Rogers Centre named SkyDome, is a multi-purpose stadium in Downtown Toronto, situated just southwest of the CN Tower near the northern shore of Lake Ontario. Opened in 1989 on the former Railway Lands, it is home to the Toronto Blue Jays of Major League Baseball; the stadium was home to the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League and the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association. The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League played an annual game at the stadium as part of the Bills Toronto Series from 2008 to 2013. While it is a sports venue, it hosts other large events such as conventions, trade fairs, travelling carnivals, monster truck shows; the stadium was renamed "Rogers Centre" following the 2005 purchase of the stadium by Rogers Communications, which owns the Toronto Blue Jays. The venue was noted for being the first stadium to have a retractable motorized roof, as well as for the 348-room hotel attached to it with 70 rooms overlooking the field, it is the last North American major-league stadium built to accommodate both football and baseball.

The stadium served as the site of both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 Pan American Games. The stadium was designed by architect Rod Robbie and structural engineer Michael Allen and was constructed by the EllisDon Construction company of London and the Dominion Bridge Company of Lachine, Quebec; the stadium's construction lasted about two and a half years, from October 1986 to May 1989. The approximate cost of construction was C$570 million, paid for by the federal government, Ontario provincial government, the City of Toronto, a large consortium of corporations; the main impetus for building an enclosed sports venue in Toronto came following the Grey Cup game in November 1982, held at the outdoor Exhibition Stadium. The game was played in a driving rainstorm that left most of the crowd drenched, leading the media to call it "the Rain Bowl"; as many of the seats were exposed to the elements, thousands watched the game from the concession section. To make a bad experience worse, the washrooms overflowed.

In attendance that day was Bill Davis, the Premier of Ontario, the poor conditions were seen by the largest TV audience in Canada to that point. The following day, at a rally for the Argos at Toronto City Hall, tens of thousands of people who attended the game began to chant, "We want a dome! We want a dome!"Seven months in June 1983, Davis formally announced a three-person committee would look into the feasibility of building a domed stadium at Exhibition Place. The committee consisted of Paul Godfrey, Larry Grossman and former Ontario Hydro chairman Hugh Macaulay; the committee examined various projects, including a large indoor stadium at Exhibition Place with an air-supported dome, similar to BC Place in Vancouver. In 1985, an international design competition was launched to design a new stadium, along with selection of a site; some of the proposed sites included Exhibition Place, Downsview Airport, York University. The final site was at the base of the CN Tower not far from Union Station, a major railway and transit hub.

The Railway Lands were a major Canadian National Railway rail switching yard encompassing the CNR Spadina Roundhouse. The Robbie/Allen concept won because it provided the largest roof opening of all the finalists, it was the most technically sound; the name "SkyDome" was chosen as part of a province-wide "name the stadium" contest in 1987. Sponsored by the Toronto Sun, ballots were offered for people to submit their suggested name, with lifetime seats behind home plate to all events at the stadium as the prize. Over 150,000 entries were received with 12,897 different names; the selection committee narrowed it down to four choices: "Towerdome", "Harbourdome", "SkyDome", "the Dome". The judges' final selection was SkyDome. Premier David Peterson drew the prize-winning entry of Kellie Watson from a lottery barrel containing the over-2,000 entries that proposed "SkyDome". At the press conference announcing the name, Chuck Magwood, president of the Stadium Corporation of Ontario, the crown corporation created to run SkyDome, commented: "The sky is a huge part of the whole roof process.

The name has a sense of the infinite and that's what this is all about." Kellie Watson received lifetime seating of choice at SkyDome, still honoured after the stadium renamed to Rogers Centre. The stadium was funded by a public/private partnership, with the government paying the largest percentage of the tab; the initial cost of $150 million was underestimated, with the final tab coming in at C$570 million. Two levels of government each contributed $30 million; this does not include the actual value of the land. Canada's three main breweries and the Toronto Blue Jays each paid $5 million to help fund the stadium. An additional 26 other Canadian corporations contributed $5 million, for which they received one of the 161 Skyboxes with four parking spaces and a 99-year exclusive option on stadium a

A crossmember is a structural section, transverse to the main structure. In the automotive industry, the term refers to a component of steel boxed, bolted across the underside of a monocoque / unibody motor vehicle, to support the internal combustion engine and / or transmission. For the suspension of any car to operate as it should, for proper handling, to keep the body panels in alignment, the frame has to be strong enough to cope with the loads applied to it, it must not deflect, it has to have enough torsional strength to resist twisting. A "K" member is a crossmember in a vehicle with a longitudinally-mounted engine, contains the engine mounts.cross member of frame is I section. An "X" crossmember can be found on the frames of vintage. Although it used more substantial rails than a Model T, the Model A frame was still just a simple "ladder" design. Unlike the'32 frame, which had a K-member, and'33 to'48 frames, which were equipped with a substantial X-member, the A-frame was only fitted with front and rear crossmembers

