, were descended from the Mississippian culture. This civilization had numerous chiefdoms throughout the Midwest and South along the Mississippi and its tributaries and its largest location was at Cahokia, in present-day Illinois east of St. Louis. The historic tribes spoke mutually intelligible Muskogean languages, which were closely related, present-day Montgomery is built on the site of two Alibamu towns, Ikanatchati, meaning red earth, and Towassa, built on a bluff called Chunnaanaauga Chatty. The first Europeans to travel through central Alabama were Hernando de Soto and his expedition, the next recorded European encounter occurred more than a century later, when an English expedition from Carolina went down the Alabama River in 1697. The first permanent European settler in the Montgomery area was James McQueen and he married a high-status woman in the Coushatta or Alabama tribe. Their mixed-race children were considered Muskogean, as both tribes had a system of property and descent. The children were considered born into their mothers clan. In 1785, Abraham Mordecai, a war veteran from a Sephardic Jewish family of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Coushatta and Alabama had gradually moved south and west in the tidal plain. By the time Mordecai arrived, Creek had migrated into and settled in the area, as they were moving away from Cherokee, when her people had to cede most of their lands after the 1813-14 Creek War, she joined them in removal to Indian Territory. Mordecai brought the first cotton gin to Alabama, the Upper Creek were able to discourage most European-American immigration until after the conclusion of the Creek War
43.
Wyoming
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Wyoming /waɪˈoʊmɪŋ/ is a state in the mountain region of the western United States. The state is the tenth largest by area, the least populous, Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. Cheyenne is the capital and the most populous city in Wyoming, the state population was estimated at 586,107 in 2015, which is less than the population of 31 of the largest U. S. cities. The Crow, Arapaho, Lakota, and Shoshone were some of the inhabitants of the region. Southwestern Wyoming was included in the Spanish Empire and then Mexican territory until it was ceded to the United States in 1848 at the end of the Mexican–American War. The region acquired the name Wyoming when a bill was introduced to Congress in 1865 to provide a government for the territory of Wyoming. The territory was named after the Wyoming Valley in Pennsylvania, with the name ultimately being derived from the Munsee word xwé, wamənk, the mineral extraction industry—especially coal, oil, natural gas, and trona—along with the travel and tourism sector are the main drivers behind Wyomings economy. Agriculture has historically been an important component of the economy with the main commodities being livestock, hay, sugar beets, grain. The climate is generally semi-arid and continental, being drier and windier in comparison to the rest of the United States, except for the 1964 election, Wyoming has been a politically conservative state since the 1950s, with the Republican party winning every presidential election. Wyoming is one of three states to have borders along only straight latitudinal and longitudinal lines, rather than being defined by natural landmarks. Wyoming is bordered on the north by Montana, on the east by South Dakota and Nebraska, on the south by Colorado, on the southwest by Utah, and on the west by Idaho. It is the tenth largest state in the United States in total area, from the north border to the south border it is 276 miles, and from the east to the west border is 365 miles at its south end and 342 miles at the north end. The Great Plains meet the Rocky Mountains in Wyoming, the state is a great plateau broken by many mountain ranges. Surface elevations range from the summit of Gannett Peak in the Wind River Mountain Range, at 13,804 feet, to the Belle Fourche River valley in the states northeast corner, at 3,125 feet. In the northwest are the Absaroka, Owl Creek, Gros Ventre, Wind River, in the north central are the Big Horn Mountains, in the northeast, the Black Hills, and in the southern region the Laramie, Snowy and Sierra Madre ranges. The Snowy Range in the central part of the state is an extension of the Colorado Rockies in both geology and appearance. The Wind River Range in the west central part of the state is remote and includes more than 40 mountain peaks in excess of 13,000 ft tall in addition to Gannett Peak, the highest peak in the state. The Big Horn Mountains in the central portion are somewhat isolated from the bulk of the Rocky Mountains
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Powder River Basin
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The Powder River Basin is a geologic structural basin in southeast Montana and northeast Wyoming, about 120 miles east to west and 200 miles north to south, known for its coal deposits. The region supplies about 40 percent of coal in the United States and it is both a topographic drainage and geologic structural basin. While the Powder River Basin is unified geologically, residents of areas distant from the Powder River proper do not think of themselves as living in a geographic region. Major cities in the area include Gillette and Sheridan, Wyoming and Miles City, outside of these main towns, the area is very sparsely populated and is known for its rolling grasslands and semiarid climate. It is the single largest source of coal mined in the United States, most of the active coal mining in the Powder River Basin actually takes place in drainages of the Cheyenne River. Because of the Powder River Basin, Wyoming has been the top coal-producing state in the United States since 1988. In 2007, the Powder River Basin alone produced 436 million short tons of coal, more than twice the production of second-place West Virginia, the Powder River Basin is the largest coal producing region in the United States. The region is also a producer of natural gas, both conventional natural gas and coal-bed methane. The Powder River Basin contains a section of Phanerozoic rocks up to 17,000 feet thick, the thickest section of the Powder River Basin is composed of Cretaceous rocks, an overall regressive sequence of mostly marine shales and sandstones deposited in the Western Interior Seaway. The coal beds of the region began to form about 60 million years ago when the land rising from a shallow sea. The rise of the Black Hills uplift on the east and the Hartville uplift on the southeast side of the created the present outline of the Powder River Basin. When the coal beds were forming, the climate in the area was subtropical, for some 25 million years, the basin floor was covered with lakes and swamps. Because of the area of the swamps, the organic material accumulated into peat bogs instead of being washed to the sea. Periodically the layers of peat were covered with sediments washed in from nearby mountains, eventually the climate became drier and cooler. The basin filled with sediment and buried the peat under thousands of feet, compressing the layers of peat, over the last several million years, much of the overlying sediment has eroded away, leaving the coal seams near the surface. Powder River Basin coal is classified as sub-bituminous and contains an average of approximately 8,500 btu/lb, contrast this with eastern, Appalachian bituminous coal containing an average of 12,500 btu/lb and high SO2. PRB coal was essentially worthless until air pollution emissions from power plants became a concern, a coal-fired plant designed to burn Appalachian coal must be modified to remove SO2 at a cost estimated in 1999 to be around $322 per ton of SO2. If it switched to burning PRB coal, the cost dropped to $113 per ton of SO2 removed, removal is accomplished by installing scrubbers
US$19.278 billion (2016)[41]
US$81.775 billion (2016)[41]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small}
