Kenton, Oklahoma
Kenton is a census designated place in Cimarron County, United States. There is a store, "The Merc", bed and breakfasts, guest ranches, three church congregations, a post office, established May 12, 1891. Kenton is the only Oklahoma community that observes Mountain Time, which begins a few miles west at the Oklahoma/New Mexico state line. To avoid confusion, "Mountain Time" is added when giving the time to visitors. Posted business hours all end with "MT" or "MST" to specify Mountain Time. From Kenton, it is 155 miles south to Amarillo, Texas, 237 miles northwest to Colorado Springs, Colorado, 306 miles northwest to Denver, Colorado, 314 miles southwest to Albuquerque, New Mexico, 361 miles southeast to Oklahoma City, the nearest major population centers. Camp Billy Joe, just east of Kenton, is home to the annual fall week long star party sponsored by the Oklahoma City Astronomy Club which draws 500 visitors and is rated as among the largest and best such astronomy events in the nation. Kenton had 17 residents at the 2010 census.
Kenton, which lies in the Cimarron River valley, is just south of Black Mesa, the highest point in Oklahoma. It serves as an unofficial staging point for visitors to Black Mesa. There are three full-time businesses in Kenton besides the post office - two bed and breakfasts and a guest ranch. A new addition is a steakhouse that operates from the "Hoot & Owl ranch" on Friday and Saturday night. Kenton was founded in 1893. At the time Oklahoma became a state, it served as the temporary county seat for Cimarron County; the building now known as "The Merc" held the county records. The citizens of the county voted to move the seat on June 11, 1908 to Boise City soon after statehood. Kentonites did not want to give up the records, so a group of people from Boise City confiscated the documents before the end of a 30-day waiting period; this started a local legend. During its heyday, Kenton had two car dealerships, a motel, a bank, two general stores; the oldest surviving structure in Kenton is a building of native rock, constructed in 1902.
It is now a museum of Oklahoma Panhandle artifacts. Kenton lies in the northwest corner of Cimarron County 3 miles east of the New Mexico state line and 6 miles south of the Colorado state line, it is located on the south side of the Cimarron River in the Cimarron River valley. State Highway 325 serves the community. Kenton experiences a semi-arid climate with cool, dry winters and hot, wetter summers; as of the 2010 United States Census, there were 17 people, 9 households, 6 families residing in the CDP. The racial makeup of the city was 100.0% White. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 11.8% of the population. There were 9 households out of which 11.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 66.7% were married couples living together, 33.3% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 11.1% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 1.89 and the average family size was 2.33. In the CDP the population was spread out with 11.8% under the age of 18, 0.0% from 18 to 24, 17.6% from 25 to 44, 29.4% from 45 to 64, 41.2% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median age was 58.8 years. For every 100 females there were 88.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.5 males. According to the 2013 American Community Survey, the median income for a household in the CDP was $18,750, the median income for a family could not be computed because there were not enough sample observations. Median income for males and females could not be computed because there were not enough sample observations; the per capita income for the CDP was $8,320. About 41.7% of families and 68.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 100.0% of those under age 18. The percentage of those age 65 or over living in poverty could not be computed because there were not enough sample observations. Camp Billy Joe Bat Cave Archaeological Site Red Ghost Cave Archaeological District Three Entrance Cave Archaeological District Black Mesa, Oklahoma's highest point Hitching Post Guest Ranch Hoot Owl Guest Ranch Black Mesa State Park The Kenton Mercantile Foy Vance, a popular Northern Irish singer-songwriter, spent his early childhood living in Kenton during the late 1970s.
His father, Hugh Bailie Vance, was a traveling preacher in the evangelical Churches of Christ. Kenton information and videos on TravelOK.com Official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma Bat Cave Archaeological Site Red Ghost Cave Archaeological district Three Entrance Cave Archaeological district This Land "The Last of Kenton"
Manitoba
Manitoba is a province at the longitudinal centre of Canada. It is considered one of the three prairie provinces and is Canada's fifth-most populous province with its estimated 1.3 million people. Manitoba covers 649,950 square kilometres with a varied landscape, stretching from the northern oceanic coastline to the southern border with the United States; the province is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territories of Nunavut to the north, Northwest Territories to the northwest, the U. S. states of North Minnesota to the south. Aboriginal peoples have inhabited. In the late 17th century, fur traders arrived on two major river systems, what is now called the Nelson in northern Manitoba and in the southeast along the Winnipeg River system. A Royal Charter in 1670 granted all the lands draining into Hudson's Bay to the British company and they administered trade in what was called Rupert's Land. During the next 200 years, communities continued to grow and evolve, with a significant settlement of Michif in what is now Winnipeg.
