1.
U.S. state
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A U. S. state is a constituent political entity of the United States of America. There are 50 states, which are together in a union with each other. Each state holds administrative jurisdiction over a geographic territory. Due to the shared sovereignty between each state and the government, Americans are citizens of both the federal republic and of the state in which they reside. State citizenship and residency are flexible, and no government approval is required to move between states, except for persons covered by certain types of court orders. States range in population from just under 600,000 to over 39 million, four states use the term commonwealth rather than state in their full official names. States are divided into counties or county-equivalents, which may be assigned some local authority but are not sovereign. County or county-equivalent structure varies widely by state, State governments are allocated power by the people through their individual constitutions. All are grounded in principles, and each provides for a government. States possess a number of powers and rights under the United States Constitution, Constitution has been amended, and the interpretation and application of its provisions have changed. The general tendency has been toward centralization and incorporation, with the government playing a much larger role than it once did. There is a debate over states rights, which concerns the extent and nature of the states powers and sovereignty in relation to the federal government. States and their residents are represented in the federal Congress, a legislature consisting of the Senate. Each state is represented in the Senate by two senators, and is guaranteed at least one Representative in the House, members of the House are elected from single-member districts. Representatives are distributed among the states in proportion to the most recent constitutionally mandated decennial census, the Constitution grants to Congress the authority to admit new states into the Union. Since the establishment of the United States in 1776, the number of states has expanded from the original 13 to 50, alaska and Hawaii are the most recent states admitted, both in 1959. The Constitution is silent on the question of states have the power to secede from the Union. Shortly after the Civil War, the U. S. Supreme Court, in Texas v. White, as a result, while the governments of the various states share many similar features, they often vary greatly with regard to form and substance
2.
Fresno, California
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Fresno (/ˈfrɛznoʊ/ FREZ-no is a city in California, United States, and the county seat of Fresno County. It covers about 112 square miles in the center of the San Joaquin Valley, named for the abundant ash trees lining the San Joaquin River, Fresno was founded in 1872 as a railway station of the Central Pacific Railroad before it was incorporated in 1885. The population of Fresno proper soared in the half of the 20th century. It was here in Fresno in 1958 that Bank of America first launched the BankAmericard credit card, Fresno is near the geographical center of California. It lies approximately 220 miles northeast of Los Angeles,170 miles south of the capital, Sacramento. Yosemite National Park is about 60 miles to the north, Kings Canyon National Park is 60 miles to the east, the county of Fresno was formed in 1856 after the California Gold Rush. It was named for the abundant ash trees lining the San Joaquin River, Millerton, then on the banks of the free-flowing San Joaquin River and close to Fort Miller, became the county seat after becoming a focal point for settlers. Other early county settlements included Firebaughs Ferry, Scottsburg and Elkhorn Springs, the San Joaquin River flooded on December 24,1867, inundating Millerton. Flooding also destroyed the town of Scottsburg on the nearby Kings River that winter, rebuilt on higher ground, Scottsburg was renamed Centerville. In 1867, Anthony McQeen Easterby purchased land bounded by the present Chestnut, Belmont, Clovis and California avenues, unable to grow wheat for lack of water, he hired sheep man Moses J. Church in 1871 to create an irrigation system. Building new canals and purchasing existing ditches, Church then formed the Fresno Canal and Irrigation Company, in 1872, the Central Pacific Railroad established a station near Easterbys—by now a hugely productive wheat farm—for its new Southern Pacific line. Soon there was a store around the station and the store grew the town of Fresno Station, many Millerton residents, drawn by the convenience of the railroad and worried about flooding, moved to the new community. Fresno became a city in 1885. By 1931 the Fresno Traction Company operated 47 streetcars over 49 miles of track, in 1877, William Helm made Fresno his home with a five-acre tract of land at the corner of Fresno and R streets. Helm was the largest individual sheep grower in Fresno County, in carrying his wool to market at Stockton, he used three wagons, each drawn by ten mules, and spent twelve days in making the round trip. Two years after the station was established, county residents voted to move the county seat from Millerton to Fresno, when the Friant Dam was completed in 1944, the site of Millerton became inundated by the waters of Millerton Lake. In extreme droughts, when the reservoir shrinks, ruins of the county seat can still be observed. In the nineteenth century, with so much wooden construction and in the absence of sophisticated firefighting resources, fires often ravaged American frontier towns, the greatest of Fresnos early-day fires, in 1882, destroyed an entire block of the city
3.
