1.
Town
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A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a town varies considerably in different parts of the world, the word town shares an origin with the German word Zaun, the Dutch word tuin, and the Old Norse tun. The German word Zaun comes closest to the meaning of the word. An early borrowing from Celtic *dunom, in English and Dutch, the meaning of the word took on the sense of the space which these fences enclosed. In England, a town was a community that could not afford or was not allowed to build walls or other larger fortifications. In the Netherlands, this space was a garden, more specifically those of the wealthy, in Old Norse tun means a place between farmhouses, and is still used in a similar meaning in modern Norwegian. If there was any distinction between toun and burgh as claimed by some, it did not last in practice as burghs, for example, Edina Burgh or Edinburgh was built around a fort and eventually came to have a defensive wall. In some cases, town is a name for city or village. Sometimes, the town is short for township. A places population size is not a determinant of urban character. In many areas of the world, as in India at least until recent times, in the United Kingdom, there are historical cities that are far smaller than the larger towns. Some forms of settlement, such as temporary mining locations, may be clearly non-rural. Towns often exist as governmental units, with legally defined borders. In the United States these are referred to as incorporated towns, in other cases the town lacks its own governance and is said to be unincorporated. Note that the existence of a town may be legally set forth through other means. In the case of planned communities, the town exists legally in the form of covenants on the properties within the town. Australian geographer Thomas Griffith Taylor proposed a classification of towns based on their age, although there is no official use of the term for any settlement. In Albanian qytezë means small city or new city, while in ancient times small residential center within the walls of a castle
2.
San Mateo County, California
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San Mateo County is a county located in the U. S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 718,451, the county seat is Redwood City. San Mateo County is included in the San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and is part of the San Francisco Bay Area and it covers most of the San Francisco Peninsula. San Francisco International Airport is located at the end of the county. The countys built-up areas are mostly suburban with some areas being very urban, San Mateo County was formed in 1856 after San Francisco County, one of the states 18 original counties since Californias statehood in 1850, was split apart. Until 1856, San Franciscos city limits extended west to Divisadero Street and Castro Street, in response to the lawlessness and vigilantism that escalated rapidly between 1855 and 1856, the California government decided to divide the county. A straight line was drawn across the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula just north of San Bruno Mountain. The consolidated city-county of San Francisco was formed by an introduced by Horace Hawes. San Mateo County was officially organized on 18 April 1857 under a bill introduced by Senator T. G, San Mateo County then annexed part of northern Santa Cruz County in March 1868, including Pescadero and Pigeon Point. Although the forming bill named Redwood City the county seat, a May 1856 election marked by unblushing frauds, perpetuated on an unorganized and wholly unprotected community by thugs and ballot stuffers from San Francisco named Belmont the county seat. The election results were declared illegal and the county government was moved to Redwood City, Redwood Citys status as county seat was upheld in two succeeding elections in May 1861 and 9 December 1873, defeating San Mateo and Belmont. Another election in May 1874 named San Mateo the county seat, but the supreme court overturned that election on 24 February 1875. San Mateo County bears the Spanish name for Saint Matthew, until about 1850, the name appeared as San Matheo. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has an area of 741 square miles. It is the third-smallest county in California by land area, a number of bayside watercourses drain the eastern part of the county including San Bruno Creek and Colma Creek. Streams draining the county include Frenchmans Creek, Pilarcitos Creek, Naples Creek, Arroyo de en Medio. These streams originate along the spur of the Santa Cruz Mountains that run through the county. San Mateo County straddles the San Francisco Peninsula, with the Santa Cruz Mountains running its entire length, the county encompasses a variety of habitats including estuarine, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savannah
3.
California
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California is the most populous state in the United States and the third most extensive by area. Located on the western coast of the U. S, California is bordered by the other U. S. states of Oregon, Nevada, and Arizona and shares an international border with the Mexican state of Baja California. Los Angeles is Californias most populous city, and the second largest after New York City. The Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nations second- and fifth-most populous urban regions, California also has the nations most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The Central Valley, an agricultural area, dominates the states center. What is now California was first settled by various Native American tribes before being explored by a number of European expeditions during the 16th and 17th centuries, the Spanish Empire then claimed it as part of Alta California in their New Spain colony. The area became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its war for independence. The western portion of Alta California then was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, government, real estate services, technology, and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA. Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups also were diverse in their organization with bands, tribes, villages. Trade, intermarriage and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years later English explorer Francis Drake also explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manila galleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565
4.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
5.
County (United States)
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In the United States, an administrative or political sub-division of a state is a county, which is a region having specific boundaries and usually some level of governmental authority. The term county is used in 48 U. S. states, while Louisiana and Alaska have functionally equivalent subdivisions called parishes, most counties have subdivisions which may include municipalities and unincorporated areas. Others have no divisions, or may serve as a singular consolidated city-county. Some municipalities are in multiple counties, New York City is uniquely partitioned into multiple counties/boroughs, the U. S. federal government uses the term county equivalent to describe non-county administrative or statistical areas that are comparable to counties. Alaskas Unorganized Borough is divided into 11 census areas that are equivalent to counties. As of 2013, the United States has 3,007 counties and 137 county equivalents for a total of 3,144 counties, the number of counties per state ranges from the 3 counties of Delaware to the 254 counties of Texas. Counties have significant governmental functions in all states except Rhode Island and Connecticut, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has removed most government functions from eight of its 14 counties. The county with the largest population, Los Angeles County, counties were among the earliest units of local government established in the Thirteen Colonies that would become the United States. Virginia created the first counties in order to ease the workload in Jamestown. Americas oldest intact county court records can be found at Eastville, Virginia, in Northampton County, maryland established its first county, St. Marys, in 1637, and Massachusetts followed in 1643. When independence came, the framers of the Constitution did not provide for local governments, rather, they left the matter to the states. Subsequently, early state constitutions generally conceptualized county government as an arm of the state, in some states, these powers are partly or mostly devolved to the counties smaller divisions usually called townships, though in New York, New England and Wisconsin they are called towns. The county may or may not be able to override its townships on certain matters, the newest county in the United States is the city and county of Broomfield, Colorado, established in 2001 as a consolidated city-county. The newest county-equivalents are the Alaskan boroughs of Skagway established in 2007, Wrangell established in 2008, there are 40 consolidated city-counties in the U. S. Similarly, some of Alaskas boroughs have merged with their principal cities creating unified city-boroughs. Some such consolidations and mergers have created cities that rank among the geographically largest cities in the world, see also, #County names, regarding Louisiana. Independent cities, These are cities that legally belong to no county, Washington, D. C. outside the jurisdiction of any state, has a special status. The city of Washington comprises the entirety of the District of Columbia, when founded in 1801, the District consisted of two counties and three cities. In 1846, Alexandria County – including the then–City of Alexandria – was given back to Virginia, in 1871, the three remaining entities – the City of Washington, Georgetown City, and Washington County – were merged into a consolidated government by an act of Congress
6.