The assertion of Métis identity and self-rule culminated in negotiations for the creation of the province of Manitoba. There are many factors that led to an armed uprising of the Métis people against the Government of Canada, a conflict known as the Red River Rebellion aka Resistance; the resolution of the assertion of the right to representation led to the Parliament of Canada passing the Manitoba Act in 1870 that created the province. Manitoba's capital and largest city, Winnipeg, is the eighth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada. Other census agglomerations in the province are Brandon, Portage la Prairie, Thompson; the name Manitoba is believed to be derived from the Ojibwe or Assiniboine languages. 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 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 area south of the lake. Métis leader Louis Riel chose the name, it was accepted in Ottawa under the Manitoba Act of 1870. Manitoba is bordered by the provinces of Ontario to the east and Saskatchewan to the west, the territories of Nunavut to the north, the US states of North Dakota and Minnesota to the south; the province meets the Northwest Territories at the four corners quadripoint to the extreme northwest, though surveys have not been completed and laws are unclear about the exact location of the Nunavut–NWT boundary. Manitoba adjoins Hudson Bay to the northeast, is the only prairie province to have a saltwater coastline; the Port of Churchill is Canada's only Arctic deep-water port. Lake Winnipeg is the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world. Hudson Bay is the world's second-largest bay by area. Manitoba is at the heart of the giant Hudson Bay watershed, once known as Rupert's Land, it was a vital area of the Hudson's Bay Company, with many rivers and lakes that provided excellent opportunities for the lucrative fur trade.
The province has a saltwater coastline bordering Hudson Bay and more than 110,000 lakes, covering 15.6 percent or 101,593 square kilometres of its surface area. Manitoba's major lakes are Lake Manitoba, Lake Winnipegosis, Lake Winnipeg, the tenth-largest freshwater lake in the world; some traditional Native lands and boreal forest on Lake Winnipeg's east side are a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site. Manitoba is at the centre of the Hudson Bay drainage basin, with a high volume of the water draining into Lake Winnipeg and north down the Nelson River into Hudson Bay; this basin's rivers reach far west to the mountains, far south into the United States, east into Ontario. Major watercourses include the Red, Nelson, Hayes and Churchill rivers. Most of Manitoba's inhabited south has developed in the prehistoric bed of Glacial Lake Agassiz; this region the Red River Valley, is flat and fertile. Baldy Mountain is the province's highest point at 832 metres above sea level, the Hudson Bay coast is the lowest at sea level.
Riding Mountain, the Pembina Hills, Sandilands Provincial Forest, the Canadian Shield are upland regions. Much of the province's sparsely inhabited north and east lie on the irregular granite Canadian Shield, including Whiteshell and Nopiming Provincial Parks. Extensive agriculture is found only in the province's southern areas, although there is grain farming in the Carrot Valley Region; the most common agricultural activity is cattle husbandry, followed by assorted grains and oilseed. Around 12 percent of Canada's farmland is in Manitoba. Manitoba has an extreme continental climate. Temperatures and precipitation decrease from south to north and increase from east to west. Manitoba is far from the moderating large bodies of water; because of the flat landscape, it is exposed to cold Arctic high-pressure air masses from the northwest during January and February. In the summer, air masses sometimes come out of the Southern United States, as warm humid air is drawn northward from the Gulf of Mexico.
Temperatures exceed 30 °C numerous times each summer, the combination of heat and humidity can bring the humidex value to the mid-40s. Carman, Manitoba recorded the second-highest humidex in Canada in 2007, with
Mississippi
Mississippi is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. Mississippi is the 32nd most 34th most populous of the 50 United States, it is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana to the south, Arkansas and Louisiana to the west. The state's western boundary is defined by the Mississippi River. Jackson, with a population of 167,000 people, is both the state's capital and largest city; the state is forested outside the Mississippi Delta area, the area between the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Before the American Civil War, most development in the state was along riverfronts, as the waterways were critical for transportation. Large gangs of slaves were used to work on cotton plantations. After the war, freedmen began to clear the bottomlands to the interior, in the process selling off timber and buying property. By the end of the 19th century, African Americans made up two-thirds of the Delta's property owners, but timber and railroad companies acquired much of the land after the financial crisis, which occurred when blacks were facing increasing racial discrimination and disfranchisement in the state.