Clovis, California
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Clovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. The 2014 population was estimated to be 102,189, Clovis is located 6.5 miles northeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 361 feet. The city of Clovis began as a stop along the San Joaquin Valley Railroad. Organized on January 15,1890, by Fresno businessmen Thomas E. Hughes, Fulton Berry, Gilbert R. Osmun, colson, John D. Gray, and William M. The railroad purchased right-of-way from both farmers, half from each – the east side from Cole and the west side from Owen –, the railroad agreed to establish a station on the west side of the tracks and to call it Clovis. The Clovis station, after which the town was named, was positioned on the Owen side of the track, Cole and Owen later sold land to Marcus Pollasky for development of a townsite. Fresno civil engineer Ingvart Tielman mapped the townsite on behalf of Pollasky on December 29,1891, the original townsite featured streets named for the officers and principal investors of the railroad, Woodworth, Pollasky, Fulton, Hughes, Osmun, and Baron. The townsite, named Clovis by Pollasky, was out on what was originally Owens land. The railroad was completed as far as the town of Hamptonville on the banks of the San Joaquin River, at the time, Hamptonville was called Pollasky. A celebration of the completion of track-laying was held at the Pollasky terminus on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving of 1891 with a reported 3,000 Fresnans attending, the railroad began official operation in January 1892. The first year of operation of the railroad coincided with the beginnings of a national economic decline. Farmers were unable to get profitable return on their crops, banks, the SJVRR was unable to generate sufficient revenues to pay its debt, was leased to the Southern Pacific Railroad and subsequently bought by SPRR in 1893. By reducing the railroads schedule of operation and trimming costs, the Southern Pacific was able to turn a profit in the first years after its acquisition. At the same time that the railroad was being planned, a group of Michigan lumbermen began acquiring thousands of acres of timber in the Sierra Nevada about 75 miles northeast of Fresno. A dam was built across Stevenson Creek to create a lake that would enable them to move freshly cut timber to a mill beside the lake and they then constructed a 42-mile, 25-foot-high, V-shaped flume that started at the foot of the dam. As lumber was rough-cut at the mill, it was loaded into the flume, the lumber mill and yard had its own network of rails to move lumber around the yard and to connect with the SJVRR just south of Clovis station. The completion in 1894 of the flume and commencement of mill operations provided the impetus for further development of the area around the Clovis Station. The town began to shape as lumber yard employees built homes close to their employment
4.
Madera, California
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Madera is a city in California and the county seat of Madera County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 61,416. Located in the San Joaquin Valley, Madera is a city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Madera County. It is located in Californias San Joaquin Valley, the city is also home to the Madera Unified School District. Madera is located at 36°57′41″N 120°03′39″W, the geographic center of California is 38 mi east of Madera. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 15.8 square miles. Madera is the location of the Madera AVA wine region, Madera has a hot semi-arid climate. Average January temperatures are a maximum of 53.9 °F, the record high temperature was 116 °F on July 13,1961. The record low temperature was 15 °F on January 10,1949, average annual rainfall is 10.97 inches and there are an average of 43 days with measurable precipitation. The wettest year was 1983 with 22.13 inches and the driest year was 1932 with 4.73 inches, the most rainfall in one month was 7.11 inches in March 1991. The most rainfall in 24 hours was 2.60 inches on May 6,2005, although snow is rare,4.0 inches fell in January 1962. The town was named after the Spanish term for lumber, the town was laid out by the California Lumber Company in 1876. From 1876 to 1931 a 63-mile water flume carried lumber from the mountains to Madera where the lumber was shipped by train, the first post office at Madera opened in 1877 and the town incorporated on March 27,1907. One of the citys first African Americans to hold an office was Rev. Naaman N. Haynes. Landmarks include the notable and historic Madera water tower and a fully operational drive-in movie theater, the adopted son of classical guitarist Francisco Mayorga and film actress Lupe Mayorga, who were living in Madera at the time. His early life in Madera is eloquently covered in his autobiography, cowen award from the American Geophysical Union in Washington, DC. Frank Bergon, the author of four novels including Jesses Ghost, lee Evans, Olympic gold medalist and former world record holder in track and field. Zoila Frausto, womens Mixed Martial Arts champion Lavar Johnson, American mixed martial artist who competed as a heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, jack W. Kelso, Medal of Honor recipient
5.