Municipal corporation
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A municipal corporation is the legal term for a local governing body, including cities, counties, towns, townships, charter townships, villages, and boroughs. Municipal incorporation occurs when such municipalities become self-governing entities under the laws of the state or province in which they are located, often, this event is marked by the award or declaration of a municipal charter. A city charter or town charter is a document establishing a municipality such as a city or town. The concept developed in Europe during the Middle Ages and is considered to be a version of a constitution. Traditionally the granting of a charter gave a settlement and its inhabitants the right to town privileges under the feudal system, townspeople who lived in chartered towns were burghers, as opposed to serfs who lived in villages. Towns were often free, in the sense that they were protected by the king or emperor. Today the process for granting charters is determined by the type of government of the state in question, in monarchies, charters are still often a royal charter given by the Crown or the state authorities acting on behalf of the Crown. In federations, the granting of charters may be within the jurisdiction of the level of government such as a state or province. In Brazil, municipal corporations are called municípios and are created by means of legislation at the state level. All municipal corporations must also abide by a municipal law which is passed and amended at the municipal level. In Canada charters are granted by provincial authorities, in Germany, municipal corporations existed since antiquity and through medieval times, until they became out of favour during the absolutism. In order to strengthen the spirit, the city law of Prussia dated 19 November 1808 picked up this concept. It is the basis of municipal law. In India, a Municipal Corporation is a local government body. This standard varies from state to state, according to laws passed by state legislatures, the Corporation of Chennai was the first Municipal Corporation in India. It was established on 29 September 1688 by the British East India Company, the second was Hyderabad Municipal Corporation established in 1869 by the Nizam rulers of Hyderabad State. The third was the Calcutta Municipal Corporation, established in 1876, the Bombay Municipal Corporation was established in 1888 by the Bombay Municipal Corporation Act. The Delhi Municipal Council was established in 1911 during the Delhi Durbar when New Delhi was proclaimed to be the new Capital of India and it was elevated to Municipal Corporation level on 7 April 1958 by an Act of Parliament which established the Municipal Corporation of Delhi
7.
2010 United States Census
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The 2010 United States Census, is the twenty-third and currently most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the day used for the census, was April 1,2010. As part of a drive to increase the accuracy,635,000 temporary enumerators were hired. The population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed, participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25,2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves personally inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, more than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15,2010, the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was approximately 134 million on April 1,2010. The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%, from April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called non-response follow-up. In December 2010, the Census Bureau delivered population information to the president for apportionment, personally identifiable information will be available in 2082. The Census Bureau did not use a form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, the 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions, How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1,2010. Were there any additional people staying here on April 1,2010 that you did not include in Question 1, mark all that apply, Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number. What is Person 1s age and Person 1s date of birth, is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin. Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else, the form included space to repeat some or all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey. The survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years. A small percentage of the population on a basis will receive the survey each year. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced that it would count same-sex married couples, however, the final form did not contain a separate same-sex married couple option
8.
Pacific Time Zone
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The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC−7 and is based on the mean solar time of the 105th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. In the United States and Canada, this zone is generically called the Pacific Time Zone. Specifically, it uses Pacific Standard Time when observing standard time, most of Canada uses daylight saving time. In Mexico, the UTC−8 time zone is known as the Northwest Zone, the largest city in the Pacific Time Zone is Los Angeles, the citys metropolitan area is the largest in the zone. The following states or areas are part of the Pacific Time Zone, California Washington Oregon – all, except for most of Malheur County, nevada Idaho Panhandle – the northern half of Idaho, north of the Salmon River. The town of Hyder, Alaska, is officially in the Alaska Time Zone, however, most of the town observes the Pacific Time because of strong connections with nearby Stewart, British Columbia, which is in the Pacific Time Zone. The United States Post Office in Hyder strictly adheres to Alaska Time, in Canada, the Pacific Time Zone includes most of British Columbia, all of Yukon, and the townsite of Tungsten. In Mexico, the state of Baja California lies completely within the Pacific Time Zone and this does not include the state of Baja California Sur, which is south of Baja California. Through 2006, the time changed to daylight time at 02,00 LST to 03,00 LDT on the first Sunday in April. The Canadian provinces and territories that use daylight time each adopted these dates between October 2005 and February 2007, in Mexico, beginning in 2010, the portion of the country in this time zone uses the extended dates, as do some other parts. The vast majority of Mexico, however, still uses the old dates
9.
Daylight saving time
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Daylight saving time is the practice of advancing clocks during summer months by one hour so that evening daylight lasts an hour longer, while sacrificing normal sunrise times. Typically, regions that use Daylight Savings Time adjust clocks forward one hour close to the start of spring, American inventor and politician Benjamin Franklin proposed a form of daylight time in 1784. New Zealander George Hudson proposed the idea of saving in 1895. The German Empire and Austria-Hungary organized the first nationwide implementation, starting on April 30,1916, many countries have used it at various times since then, particularly since the energy crisis of the 1970s. The practice has both advocates and critics, DST clock shifts sometimes complicate timekeeping and can disrupt travel, billing, record keeping, medical devices, heavy equipment, and sleep patterns. Computer software often adjusts clocks automatically, but policy changes by various jurisdictions of DST dates, industrialized societies generally follow a clock-based schedule for daily activities that do not change throughout the course of the year. The time of day that individuals begin and end work or school, North and south of the tropics daylight lasts longer in summer and shorter in winter, with the effect becoming greater as one moves away from the tropics. However, they will have one hour of daylight at the start of each day. Supporters have also argued that DST decreases energy consumption by reducing the need for lighting and heating, DST is also of little use for locations near the equator, because these regions see only a small variation in daylight in the course of the year. After ancient times, equal-length civil hours eventually supplanted unequal, so civil time no longer varies by season, unequal hours are still used in a few traditional settings, such as some monasteries of Mount Athos and all Jewish ceremonies. This 1784 satire proposed taxing window shutters, rationing candles, and waking the public by ringing church bells, despite common misconception, Franklin did not actually propose DST, 18th-century Europe did not even keep precise schedules. However, this changed as rail transport and communication networks came to require a standardization of time unknown in Franklins day. Modern DST was first proposed by the New Zealand entomologist George Hudson, whose shift work job gave him time to collect insects. An avid golfer, he also disliked cutting short his round at dusk and his solution was to advance the clock during the summer months, a proposal he published two years later. The proposal was taken up by the Liberal Member of Parliament Robert Pearce, a select committee was set up to examine the issue, but Pearces bill did not become law, and several other bills failed in the following years. Willett lobbied for the proposal in the UK until his death in 1915, william Sword Frost, mayor of Orillia, Ontario, introduced daylight saving time in the municipality during his tenure from 1911 to 1912. Starting on April 30,1916, the German Empire and its World War I ally Austria-Hungary were the first to use DST as a way to conserve coal during wartime, Britain, most of its allies, and many European neutrals soon followed suit. Russia and a few other countries waited until the year
10.
ZIP Code
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ZIP Codes are a system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service since 1963. The term ZIP, an acronym for Zone Improvement Plan, was chosen to suggest that the travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly. The basic format consists of five numerical digits, an extended ZIP+4 code, introduced in 1983, includes the five digits of the ZIP Code, a hyphen, and four additional digits that determine a more specific location within a given ZIP Code. The term ZIP Code was originally registered as a servicemark by the U. S. Postal Service, USPS style for ZIP is all caps and the c in code is also capitalized, although style sheets for some publications use sentence case or lowercase. The early history and context of postal codes began with postal district/zone numbers, the United States Post Office Department implemented postal zones for numerous large cities in 1943. For example, Mr. John Smith 3256 Epiphenomenal Avenue Minneapolis 16, by the early 1960s a more organized system was needed, and on July 1,1963, non-mandatory five-digit ZIP Codes were introduced nationwide. Three months later, on October 1,1963, the U. S, an earlier list in June had proposed capitalized abbreviations ranging from two to five letters. The abbreviations have remained unchanged, with one exception, according to the historian of the U. S. Robert Moon, an employee of the post office, is considered the father of the ZIP Code, he submitted his proposal in 1944 while working as a postal inspector. The post office gives credit to Moon only for the first three digits of the ZIP Code, which describe the sectional center facility or sec center, an SCF is a central mail processing facility with those three digits. The SCF sorts mail to all post offices with those first three digits in their ZIP Codes, the mail is sorted according to the final two digits of the ZIP Code and sent to the corresponding post offices in the early morning. Sectional centers do not deliver mail and are not open to the public, Mail picked up at post offices is sent to their own SCF in the afternoon, where the mail is sorted overnight. The United States Post Office used a character, which it called Mr. ZIP. He was often depicted with a such as USE ZIP CODE in the selvage of panes of stamps or on labels contained in, or the covers of. In 1983, the U. S. Postal Service introduced an expanded ZIP Code system that it called ZIP+4, often called plus-four codes, add-on codes, or add ons. But initial attempts to promote use of the new format met with public resistance. For Post Office Boxes, the rule is that each box has its own ZIP+4 code. However, there is no rule, so the ZIP+4 Code must be looked up individually for each box. It is common to use add-on code 9998 for mail addressed to the postmaster,9999 for general delivery, for a unique ZIP Code, the add-on code is typically 0001
11.