Clearing of the land for plantations altered the Delta's ecology, increasing the severity of flooding along the Mississippi by taking out trees and bushes that had absorbed excess waters. Much land is now held by agribusinesses. A rural state with agricultural areas dominated by industrial farms, Mississippi is ranked low or last among the states in such measures as health, educational attainment, median household income; the state's catfish aquaculture farms produce the majority of farm-raised catfish consumed in the United States. Since the 1930s and the Great Migration of African Americans to the North and West, the majority of Mississippi's population has been white, although the state still has the highest percentage of black residents of any U. S. state. From the early 19th century to the 1930s, its residents were majority black, before the American Civil War that population was composed of African-American slaves. Democratic Party whites retained political power through disfranchisement and Jim Crow laws.
In the first half of the 20th century, nearly 400,000 rural blacks left the state for work and opportunities in northern and midwestern cities, with another wave of migration around World War II to West Coast cities. In the early 1960s, Mississippi was the poorest state in the nation, with 86% of its non-whites living below the poverty level. In 2010, 37% of Mississippians were African Americans, the highest percentage of African Americans in any U. S. state. Since regaining enforcement of their voting rights in the late 1960s, most African Americans have supported Democratic candidates in local and national elections. Conservative whites have shifted to the Republican Party. African Americans are a majority in many counties of the Mississippi-Yazoo Delta, an area of historic slave settlement during the plantation era; the state's name is derived from the Mississippi River. Settlers named it after the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi. Mississippi is bordered to the north by Tennessee, to the east by Alabama, to the south by Louisiana and a narrow coast on the Gulf of Mexico.
In addition to its namesake, major rivers in Mississippi include the Big Black River, the Pearl River, the Yazoo River, the Pascagoula River, the Tombigbee River. Major lakes include Ross Barnett Reservoir, Arkabutla Lake, Sardis Lake, Grenada Lake with the largest lake being Sardis Lake. Mississippi is composed of lowlands, the highest point being Woodall Mountain, in the foothills of the Cumberland Mountains, 807 feet above sea level; the lowest point is sea level at the Gulf Coast. The state's mean elevation is 300 feet above sea level. Most of Mississippi is part of the East Gulf Coastal Plain; the coastal plain is composed of low hills, such as the Pine Hills in the south and the North Central Hills. The Pontotoc Ridge and the Fall Line Hills in the northeast have somewhat higher elevations. Yellow-brown loess soil is found in the western parts of the state; the northeast is a region of fertile black earth. The coastline includes large bays at Bay St. Louis and Pascagoula, it is separated from the Gulf of Mexico proper by the shallow Mississippi Sound, sheltered by Petit Bois Island, Horn Island and West Ship Islands, Deer Island, Round Island, Cat Island.
The northwest remainder of the state consists of the Mississippi Delta, a section of the Mississippi Alluvial Plain. The plain widens north of Vicksburg; the region has rich soil made up of silt, deposited by the flood waters of the Mississippi River. Areas under the management of the National Park Service include: Brices Cross Roads National Battlefield Site near Baldwyn Gulf Islands National Seashore Natchez National Historical Park in Natchez Natchez Trace National Scenic Trail in Tupelo Natchez Trace Parkway Tupelo National Battlefield in Tupelo Vicksburg National Military Park and Cemetery in Vicksburg Mississippi City Population Rankings of at least 50,000: Mississippi City Population Rankings of at least 20,000 but fewer than 50,000: Mississippi City Population Rankings of at least 10,000 but fewer than 20,000: Mississippi has a humid
Columbus, Georgia
Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west central border of the U. S. state of Georgia. Located on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Columbus is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it merged in 1970. Columbus is the third-largest city in the fourth-largest metropolitan area. According to the 2017 estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, Columbus has a population of 194,058 residents, with 303,811 in the Columbus metropolitan area; the metro area joins the nearby Alabama cities of Auburn and Opelika to form the Columbus–Auburn–Opelika Combined Statistical Area, which has a 2017 estimated population of 499,128. Columbus lies 100 miles southwest of Atlanta. Fort Benning, the United States Army's Maneuver Center of Excellence and a major employer, is located south of the city in Chattahoochee County. Columbus is home to museums and tourism sites, including the National Infantry Museum, dedicated to the United States Army's Infantry Branch, it has the longest urban whitewater rafting course in the world constructed on the Chattahoochee River.
