1.
Springfield, Illinois
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Springfield is the capital of the U. S. state of Illinois and the county seat of Sangamon County. The citys population of 116,250 as of the 2010 U. S. Census makes it the sixth most populous city. It is the largest city in central Illinois, present-day Springfield was settled by European Americans in the late 1810s, around the time Illinois became a state. The most famous resident was Abraham Lincoln, who lived in Springfield from 1837 until 1861. The city lies on a flat plain that encompasses much of the surrounding countryside. Hilly terrain lies near the Sangamon River, lake Springfield, a large artificial lake owned by the City Water, Light & Power company, supplies the city with recreation and drinking water. Weather is fairly typical for middle latitude locations, with hot summers, spring and summer weather is like that of most midwestern cities, severe thunderstorms are common. Tornadoes hit the Springfield area in 1957 and 2006, the city is governed by a mayor–council form of government. The city proper is also the Capital Township governmental entity, in addition, the government of the state of Illinois is also based in Springfield. State government entities include the Illinois General Assembly, the Illinois Supreme Court, there are three public and three private high schools in Springfield. Public schools in Springfield are operated by District No.186, Springfields economy is marked by government jobs, and the medical field, which account for a large percentage of the citys workforce. Springfields original name was Calhoun, after Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, the land that Springfield now occupies was originally settled by trappers and traders who came to the Sangamon River in 1818. The settlements first cabin was built in 1820, by John Kelly and it was located at what is now the northwest corner of Second Street and Jefferson Street. In 1821, Calhoun became the county seat of Sangamon County due to fertile soil, settlers from Kentucky, Virginia, and as far as North Carolina came to the city. By 1832, Senator Calhoun had fallen out of the favor with the public, at that time, Springfield, Massachusetts was comparable to modern-day Silicon Valley—known for industrial innovation, concentrated prosperity, and the celebrated Springfield Armory. Most importantly, it was a city that had built itself up from frontier outpost to national power through ingenuity – an example that the newly named Springfield, Illinois, sought to emulate. Kaskaskia was the first capital of the Illinois Territory from its organization in 1809, continuing through statehood in 1818, vandalia was the second state capital of Illinois from 1819 to 1839. Springfield became the third and current capital of Illinois in 1839, the designation was largely due to the efforts of Abraham Lincoln and his associates, nicknamed the Long Nine for their combined height of 54 feet
2.
Santa Barbara, California
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Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County in the U. S. state of California. Situated on a section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States. Santa Barbaras climate is described as Mediterranean, and the city has been promoted as the American Riviera. The population of the county in 2010 was 423,895. In 2004, the sector accounted for fully 35% of local employment. Education in particular is well represented, with four institutions of learning on the south coast. The Santa Barbara Airport serves the city, as does Amtrak, U. S. Highway 101 connects the Santa Barbara area with Los Angeles to the southeast and San Francisco to the northwest. Behind the city, in and beyond the Santa Ynez Mountains, is the Los Padres National Forest, Channel Islands National Park and Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary are located approximately 20 miles offshore. Evidence of human habitation of the area begins at least 13,000 years ago, an estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Chumash lived on the south coast of Santa Barbara County at the time of the first European explorations. Five Chumash villages flourished in the area, portuguese explorer João Cabrilho, sailing for the Kingdom of Spain, sailed through what is now called the Santa Barbara Channel in 1542, anchoring briefly in the area. In 1602, Spanish maritime explorer Sebastián Vizcaíno gave the name Santa Barbara to the channel, a land expedition led by Gaspar de Portolà visited in 1769, and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi, who accompanied the expedition, named a large native town Laguna de la Concepcion. Cabrillos earlier name, however, is the one that has survived, the first permanent European residents were Spanish missionaries and soldiers under Felipe de Neve, who came in 1782 to build the Presidio. They were sent both to fortify the region against expansion by other such as England and Russia. Many of the Spaniards brought their families with them, and those formed the nucleus of the small town – at first just a cluster of adobes – that surrounded the Presidio, the Santa Barbara Mission was established on the Feast of Saint Barbara, December 4,1786. It was the tenth of the California Missions to be founded by the Spanish Franciscans and it was dedicated by Padre Fermín Lasuén, who succeeded Padre Junipero Serra as the second president and founder of the California Franciscan Mission Chain. The Mission fathers began the work of converting the native Chumash to Christianity. The Chumash laborers built a connection between the creek and the Santa Barbara Mission water system through the use of a dam. During the following decades, many of the natives died of such as smallpox
3.