North American Numbering Plan
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The North American Numbering Plan is a telephone numbering plan that encompasses 25 distinct regions in twenty countries primarily in North America, including the Caribbean and the U. S. territories. Not all North American countries participate in the NANP, each participating country forms a regulatory authority that has plenary control over local numbering resources. The FCC also serves as the U. S. regulator, Canadian numbering decisions are made by the Canadian Numbering Administration Consortium. The NANP divides the territories of its members into numbering plan areas which are encoded numerically with a telephone number prefix. Each telephone is assigned a telephone number unique only within its respective plan area. The telephone number consists of a central office code and a four-digit station number. The combination of a code and the telephone number serves as a destination routing address in the public switched telephone network. For international call routing, the NANP has been assigned the calling code 1 by the International Telecommunications Union. The North American Numbering Plan conforms with ITU Recommendation E.164, from its beginnings in 1876 and throughout the first part of the 20th century, the Bell System grew from essentially local or regional telephone systems. These systems expanded by growing their subscriber bases, as well as increasing their service areas by implementing additional local exchanges that were interconnected with tie trunks and it was the responsibility of each local administration to design telephone numbering plans that accommodated the local requirements and growth. As a result, the Bell System as a developed into an unorganized system of many differing local numbering systems. The diversity impeded the efficient operation and interconnection of exchanges into a system for long-distance telephone communication. The new numbering plan was accepted in October 1947, dividing most of North America into 86 Numbering Plan Areas. Each NPA was assigned a Numbering Plan Area code, often abbreviated as area code and these codes were first used by long-distance operators to establish long-distance calls between toll offices. The first customer-dialed direct call using area codes was made on November 10,1951, from Englewood, New Jersey, to Alameda, California. Direct distance dialing was introduced across the country and by the early 1960s most areas of the Bell System had been converted and it was commonplace in cities. In the following decades, the system expanded to all of the United States and its territories, Canada, Bermuda. By 1967,129 area codes had been assigned, mexican participation was planned, but implementation stopped after two area codes had been assigned and Mexico opted for an international numbering format, using country code 52
12.
Geographic Names Information System
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It is a type of gazetteer. GNIS was developed by the United States Geological Survey in cooperation with the United States Board on Geographic Names to promote the standardization of feature names, the database is part of a system that includes topographic map names and bibliographic references. The names of books and historic maps that confirm the feature or place name are cited, variant names, alternatives to official federal names for a feature, are also recorded. Each feature receives a permanent, unique feature record identifier, sometimes called the GNIS identifier, the database never removes an entry, except in cases of obvious duplication. The GNIS accepts proposals for new or changed names for U. S. geographical features, the general public can make proposals at the GNIS web site and can review the justifications and supporters of the proposals. The Bureau of the Census defines Census Designated Places as a subset of locations in the National Geographic Names Database, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28 gives standards for addressing mail. In this publication, the postal service defines two-letter state abbreviations, street identifiers such as boulevard and street, department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, National Mapping Division, Digital Gazeteer, Users Manual. Least Heat Moon, William, Blue Highways, A Journey Into America, standard was withdrawn in September 2008, See Federal Register Notice, Vol.73, No. 170, page 51276 Report, Principles, Policies, and Procedures, Domestic Geographic Names, U. S. Postal Service Publication 28, November 2000. Board on Geographic Names website Geographic Names Information System Proposals from the general public Meeting minutes
13.
San Francisco Peninsula
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The San Francisco Peninsula is a peninsula in the San Francisco Bay Area that separates San Francisco Bay from the Pacific Ocean. On its northern tip is the City and County of San Francisco and its southern base is in northern Santa Clara County, including the cities of Palo Alto, Mountain View and Los Altos. Whereas the term peninsula technically refers to the entire geographical San Franciscan Peninsula, in local jargon, in 1795, Governor Diego de Borica gave José Darío Argüello a Spanish land grant known as Rancho de las Pulgas. This rancho was the largest grant on the peninsula consisting of 35,260 acres, as a local geographic term, the area referred to as The Peninsula is disjoint from that denoted by The City, and refers to the portion south of San Francisco. A substantial portion of Silicon Valley is located on the peninsula, in Silicon Valley sits some of the largest tech companies in the world with the likes of Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Apple. Over the last decade or so there has been an influx of immigration into the Bay Area from places like India, there are well over 6,600 tech startups in the Valley and new ones are created every day. The east side of the peninsula is a densely populated. It forms an area between San Francisco to the north and San Jose to the south. The Caltrain commuter rail line runs parallel to the El Camino Real. The bridges in the Peninsula include the Dumbarton Bridge, the San Francisco - Oakland Bay Bridge, the San Mateo-Hayward Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge. Along the center line of the Peninsula is the half of the Santa Cruz Mountains. In the middle of the Peninsula along the fault is the Crystal Springs Reservoir, just north of the Crystal Springs reservoir is San Andreas Lake after which the famous geologic fault was originally named. The San Francisco Peninsula contains a variety of habitats including estuarine, marine, oak woodland, redwood forest, coastal scrub and oak savanna. The county is home to endangered species including the San Francisco garter snake, the Mission blue butterfly. The endangered California clapper rail is found on the shores of San Francisco Bay, in the cities of Belmont
14.
Andrew Smith Hallidie
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Andrew Smith Hallidie was the promoter of the Clay Street Hill Railroad in San Francisco, USA. He also introduced the manufacture of rope to California. Andrew Smith Hallidie was born Andrew Smith, later adopting the name Hallidie in honor of his uncle and his birthplace is variously quoted as London in the United Kingdom. His father, Andrew Smith, had born in Fleming, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in 1798. The younger Smith was initially apprenticed to a shop and drawing office. In 1852 both father and son set sail for California, where the father had an interest in gold mines in Mariposa County. These proved disappointing, and the returned to England in 1853. The son, however, remained in California, and became a gold miner whilst also working as a blacksmith, surveyor and builder of bridges. In 1856, whilst working on the construction of a flume at a mine at American Bar and these ropes were wearing out in 75 days. Hallidie improvised machinery to make a replacement wire rope, which lasted two years, and in the process began wire rope manufacture in California, Hallidie abandoned mining in 1857 and returned to San Francisco. Under the name of A. S. Hallidie & Co. he commenced the manufacture of rope in a building at Mason and Chestnut Streets. Hallidie was also involved in bridge building. During 1861-2, he constructed bridges across the Klamath River at Weitchpeck, at Nevada City, across the American River at Folsom, and across the Bear, Trinity, Stanislaus, and Tuolumne rivers. In 1863 he built a bridge across the Fraser River,10 miles upstream of Yale at Alexandra in British Columbia, also in 1863, Hallidie married Martha Elizabeth Woods. In 1864, he became a United States citizen, in 1865, he gave up bridge building in order to devote himself entirely to his wire rope manufacturing business, which was experiencing increased demand from the silver mines on the Comstock Lode. Accounts differ as to exactly how involved Hallidie was in the inception of the Clay Street Hill Railway, one version has him taking over the promotion of the line when the original promoter, Benjamin Brooks, failed to raise the necessary capital. In another version, Hallidie was the instigator, inspired by a desire to reduce the suffering incurred by the horses that hauled streetcars up Jackson Street, there is also doubt as to when exactly the first run of the cable car occurred. The engineer of the Clay Street line was William Eppelsheimer, however, given Hallidies previous experience of cables and cable haulage systems, it seems unlikely that he did not contribute to the design of the system
15.