This was for centuries and more the traditional territory of the Creek Indians, who became known as one of the Five Civilized Tribes of the Southeast after European contact. Those who lived closest to white-occupied areas conducted considerable trading and adopted some European-American ways. Founded in 1828 by an act of the Georgia Legislature, Columbus was situated at the beginning of the navigable portion of the Chattahoochee River and on the last stretch of the Federal Road before entering Alabama; the city was named for Christopher Columbus, its founders influenced by the writings of Washington Irving. The plan for the city was drawn up by Dr. Edwin L. DeGraffenried, who placed the town on a bluff overlooking the river. Across the river to the west, where Phenix City, Alabama is now located, Creek Indians still lived until they were forcibly removed in 1836 by the federal government to make way for European-American settlers; the river served as Columbus's connection to the world enabling it to ship its commodity cotton crops from the plantations to the international cotton market via New Orleans and Liverpool, England.
The city's commercial importance increased in the 1850s with the arrival of the railroad. In addition, textile mills were developed along the river, bringing industry to an area reliant upon agriculture. By 1860, the city was one of the more important industrial centers of the South, earning it the nickname "the Lowell of the South," referring to an important textile mill town in Massachusetts; when the Civil War broke out in 1861, the industries of Columbus expanded their production. During the war, Columbus ranked second to Richmond in the manufacture of supplies for the Confederate army; the Eagle Manufacturing Company made textiles of various sorts but woolens for Confederate uniforms. The Columbus Iron Works manufactured cannons and machinery and Gray made firearms, Louis and Elias Haimon produced swords and bayonets. Smaller firms provided additional sundries; as the war turned negative, each faced exponentially growing struggled shortages of raw materials and skilled labor, as well as worsenting financial opportunities.
In addition to textiles, the city had an ironworks, a sword factory, a shipyard for the Confederate Navy. Unaware of Lee's surrender to Grant and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and Confederates clashed in the Battle of Columbus, Georgia, on Easter Sunday, April 16, 1865, when a Union detachment of two cavalry divisions under Maj. Gen. James H. Wilson attacked the lightly-defended city and burned many of the industrial buildings. John Stith Pemberton, who developed Coca-Cola in Columbus, was wounded in this battle. Col. Charles Augustus Lafayette Lamar, owner of the last slave ship in America, was killed here. A historic marker has been erected in Columbus, it notes that this was the site of the "Last Land Battle in the War from 1861 to 1865." Reconstruction began immediately and prosperity followed. Factories such as the Eagle and Phenix Mills were revived and the industrialization of the town led to rapid growth; the Springer Opera House was built on 10th Street, attracting such notables as Irish writer Oscar Wilde.
The Springer is now the official State Theater of Georgia. By the time of the Spanish–American War, the city's modernization included the addition of trolleys extending to outlying neighborhoods such as Rose Hill and Lakebottom, a new water works. Mayor Lucius Chappell brought a training camp for soldiers to the area; this training camp named Camp Benning would grow into present-day Fort Benning, named for General Henry L. Benning, a native of the city. In the spring of 1866 the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus passed a resolution to set aside one day annually to memorialize the Confederate dead; the secretary of the association, Mrs. Charles J. Williams, was directed to write a letter inviting the ladies of every Southern state to join them in the observance; the letter was written in March 1866 and sent to representatives of all of the principal cities in the South, including Atlanta, Montgomery, Richmond, St. Louis, Alexandria and New Orleans; this was the beginning of the influential work by ladies' organizations to honor the war dead.
