1.
Monroe County, Indiana
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Monroe County is a county located in the U. S. state of Indiana, and determined by the U. S. Census Bureau to include the mean center of U. S. population in 1910. The population was 137,974 at the 2010 census, Monroe County is part of the Bloomington, Indiana, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Monroe County was formed in 1818 from portions of Orange County and it was named for James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, who was serving at the time the county was organized. According to the 2010 census, the county has an area of 411.32 square miles. Monroe County is divided between the basins of the East Fork and West Fork of Indianas White River, the southern part of the county drains to the East Fork, primarily via Salt Creek and its tributaries, such as Clear Creek. The northern part drains to the West Fork, several artificial reservoirs have been constructed by damming the countys creeks. The largest of them is Lake Monroe, a reservoir on the Salt Creek in the south-eastern part of the county, is used both for recreational purposes and to supply the city with drinking water. Until the late 1960s, the source of water supply was the smaller Lake Lemon, in the northeastern part of the county, now its the backup water source. The third in order of size is Griffy Lake, on the slope of the county. An even smaller Weimer Lake in the Clear Creek basin was constructed for water supply purposes as well. A number of limestone quarries in the county are now naturally filled with water. Average monthly precipitation ranged from 2.66 inches in January to 5.12 inches in May, the county government is a constitutional body, and is granted specific powers by the Constitution of Indiana, and by the Indiana Code. County Council, The county council is the body of the county government and controls all the spending. There are four elected members representing districts and three members elected at-large, the council members serve four-year terms. They are responsible for setting salaries, the budget. The council also has limited authority to local taxes, in the form of an income and property tax that is subject to state level approval, excise taxes. Board of Commissioners, The executive and legislative body of the county is made of a board of commissioners. The commissioners are elected county-wide, in staggered terms, and each serves a four-year term, the president of the board of commissioners is the principle executive officer of the county
2.
Indiana
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Indiana /ɪndiˈænə/ is a U. S. state located in the midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 16th most populous of the 50 United States and its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U. S. state on December 11,1816, before becoming a territory, varying cultures of indigenous peoples and historic Native Americans inhabited Indiana for thousands of years. Indiana has an economy with a gross state product of $298 billion in 2012. Indiana has several areas with populations greater than 100,000. The states name means Land of the Indians, or simply Indian Land and it also stems from Indianas territorial history. On May 7,1800, the United States Congress passed legislation to divide the Northwest Territory into two areas and named the section the Indiana Territory. In 1816, when Congress passed an Enabling Act to begin the process of establishing statehood for Indiana, a resident of Indiana is officially known as a Hoosier. The first inhabitants in what is now Indiana were the Paleo-Indians, divided into small groups, the Paleo-Indians were nomads who hunted large game such as mastodons. They created stone tools made out of chert by chipping, knapping and flaking, the Archaic period, which began between 5000 and 4000 BC, covered the next phase of indigenous culture. The people developed new tools as well as techniques to cook food, such new tools included different types of spear points and knives, with various forms of notches. They made ground-stone tools such as axes, woodworking tools. During the latter part of the period, they built mounds and middens. The Archaic period ended at about 1500 BC, although some Archaic people lived until 700 BC, afterward, the Woodland period took place in Indiana, where various new cultural attributes appeared. During this period, the people created ceramics and pottery, an early Woodland period group named the Adena people had elegant burial rituals, featuring log tombs beneath earth mounds. In the middle portion of the Woodland period, the Hopewell people began developing long-range trade of goods, nearing the end of the stage, the people developed highly productive cultivation and adaptation of agriculture, growing such crops as corn and squash. The Woodland period ended around 1000 AD, the Mississippian culture emerged, lasting from 1000 until the 15th century, shortly before the arrival of Europeans. During this stage, the people created large urban settlements designed according to their cosmology, with mounds and plazas defining ceremonial
3.
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
4.
