Streamliner
A streamliner is a vehicle incorporating streamlining in a shape providing reduced air resistance. The term is applied to high-speed railway trainsets of the 1930s to 1950s, to their successor "bullet trains". Less the term is applied to faired recumbent bicycles; as part of the Streamline Moderne trend, the term was applied to passenger cars and other types of light-, medium-, or heavy-duty vehicles, but now vehicle streamlining is so prevalent that it is not an outstanding characteristic. In land speed racing, it is a term applied to the long, custom built, high-speed vehicles with enclosed wheels; the first high-speed streamliner in Germany was the "Schienenzeppelin", an experimental propeller driven single car, built 1930. On 21 June 1931, it set a speed record of 230.2 km/h on a run between Hamburg. In 1932 the propeller was removed and a hydraulic system installed; the Schienenzeppelin made 180 km/h in 1933. The Schienenzeppelin led to the construction of the diesel-electric DRG Class SVT 877 "Flying Hamburger".
This two-car train set had a top speed of 160 km/h. During regular service starting on 15 May 1933, this train ran the 286 kilometres between Hamburg and Berlin in 138 minutes with an average speed of 124.4 km/h. The SVT 877 was the prototype for the DRG Class SVT 137, first built in 1935 for use in the FDt express train service. During test drives, the SVT 137 "Bauart Leipzig" set a world speed record of 205 km/h in 1936; the fastest regular service with SVT 137 was between Hannover and Hamm with an average speed of 132.2 km/h. This service lasted until 22 August 1939. In 1935 Henschel & Son, a major manufacturer of steam locomotives, introduced the 4-6-4 DRG Class 05 high speed streamliner locomotives for use on the Deutsche Reichsbahn Frankfurt am Main to Berlin route. Three examples were built during 1935-36. Built for top speeds of over 85 mph, they soon proved much faster in test runs. DRG 05-002 made seven runs during 1935-36 during which it attained top speeds of more than 177 km/h with trains up to 254 t weight.
On 11 May 1936 it set the world speed record for steam locomotives after reaching 200.4 km/h on the Berlin–Hamburg line hauling a 197 t train. The engine power was more than 2,535 kW ); that record was broken two years by the British LNER Class A4 4468 Mallard engine. On 30 May 1936 05-002 set an unbroken start stop speed record for steam locomotives: During the return run from a 190 km/h test on the Berlin-Hamburg route it did the ~113 kilometres from Wittenberg to a signal stop before Berlin-Spandau in 48 min 32 s, meaning 139.4 km/h average between start and stop. In the United Kingdom, development of streamlined passenger services began in 1934, with the Great Western Railway introducing low-speed streamlined railcars, the London and North Eastern Railway introducing the "Silver Jubilee" service using streamlined A4 class steam locomotives and full length trains rather than railcars. In 1938 on a test run, the locomotive Mallard built for this service set the official record for the highest top speed attained by a steam locomotive, reaching 126 mph.
That record stands to this day. The London Midland and Scottish Railway introduced streamline locomotives of the Princess Coronation Class shortly before the outbreak of war; the Ferrovie dello Stato developed a three-unit electric streamliner. The development started in 1934; these trains went into service in 1937. On 6 December 1937, an ETR 200 made a top speed of 201 km/h between Campoleone and Cisterna on the run Rome-Naples. In 1939 the ETR 212 made 203 km/h; the 219-kilometre journeys from Bologna to Milan were made in 77 minutes, meaning an average of 171 km/h. In the Netherlands, Nederlandse Spoorwegen introduced the Materieel 34, a three unit 140 km/h streamlined diesel-electric trainset in 1934. An electric version, Materieel 36, went into service in 1936. From 1940 the "Dieselvijf", a 160 km/h top speed five unit diesel-electric trainset based on DE3, completed the Dutch streamliner fleet. During test runs, a DE5 ran 175 km/h; that year the similar electric Materieel 40 were first built.