The date for the holiday was selected by Elizabeth "Lizzie" Rutherford Ellis. She chose April 26, the first anniversary of Confederate General Johnston's final surrender to Union General Sherman at Bennett Place, North Carolina. For many in the South, that act marked the official end of the Civil War. In
Alberta
Alberta is a western province of Canada. With an estimated population of 4,067,175 as of 2016 census, it is Canada's fourth most populous province and the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces, its area is about 660,000 square kilometres. Alberta and its neighbour Saskatchewan were districts of the Northwest Territories until they were established as provinces on September 1, 1905; the premier has been Rachel Notley since May 2015. Alberta is bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, the U. S. state of Montana to the south. Alberta is one of three Canadian provinces and territories to border only a single U. S. state and one of only two landlocked provinces. It has a predominantly humid continental climate, with stark contrasts over a year. Alberta's capital, Edmonton, is near the geographic centre of the province and is the primary supply and service hub for Canada's crude oil, the Athabasca oil sands and other northern resource industries.
About 290 km south of the capital is the largest city in Alberta. Calgary and Edmonton centre Alberta's two census metropolitan areas, both of which have populations exceeding one million, while the province has 16 census agglomerations. Tourist destinations in the province include Banff, Drumheller, Sylvan Lake and Lake Louise. Alberta is named after the fourth daughter of Queen Victoria. Princess Louise was the wife of Marquess of Lorne, Governor General of Canada. Lake Louise and Mount Alberta were named in her honour. Alberta, with an area of 661,848 km2, is the fourth-largest province after Quebec and British Columbia. To the south, the province borders on the 49th parallel north, separating it from the U. S. state of Montana, while to the north the 60th parallel north divides it from the Northwest Territories. To the east, the 110th meridian west separates it from the province of Saskatchewan, while on the west its boundary with British Columbia follows the 120th meridian west south from the Northwest Territories at 60°N until it reaches the Continental Divide at the Rocky Mountains, from that point follows the line of peaks marking the Continental Divide in a southeasterly direction until it reaches the Montana border at 49°N.
The province extends 660 km east to west at its maximum width. Its highest point is 3,747 m at the summit of Mount Columbia in the Rocky Mountains along the southwest border while its lowest point is 152 m on the Slave River in Wood Buffalo National Park in the northeast. With the exception of the semi-arid steppe of the south-eastern section, the province has adequate water resources. There are numerous lakes used for swimming, fishing and a range of water sports. There are three large lakes, Lake Claire in Wood Buffalo National Park, Lesser Slave Lake, Lake Athabasca which lies in both Alberta and Saskatchewan; the longest river in the province is the Athabasca River which travels 1,538 km from the Columbia Icefield in the Rocky Mountains to Lake Athabasca. The largest river is the Peace River with an average flow of 2161 m3/s; the Peace River originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows through northern Alberta and into the Slave River, a tributary of the Mackenzie River.
Alberta's capital city, Edmonton, is located at about the geographic centre of the province. It is the most northerly major city in Canada, serves as a gateway and hub for resource development in northern Canada; the region, with its proximity to Canada's largest oil fields, has most of western Canada's oil refinery capacity. Calgary is about 280 km south of Edmonton and 240 km north of Montana, surrounded by extensive ranching country. 75% of the province's population lives in the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The land grant policy to the railroads served as a means to populate the province in its early years. Most of the northern half of the province is boreal forest, while the Rocky Mountains along the southwestern boundary are forested; the southern quarter of the province is prairie, ranging from shortgrass prairie in the southeastern corner to mixed grass prairie in an arc to the west and north of it. The central aspen parkland region extending in a broad arc between the prairies and the forests, from Calgary, north to Edmonton, east to Lloydminster, contains the most fertile soil in the province and most of the population.