Reservoir
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A reservoir is a storage space for fluids. These fluids may be water, hydrocarbons or gas, a reservoir usually means an enlarged natural or artificial lake, storage pond or impoundment created using a dam or lock to store water. Reservoirs can be created by controlling a stream that drains a body of water. They can also be constructed in river valleys using a dam, alternately, a reservoir can be built by excavating flat ground or constructing retaining walls and levees. Tank reservoirs store liquids or gases in storage tanks that may be elevated, at grade level, tank reservoirs for water are also called cisterns. Underground reservoirs are used to store liquids, principally either water or petroleum, a dam constructed in a valley relies on the natural topography to provide most of the basin of the reservoir. Dams are typically located at a part of a valley downstream of a natural basin. The valley sides act as walls, with the dam located at the narrowest practical point to provide strength. In many reservoir construction projects, people have to be moved and re-housed, construction of a reservoir in a valley will usually need the river to be diverted during part of the build, often through a temporary tunnel or by-pass channel. In hilly regions, reservoirs are constructed by enlarging existing lakes. Sometimes in such reservoirs the new top water level exceeds the height on one or more of the feeder streams such as at Llyn Clywedog in Mid Wales. In such cases additional side dams are required to contain the reservoir, where water is pumped or siphoned from a river of variable quality or quantity, bank-side reservoirs may be built to store the water. Such reservoirs are usually formed partly by excavation and partly by building a complete encircling bund or embankment, the water stored in such reservoirs may stay there for several months, during which time normal biological processes may substantially reduce many contaminants and almost eliminate any turbidity. The use of reservoirs also allows water abstraction to be stopped for some time. Service reservoirs store fully treated potable water close to the point of distribution, many service reservoirs are constructed as water towers, often as elevated structures on concrete pillars where the landscape is relatively flat. Other service reservoirs can be almost entirely underground, especially in hilly or mountainous country. In the United Kingdom, Thames Water has many underground reservoirs, sometimes called cisterns, built in the 1800s. A good example is the Honor Oak Reservoir in London, constructed between 1901 and 1909, when it was completed it was said to be the largest brick built underground reservoir in the world and it is still one of the largest in Europe
5.
Lake Lemon
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Lake Lemon is a reservoir located in southern Indiana approximately 10 miles northeast of Bloomington, Indiana. It is bounded by private and public property in Monroe County and Brown County, the surface area of the lake is 1,650 acres, making it the 11th largest lake in Indiana. There are 24 miles of shoreline, the lake has an average depth of 9.7 feet at full pool level. The greatest depth is somewhat in excess of 20 feet, matching with the original Bean Blossom Creek bed, Lake Lemon Dam is an earthen dam 51 feet in height,660 feet in length at its crest, and a maximum capacity of 45,700 acre-feet. Lake Lemon remained a water source for Bloomington until being replaced in the 1970s by Lake Monroe. Lake Lemon still serves as a water source for Bloomington. Indiana Rail Roads Shuffle Creek Trestle is located on the side of the lake. It is the location of a July 2014 incident that resulted in the deaths of two trespassers. By the 1990s, the City of Bloomington Utilities department, which operated the lake and this was due in large part to financial pressures on that departments budget. A group of landowners around Lake Lemon formed the Lake Lemon Conservancy District to take operation of the lake. In 2002, the City of Bloomington handed over operation of Riddle Point Park to the district as well. The lake is home to two varieties of fish, wildlife, and birds. Since 1985, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources has released 73 bald eagle chicks at nearby Lake Monroe, a very wide range of plants and trees find comfortable habitat on the lands immediately surrounding the lake. The most abundant plants include American lotus, cattail, and spatterdock, tree varieties include silver maple and oak, both in abundance. As of 2005, zebra mussels, a species, have not been observed in the lake. There are two publicly accessible parks located on the lake, the largest is Riddle Point Park operated by the Lake Lemon Conservancy district. This park features a ramp, a 1 acre native prairie grass demonstration area, a beach, a shelter house. The other park is Little Africa Wildlife Viewing Area, which covers 24 acres on a peninsula at the east end of the lake, Lake Lemon Marina is the only marina on the lake
6.