In the 1930s, NS developed a streamlined version of the class 3700/3800 steam locomotive, nicknamed "potvis". In Czechoslovakia in 1934, Czechoslovak State Railways ordered two motor railcars with maximum speed 130 km/h; the order was received by Tatra company, producing first streamlined mass-produced automobile Tatra 77 in that time. The railcar project received streamlined design. Both ČSD Class M 290.0 were delivered in 1936 with desired 130 km/h maximum speed, although during test runs one car reached 148 km/h mark. They were run on Czechoslovak prominent route Prague-Bratislava under Slovenská strela brand; the earliest known streamlined rail equipment in the United States were McKeen rail motorcars built for Union Pacific and Southern Pacific between 1905 and 1917. Most of them sported a pointed "wind splitter" front, a rounded rear, round porthole style windows in a style, as much nautically as aerodynamically inspired; the McKeen cars were unsuccessful because internal combustion drive technology for that application was unreliable at the time and the lightweight frames dictated by their limited power tended to break.
Streamlined rail motorcars would appear again in the early 1930s after the internal combustion-electric prop
Florida
Florida is the southernmost contiguous state in the United States. The state is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the south by the Straits of Florida. Florida is the 22nd-most extensive, the 3rd-most populous, the 8th-most densely populated of the U. S. states. Jacksonville is the most populous municipality in the state and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States; the Miami metropolitan area is Florida's most populous urban area. Tallahassee is the state's capital. Florida's $1.0 trillion economy is the fourth largest in the United States. If it were a country, Florida would be the 16th largest economy in the world, the 58th most populous as of 2018. In 2017, Florida's per capita personal income was ranking 26th in the nation; the unemployment rate in September 2018 was 3.5% and ranked as the 18th in the United States. Florida exports nearly $55 billion in goods made in the 8th highest among all states.
The Miami Metropolitan Area is by far the largest urban economy in Florida and the 12th largest in the United States with a GDP of $344.9 billion as of 2017. This is more than twice the number of the next metro area, the Tampa Bay Area, which has a GDP of $145.3 billion. Florida is home to 51 of the world's billionaires with most of them residing in South Florida; the first European contact was made in 1513 by Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León, who called it la Florida upon landing there in the Easter season, known in Spanish as Pascua Florida. Florida was a challenge for the European colonial powers before it gained statehood in the United States in 1845, it was a principal location of the Seminole Wars against the Native Americans, racial segregation after the American Civil War. Today, Florida is distinctive for its large Cuban expatriate community and high population growth, as well as for its increasing environmental issues; the state's economy relies on tourism and transportation, which developed in the late 19th century.
Florida is renowned for amusement parks, orange crops, winter vegetables, the Kennedy Space Center, as a popular destination for retirees. Florida is the flattest state in the United States. Lake Okeechobee is the largest freshwater lake in the U. S. state of Florida. Florida's close proximity to the ocean influences many aspects of daily life. Florida is a reflection of multiple inheritance. Florida has attracted many writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, continues to attract celebrities and athletes, it is internationally known for golf, auto racing, water sports. Several beaches in Florida have emerald-colored coastal waters. About two-thirds of Florida occupies a peninsula between the Gulf of the Atlantic Ocean. Florida has the longest coastline in the contiguous United States 1,350 miles, not including the contribution of the many barrier islands. Florida has a total of 4,510 islands; this is the second-highest number of islands of any state of the United States.
It is the only state that borders both the Gulf of the Atlantic Ocean. Much of the state is characterized by sedimentary soil. Florida has the lowest high point of any U. S. state. The climate varies from subtropical in the north to tropical in the south; the American alligator, American crocodile, American flamingo, Roseate spoonbill, Florida panther, bottlenose dolphin, manatee can be found in Everglades National Park in the southern part of the state. Along with Hawaii, Florida is one of only two states that has a tropical climate, is the only continental state with either a tropical climate or a coral reef; the Florida Reef is the only living coral barrier reef in the continental United States, the third-largest coral barrier reef system in the world. By the 16th century, the earliest time for which there is a historical record, major Native American groups included the Apalachee of the Florida Panhandle, the Timucua of northern and central Florida, the Ais of the central Atlantic coast, the Tocobaga of the Tampa Bay area, the Calusa of southwest Florida and the Tequesta of the southeastern coast.
Florida was the first region of the continental United States to be visited and settled by Europeans. The earliest known European explorers came with the Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León. Ponce de León spotted and landed on the peninsula on April 2, 1513, he named the region Florida. The story that he was searching for the Fountain of Youth is mythical and only appeared long after his death. In May 1539, Conquistador Hernando de Soto skirted the coast of Florida, searching for a deep harbor to land, he described seeing a thick wall of red mangroves spread mile after mile, some reaching as high as 70 feet, with intertwined and elevated roots making landing difficult. The Spanish introduced Christianity, horses, the Castilian language, more to Florida. Spain established several settlements with varying degrees of success. In 1559, Don Tristán de Luna y Arellano established a settlement at present-day Pensacola, making it the first attempted settlement in Florida, but it was abandoned by 1561.