Much of the unforested part of Alberta is given over either to grain or to dairy farming, with mixed farming more common in the north and centre, while ranching and irrigated agriculture predominate in the south. The Alberta badlands are located in southeastern Alberta, where the Red Deer River crosses the flat prairie and farmland, features deep canyons and striking landforms. Dinosaur Provincial Park, near Brooks, showcases the badlands terrain, desert flora, remnants from Alberta's past when dinosaurs roamed the lush landscape. Alberta has a humid continental climate with cold winters; the province is open to cold arctic weather systems from the north, which produce cold conditions in winter. As the fronts between the air masses shift north and south across Alberta, the temperature can change rapidly. Arctic
Ontario
Ontario is one of the 13 provinces and territories of Canada and is located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province accounting for 38.3 percent of the country's population, is the second-largest province in total area. Ontario is fourth-largest jurisdiction in total area when the territories of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut are included, it is home to the nation's capital city and the nation's most populous city, Ontario's provincial capital. Ontario is bordered by the province of Manitoba to the west, Hudson Bay and James Bay to the north, Quebec to the east and northeast, to the south by the U. S. states of Minnesota, Ohio and New York. All of Ontario's 2,700 km border with the United States follows inland waterways: from the west at Lake of the Woods, eastward along the major rivers and lakes of the Great Lakes/Saint Lawrence River drainage system; these are the Rainy River, the Pigeon River, Lake Superior, the St. Marys River, Lake Huron, the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, the Detroit River, Lake Erie, the Niagara River, Lake Ontario and along the St. Lawrence River from Kingston, Ontario, to the Quebec boundary just east of Cornwall, Ontario.
There is only about 1 km of land border made up of portages including Height of Land Portage on the Minnesota border. Ontario is sometimes conceptually divided into Northern Ontario and Southern Ontario; the great majority of Ontario's population and arable land is in the south. In contrast, the larger, northern part of Ontario is sparsely populated with cold winters and heavy forestation; the province is named after Lake Ontario, a term thought to be derived from Ontarí:io, a Huron word meaning "great lake", or skanadario, which means "beautiful water" in the Iroquoian languages. Ontario has about 250,000 freshwater lakes; the province consists of three main geographical regions: The thinly populated Canadian Shield in the northwestern and central portions, which comprises over half the land area of Ontario. Although this area does not support agriculture, it is rich in minerals and in part covered by the Central and Midwestern Canadian Shield forests, studded with lakes and rivers. Northern Ontario is subdivided into two sub-regions: Northeastern Ontario.
The unpopulated Hudson Bay Lowlands in the extreme north and northeast swampy and sparsely forested. Southern Ontario, further sub-divided into four regions. Despite the absence of any mountainous terrain in the province, there are large areas of uplands within the Canadian Shield which traverses the province from northwest to southeast and above the Niagara Escarpment which crosses the south; the highest point is Ishpatina Ridge at 693 metres above sea level in Temagami, Northeastern Ontario. In the south, elevations of over 500 m are surpassed near Collingwood, above the Blue Mountains in the Dundalk Highlands and in hilltops near the Madawaska River in Renfrew County; the Carolinian forest zone covers most of the southwestern region of the province. The temperate and fertile Great Lakes-Saint Lawrence Valley in the south is part of the Eastern Great Lakes lowland forests ecoregion where the forest has now been replaced by agriculture and urban development. A well-known geographic feature is part of the Niagara Escarpment.
The Saint Lawrence Seaway allows navigation to and from the Atlantic Ocean as far inland as Thunder Bay in Northwestern Ontario. Northern Ontario occupies 87 percent of the surface area of the province. Point Pelee is a peninsula of Lake Erie in southwestern Ontario, the southernmost extent of Canada's mainland. Pelee Island and Middle Island in Lake Erie extend farther. All are south of 42°N – farther south than the northern border of California; the climate of Ontario varies by location. It is affected by three air sources: cold, arctic air from the north; the effects of these major air masses on temperature and precipitation depend on latitude, proximity to major bodies of water and to a small extent, terrain relief. In general, most of Ontario's climate is classified as humid continental. Ontario has three main climatic regions; the surrounding Great Lakes influence the climatic region of southern Ontario. During the fall and winter months, heat stored from the lakes is released, moderating the climate near the shores of the lakes.