Indiana University Bloomington
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Indiana University Bloomington is a public research university located in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. With over 48,000 students, IU Bloomington is the institution of the Indiana University system. As of Fall 2015,48,514 students attend Indiana University, while 55. 2% of the student body was from Indiana, students from 49 of the 50 states, Washington D. C. and 165 foreign nations were also enrolled. The university is home to a student life program, with more than 750 student organizations on campus. Indiana athletic teams compete in Division I of the NCAA and are known as the Indiana Hoosiers, the university is a member of the Big Ten Conference. Among IU Bloomington’s many graduate-level programs are the Kelley School of Business, School of Education, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, indiana’s law school has a program with a first-year team-based approach, a diversion from the typical legal education. In terms of academics and other criteria, IU Bloomington ranks in top 100 national universities in the United States and the top 50 public universities in the country. The schools sports teams are notorious competitors in the NCAA Division I Big Ten Conference, there are more than 650 student organizations on campus, and more than 5,000 students go Greek in the school’s large community of fraternities and sororities. Indianas state government in Corydon established Indiana University on January 20,1820, construction began in 1822 at what is now called Seminary Square Park near the intersection of Second Street and College Avenue. The first professor was Baynard Rush Hall, a Presbyterian minister who taught all of the classes in 1825–27, in the first year, he taught twelve students and was paid $250. Hall was a classicist who focused on Greek and Latin and believed that the study of classical philosophy, the first class graduated in 1830. From 1820 to 1889 a legal-political battle was fought between IU and Vincennes University as to which was the state university. In 1829, Andrew Wylie became the first president, serving until his death in 1851, the schools name was changed to Indiana College in 1829, and to Indiana University in 1839. Wylie and David Maxwell, president of the board of trustees, were devout Presbyterians and they spoke of the nonsectarian status of the school but generally hired fellow Presbyterians. Presidents and professors were expected to set an example for their charges. After six ministers in a row, the first non-clergyman to become president was the young biology professor David Starr Jordan, Jordan followed Baptist theologian Lemuel Moss, who resigned after a scandal broke regarding his involvement with a female professor. Jordan improved the finances and public image, doubled its enrollment. Jordan became president of Stanford University in June 1891, growth of the college was slow
7.
White River (Indiana)
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The White River is a two-forked river that flows through central and southern Indiana and is the main tributary to the Wabash River. Via the west fork, considered to be the stem of the river by the U. S. Board on Geographic Names, the White River is 362 miles long, indianas capital, Indianapolis, is located on the river. The West Fork,312 miles long, is the fork of the river. Federal maps refer to it simply as the White River, per a 1950 Board on Geographic Names decision and it starts south of Winchester in Randolph County at 40°0446 N, 84°5558 W in Washington Township. The river winds through Muncie, Anderson and Indianapolis before being joined by the east fork in the triad of Daviess, Knox and Pike counties. Along the way it passes by three Indiana state parks, Mounds State Park, near Anderson, White River State Park, in downtown Indianapolis, in Indianapolis the Wapahani Trail follows the eastern bank, the Miami tribe had called the river Wapahani, meaning “white sands”. The East Fork starts in Columbus at the confluence of the Driftwood, the headwaters of the main stem of the White River are in fact farther east than those of the East Fork. The East Fork flows a total of 192 miles generally southwest, passing the city of Seymour, as indicated in the Drainage Area for Indiana Streams for Gibson County, the total White River basin watershed exceeds 11,305 square miles. The White River Yacht Club is a club that utilizes pontoon boats. The river isnt deep enough in many stretches to support conventionally-keeled sailing or power boats, in 1997, the White River was listed as one of the United States’ most threatened rivers. Pesticides are used extensively in the White River basin, application of herbicides to corn and soybeans accounts for most of the use. The pesticides most frequently detected near the mouth of the White River during 1991–1995 were the herbicides alachlor, atrazine, cyanazine, the highest concentrations of herbicides in the river were typically found during late spring runoff following application. Generally, concentrations of alachlor have been decreasing while concentrations of acetochlor have been increasing in response to changes in the use of herbicides in the basin. The total amount of the commonly used herbicides transported by the river is about 1% or less of the amount applied to cropland, insecticides commonly used in urban and agricultural areas also were found but in much lower concentrations than commonly used herbicides. In 1999, the West Fork experienced a massive fish kill that spread for 50 miles for a loss of 4.6 million fish. The kill was traced back to Guide Corp, an automotive parts maker in Anderson, Guide Corp eventually reached a settlement whereby the company would pay a total of $14.2 million in fines, penalties, legal expenses, and river restoration. Many animals that had burrowed into the mud were protected from the chemical, the Indiana Department of Natural Resources conducted a restocking program in October
8.