In 1565, the settlement of St. Augustine was established under the leadership of admiral and
Oklahoma City
Oklahoma City shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U. S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, the city ranks 27th among United States cities in population; the population grew following the 2010 Census, with the population estimated to have increased to 643,648 as of July 2017. As of 2015, the Oklahoma City metropolitan area had a population of 1,358,452, the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical Area had a population of 1,459,758 residents, making it Oklahoma's largest metropolitan area. Oklahoma City's city limits extend into Canadian and Pottawatomie counties, though much of those areas outside the core Oklahoma County area are suburban or rural; the city ranks as the ninth-largest city in the United States by total area when including consolidated city-counties. Lying in the Great Plains region, Oklahoma City has one of the world's largest livestock markets. Oil, natural gas, petroleum products and related industries are the largest sector of the local economy.
The city is in the middle of an active oil field and oil derricks dot the capitol grounds. The federal government employs large numbers of workers at Tinker Air Force Base and the United States Department of Transportation's Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center. Oklahoma City is on the I-35 Corridor, one of the primary travel corridors south into neighboring Texas and Mexico and north towards Wichita and Kansas City. Located in the state's Frontier Country region, the city's northeast section lies in an ecological region known as the Cross Timbers; the city was founded during the Land Run of 1889 and grew to a population of over 10,000 within hours of its founding. The city was the scene of the April 19, 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in which 168 people died, it was the deadliest terror attack in the history of the United States until the attacks of September 11, 2001, remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U. S. history. Since the time weather records have been kept, Oklahoma City has been struck by thirteen strong tornadoes.
Since 2008, Oklahoma City has been home to the National Basketball Association's Oklahoma City Thunder, who play their home basketball games at the Chesapeake Energy Arena. Oklahoma City was settled on April 22, 1889, when the area known as the "Unassigned Lands" was opened for settlement in an event known as "The Land Run"; some 10,000 homesteaders settled the area. The town grew quickly. Early leaders of the development of the city included Anton Classen, John Shartel, Henry Overholser and James W. Maney. By the time Oklahoma was admitted to the Union in 1907, Oklahoma City had surpassed Guthrie, the territorial capital, as the new state's population center and commercial hub. Soon after, the capital was moved from Guthrie to Oklahoma City. Oklahoma City was a major stop on Route 66 during the early part of the 20th century. Before World War II, Oklahoma City developed major stockyards, attracting jobs and revenue in Chicago and Omaha, Nebraska. With the 1928 discovery of oil within the city limits, Oklahoma City became a major center of oil production.
Post-war growth accompanied the construction of the Interstate Highway System, which made Oklahoma City a major interchange as the convergence of I-35, I-40, I-44. It was aided by federal development of Tinker Air Force Base. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 8.6 % 90.7 % white. Patience Latting was elected Mayor of Oklahoma City in 1971. Latting was the first woman to serve as mayor of a U. S. city with over 350,000 residents. Like many other American cities, center city population declined in the 1970s and 1980s as families followed newly constructed highways to move to newer housing in nearby suburbs. Urban renewal projects in the 1970s, including the Pei Plan, removed older structures but failed to spark much new development, leaving the city dotted with vacant lots used for parking. A notable exception was the city's construction of the Myriad Gardens and Crystal Bridge, a botanical garden and modernistic conservatory in the heart of downtown. Architecturally significant historic buildings lost to clearances were the Criterion Theater, the Baum Building, the Hales Building, the Biltmore Hotel.