Chowchilla, California
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Chowchilla is a city in Madera County, California. The citys population was 18,720 at the 2010 United States Census, Chowchilla is located 15 miles northwest of Madera, at an elevation of 240 feet. It is a city of the Madera–Chowchilla metropolitan statistical area. The city is the location of two California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities, the Central California Womens Facility and Valley State Prison, the name Chowchilla is derived from the indigenous American tribe of Chaushila Yokut Indians which once lived in the area. The name evidently translates as murderers and is apparently a reference to the nature of the Chaushila tribe. It is also to be known among the Yokuts tribes later on to be associated with bravery, the Chaushila Indians were inadvertently responsible for the first white men discovering Yosemite Valley, which occurred when they were being pursued by a band of whites. References to the tribe still abound in Chowchilla, and until 2016 the towns high school used the moniker Redskins as their mascot, the first post office at Chowchilla opened in 1912, and the city incorporated eleven years later, in 1923. Chowchilla made national news on July 15,1976, when 26 children and their bus driver were kidnapped and held in a buried moving van at a quarry in Livermore. The driver and some of the children were able to escape, the quarry owners son and two friends were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Chowchilla is located at 37°7′N 120°16′W, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 14,815 acres, all of it land. Chowchila is 250 miles north of Downtown Los Angeles, the climate of Chowchilla is Mediterranean. It receives an average of about 12 inches of precipitation per year, the wettest months are January, February, and March with March being the wettest. Chowchilla has dry, hot summers, and mild to cool, Chowchilla experiences frequent fog from November to March and overcast days are common, especially in January. In 2005, Chowchilla had 20 consecutive cloudy, rainy days, there are days with moderate to heavy rain during the winter months. In January, the temperature may drop as low as 45 °F. During the summer, when there is no rain, the temperature may reach as high as 110 °F. Snow in Chowchilla is rare. The city is the location of two California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities, the Central California Womens Facility and Valley State Prison, Central California Womens houses the states female death row. Three public school districts serve the residents of Chowchilla and the surrounding area, Chowchilla Elementary School District, Alview-Dairyland Union School District, and Chowchilla Union High School District make up the local public school system
6.