Wire rope
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Wire rope is rope made from wire. It consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a helix, initially wrought iron wires were used, but today steel is the main material used for wire ropes. Historically wire rope evolved from wrought iron chains, which had a record of mechanical failure. While flaws in chain links or solid steel bars can lead to catastrophic failure, friction between the individual wires and strands, as a consequence of their twist, further compensates for any flaws. Wire ropes were developed starting with mining hoist applications in the 1830s, Wire ropes are used dynamically for lifting and hoisting in cranes and elevators, and for transmission of mechanical power. Wire rope is used to transmit force in mechanisms, such as a Bowden cable or the control surfaces of an airplane connected to levers. Also, aircraft cables are available in smaller diameters than wire rope, for example, aircraft cables are available in 3/64 in. Diameter while most wire ropes begin at a 1/4 in, static wire ropes are used to support structures such as suspension bridges or as guy wires to support towers. An aerial tramway relies on wire rope to support and move cargo overhead, modern wire rope was invented by the German mining engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining in the Harz Mountains in Clausthal, Lower Saxony, Germany. It was quickly accepted because it proved superior to ropes made of hemp or to metal chains, Wilhelm Alberts first ropes consisted of three strands consisting of four wires each. In 1840, Scotsman Robert Stirling Newall improved the process further, the decades were witness to a burgeoning increase in deep shaft mining in both Europe and North America as surface mineral deposits were exhausted and miner had to chase layers along inclined layers. To drive their first shafts into lower slopes beginning Lansford and its Schuylkill County twin-town Coaldale, the German engineering firm of Adolf Bleichert & Co. was founded in 1874 and began to build bicable aerial tramways for mining in the Ruhr Valley. Adolf Bleichert & Co. went on to hundreds of aerial tramways around the world, from Alaska to Argentina, Australia. The Bleichert company also built hundreds of aerial tramways for both the Imperial German Army and the Wehrmacht, in the last half of the 19th century, wire rope systems were used as a means of transmitting mechanical power including for the new cable cars. Wire rope systems cost one-tenth as much and had lower friction losses than line shafts, because of these advantages, wire rope systems were used to transmit power for a distance of a few miles or kilometers. In America wire rope was later manufactured by John A. Roebling, forming the basis for his success in suspension bridge building, Roebling introduced a number of innovations in the design, materials and manufacture of wire rope. Steel wires for wire ropes are made of non-alloy carbon steel with a carbon content of 0.4 to 0. 95%. The very high strength of the wires enables wire ropes to support large tensile forces
16.
Aerial tramway
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An aerial tramway, sky tram, cable car, ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip of an aerial tramway cabin is fixed onto the propulsion rope, as such, careful phrasing is necessary to prevent confusion. It is also called a ropeway or even incorrectly referred to as a gondola lift. A gondola lift has cabins suspended from a continuously circulating cable whereas aerial trams simply shuttle back, in Japan, the two are considered as the same category of vehicle and called ropeway, while the term cable car means Cable car and funicular. An aerial railway where the vehicles are suspended from a track is known as a suspension railway. An aerial tramway consists of one or two fixed cables, one loop of cable, and a number of passenger cabins, the fixed cables provide support for the cabins while the haulage rope, by means of a grip, is solidly connected to the truck. An electric motor drives the haulage rope which provides propulsion, Aerial tramways differ from gondola lifts in that gondola lifts are considered continuous systems. A similar system of cables is used in a funicular railway, the two passenger cabins, which carry from 4 to over 150 people, are situated at opposite ends of the loops of cable. Thus, while one is coming up, the other is going down the mountain, some aerial trams have only one cabin, which lends itself better for systems with small elevation changes along the cable run. The first operational aerial tram was built in 1644 by Adam Wiebe in Gdańsk and it was moved by horses and used to move soil over the river to build defences. It is called the first known cable lift in European history and it is not known how long this lift was used. In any case, it would be another 230 years before Germany would get the cable lift. Other mining systems were developed in the 1860s by Hodgson, Hallidie went on to perfect a line of mining and people tramways after 1867 in California and Nevada. Tramways are sometimes used in regions to carry ore from a mine located high on the mountain to an ore mill located at a lower elevation. Ore tramways were common in the early 20th century at the mines in North and South America, one can still be seen in the San Juan Mountains of the US state of Colorado. Over one thousand mining tramways were built around the world—Spitsbergen, Russia, Alaska, Argentina, New Zealand and this experience was replicated with the use of tramways in the First World War particularly on the Isonzo Front in Italy. The German firm of Bleichert built hundreds of freight and military tramways, strangely, Bleichert even built the first tourist tramway at Bolzano/Bozen, in then Tyrolian Austria in 1913. Other firms entered the mining tramway business- Otto, Leschen, Breco Ropeways Ltd, ceretti and Tanfani, and Riblet for instance
17.
Crystal Springs Reservoir
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The lakes are part of the San Mateo Creek watershed. The Laguna Grande place name is shown on the 1840s diseño del Rancho Cañada de Raymundo. Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir now covers the town of Crystal Springs which grew up around a resort town of the same name. The two Crystal Springs lakes and San Andreas Lake used to be known as Spring Valley Lakes for the Spring Valley Water Company which owned them, the Spring Valley Water Company named the lakes, the Spring Valley Lakes, after the company. The original Spring Valley was between Mason and Taylor Streets, and Washington and Broadway Streets in San Francisco, where the company started. When the company went south for more water, the Spring Valley name was carried south too, the entire reservoir consists of two different reservoir lakes. The southern lake, Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir, was formed when a tributary, Laguna Creek, the causeway is now crossed by Highway 92. Laguna Creek flows north through the Filoli estate and has tributaries that descend from the slope of Edgewood County Park. The northern reservoir, Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, is fed by San Mateo Creek and it also receives water from Upper Crystal Springs Reservoir via tunnels beneath Highway 92. Below Crystal Springs Dam, lower San Mateo Creek receives limited flows from Lower Crystal Springs Reservoir, in 1924, culverts were built through Upper Crystal Springs Dam to hydraulically link Upper and Lower Crystal Springs Reservoirs. There are giant rainbow trout and bass in the lake, due to decisions by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, Crystal Springs Reservoir is not open to public. A considerable biodiversity of flora and fauna exist in the vicinity of the reservoir, a pair of Bald eagles built a nest in a Coast Douglas-fir in March 2012. This is the first bald eagle nest in San Mateo County since 1915, although initially unsuccessful, they have returned to their nest in the northwest corner of the Lower Reservoir. In 2013, they successfully mated and the fledgling flew North after leaving the nest
18.
Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve
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It is used by students, researchers, and docents to conduct biology research, and teach the community about the importance of that research. The preserve encompasses Jasper Ridge and Searsville Lake and the reaches of San Francisquito Creek, along with the latters Corte Madera Creek. The hilly mass runs about ten kilometers from northwest to southeast, serpentine is the California State Rock. It was formed from sea or mantle rocks. This rock was squeezed toward the surface by tectonic plate movement, graywacke Sandstone after crossing Leonards Bridge. This sandstone was part of the Franciscan formation 138 M years ago, some rocks found at the preserve include, Greenstone, Chert, Serpentinite, Sandstone. In 1922, Cooper asserted that Jasper Ridge was historically chaparral, however much of the grassland has been replaced by various oaks, especially Coast Live Oak, and Pacific Madrone. More recently, the oak/madrone forest is being succeeded by specimens of large Douglas fir as in the image above. In addition there are groves of second growth Coast Redwoods in the preserve. Numerous academic studies and ecological experiments are conducted at Jasper Ridge and this project studies and tracks the Argentine ants, an invasive species. A station near the lake monitors bats at night, by converting and recording bat sounds, Organization of Biological Field Stations Official Jasper Ridge website Organization of Biological Field Stations
19.