In 1864 the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition explored areas of the Colony of Vancouver Island that were unknown outside the capital of Victoria and settlements in Nanaimo and the Cowichan Valley. The expedition went as far north as the Comox Valley over four and one half months during the summer and fall of 1864; the result was the discovery of gold in one location leading to a minor gold rush, the discovery of coal in the Comox Valley, an historical record of contact with the existing native population, the naming of many geographic features and a series of sketches recording images of the time. The need for exploration of unsettled areas of Vancouver Island had been the subject of comment in the colonial press in the early 1860s but it was not until the new Governor, Arthur Edward Kennedy arrived in March 1864 that the project had a sponsor. In April 1864 he announced that the government would contribute two dollars for every dollar contributed by the public. From his arrival in Victoria in May 1863, Robert Brown had been working in the colony as a seed collector for the British Columbia Botanical Society of Edinburgh on a meagre income.

He had explored the Alberni Inlet including Great Central Lake. He named some of the surrounding geographic features for his sponsors. Between May 28 and July 8 he explored from Barkley Sound to Nootka Island. After returning to Victoria, he crossed the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Port Townsend, Port Angeles and Whidbey Island and went as far as Seattle. In September 1863 he travelled to Lilloett and New Westminster followed by a return trip to Port Alberni where he established the length of Great Central Lake. Although his seed collection disappointed his sponsors, the experience and the reputation he earned in Victoria was recognized on June 1, 1864 when he was appointed as commander of the Vancouver Island Exploring Expedition. Brown considered his mission to report on the topography, soil and resources however his sponsors were more interested in whether gold would be found; the group he assembled included Frederick Whymper who produced a series of drawings of the scenes observed during the expedition.

Two members of the disbanded Royal Engineers, Peter John Leech, second in command and John Meade were part of the group. There were Henry Thomas Lewis and Alexander Barnston. John Buttle, John Foley and Ranald MacDonald made up the rest. Following the resignation of John Foley, the VIEE Committee on July 30 decided that "two efficient miners" should be appointed as replacements. On August 30 Richard Drew and William Hooper were engaged, they added the son of an Iroquois voyageur at their first stop in Cowichan. MacDonald was the oldest of the group at 40. Brown, the commander, was 22. After arriving in Cowichan aboard HMS Grappler, the group proceeded up the Cowichan River and the length of Cowichan Lake where they divided into two groups. One, led by Leech, was to travel from the south side of the lake to Port San Juan; the other, led by Brown, followed the Nitinat River to the west coast to meet the Leech party at Port San Juan for fresh supplies which were to be brought in by boat from Victoria.

Brown returned by boat to Victoria leaving Leech to lead the remaining group temporarily. While Brown was away, the group found gold at. On August 1, the group continued. Brown went on to Nanaimo by boat to Comox and from there across the island to Alberni. While in the Comox Valley, Brown discovered coal. Members of expedition insisted that Browns River be named after him at the location where coal was found. Leech's group took a more difficult route across the island; the two groups met in Alberni in September. After exploring in that area, they crossed the island to the Qualicum River and travelled by canoe to Nanaimo to board the Grappler. From there, they returned to Victoria where they arrived, as local celebrities, on October 21. Brown described the settlers he found in the Cowichan Valley and Comox areas, who had arrived to pre-empt land under the Vancouver Island Land Proclamation of September 1862. Unlike some other observers, Brown described the residents as ill-suited to life as farmers, having come as a result of the Gold Rush.

He described the few settlers present as unenthusiastic and living in poverty. What was described as a first class trail between Nanaimo and Comox had been completed in May 1863 but Joseph Despard Pemberton had scrapped the idea of turning the trail into a road because the Colony of Vancouver Island could not afford the $70,000 it was expected to cost; as a result, the road from Victoria was completed only as far as Chemainus. When Brown explored up the island in August 1864, he found the trail blocked by windfalls and washouts, although he did find one bridge remaining at the Qualicum River; the motivation for support of the expedition was to find gold and promote Victoria, whose growth had stopped after the 1858 gold rush ended. Some gold had been found at the Goldstream River in 1863, the expedition found some at Leechtown; the expedition performed mapping and collected information on the mineral and agricultural potential of the island. Brown's journals include a collection of native myths and legends and one of the earliest accounts of a potlach ceremony.

Russian-American telegraph Adam Grant Horne Vancouver Island: Exploration, 1864