Battle Creek, Michigan
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Battle Creek is a city in the U. S. state of Michigan, in northwest Calhoun County, at the confluence of the Kalamazoo and Battle Creek rivers. It is the city of the Battle Creek, Michigan Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 52,347. The Potawatomi and the Ottawa formed a joint village in the area of Battle Creek. Two members of the party who had remained at the camp were attacked by two Indians. The Indians were reported as trying to steal provisions from the survey team and they were likely hungry because annuities and supplies were late or insufficient, the Potawatomi had ceded their land to the United States by an 1820 treaty and been restricted to a reservation. The Army was notorious for failing to deliver supplies and annuities on a timely basis, during the fight, the surveyors shot and severely wounded one Indian, subduing the other. Fearing more hostilities, the survey party promptly packed up and left the area and they did not return until June 1824, after Governor Lewis Cass had settled the issues with the Indians. European-American settlers later called the nearby stream Battle Creek River, Native Americans had called the river Waupakisco, to which some attribute a folk etymology. By this account, the name Waupakisco or Waupokisco was a reference to a battle fought between Native American tribes before the arrival of white settlers. However, Virgil J. Vogel establishes that this term had nothing to do with blood or battle. Following removal of the Potawatomi to a reservation, the first permanent European-American settlements in Battle Creek Township began to be made about 1831, migration had increased to Michigan from New York and New England following the completion of the Erie Canal in New York in 1824. Most settlers chose to locate on the Goguac prairie, which was fertile, a post office was opened in Battle Creek in 1832 under Postmaster Pollodore Hudson. The first school was taught in a log house about 1833 or 1834. Asa Langley built the first sawmill in 1837, a brick manufacturing plant, called the oldest enterprise in the township, was established in 1840 by Simon Carr, and operated until 1903. The township was established by act of the legislature in 1839, in the antebellum era, the city was a major stop on the Underground Railroad, used by fugitive slaves to escape to freedom in Michigan and Canada. It was the home of noted abolitionist Sojourner Truth after her escape from slavery. Battle Creek figured prominently in the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church
4.
Marjorie Merriweather Post
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Marjorie Merriweather Post was a leading American socialite and the owner of General Foods, Inc. She was the daughter of C. W. Post and Ella Letitia Merriweather, at age 27, when her father died, she became the owner of the rapidly growing Postum Cereal Company, founded in 1895. She was subsequently the wealthiest woman in the United States, with a fortune worth about US $250 million and she attended the Mount Vernon Seminary and College. Post maintained a lifelong relationship with her alma mater and served as the first alumna trustee of Mount Vernon Seminary. Today, a collection of her correspondence with Mount Vernon administrators is maintained by GWUs Special Collections Research Center, Posts complete collection of personal papers, as well as those of her father, are held by the University of Michigans Bentley Historical Library. In addition to Hillwood and other estates, Marjorie Merriweather Posts other lavish home was Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, designed by Marion Sims Wyeth and Joseph Urban, Mar-a-Lago was willed in 1973 to the U. S. Government as a retreat for Presidents and visiting foreign dignitaries. The mansion was not, however, used for this purpose and it was purchased by businessman Donald Trump in 1985. Post and her husband, E. F. Hutton, owned Sea Cloud. Post also owned Camp Topridge on Upper St. Regis Lake in the Adirondacks and it included a fully staffed main lodge and private guest cabins, each staffed with its own butler. The expansive Great Camp, built in 1923 by Ben Muncil, eventually contained nearly 70 buildings, as well as a Russian dacha and it was one of only two Adirondack camps to be featured in LIFE magazine. Another home, which she shared with Joseph Davies in Washington, some of Posts jewelry bequeathed to the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, is displayed in the Harry Winston exhibit. She funded a U. S. Army hospital in France during World War I, and, decades later, in 1971, she was among the first three recipients of the Silver Fawn Award, presented by the Boy Scouts of America. The Merriweather Post Pavilion, a concert venue in Columbia. Critics have claimed that these items were expropriated, however, Post, neither she nor Davies was involved with the original seizing of the items. Allegations later surfaced that many works of art from the Tretyakov Gallery and other collections were donated or offered at nominal prices to Post and Davies. Davies is also alleged to have purchased art expropriated from Soviet citizens well after the Russian Revolution, many of the items, which remain under the control of the Post estate or the agents, can be viewed at Hillwood, the former Washington, DC, estate of Post. It has operated as a museum since Posts death and displays her French and Russian art collection, featuring the work of Fabergé, Sèvres porcelain, French furniture, tapestries. In 1905, she married investment banker Edward Bennett Close of Greenwich, Connecticut, via his second marriage, Edward Bennett Close would become the paternal grandfather of actress Glenn Close
5.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
6.