Santa Cruz Mountains
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The Santa Cruz Mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are a mountain range in central and northern California, United States. The range passes through San Mateo, Santa Clara and Santa Cruz counties, the highest point in the range is Loma Prieta Peak 3,786 feet, near which is the epicenter of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Other major peaks include Mount Umunhum 3,486 feet, Mount Bielawski 3,231 feet, El Sombroso 2,999 feet, Eagle Rock 2,488 feet, Black Mountain 2,800 feet, and Sierra Morena 2,417 feet. The San Andreas Fault runs along or near the line throughout the range. The east side of the mountains drops abruptly towards this fault line especially near Woodside, for much of the length of the range on the San Francisco Peninsula, State Route 35 runs along its ridge, and is known as Skyline Boulevard. The Santa Cruz Mountains have been a legally defined American Viticultural Area since 1981, wine has been produced here since at least the 1840s. The Santa Cruz Mountain AVA has emerged as premier producer of top wines, there are over 30 wineries located in this area. The Santa Cruz Mountains are largely the result of uplift caused by a leftward bend of the San Andreas Fault. The Salinian Block basement rocks are overlain by Miocene rock strata of the Lompico Sandstone, the Vaqueros Sandstone, the Santa Cruz Mountains are a region of large biological diversity, encompassing cool, moist coastal ecosystems as well as warm, dry chaparral. Much of the area in the Santa Cruz mountains is considered temperate rainforest, there do exist several small and isolated stands of old-growth forest, most notably at Henry Cowell Redwoods and Portola Redwoods State Parks and one sizeable old-growth redwood forest at Big Basin. At higher elevations and on sunny south slopes a more drought-resistant chaparral vegetation dominates, manzanita, California scrub oak, chamise, spring wildflowers are also widespread throughout the range. The area welcomes a number of species of birds. Black-tailed deer, a subspecies of deer are common, as are western gray squirrels, chipmunks. Periodic sightings of black bears indicate they frequent the mountains or wander north from Big Sur, foxes, coyotes, bobcats, cougars and human-introduced Virginia opossums also inhabit the region but are rarely seen. Rattlesnakes are also inhabitants, mostly in the high, dry chaparral, the Santa Cruz Mountains have a Mediterranean type climate typical of most of California, with the majority of the annual precipitation falling between November and April. According to the National Weather Service, this more than 50 inches annually. Due to a shadow effect, precipitation on the eastern side of the range is significantly less. Snow falls a few times a year on the highest ridges, no temperature records were kept at these stations
20.
Interstate 280 (California)
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Interstate 280 is a 57-mile long north–south Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It connects San Jose and San Francisco, running along just to the west of the cities of San Francisco Peninsula for most of its route. I-280 from its terminus at U. S.101. One of the signs still indicates that the Junipero Serra Freeway is known as the Worlds Most Beautiful Freeway due to its scenic route through the San Francisco Peninsula. From State Route 1 to the James Lick Freeway in San Francisco it is called the John F Foran Freeway, but is more commonly referred to by its original name. And from the James Lick Freeway to its end at King Street and Fifth Street. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System, I-280 is one of two 3-digit Interstate designations to appear on opposite coasts of the United States. I-110 in California and Florida is the other designation. The southern end of Interstate 280 begins at U. S.101 in San Jose, the segment of the Junipero Serra Freeway between Cupertino and Daly City has been called the Worlds Most Beautiful Freeway since its dedication in the 1960s. Through much of this segment, the freeway is actually running just inside the rim of the rift valley of the San Andreas Fault. For nearly all of its length, Interstate 280 runs roughly parallel, both freeways are north–south routes connecting San Jose with San Francisco, however, unlike I-280, the route that U. S.101 takes between the two cities goes entirely through urbanized areas. The majority of the population of the San Francisco Peninsula lives somewhere between Interstate 280 and U. S.101, I-280 never intersects with Interstate 80, its parent interstate. The northern terminus of I-280 is within about a mile of I-80s western terminus, although San Francisco has had several opportunities to connect I-280 to I-80, it has chosen to use the money for other purposes. Connecting the two freeways is considered to be politically and financially infeasible at this time, due to the citys strong anti-freeway stance. Instead, 280s northernmost extension primarily functions as a spur into Downtown San Francisco, Most of I-280, in San Jose to Daly City, is designated as the Junipero Serra Freeway in honor of Spanish missionary Junípero Serra, who founded many of Californias missions in the 18th century. The section of I-280 between the James Lick Freeway and its end at 6th and King Streets is called the Southern-Embarcadero Freeway. Major intersections include U. S.101 and State Route 1 in San Francisco, Interstate 380 in San Bruno, State Route 92 in San Mateo, and I-880 and I-680 and U. S. in San Jose. The Junipero Serra Freeway is the name of Interstate 280 from SR1 in San Francisco to SR17, as named by Assembly Concurrent Resolution 140, Chapter 208 in 1967
21.
California State Route 35
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State Route 35 in the U. S. It also provides views of the Silicon Valley Metropolitan Area. It was originally designated State Route 5, but this was changed with the creation of Interstate 5 in 1964 and this route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. However, only the portion from the Santa Cruz-Santa Clara County line to the SR92 junction is actually a scenic highway. The highway begins at the junction of Summit Road and State Route 17. It bears the name Skyline Boulevard for a majority of its route along the ridge of the Santa Cruz Mountains to the west of Silicon Valley, passing cities such as San Jose, Saratoga, and Palo Alto. The southern portion of the road, starting at Highway 17 and ending at Black Road, is mostly a narrow, from Black Road going north the road has been upgraded. The road reaches its highest elevation near Sanborn Skyline County Park at about 3,000 ft, the ridge that the road follows forms the border between Santa Cruz and Santa Clara counties. However, the boundary is so irregular that the road weaves in, Highway 35 is co-routed with SR92 for 2 miles east, descending towards Crystal Springs Reservoir, which it crosses on a causeway, and then joins Interstate 280 northbound for 6 miles. However, on the side, Route 35 exists as a separate road to the west of the freeway between Bunker Hill Dr. and Route 92, as there is no connector road between 280 South and 92 West. Route 35 departs from 280 at the end of San Bruno, running to the west of the freeway, regaining the ridgetop separating South San Francisco. Because of its views and winding roadway, Skyline Boulevard. Many sports cars and motorcycles can be found congregating near the intersections with State Route 9 and State Route 84, mountain bikers are also commonly found at the many trailheads along the road. Numerous hiking trails originate from parking lots off Skyline in these open spaces. Whenever there is snow on the higher elevations, many people take their families up to see and play in the snow. For most of the route, State Route 35 offers vistas of both Silicon Valleys skyline, and also the Pacific Ocean, among the bayside streams are San Francisquito Creek, Redwood Creek, and San Bruno Creek. As old highway maps show, State Route 35 was originally designated State Route 5, the number was changed in the 1964 renumbering. The original state route 35 was located in southern California and ran north to south from State Route 22 to U. S.99, the highway continued west on Centralia Road and then north along Pioneer Blvd. until hitting San Antonio drive at Rosecrans Ave
22.
