Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a British civil engineer, considered "one of the most ingenious and prolific figures in engineering history", "one of the 19th-century engineering giants", "one of the greatest figures of the Industrial Revolution, changed the face of the English landscape with his groundbreaking designs and ingenious constructions". Brunel built dockyards, the Great Western Railway, a series of steamships including the first propeller-driven transatlantic steamship, numerous important bridges and tunnels, his designs revolutionised modern engineering. Though Brunel's projects were not always successful, they contained innovative solutions to long-standing engineering problems. During his career, Brunel achieved many engineering firsts, including assisting in the building of the first tunnel under a navigable river and development of SS Great Britain, the first propeller-driven, ocean-going, iron ship, when built in 1843, was the largest ship built. Brunel set the standard for a well-built railway, using careful surveys to minimise gradients and curves.

This necessitated expensive construction techniques, new bridges, new viaducts, the two-mile long Box Tunnel. One controversial feature was the wide gauge, a "broad gauge" of 7 ft 1⁄4 in, instead of what was to be known as "standard gauge" of 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in, he astonished Britain by proposing to extend the Great Western Railway westward to North America by building steam-powered, iron-hulled ships. He designed and built three ships that revolutionised naval engineering: the SS Great Western, the SS Great Britain, the SS Great Eastern. In 2002, Brunel was placed second in a BBC public poll to determine the "100 Greatest Britons". In 2006, the bicentenary of his birth, a major programme of events celebrated his life and work under the name Brunel 200. Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9 April 1806 in Britain Street, Portsmouth, where his father was working on block-making machinery, he was named Isambard after his father, the French civil engineer Sir Marc Isambard Brunel, Kingdom after his English mother, Sophia Kingdom.

He had two older sisters, the oldest child, Emma, the whole family moved to London in 1808 for his father's work. Brunel had a happy childhood, despite the family's constant money worries, with his father acting as his teacher during his early years, his father taught him drawing and observational techniques from the age of four and Brunel had learned Euclidean geometry by eight. During this time he learned fluent French and the basic principles of engineering, he was encouraged to identify any faults in their structure. When Brunel was eight he was sent to Dr Morrell's boarding school in Hove, where he learned the classics, his father, a Frenchman by birth, was determined that Brunel should have access to the high-quality education he had enjoyed in his youth in France. When Brunel was 15, his father Marc, who had accumulated debts of over £5,000, was sent to a debtors' prison. After three months went by with no prospect of release, Marc let it be known that he was considering an offer from the Tsar of Russia.

In August 1821, facing the prospect of losing a prominent engineer, the government relented and issued Marc £5,000 to clear his debts in exchange for his promise to remain in Britain. When Brunel completed his studies at Henri-IV in 1822, his father had him presented as a candidate at the renowned engineering school École Polytechnique, but as a foreigner he was deemed ineligible for entry. Brunel subsequently studied under the prominent master clockmaker and horologist Abraham-Louis Breguet, who praised Brunel's potential in letters to his father. In late 1822, having completed his apprenticeship, Brunel returned to England. Brunel worked for several years as an assistant engineer on the project to create a tunnel under London's River Thames between Rotherhithe and Wapping, with tunnellers driving a horizontal shaft from one side of the river to the other under the most difficult and dangerous conditions; the project was funded by the Thames Tunnel Company and Brunel's father, was the chief engineer.

The American Naturalist said "It is stated that the operations of the Teredo suggested to Mr. Brunel his method of tunneling the Thames."The composition of the riverbed at Rotherhithe was little more than waterlogged sediment and loose gravel. An ingenious tunnelling shield designed by Marc Brunel helped protect workers from cave-ins, but two incidents of severe flooding halted work for long periods, killing several workers and badly injuring the younger Brunel; the latter incident, in 1828, killed the two most senior miners, Brunel himself narrowly escaped death. He was injured, spent six months recuperating; the event stopped work on the tunnel for several years. Though the Thames Tunnel was completed during Marc Brunel's lifetime, his son had no further involvement with the tunnel proper, only using the abandoned works at Rotherhithe to further his abortive Gaz experiments; this was based on an idea of his father's, was intended to develop into an engine that ran on power generated from alternately heating and cooling carbon dioxide made from ammonium carbonate and sulphuric acid.

Despite interest from several parties the experiments were judged by Brunel to be a failure on the grounds of fuel economy alone, were discontinued after 1834. In 1865, the East London Railway Company purchased the Thames Tunnel for £200,000, four years the first tra

Kathleen "Katie" Fallon is an American non-fiction author and essayist. Her essays have appeared in numerous literary journals, both electronic and print, received several accolades. In 2011, she published Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird, she resides in Cheat Neck, WV with her husband Jesse, where she teaches creative writing at nearby West Virginia University. Much of Fallon's writing is grounded in naturalism and conservation efforts concerning raptors and other birds. Fallon was born in Wilkes-Barre and grew up in Dallas, Pennsylvania. Both her parents were public school teachers, her family has a long coal-mining heritage in both West Virginia. Fallon founded the Avian Conservation Center of Appalachia, Inc. a nonprofit organization dedicated to conserving wild birds through scientific research, public outreach and rehabilitation. She and her veterinarian husband live with their two daughters and Cora. Fallon began her undergraduate studies as a Wildlife and Fisheries Science major at Pennsylvania State University, soon switched to English.