Abraham Lincoln
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Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, in doing so, he preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. Born in Hodgenville, Kentucky, Lincoln grew up on the frontier in Kentucky. Largely self-educated, he became a lawyer in Illinois, a Whig Party leader, elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1846, Lincoln promoted rapid modernization of the economy through banks, tariffs, and railroads. Reentering politics in 1854, he became a leader in building the new Republican Party, in 1860, Lincoln secured the Republican Party presidential nomination as a moderate from a swing state. Though he gained little support in the slaveholding states of the South. Subsequently, on April 12,1861, a Confederate attack on Fort Sumter inspired the North to enthusiastically rally behind the Union. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage and his Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy. Lincoln initially concentrated on the military and political dimensions of the war and his primary goal was to reunite the nation. He suspended habeas corpus, leading to the ex parte Merryman decision. Lincoln closely supervised the war effort, especially the selection of top generals, including his most successful general, Lincoln tried repeatedly to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond, each time a general failed, Lincoln substituted another, until finally Grant succeeded. As the war progressed, his moves toward ending slavery included the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. On April 14,1865, five days after the surrender of Confederate commanding general Robert E. Lee, Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer. Secretary of War Edwin Stanton launched a manhunt for Booth, and 12 days later on April 26, Lincoln has been consistently ranked both by scholars and the public as among the greatest U. S. presidents. Abraham Lincoln was born February 12,1809, the child of Thomas and Nancy Hanks Lincoln, in a one-room log cabin on the Sinking Spring Farm near Hodgenville. He was a descendant of Samuel Lincoln, an Englishman who migrated from Hingham, Norfolk to its namesake of Hingham, samuels grandson and great-grandson began the familys western migration, which passed through New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Lincolns paternal grandfather and namesake, Captain Abraham Lincoln, moved the family from Virginia to Jefferson County, Captain Lincoln was killed in an Indian raid in 1786. His children, including eight-year-old Thomas, the presidents father
7.
Plough
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A plough or plow is a tool or farm implement used in farming for initial cultivation of soil in preparation for sowing seed or planting to loosen or turn the soil. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by working animals such as horses or cattle, a plough may be made of wood, iron, or steel frame with an attached blade or stick used to cut the earth. It has been an instrument for most of recorded history. The plough represents one of the major agricultural inventions in human history, as the plough is drawn through the soil it creates long trenches of fertile soil called furrows. In modern use, a field is typically left to dry out. Ploughing and cultivating a soil homogenises and modifies the upper 12 to 25 cm of the soil to form a plough layer, in many soils, the majority of fine plant feeder roots can be found in the topsoil or plough layer. Ploughs were initially human-powered, but the process became more efficient once animals were pressed into service. The first animal-powered ploughs were undoubtedly pulled by oxen, and later in areas by horses and mules. In industrialised countries, the first mechanical means of pulling a plough were steam-powered, modern competitions take place for ploughing enthusiasts like the National Ploughing Championships in Ireland. By not ploughing, beneficial fungi and microbial life can develop that will bring air into the soil, retain water. A healthy soil full of active fungi and microbial life, combined with a crop, suppresses weeds and pests naturally. Thus the intensive use of water-, oil- and energy hungry irrigation, fertilisers, cultivated land becomes more fertile and productive over time, while tilled land tends to go down in productivity over time due to erosion and the removal of nutrients with every harvest. Proponents of permaculture claim that it is the way of farming that can be maintained when fossil fuel runs out. The term plough or plow, as used today, was not common until 1700, the modern word plough comes from Old Norse plógr, and therefore Germanic, but it appears relatively late, and is thought to be a loanword from one of the north Italic languages. Words with the same root appeared with related meanings, in Raetic plaumorati wheeled heavy plough, and in Latin plaustrum farm cart, plōstrum, plōstellum cart, and plōxenum, plōximum cart box. The word must have referred to the wheeled heavy plough. Orel tentatively attaches plough to a PIE stem *blōkó-, which gave Armenian peɫem to dig and Welsh bwlch crack, on modern ploughs and some older ploughs, the mouldboard is separate from the share and runner, so these parts can be replaced without replacing the mouldboard. Abrasion eventually destroys all parts of a plough that come into contact with the soil, digging sticks, hoes, and mattocks were not invented in any one place, and hoe-cultivation must have been common everywhere agriculture was practiced
8.