In 1993, the city passed a massive redevelopment package known as the Metropolitan Area Projects, intended to rebuild the city's core with civic projects to establish more activities and life to downtown. The city added a new baseball park. Water taxis transport passengers within the district, adding activity along the canal. MAPS has become one of the most successful public-private partnerships undertaken in the U. S. exceeding $3 billion in private investment as of 2010. As a result of MAPS, the population living in downtown housing has exponentially increased, together with demand for additional residential and retail amenities, such as grocery and shops. Since the MAPS projects' completion, the downtown area has seen continued
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state in the southern region of the United States, home to over 3 million people as of 2018. Its name is of Siouan derivation from the language of the Osage denoting their related kin, the Quapaw Indians; the state's diverse geography ranges from the mountainous regions of the Ozark and the Ouachita Mountains, which make up the U. S. Interior Highlands, to the densely forested land in the south known as the Arkansas Timberlands, to the eastern lowlands along the Mississippi River and the Arkansas Delta. Arkansas is the 33rd most populous of the 50 United States; the capital and most populous city is Little Rock, located in the central portion of the state, a hub for transportation, business and government. The northwestern corner of the state, such as the Fayetteville–Springdale–Rogers Metropolitan Area and Fort Smith metropolitan area, is a population and economic center; the largest city in the state's eastern part is Jonesboro. The largest city in the state's southeastern part is Pine Bluff.
The Territory of Arkansas was admitted to the Union as the 25th state on June 15, 1836. In 1861, Arkansas withdrew from the United States and joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War. On returning to the Union in 1868, the state continued to suffer due to its earlier reliance on slavery and the plantation economy, causing the state to fall behind economically and socially. White rural interests continued to dominate the state's politics until the civil rights movement. Arkansas began to diversify its economy following World War II and relies on its service industry, poultry, tourism and rice; the culture of Arkansas is observable in museums, novels, television shows and athletic venues across the state. People such as politician and educational advocate William Fulbright; the name Arkansas was applied to the Arkansas River and derives from a French term, the plural term for Quapaws, a Dhegiha Siouan-speaking Native American people who settled in Arkansas around the 13th century.
This comes from an Algonquian term, /akansa/, for the Quapaws, is also the root term for Kansas. The name has been spelled in a variety of fashions. In 1881, the pronunciation of Arkansas with the final "s" being silent was made official by an act of the state legislature after a dispute arose between Arkansas's two U. S. senators as one favored the pronunciation as AR-kən-saw while the other favored ar-KAN-zəs. In 2007, the state legislature passed a non-binding resolution declaring that the possessive form of the state's name is Arkansas's, followed by the state government. Arkansas borders Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, Oklahoma to the west, Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east; the United States Census Bureau classifies Arkansas as a southern state, sub-categorized among the West South Central States. The Mississippi River forms most of Arkansas's eastern border, except in Clay and Greene, counties where the St. Francis River forms the western boundary of the Missouri Bootheel, in many places where the channel of the Mississippi has meandered from its original 1836 course.
Arkansas can be split into two halves, the highlands in the northwest half and the lowlands of the southeastern half. The highlands are part of the Southern Interior Highlands, including The Ozarks and the Ouachita Mountains; the southern lowlands include the Arkansas Delta. This dual split can yield to general regions named northwest, northeast, southeast, or central Arkansas; these directionally named regions are broad and not defined along county lines. Arkansas has seven distinct natural regions: the Ozark Mountains, Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas River Valley, Gulf Coastal Plain, Crowley's Ridge, the Arkansas Delta, with Central Arkansas sometimes included as a blend of multiple regions; the southeastern part of Arkansas along the Mississippi Alluvial Plain is sometimes called the Arkansas Delta. This region is a flat landscape of rich alluvial soils formed by repeated flooding of the adjacent Mississippi. Farther away from the river, in the southeast portion of the state, the Grand Prairie consists of a more undulating landscape.
Both are fertile agricultural areas. The Delta region is bisected by a geological formation known as Crowley's Ridge. A narrow band of rolling hills, Crowley's Ridge rises from 250 to 500 feet above the surrounding alluvial plain and underlies many of the major towns of eastern Arkansas. Northwest Arkansas is part of the Ozark Plateau including the Ozark Mountains, to the south are the Ouachita Mountains, these regions are divided by the Arkansas River; these mountain ranges are part of the U. S. Interior Highlands region, the only major mountainous region between the Rocky Mountains and the Appalachian Mountains; the highest point in the state is Mount Magazine in the Ouachita Mountains, which rises to 2,753 feet above sea level. Arkansas has many rivers and reservoirs within or along its borders. Major tributaries of the Mississippi River include the Arkansas River, the White River, the St. Francis River; the Arkansas is fed by the Mulberry River and the Fou
St. Louis
St. Louis is an independent city and major inland port in the U. S. state of Missouri. It is situated along the western bank of the Mississippi River, which marks Missouri's border with Illinois; the Missouri River merges with the Mississippi River just north of the city. These two rivers combined form the fourth longest river system in the world; the city had an estimated 2017 population of 308,626 and is the cultural and economic center of the St. Louis metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in Missouri, the second-largest in Illinois, the 22nd-largest in the United States. Before European settlement, the area was a regional center of Native American Mississippian culture; the city of St. Louis was founded in 1764 by French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau, named after Louis IX of France. In 1764, following France's defeat in the Seven Years' War, the area was ceded to Spain and retroceded back to France in 1800. In 1803, the United States acquired the territory as part of the Louisiana Purchase.