North Palisade
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North Palisade is the third highest mountain in the Sierra Nevada range of California. It is the highest peak of the Palisades group of peaks in the part of the range. It sports a small glacier and several highly prized rock climbing routes on its northeast side, North Palisade has a collection of names from the 19th century. The Wheeler Survey referred to it as Northwest Palisade in 1878, the following year, Lil Winchell called it Dusys Peak after local rancher Frank Dusy. In 1895, Bolton Brown advocated yet another name, after David Starr Jordan, senator Dianne Feinstein, supported by U. S. Senator Barbara Boxer, has introduced legislation to rename the peak as Brower Palisade, there is significant opposition to this proposal. The first ascent was made on July 25,1903 by James S. Hutchinson, Joseph Nisbet LeConte and they approached the area overland from south of the Palisades, and scouted possible routes from the summits of Marion Peak and Mount Sill. Armed with this intelligence, they planned to ascend the southwest chute of the U Notch, around 13,100 feet, they followed a northward branch of this chute, and slowly climbed a difficult system of cracks. From here they found a catwalk ledge that took them to a series of icy gullies and these gullies were blocked by a pair of chockstones, requiring class 4 moves to pass. Beyond these obstacles, they crested the southeast ridge, and climbed a series of blocks to the summit. After making this climb, LeConte is quoted as writing in a letter, put Dusys name on some less imposing mass, and give us a name to be handed down through all time. The peak has been called North Palisade since that day, North Palisade has several named subsidiary peaks. These all lie on the ridge crest, and are as follows, Polemonium Peak,14. This lies between the U-Notch and V-Notch couloirs,0.15 mi east-southeast of North Palisade, named on the USGS topographic map. The peak is named for the Polemonium eximium skypilot found in the area and this is the northwest summit of North Palisade, less than 0.1 mi from the main summit. Some climbing routes end atop this peak known for its famous Milk Bottle, about 0.25 mi northwest of North Palisade. Named on the USGS topographic map, the Sierra Club guidebook notes, This was the last 14,000 foot peak to be climbed in the Sierra. During a wild storm on the first ascent, a bolt of lightning left Jules Eichorn severely shaken, List of mountain peaks of California List of highest points in California by county The Palisades of the Sierra Nevada North Palisade
7.
San Joaquin Valley
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Although a majority of the valley is rural, it does contain urban cities such as Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Porterville, Visalia, Merced, and Hanford. Unlike the Sacramento Valley, the system for which the San Joaquin Valley is named does not extend very far along the valley. Most of the south of Fresno, instead, drains into Tulare Lake. The valleys primary river is the San Joaquin, which drains north through half of the valley into the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta. The Kings and Kern Rivers are in the endorheic basin of the valley. The San Joaquin Valley began to form about 66 million years ago during the early Paleocene era, broad fluctuations in the sea level caused various areas of the valley to be flooded with ocean water for the next 60 million years. About 5 million years ago, the outlets began to close due to uplift of the coastal ranges. Starting 2 million years ago, a series of glacial episodes periodically caused much of the valley to become a fresh water lake, Lake Corcoran was the last widespread lake to fill the valley about 700,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Holocene there were three major lakes remaining in the part of the Valley, Tulare Lake, Buena Vista Lake. In the late 19th and in the 20th century, agricultural diversion of the Kern River eventually dried out these lakes and its rainy season normally runs from November through April, but since 2011 when a drought became evident it generally received minimal to no rain at all. The drought was still extant by mid-August 2014 with scientists saying it would continue indefinitely. Research from NASA shows that parts of the San Joaquin Valley sank as much as 8 inches in a four-month period, the sinking has destroyed thousands of groundwater well casings and has the potential to damage aqueducts, roads, bridges, and flood-control structures. In the long term, the caused by extracting groundwater could irreversibly reduce the underground aquifers water storage capacity. The National Weather Service Forecast Office for the San Joaquin Valley is located in Hanford, Weather forecasts and climatological information for the San Joaquin Valley are available from its official website. The total population of the eight counties comprising the San Joaquin Valley at the time of the 2010 U. S. Census was 3,971,659. Grapes—table, raisin, and to a lesser extent wine—are perhaps the valleys highest-profile product, but equally important are cotton, nuts, citrus, and vegetables. Though it has been called The food basket of the World, walnuts, oranges, peaches, garlic, tangerines, tomatoes, kiwis, hay, alfalfa and numerous other crops have been harvested with great success. DeRuosi Nut, a large processing plant in Escalon, has been in the valley since 1947
8.
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
9.