Windy Hill Open Space Preserve
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Windy Hill Open Space Preserve is a regional park located in San Mateo County, California and operated by the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District. It is readily identifiable from the flatlands of the South Bay, access to the summit is easy from State Route 35, the ridge road along the Peninsula Range. Facilities focus on trails for hiking and mountain biking, with around 14 miles of hiking trails, downtown San Francisco is visible, as well as the Pacific Ocean. Most of Windy Hill is sheltered from the weather, which comes in off of the Pacific Ocean. A nice day further down can be cold, windy. The area is rich in wildlife, among the likely to be seen are California mule deer, coyote, California vole, white-tailed kite, American kestrel, band-tailed pigeon. There are signs warning about mountain lions, but bobcats are more common, rattlesnakes and gopher snakes may also be found. Banana slugs and, in season, California newts are common, spring Ridge Trail runs from the Portola Valley trailhead to Skyline Boulevard through the open, grassy part of the preserve. It, like most of the trails, is a fire road, open to cyclists as well as hikers. Two trails further to the south, are not open to cyclists. These trails run through forested country, oak, fir, buckeye, bay laurel, because the far shore rises so steeply, Sausal Pond appears to be black or murky green, rather than sky-blue. This marshy pond is home to a few coots and the mallard, to dragonflies. Shoreline access is limited to not more than one or two hundred feet, much of that surrounded by bush and accessible only to the determined, MROSD official website about Windy Hill Windy Hill at Bay Area Hiker Summitpost - Windy Hill
23.
Woodside, California
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Woodside is a small incorporated town in San Mateo County, California, United States, on the San Francisco Peninsula. It has a system of government. The population of the town was 5,287 at the 2010 census, Woodside is home to many horses and is among the wealthiest communities in the United States. The median household income in the town is $212,917, the Woodside area was originally home to natives belonging to the Ohlone tribe. In 1769, led by Gaspar de Portolá, Spanish explorers searching for San Francisco Bay camped at a site near Woodside, Woodside is located on the Rancho Cañada de Raymundo Mexican Land grant. Woodside is said to be the oldest English-speaking settlement in the part of the San Francisco Peninsula. The first English-speaking settlers arrived in the early 19th century to log the rich stands of redwoods, charles Brown constructed the first sawmill in Woodside on his Mountain Home Ranch around 1838. His adobe house, built in 1839, still stands today, by mid-century, the Woodside area had a dozen mills producing building materials for a booming San Francisco. In 1849, during the California Gold Rush, 20-year-old Mathias Alfred Parkhurst purchased 127 acres of timberland and named it “Woodside, of course, by the late 19th century, Woodside was home to country estates. The Sequoia Redwood trees in Woodside are currently 3 generation growth, the first generation of the Redwood trees were used to build San Francisco original homes. After the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the returned to Woodside to cut the second growth of redwood so they could be used for the rebuilding of San Francisco. In 1909, the Family, a club, set up camp facilities and rustic buildings in Woodside at the Family Farm. Gatherings at the Family Farm include an annual Farm Play, written, in 1912, the Family pooled funds to build Our Lady of the Wayside Church in Portola Valley, designed by 19-year-old Timothy L. Pflueger, his first commission. The historic building was repaired at a cost of US$600,000 after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, Woodside was incorporated in 1956 to prevent urbanization, and it still retains a rural residential character, though it is a short commute to Silicon Valley. Today, Woodside is among the wealthiest small towns in the United States, outside of the business district are the Stillheart Institute educational event center, Skywood Trading Post and the Mountain Terrace event center. Horses are part of the local culture, numerous residents keep horses, and the town government maintains a network of horse trails. Some residents homes are even considered farms, the town is also popular among local cyclists and draws them in large numbers on weekends. The most popular road cycling routes include Old La Honda Road, Kings Mountain Road, Cañada Road, Southgate Drive, Skyline Boulevard, the Tour of California bicycle race includes several roads along and adjacent to CA-84 and Skyline Boulevard
24.
Palo Alto, California
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Palo Alto is a charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area of the United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley and it is named after a coast redwood tree called El Palo Alto. Palo Alto was established by Leland Stanford Sr. when he founded Stanford University, following the death of his son and it has also served as an incubator to several other high-technology companies such as Google, Facebook, Logitech, Intuit, Pinterest, and PayPal. As of the 2010 census, the total resident population is 64,403. Palo Alto is one of the most expensive cities in the United States, the recorded history of Palo Alto dates back to 1769, when Gaspar de Portolá noted an Ohlone settlement. This remains an area of known Indian mounds, a plaque at Middlefield Road and Embarcadero Road commemorates the area. The city got its name from a tall coast redwood tree, named El Palo Alto, a plaque there recounts the story of the Portolà expedition, a 63-man, 200-horse expedition from San Diego to Monterey from November 7–11,1769. The group overshot Monterey in the fog and when they reached modern-day Pacifica, they ascended Sweeney Ridge, thinking the bay was too wide to cross, the group retraced their journey to Monterey, never becoming aware of the Golden Gate entrance to the Bay. Located south of the San Francisquito Creek, west of todays I-280, in 1835, Rafael Soto and family settled near the San Francisquito Creek near Newell and Middlefield, selling goods to travelers. Rafael Soto died in 1839, but his wife, Maria Antonia Mesa, was granted Rancho Rinconada del Arroyo de San Francisquito in 1841, in 1839, their daughter María Luisa Soto married John Coppinger, who was the grantee of Rancho Cañada de Raymundo. Rancho Cañada de Raymundo was West of San Francisquito Creek, and began at Alambique Creek, the border of Rancho Corte de Madera. Bear Gulch Creek flowed on his land in Portola Valley, the rancho also abutted Buelnas grant near Skyline Boulevard and Matadero Creek. Upon Coppingers death, Maria inherited it and later married a visiting boat captain, Greer owned a home on the site that is now Town & Country Village on Embarcadero and El Camino Real. Greer Avenue and Court are named for him, to the west of Rafael Soto, near El Camino and following the Creek, was Rancho San Francisquito granted in 1839 to Antonio Buelna and wife Maria Concepcion. To the south of the Sotos, the brothers Secundino and Teodoro Robles in 1849 bought Rancho Rincon de San Francisquito from José Peña, where the Joness house was, then east down Arastradero Rd. to the north property line of Alta Mesa Memorial Park and Terman Park. The property then went along the bay to the Embarcadero, a boundary in the day, then up to the Stanford University gates, up Galvez. The grant was bounded on the south by Mariano Castros Rancho Pastoria de las Borregas grant across San Antonio Road, thats the Robles Rancho, about 80% of Palo Alto and Stanford University. It was whittled down by 1863 through courts to 6,981 acres, stories say their grand hacienda was built on the former meager adobe of José Peña near Ferne off San Antonio Road, midway between Middlefield and Alma Street
25.
Ladera, California
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Ladera is a census-designated place located in southern San Mateo County, California adjacent to Portola Valley. Primarily a residential community, it comprises approximately 520 homes, the ZIP Code is 94028 and the community is inside area code 650. The population was 1,426 at the 2010 census, Ladera is located at the bottom of the eastern slope of the Peninsula Range of the Santa Cruz Mountains. It is bordered on the west by the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve operated by Stanford University, on the east by Alpine Road, according to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP covers an area of 0.4 square miles, all of it land. The community of Ladera occupies land that was settled by the Ramaytush Ohlones peoples prior to the settlement of California by the Spanish. Ladera is located on the Rancho Corte de Madera Mexican land grant, the land was used for grazing and timber through 1927 when it was joined to the Ormondale Ranch, owned by the Macdonough family. The Macdonoughs raised cattle and sheep, and bred racehorses, their most famous horse, Ormonde, raced primarily in England, in the 1930s, the majority of the Ormondale Ranch land was developed and incorporated into Portola Valley. In 1944, the Peninsula Housing Association was formed with the goal of purchasing a tract land, several prominent members of the Stanford and Palo Alto communities joined to develop the fledgling PHA co-op. It began subscribing members in 1945 and its 150 members purchased the remaining 260 acres of the former Ormondale ranch for $155,000 on July 31,1946, the co-op selected noted landscape architect Garrett Eckbo to lay out the design for the new community. The members chose the name Ladera to reflect the Spanish history of the land — ladera is Spanish for hillside, streets are Spanish phrases or botanical names. Early members of the cooperative included author Wallace Stegner and Klystron tube inventor Sigurd Varian of Varian Associates, due to financial difficulties caused in part by refusal to place restrictive covenants on the title deeds, the PHA failed after only a few houses had been constructed. The land was sold to Hare, Brewer, and Kelley, the 2010 United States Census reported that Ladera had a population of 1,426. The population density was 3,221.9 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Ladera was 1,269 White,3 African American,1 Native American,98 Asian,0 Pacific Islander,5 from other races, hispanic or Latino of any race were 33 persons. The Census reported that 1,426 people lived in households,0 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, there were 10 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 7 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 86 households were made up of individuals and 53 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older, the average household size was 2.72. There were 422 families, the family size was 3.05. The median age was 46.0 years, for every 100 females there were 94.5 males
26.