This gives some parts of southern Ontario milder winters than mid-continental areas at lower latitudes. Parts of Southwestern Ontario have a moderate humid continental climate, similar to that of the inland Mid-Atlantic states and the Great Lakes portion of the Midwestern United States; the region has warm to cold winters. Annual precipitation is well distributed throughout the year. Most of this region lies in the lee of the Great Lakes. In December 2010, the snowbelt set a new record when it was h
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, surrounded by Alberta's central region; the city anchors the north end of what Statistics Canada defines as the "Calgary–Edmonton Corridor". The city had a population of 932,546 in 2016, making it Alberta's second-largest city and Canada's fifth-largest municipality. In 2016, Edmonton had a metropolitan population of 1,321,426, making it the sixth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada. Edmonton is North America's northernmost metropolitan area with a population over one million. A resident of Edmonton is known as an Edmontonian. Edmonton's historic growth has been facilitated through the absorption of five adjacent urban municipalities in addition to a series of annexations through 1982, the annexation of 8,260 ha of land from Leduc County and the city of Beaumont on January 1, 2019. Known as the "Gateway to the North", the city is a staging point for large-scale oil sands projects occurring in northern Alberta and large-scale diamond mining operations in the Northwest Territories.
Edmonton is a cultural and educational centre. It hosts a year-round slate of festivals, reflected in the nickname "Canada's Festival City", it is home to North America's largest mall, West Edmonton Mall, Fort Edmonton Park, Canada's largest living history museum. The earliest known inhabitants arrived in the area, now Edmonton around 3,000 BC and as early as 12,000 BC when an ice-free corridor opened as the last glacial period ended and timber and wildlife became available in the region. In 1754, Anthony Henday, an explorer for the Hudson's Bay Company, may have been the first European to enter the Edmonton area, his expeditions across the Canadian Prairies were to seek contact with the aboriginal population for establishing the fur trade, as the competition was fierce between the Hudson's Bay Company and the North West Company. By 1795, Fort Edmonton was established on the river's north bank as a major trading post for the Hudson's Bay Company; the new fort's name was suggested by John Peter Pruden after Edmonton, the hometown of both the HBC deputy governor Sir James Winter Lake, Pruden.
In 1876, Treaty 6, which includes what is now Edmonton, was signed between the Aboriginal peoples in Canada and Queen Victoria as Queen of Canada, as part of the Numbered Treaties of Canada. The agreement includes the Plains and Woods Cree and other band governments of First Nations at Fort Carlton, Fort Pitt, Battle River; the area covered by the treaty represents most of the central area of the current provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta. The coming of the Canadian Pacific Railway to southern Alberta in 1885 helped the Edmonton economy, the 1891 building of the Calgary and Edmonton Railway resulted in the emergence of a railway townsite on the river's south side, across from Edmonton; the arrival of the CPR and the C&E Railway helped bring settlers and entrepreneurs from eastern Canada, Europe, U. S. and other parts of the world. The Edmonton area's fertile soil and cheap land attracted settlers, further establishing Edmonton as a major regional commercial and agricultural centre; some people participating in the Klondike Gold Rush passed through South Edmonton/Strathcona in 1897.
Strathcona was North America's northernmost railway point, but travel to the Klondike was still difficult for the "Klondikers," and a majority of them took a steamship north to the Yukon from Vancouver, British Columbia. Incorporated as a town in 1892 with a population of 700 and as a city in 1904 with a population of 8,350, Edmonton became the capital of Alberta when the province was formed a year on September 1, 1905. In November 1905, the Canadian Northern Railway arrived in Edmonton. During the early 1900s, Edmonton's rapid growth led to speculation in real estate. In 1912, Edmonton amalgamated with the City of Strathcona, south of the North Saskatchewan River. Just before World War I, the boom ended, the city's population declined from more than 72,000 in 1914 to less than 54,000 only two years later. Many impoverished families moved to subsistence farms outside the city, while others fled to greener pastures in other provinces. Recruitment to the army during the war contributed to the drop in population.
Afterwards, the city recovered in population and economy during the 1920s and 1930s and took off again during and after World War II. The Edmonton City Centre Airport opened in 1929. Named Blatchford Field in honour of former mayor Kenny Blatchford, pioneering aviators such as Wilfrid R. "Wop" May and Max Ward used Blatchford Field as a major base for distributing mail and medicine to Northern Canada. World War II saw Edmonton become a major base for the construction of the Alaska Highway and the Northwest Staging Route; the airport was closed in November 2013. In 1892 Edmonton was incorporated as a town; the first mayor was Matthew McCauley, who established the first school board in Edmonton and Board of Trade and a municipal police service. Due to mayor McCauley's good relationship with the federal Liberals this helped Edmonton to maintain political prominence over Strathcona, a rival settlement on the south bank of the North Saskatche