Fresno County, California
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Fresno County, officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the northern portion of the U. S. state, California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 930,450, the county seat is Fresno, the fifth-largest city in California. Fresno County comprises the Fresno, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is part of the Fresno-Madera and it is located in the Central Valley, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. The area now known as Fresno County is the homeland of Yokuts and Mono peoples. In 1846, this became part of the United States as a result of the Mexican War. Fresno County was formed in 1856 from parts of Mariposa, Merced, Fresno is Spanish for ash tree and it was in recognition of the abundance of the shrubby local Ash, Fraxinus dipetala, growing along the San Joaquin River that it received its name. Parts of Fresno Countys territory were given to Mono County in 1861, the settling of Fresno County was not without its conflicts, land disputes, and other natural disasters. Floods caused immeasurable damage elsewhere and fires also plagued the settlers of Fresno County, in 1882, the greatest of the early day fires wiped out an entire block of the city of Fresno, and was followed by another devastating blaze in 1883. At the same time residents brought irrigation, electricity, and extensive agriculture to the area, moses Church developed the first canals, called Church Ditches, for irrigation. These canals allowed extensive cultivation of wheat, francis Eisen, leader of the wine industry in Fresno County, also began the raisin industry in 1875, when he accidentally let some of his grapes dry on the vine. Easterby and Clovis Cole developed extensive grain and cattle ranches and these and other citizens laid the groundwork for the cultivation of Fresno County – now one of the nations leading agricultural regions. In more recent times became a major crop in Fresno and the southern San Joaquin Valley. The Coalinga field continues to produce oil, and is currently the eighth-largest field in the state. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 6,011 square miles. Major watercourses are the San Joaquin, Kings River, Delta-Mendota Canal, Big Creek, Friant Kern Canal, Helm Canal and it is bordered on the west by the Coast Range and on the east by the Sierra Nevada. It is the center of an agricultural area, known as the most agriculturally rich county in the United States. The county withdrew 3.7 billion US gallons of water per day in 2000. Fresno County is part of the Madera AVA wine region, Fresno was actually named after two particular ash trees that grew near the town of Minkler on the Kings River, one of which is still alive and standing
10.
Madera County, California
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Madera County, officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 150,865, Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Fresno-Madera, CA Combined Statistical Area. It is located in the eastern San Joaquin Valley and the central Sierra Nevada, the southeasternmost part of Yosemite National Park is located in the countys northeast. Madera County was formed in 1893 from the part of Mariposa County during a special election held on May 16,1893. Citizens residing in the area that was to become Madera County voted 1,179 to 358 for establishment of the new county, Madera is the Spanish term for wood. The county derives its name from the town of Madera, named when the California Lumber Company built a log flume to carry lumber to the Central Pacific Railroad there in 1876. The Madera County Sheriffs Department employed the first woman in California to die in the line of duty as a law enforcement officer—Tulare native Lucille Helm. For 15 years, the Madera housewife and mother of four worked on call as a matron assisting with female transfers. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 2,153 square miles. Madera County is part of the Madera AVA wine region, devils Postpile National Monument Inyo National Forest Sierra National Forest Yosemite National Park The 2010 United States Census reported that Madera County had a population of 150,865. The racial makeup of Madera County was 94,456 White,5,629 African American,4,136 Native American,2,802 Asian,162 Pacific Islander,37,380 from other races, Hispanic or Latino of any race were 80,992 persons. As of the census of 2000, there are 123,109 people in the county, organized into 36,155 households, the population density is 58 people per square mile. There are 40,387 housing units at a density of 19 per square mile. The racial makeup of the county is 62. 2% White,4. 1% Black or African American,2. 6% Native American,1. 3% Asian,0. 2% Pacific Islander,24. 4% from other races, and 5. 2% from two or more races. 44. 3% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race,8. 0% were of German,5. 9% English,5. 4% American and 5. 3% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000. 63. 6% spoke English and 33. 7% Spanish as their first language,16. 5% of all households are made up of individuals and 7. 7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 3.18 and the family size is 3.52. In the county, the population is out with 29. 6% under the age of 18,9. 9% from 18 to 24,29. 1% from 25 to 44,20. 4% from 45 to 64