San Andreas Fault
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The San Andreas Fault is a continental transform fault that extends roughly 800 miles through California. It forms the boundary between the Pacific Plate and the North American Plate, and its motion is right-lateral strike-slip. The fault was first identified in 1895 by Professor Andrew Lawson of UC Berkeley and it is often described as having been named after San Andreas Lake, a small body of water that was formed in a valley between the two plates. However, according to some of his reports from 1895 and 1908, following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, Lawson concluded that the fault extended all the way into southern California. In 1953, geologist Thomas Dibblee astounded the scientific establishment with his conclusion that hundreds of miles of lateral movement could occur along the fault. A project called the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth near Parkfield, Monterey County, is drilling into the fault to improve prediction and this is the approximate location of the epicenter of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. The fault returns onshore at Bolinas Lagoon just north of Stinson Beach in Marin County, from Fort Ross the northern segment continues overland, forming in part a linear valley through which the Gualala River flows. It goes back offshore at Point Arena, after that, it runs underwater along the coast until it nears Cape Mendocino, where it begins to bend to the west, terminating at the Mendocino Triple Junction. The central segment of the San Andreas fault runs in a direction from Parkfield to Hollister. The southern segment begins near Bombay Beach, California, box Canyon, near the Salton Sea, contains upturned strata associated with that section of the fault. The fault then runs along the base of the San Bernardino Mountains, crosses through the Cajon Pass. These mountains are a result of movement along the San Andreas Fault and are called the Transverse Range. In Palmdale, a portion of the fault is easily examined at a roadcut for the Antelope Valley Freeway, the fault continues northwest alongside the Elizabeth Lake Road to the town of Elizabeth Lake. As it passes the towns of Gorman, Tejon Pass and Frazier Park and this restraining bend is thought to be where the fault locks up in Southern California, with an earthquake-recurrence interval of roughly 140–160 years. Northwest of Frazier Park, the runs through the Carrizo Plain. The Elkhorn Scarp defines the fault trace along much of its length within the plain, the southern segment, which stretches from Parkfield in Monterey County all the way to the Salton Sea, is capable of an 8. 1-magnitude earthquake. At its closest, this fault passes about 35 miles to the northeast of Los Angeles. Such a large earthquake on this segment would kill thousands of people in Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, and surrounding areas
27.
United States Census Bureau
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The United States Census Bureau is a principal agency of the U. S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureaus primary mission is conducting the U. S. Census every ten years, in addition to the decennial census, the Census Bureau continually conducts dozens of other censuses and surveys, including the American Community Survey, the U. S. Economic Census, and the Current Population Survey, furthermore, economic and foreign trade indicators released by the federal government typically contain data produced by the Census Bureau. The Bureaus various censuses and surveys help allocate over $400 billion in federal funds every year and help states, local communities, the Census Bureau is part of the U. S. Department of Commerce and its director is appointed by the President of the United States. The Census Bureau now conducts a population count every 10 years in years ending with a 0. Between censuses, the Census Bureau makes population estimates and projections, the Census Bureau is mandated with fulfilling these obligations, the collecting of statistics about the nation, its people, and economy. The Census Bureaus legal authority is codified in Title 13 of the United States Code, the Census Bureau also conducts surveys on behalf of various federal government and local government agencies on topics such as employment, crime, health, consumer expenditures, and housing. Within the bureau, these are known as surveys and are conducted perpetually between and during decennial population counts. The Census Bureau also conducts surveys of manufacturing, retail, service. Between 1790 and 1840, the census was taken by marshals of the judicial districts, the Census Act of 1840 established a central office which became known as the Census Office. Several acts followed that revised and authorized new censuses, typically at the 10-year intervals, in 1902, the temporary Census Office was moved under the Department of Interior, and in 1903 it was renamed the Census Bureau under the new Department of Commerce and Labor. The department was intended to consolidate overlapping statistical agencies, but Census Bureau officials were hindered by their role in the department. An act in 1920 changed the date and authorized manufacturing censuses every 2 years, in 1929, a bill was passed mandating the House of Representatives be reapportioned based on the results of the 1930 Census. In 1954, various acts were codified into Title 13 of the US Code, by law, the Census Bureau must count everyone and submit state population totals to the U. S. President by December 31 of any year ending in a zero. States within the Union receive the results in the spring of the following year, the United States Census Bureau defines four statistical regions, with nine divisions. The Census Bureau regions are widely used. for data collection, the Census Bureau definition is pervasive. Title 13 of the U. S. Code establishes penalties for the disclosure of this information, all Census employees must sign an affidavit of non-disclosure prior to employment. The Bureau cannot share responses, addresses or personal information with anyone including United States or foreign government, only after 72 years does the information collected become available to other agencies or the general public
28.
Our Lady of the Wayside Church
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The building itself was constructed of steel-reinforced concrete with stucco finish in the Mission Revival style, with the added Georgian element of the main doorway with its scrolled pediment. Mission Revival features include the tiled roof with exposed rafter ends, round-arched windows. James Rupert Miller, an architect and a member of The Family, gave the assignment of designing the church to a rising young draftsman at his firm, the building was 19-year-old Pfluegers first commission. Pflueger drew on his familiarity with Mission San Francisco de Asís in his native San Francisco for inspiration, in 1977, a plaque was placed proclaiming the building as California Registered Historical Landmark number 909. The church was added to the National Register of Historical Places in 1977. The historic church suffered damage in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Instead, it was repaired by its congregation at a cost of US$600,000, gallery of monochrome images taken in 1975 Photograph of the plaque proclaiming California Registered Historical Landmark No.909
29.