Chipmunk
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Chipmunks are small, striped rodents of the family Sciuridae. Chipmunks are found in North America, with the exception of the Siberian chipmunk which is primarily in Asia. These classifications are arbitrary, and most taxonomies over the century have placed the chipmunks in a single genus. However, studies of mitochondrial DNA show that the divergence between each of the three groups is comparable to the genetic dissimilarity between Marmota and Spermophilus. The genus name Tamias is Greek for treasurer, steward, or housekeeper, the common name originally may have been spelled chitmunk, from the native Odawa word jidmoonh, meaning red squirrel. The earliest form cited in the Oxford English Dictionary is chipmonk, however, other early forms include chipmuck and chipminck, and in the 1830s they were also referred to as chip squirrels, probably in reference to the sound they make. In the mid-1800s, John James Audubon and his sons included a lithograph of the chipmunk in their Viviparous Quadrupeds of North America, Chipmunks have also been referred to as striped squirrels, chippers, munks, timber tigers, and ground squirrels. Chipmunks have a diet primarily consisting of seeds, nuts and other fruits. They also commonly eat grass, shoots, and many forms of plant matter, as well as fungi, insects and other arthropods, small frogs, worms. Around humans, chipmunks can eat cultivated grains and vegetables, and other plants from farms and gardens, Chipmunks mostly forage on the ground, but they climb trees to obtain nuts such as hazelnuts and acorns. At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile nonperishable foods for winter and they mostly cache their foods in a larder in their burrows and remain in their nests until spring, unlike some other species which make many small caches of food. Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry items to their burrows for either storage or consumption. Eastern chipmunks mate in spring and again in early summer. Western chipmunks breed only once a year, the young emerge from the burrow after about six weeks and strike out on their own within the next two weeks. These small mammals fulfill several important functions in forest ecosystems and their activities harvesting and hoarding tree seeds play a crucial role in seedling establishment. Chipmunks construct expansive burrows which can be more than 3.5 m in length with several well-concealed entrances, the sleeping quarters are kept clean as shells and feces are stored in refuse tunnels. The eastern chipmunk hibernates in the winter, while western chipmunks do not, Chipmunks typically live about three years although some have been observed living to nine years in captivity. Chipmunks in captivity are said to sleep for an average of about 15 hours a day and it is thought that mammals which can sleep in hiding, such as rodents and bats, tend to sleep longer than those that must remain on alert. and Paul V. Switzer
9.
Bloomington, Indiana
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Bloomington is a city in and the county seat of Monroe County in the southern region of the U. S. state of Indiana. It is the seventh-largest city in Indiana and the fourth-largest outside the Indianapolis metropolitan area, according to the Monroe County History Center, Bloomington is known as the Gateway to Scenic Southern Indiana. The city was established in 1818 by a group of settlers from Kentucky, Tennessee, the population was 80,405 at the 2010 census. The citys population was estimated at 84,067 as of July 2016 by the U. S. Census Bureau, Bloomington is the home to Indiana University Bloomington. Established in 1820, IU Bloomington has 42,630 students, as of September 2014, most of the campus buildings are built of Indiana limestone. Bloomington has been designated a Tree City for 32 years, as of 2015, the city was also the location of the Academy Award-winning 1979 movie Breaking Away, featuring a reenactment of Indiana Universitys annual Little 500 bicycle race. Monroe Countys famous limestone quarries are also featured in the movie, a post office has been in operation at Bloomington since 1825. According to the 2010 census, Bloomington has an area of 23.359 square miles. Bloomington is the sixth largest city in Indiana, based on population, Southern Indiana receives an abundance of rain, with a yearly average of nearly 45 inches. Bloomington is an area of irregular limestone terrain characterized by sinks, ravines, fissures, underground streams, sinking streams, springs and it is situated in the rolling hills of southern Indiana, resting on the intersection of the Norman Uplands and the Mitchell Plain. The relatively varied topography of the city provides a sharp contrast to the terrain more typical of central to northern portions of Indiana. Bloomington is located on a high ground, the summit of the divide between the basins of the West Fork and East Fork of Indianas White River. Accordingly, there are no major watercourses within the city, nor is much groundwater available for wells, the largest stream within the city itself is Clear Creek, with its eastern branch known on the Indiana University campus as Jordan River. Early 20th century damming projects occurred at a number of locations southwest of the city, unfortunately, due to the limestone formations underlying the reservoirs and the dams, water kept seeping from the reservoirs through naturally developing underground channels. Despite all efforts, the city was never able to stop the leakage. By the 1920s, a radical solution was needed to deal with the water crisis. A new reservoir, known as Griffy Lake, was constructed in a more geologically suitable area north of the city, later, in the 1950s, two much larger reservoirs, Lake Lemon and Lake Monroe were created in the northeastern and southeastern parts of Monroe County. Monroe Lake was created by the US Army Corps of Engineers for flood control, but has since used to supply the city
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Media related to Griffy Lake at Wikimedia Commons