During the 19th century, St. Louis became a major port on the Mississippi River, it separated from St. Louis County in 1877, becoming an independent city and limiting its own political boundaries. In 1904, it hosted the Summer Olympics; the economy of metropolitan St. Louis relies on service, trade, transportation of goods, tourism, its metro area is home to major corporations, including Anheuser-Busch, Express Scripts, Boeing Defense, Energizer, Enterprise, Peabody Energy, Post Holdings, Edward Jones, Go Jet and Sigma-Aldrich. Nine of the ten Fortune 500 companies based in Missouri are located within the St. Louis metropolitan area; this city has become known for its growing medical and research presence due to institutions such as Washington University in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish Hospital. St. Louis has two professional sports teams: the St. Louis Cardinals of Major League Baseball and the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League. One of the city's iconic sights is the 630-foot tall Gateway Arch in the downtown area.
The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture, which built numerous temple and residential earthwork mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River, their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 to 1500. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as the "Mound City"; these mounds were demolished during the city's development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included the Siouan-speaking Osage people, whose territory extended west, the Illiniwek. European exploration of the area was first recorded in 1673, when French explorers Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette traveled through the Mississippi River valley. Five years La Salle claimed the region for France as part of La Louisiane; the earliest European settlements in the area were built in Illinois Country on the east side of the Mississippi River during the 1690s and early 1700s at Cahokia and Fort de Chartres. Migrants from the French villages on the opposite side of the Mississippi River founded Ste.
Genevieve in the 1730s. In early 1764, after France lost the 7 Years' War, Pierre Laclède and his stepson Auguste Chouteau founded what was to become the city of St. Louis; the early French families built the city's economy on the fur trade with the Osage, as well as with more distant tribes along the Missouri River. The Chouteau brothers gained a monopoly from Spain on the fur trade with Santa Fe. French colonists used African slaves as domestic workers in the city. France, alarmed that Britain would demand French possessions west of the Mississippi and the Missouri River basin after the losing New France to them in 1759–60, transferred these to Spain as part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain; these areas remained in Spanish possession until 1803. In 1780 during the American Revolutionary War, St. Louis was attacked by British forces Native American allies, in the Battle of St. Louis; the founding of St. Louis began in 1763. Pierre Laclede led an expedition to set up a fur-trading post farther up the Mississippi River.
Before Laclede had been a successful merchant. For this reason, he and his trading partner Gilbert Antoine de St. Maxent were offered monopolies for six years of the fur trading in that area. Although they were only granted rights to set-up a trading post and other members of his expedition set up a settlement; some historians believe that Laclede's determination to create this settlement was the result of his affair with a married woman Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau in New Orleans. Laclede on his initial expedition was accompanied by Auguste Chouteau; some historians still debate. The reason for this lingering question is that all the documentation of the founding was loaned and subsequently destroyed in a fire. For the first few years of St. Louis's existence, the city was not recognized by any of the governments. Although thought to be under the control of the Spanish government, no one asserted any authority over the settlement, thus St. Louis had no local government; this led Laclede to assume a position of civil control, all problems were disposed i
Alabama
Alabama is a state in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Mississippi to the west. Alabama is the 30th largest by area and the 24th-most populous of the U. S. states. With a total of 1,500 miles of inland waterways, Alabama has among the most of any state. Alabama is nicknamed the Yellowhammer State, after the state bird. Alabama is known as the "Heart of Dixie" and the "Cotton State"; the state tree is the longleaf pine, the state flower is the camellia. Alabama's capital is Montgomery; the largest city by population is Birmingham. The oldest city is Mobile, founded by French colonists in 1702 as the capital of French Louisiana. From the American Civil War until World War II, like many states in the southern U. S. suffered economic hardship, in part because of its continued dependence on agriculture. Similar to other former slave states, Alabamian legislators employed Jim Crow laws to disenfranchise and otherwise discriminate against African Americans from the end of the Reconstruction Era up until at least the 1970s.