James Graham Fair
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James Graham Fair was an Irish immigrant to the United States who became a highly successful mining engineer and businessman. His investments in mines in Nevada made him a millionaire. Fair later became a real estate investor and railroad builder in California, in 1881, he was elected a United States Senator from Nevada. Born to a poor Irish family in Clogher, County Tyrone, James Fair came with his father to the United States in 1843 and grew up on a farm in Illinois. There he received an education in business before moving to California in 1850. His attention shifted to Nevada, where he operated a mill on the Carson River. He became superintendent of the Hale and Norcross Mine in Virginia City and he formed a partnership with three fellow Irishmen, John William Mackay, and the San Francisco saloon owners James C. The company was formally Flood and OBrien, but popularly known as the Bonanza Firm, the four made large fortunes in shares in silver mines on the Comstock Lode, the first major silver district discovered in the United States. In twenty years time the Comstock Lode produced over one hundred million dollars, Fair invested his portion in railroads and real estate, bringing his private fortune up to $50 million. Although Fair was acknowledged to be a mine superintendent and a shrewd businessman, he was not well liked. He invested much of his income from the Comstock in railroads, in 1876, in partnership with several others, Fair established the narrow-gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad. Some six hundred Chinese workers were employed in clearing, grading, laying track, in that last activity, thirty-one workers lost their lives, primarily from explosions of underground natural gas. At its southern end, the tracks connected with the already-operational Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad in Felton, the line over the mountains was completed in May 1880. Fair was elected by the Nevada legislature to the U. S. Senate in 1881 and he was not much interested in Washington, where he promoted silver issues in the Senate at a time when a movement was afoot to demonetize silver. Fair only served one term due to his defeat in the 1886 election, following the end of his term, he moved back to San Francisco. In 1861, Fair married Theresa Rooney, who had been keeping a boarding house and she divorced him in 1883 on grounds of habitual adultery and brought up their four children on her own, with a very considerable settlement. In 1890, his eldest daughter Tessie was married to Hermann Oelrichs of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping lines in the grandest wedding that San Francisco had seen, Fair remained in his hotel suite without an invitation. He gave her a million dollars as a wedding gift nevertheless, Fair is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Colma, California
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Fairmont Hotels and Resorts
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Fairmont Hotels & Resorts is a Canadian operator of luxury hotels and resorts. Many of these hotels were built by the Canadian Pacific Railway. The first hotel to bear the Fairmont name is located in the city of San Francisco, the nearly completed structure survived the earthquake of 1906. Although heavily damaged by the subsequent fires, the hotel was renovated under the eye of architect Julia Morgan and it was later acquired by Benjamin Swig in 1945. Starting in the 1960s, Fairmont began developing a chain of luxury hotels in major cities across the United States. After purchasing Fairmont in 1999, Canadian Pacific Limited split into five companies in a 2001 starburst move designed to increase the valuations of its individual divisions. The former Canadian Pacific Hotels division took on the name of the much smaller Fairmont chain to reflect the new focus of the new company. In 2004, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts Inc. paid $70 million to take control of the management company that runs its properties. Fairmont completed the acquisition of the 16.5 per cent stake in the Fairmont management company from U. S. -based Maritz Wolff & Co. for about $70 million. The management company partnership stemmed from a deal that saw Fairmonts predecessor company, Canadian Pacific Hotels and that transaction led, in 2001, to the creation and IPO of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, a Toronto-based owner of luxury hotel properties. The new hotel management company created was 67 per cent owned by Fairmont, Kingdom disposed of its stake the partnership in return for Fairmont parent stock in 2002, leaving Maritz Wolff as the remaining partner. Two months later, the U. S. company triggered an option under the original deal that created the management company. In October 2005, Fairmont dipped to a low of $35. 53–37 cents lower than its closing price on its debut in August 2001. In early 2006, after a bidding war started by investor Carl Icahn. Icahn lost the bid and Fairmont agreed to be sold for $3.9 billion USD, to Colony Capital, LLC and Saudi Arabias Kingdom Hotels International. At the time of the purchase, FRHI also owned Canadas Delta Hotels & Resorts, however, Delta was sold on 2 October 2007 to bcIMC, the British Columbia Investment Management Corporation. In October 2008, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was named one of Canadas Top 100 Employers by Mediacorp Canada Inc. and was featured in Macleans newsmagazine, later that month, it was also named one of Greater Torontos Top Employers, which was announced by the Toronto Star newspaper. In April 2010, Kingdom Hotels sold part of its stake in Raffles Holdings International in a deal worth about $847 million, to a group of investors, including an affiliate of Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund
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Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District
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Formed in 1972 by voter initiative, the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District is a non-enterprise special district in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has acquired and preserved a regional green belt of open land and provides opportunities for ecologically-sensitive public enjoyment. The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District has permanently preserved over 62,000 acres of mountainous, foothill, of the Districts 26 preserves,24 are open to the public free of charge,365 days a year from dawn until one-half hour after sunset. The Districts tax and voter base consists of about 550 square miles and 741,000 people, mostly in Santa Clara, District revenues for fiscal year 2012-2013 were $33 million, with $30.3 million coming directly from a portion of property taxes. The District also occasionally receives state and federal grants, as well as private donations, most of the preserves are open to recreation. Popular activities are hiking, cycling, and horseback riding, camping is generally prohibited, though the Monte Bello Open Space Preserve does have a backpacking camp available by permit only. In total, the District has 226 mi of hiking trails, of which 150 mi is open to bicycles,182 mi to equestrians, preserves are relatively undeveloped, with most having only a parking area, trail signs, and possibly an outhouse. All preserves are open dawn to one-half hour after sunset. Berkeley, Heyday Books ISBN 978-1-59714-199-4 Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District openspace. org Home Page Information on District Preserve
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1970 United States Census
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Microdata from the 1970 census are freely available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files and these data were originally created and disseminated by DUALabs. Personally identifiable information will be available in 2042, california took over as the most populous state, New York had previously been ranked number one. While the entire country increased to more than 204 million persons, four states lost population with West Virginia leading the list, down 8, historic US Census data 1971 U. S Census Report, with estimated 1970 Census results 1970 Census of Population
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1980 United States Census
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Approximately 16 percent of households received a long form of the 1980 census, which contained over 100 questions. Full documentation on the 1980 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Microdata from the 1980 census are available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2052. Between the 1980 census and the 1990 census, the United States population increased by approximately 22,164,837 or 9. 8%, historic US Census data 1981 U. S Census Report Contains 1980 Census results
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1990 United States Census
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Approximately 16 percent of households received a long form of the 1990 census, which contained over 100 questions. Full documentation on the 1990 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. It was the first census to designate Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander as a group separate from Asians. To increase black participation in the 1990 United States Census, the bureau recruited Bill Cosby, Magic Johnson, Alfre Woodard, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2062. The results of the 1990 census determined the number of seats that each state receives in the United States House of Representatives starting with the 1992 elections, consequently, this affected the number of votes each state has in the Electoral College for the 1992 presidential election. Because of population changes, twenty-one states had changes in their number of seats, eight states gained at least one seat, and thirteen states lost at least one seat. The final result involved 19 seats being switched
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2000 United States Census
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This was the twenty-second federal census and was at the time the largest civilly administered peacetime effort in the United States. Approximately 16 percent of households received a form of the 2000 census. Full documentation on the 2000 census, including forms and a procedural history, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Microdata from the 2000 census is available through the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series. Aggregate data for small areas, together with electronic boundary files, personally identifiable information will be available in 2072. The U. S. resident population includes the number of people in the 50 states. The Bureau also enumerated the residents of the U. S. territory of Puerto Rico, its population was 3,808,610, the 2000 Census was the first time survey options for multiracial Americans were provided. S. Households had access to computers, 42% have Internet access, regionally, the South and West experienced the bulk of the nations population increase,14,790,890 and 10,411,850, respectively. This meant that the center of U. S. population moved to Phelps County. The Northeast grew by 2,785,149, the Midwest by 4,724,144, the results of the census are used to determine how many congressional districts each state is apportioned. Congress defines the formula, in accordance with Title 2 of the U. S. Code, each member of the House represents a population of about 647,000. The populations of the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico are excluded from the apportionment population because they do not have voting seats in the U. S, since the first census in 1790, the decennial count has been the basis for the United States representative form of government. Article I, Section II specifies that The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, in 1790, each member of the House represented about 34,000 residents. Since then, the House more than quadrupled in size, today, each member represents about 20 times as many constituents. This recommendation was followed by the Secretary of Commerce, after the census was tabulated, Utah challenged the results in two different ways. Utah was extremely close to gaining a fourth seat, falling 857 people short. The margin was later shortened to 80 people, after the government discovered that it overcounted the population of North Carolina by 2,673 residents. Utah claimed that individuals traveling abroad as religious missionaries should be counted as residents, almost half of all Mormon missionaries, more than 11,000 individuals, were from Utah, only 102 came from North Carolina
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