She received her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from West Virginia University. Fallon taught English at Virginia Tech and teaches at West Virginia University. Numerous published essays of hers have won awards and nominations, including several nominations for the Pushcart Prize, she has published two books, titled Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird and Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird. Among other nature writers, she cites Terry Tempest Williams as influences. Reed Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment finalist “Hill of the Sacred Eagles,” finalist in Terrain‘s 2011 essay contest The Tusculum Review’s Featured Artist in November 2011 "The Bottom Field," finalist in Phoebe's 2013 nonfiction contest "Rebirth" listed as "Notable" in Best American Science and Nature Writing, 2014 Cerulean Blues: A Personal Search for a Vanishing Songbird Vulture: The Private Life of an Unloved Bird Fourth Genre, “With Hurt Hawks." 2006. River Teeth, “Rebirth,” 2013, "The Vulture Tree," 2005.

Ecotone, "Ghosts in the Woodshed." 2006. Bark Magazine, “An Ear to Stroke: Throwaway Dogs Provide Comfort during Frightening Times." 2011. Appalachian Heritage, “Morning Glories.” 2005. Now & Then, “Goose.” 2008. Isotope, “The Youngest Eagle.” 2010. Fourth River, “Lost.” 2007. The minnesota review, "Solitaire." 2013. The Tusculum Review, "Grave Robbers." 2012. Terrain, "Hill of the Sacred Eagles." 2011. New River Gorge Adventure Guide, “Losing Ground.” 2011. Rivendell, “Away from Home.” 2007. Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, “Fall Migration.” 2009. Touchstone, “Cave Darkness.” 2001. Radio Interview Author Website WVU Professorial Page Minnesota Review interview Alumni Spotlight

Minot is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most known for the Air Force base located 15 miles north of the city. With a population of 40,888 at the 2010 census, Minot is the fourth largest city in the state and a trading center for a large portion of northern North Dakota, southwestern Manitoba, southeastern Saskatchewan. Founded in 1886 during the construction of James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway, Minot is known as "Magic City", commemorating its remarkable growth in size over a short time. Minot is the principal city of the Minot micropolitan area, a micropolitan area that covers McHenry and Ward counties and had a combined population of 69,540 at the 2010 census. In 2017, it was estimated that the population of the Minot Micropolitan Area was 77,309. Minot came into existence in 1886. A tent town sprang up overnight, as if by "magic", thus the city came to be known as the Magic City, in the next five months, the population increased to over 5,000 residents, further adding to the nickname's validity.

The town site was chosen by the railroad to be placed on the land of then-homesteader Erik Ramstad. Ramstad was convinced to relinquish his claim, became one of the city leaders; the town was named after a railroad investor, an ornithologist and friend of Hill. Its Arikara name is niwaharít sahaáhkat; the city was incorporated on July 16, 1887. The Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railroad built a line from Valley City up to Canada. While their plan was to cross the Mouse River at Burlington, local interests and arguments convinced them otherwise, they reached Minot in 1893. On July 22, 1920 a tornado passed over Minot and bore down in a coulee three miles southeast of town; the tornado picked up the Andy Botz home and hurled it to the ground, killing Mrs. Botz, breaking Mr. Botz's shoulder, injuring the two Botz children who were in the house. Minot and its surrounding area were wide open throughout 1905–1920; the population grew due to railroad construction and availability of unclaimed land.

Nearly complete court records of Ward County and Minot document the prevalence and different types of criminal activity, offer strong support for the dubious title of "crime capitol of North Dakota". State attorney general William Langer helped clean up the town in 1917–1920, but by the time Prohibition had arrived in the 1920s the city had become a center of illegal activities associated with the High Third district, which were exacerbated due to the city being a supply hub of Al Capone's liquor smuggling operations; the hotbed of alcohol bootlegging and opium dens that sprang up in the Downtown area soon led people to give Minot the nickname "Little Chicago". The smugglers used a network of tunnels to transport and conceal the illicit cargo entering from Canada; the 1950s saw a large influx of federal funding into the region, with the construction of Minot Air Force Base thirteen miles north of the city, Garrison Dam on the Missouri River, about fifty miles south of Minot. In 1969, a severe flood on the Mouse River devastated the city.

Afterward, the Army Corps of Engineers straightened the path of the river through the city and built several flood control structures. On January 18, 2002, a severe train derailment west of the city sent a gigantic cloud of anhydrous ammonia toward Minot, Burlington. One man died and many of Minot's citizens were sickened and injured by the noxious gas, causing one of the worst major chemical accidents of the country. In early 2006, court cases were heard in Minneapolis, against Canadian Pacific Railway, the owner of the derailed train; the anhydrous ammonia spill was the largest such spill in U. S. history. This incident was used by Eric Klinenberg in his book Fighting for Air: The Battle to Control America's Media as an example of the failure of mass-media local radio stations, to disseminate information to the public in an emergency; the 2011 Mouse River flood caused extensive damage throughout the Mouse River Valley. On June 21, 2011, KXMC-TV reported that a flood of historic proportions was imminent in the Mouse River Valley due to large dam releases upstream.

Around 12,000 people were evacuated. On June 26, flooding exceeded previous records when the river crested at 1,561.72 feet above sea level, three feet above the previous record set back in 1881. It is estimated; this figure includes over 4,100 homes which were in some way affected, 2,376 extensively damaged, 805 damaged beyond repair. Burlington was severely damaged during this time. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 17.45 square miles, of which 17.43 square miles is land and 0.02 square miles is water. Minot is divided into three major divisions; these divisions are the Mouse River Valley and South Hill. North Hill is the area north of Eleventh Avenue North and Northwest Avenue. South Hill is a broad area west of Valley Street and Fifth Avenue South. West of Sixth Street West, South Hill dips to the southwest; the limits of South Hill are less defined than North Hill. Though the neighborhood levels out past Sixteenth Street South, the name South Hill is applied to all areas south up to the city limits.

Neighborhoods in the Mouse River Valley incl