Harrow (tool)
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In agriculture, a harrow is an implement for breaking up and smoothing out the surface of the soil. In this way it is distinct in its effect from the plough, harrowing is often carried out on fields to follow the rough finish left by plowing operations. The purpose of this harrowing is generally to break up clods and to provide a finer finish, coarser harrowing may also be used to remove weeds and to cover seed after sowing. Harrows differ from cultivators in that they disturb the whole surface of the soil, such as to prepare a seedbed, there are four general types of harrows, disc harrows, tine harrows, chain harrows, and chain-disk harrows. Harrows were originally drawn by animals, such as horses, mules, or oxen. In modern practice they are almost always tractor-mounted implements, either trailed after the tractor by a drawbar or mounted on the three-point hitch, a modern development of the traditional harrow is the rotary power harrow, often just called a power harrow. In cooler climates the most common types are the disc harrow, the chain harrow, the tine harrow or spike harrow and the spring tine harrow. Chain harrows are used for lighter work such as levelling the tilth or covering seed, while disc harrows are typically used for heavy work. In addition, there are types of power harrow, in which the cultivators are power-driven from the tractor rather than depending on its forward motion. Tine harrows are used to refine seed-bed condition before planting, to remove small weeds in growing crops, the fourth is a chain disk harrow. Disk attached to chains are pulled at an angle over the ground and these harrows move rapidly across the surface. The chain and disk rotate to stay clean while breaking up the top surface to about 1 inch deep, a smooth seedbed is prepared for planting with one pass. All four harrow types can be used in one pass to prepare soil for seeding and it is also common to use any combination of two harrows for a variety of tilling processes. Where harrowing provides a fine tilth, or the soil is very light so that it might easily be wind-blown. Harrows may be of several types and weights, depending on their purpose, giant scalloped-edged discs operate in a set, or frame, that is often weighted with concrete or steel blocks to improve penetration of the cutting edges. This sort of cultivation is followed by broadcast fertilisation and seeding. A drag is a heavy harrow, a rotary power harrow, or simply power harrow, has multiple sets of vertical tines. Each set of tines is rotated on an axis and tills the soil horizontally
9.
Hay
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Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing animals such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Pigs may be fed hay, but they do not digest it as efficiently as more fully herbivorous animals and it is also fed during times when an animal is unable to access pasture, such as when animals are kept in a stable or barn. Commonly used plants for hay include mixtures of such as ryegrass, timothy, brome, fescue, Bermuda grass, orchard grass. Hay may also include legumes, such as alfalfa and clovers, legumes in hay are ideally cut pre-bloom. Other pasture forbs are also sometimes a part of the mix, straw is used mainly for animal bedding. Although straw is used as fodder, particularly as a source of dietary fiber. It is the leaf and seed material in the hay that determines its quality, farmers try to harvest hay at the point when the seed heads are not quite ripe and the leaf is at its maximum when the grass is mowed in the field. Hay is very sensitive to conditions, particularly when it is harvested. In drought conditions, both seed and leaf production are stunted, making hay that has a ratio of dry coarse stems that have very low nutritional values. If the weather is too wet, the cut hay may spoil in the field before it can be baled, the hay may also develop rot and mold after being baled, creating the potential for toxins to form in the feed, which could make the animals sick. It also has to be stored in a manner to prevent it from getting wet, mold and spoilage reduce nutritional value and may cause illness in animals. A symbiotic fungus in fescue may cause illness in horses and cattle, the successful harvest of maximum yields of high-quality hay is entirely dependent on the coincident occurrence of optimum crop, field, and weather conditions. When this occurs, there may be a period of activity on the hay farm while harvest proceeds until weather conditions become unfavourable. Hay or grass is the foundation of the diet for all grazing animals, Hay is usually fed to an animal in place of allowing the animal to graze on grasses in a pasture, particularly in the winter or during times when drought or other conditions make pasture unavailable. Animals that can eat hay vary in the types of grasses suitable for consumption, the ways they consume hay, most animals are fed hay in two daily feedings, morning and evening. However, this schedule is more for the convenience of humans, some animals, especially those being raised for meat, may be given enough hay that they simply are able to eat all day. The proper amount of hay and the type of hay required varies somewhat between different species, some animals are also fed concentrated feeds such as grain or vitamin supplements in addition to hay