Despite the growth of major industries and urban centers, white rural interests dominated the state legislature from 1901 to the 1960s. During this time, urban interests and African Americans were markedly under-represented. Following World War II, Alabama grew as the state's economy changed from one based on agriculture to one with diversified interests; the state's economy in the 21st century is based on management, finance, aerospace, mineral extraction, education and technology. The European-American naming of the Alabama River and state was derived from the Alabama people, a Muskogean-speaking tribe whose members lived just below the confluence of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers on the upper reaches of the river. In the Alabama language, the word for a person of Alabama lineage is Albaamo; the suggestion that "Alabama" was borrowed from the Choctaw language is unlikely. The word's spelling varies among historical sources; the first usage appears in three accounts of the Hernando de Soto expedition of 1540: Garcilaso de la Vega used Alibamo, while the Knight of Elvas and Rodrigo Ranjel wrote Alibamu and Limamu in transliterations of the term.
As early as 1702, the French called the tribe the Alibamon, with French maps identifying the river as Rivière des Alibamons. Other spellings of the name have included Alibamu, Albama, Alibama, Alabamu, Allibamou. Sources disagree on the word's meaning; some scholars suggest the word comes from amo. The meaning may have been "clearers of the thicket" or "herb gatherers", referring to clearing land for cultivation or collecting medicinal plants; the state has numerous place names of Native American origin. However, there are no correspondingly similar words in the Alabama language. An 1842 article in the Jacksonville Republican proposed it meant "Here We Rest." This notion was popularized in the 1850s through the writings of Alexander Beaufort Meek. Experts in the Muskogean languages have not found any evidence to support such a translation. Indigenous peoples of varying cultures lived in the area for thousands of years before the advent of European colonization. Trade with the northeastern tribes by the Ohio River began during the Burial Mound Period and continued until European contact.
The agrarian Mississippian culture covered most of the state from 1000 to 1600 AD, with one of its major centers built at what is now the Moundville Archaeological Site in Moundville, Alabama. This is the second-largest complex of the classic Middle Mississippian era, after Cahokia in present-day Illinois, the center of the culture. Analysis of artifacts from archaeological excavations at Moundville were the basis of scholars' formulating the characteristics of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex. Contrary to popular belief, the SECC appears to have no direct links to Mesoamerican culture, but developed independently; the Ceremonial Complex represents a major component of the religion of the Mississippian peoples. Among the historical tribes of Native American people living in present-day Alabama at the time of European contact were the Cherokee, an Iroquoian language people. While part of the same large language family, the Muskogee tribes developed distinct cultures and languages. With exploration in the 16th century, the Spanish were the first Europeans to reach Alabama.
The expedition of Hernando de Soto passed through Mabila and other parts of the state in 1540. More than 160 years the French founded the region's first European settlement at Old Mobile in 1702; the city was moved to the current site of Mobile in 1711. This area was claimed by the French from 1702 to 1763 as part of La Louisiane. After the French lost to the British in the Seven Years' War, it became part of British West Florida from 1763 to 1783. After the United States victory in the American Revolutionary War, the territory was divided between the United States and Spain; the latter retained control of this western territory from 1783 until the surrender of the Spanish garrison at Mobile to U. S. forces on April 13, 1813. Thomas Bassett, a loyalist to the British monarchy during the Revolutionary era, was one of the earliest white settlers in the state
Track gauge
In rail transport, track gauge or track gage is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a rail network must have running gear, compatible with the track gauge, in the earliest days of railways the selection of a proposed railway's gauge was a key issue; as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still used as a descriptor of a route or network. In some places there is a distinction between the nominal gauge and the actual gauge, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, this device is referred to as a track gauge; the terms structure gauge and loading gauge, both used, have little connection with track gauge. Both refer to two-dimensional cross-section profiles, surrounding the track and vehicles running on it; the structure gauge specifies the outline into which altered structures must not encroach.
The loading gauge is the corresponding envelope within which rail vehicles and their loads must be contained. If an exceptional load or a new type of vehicle is being assessed to run, it is required to conform to the route's loading gauge. Conformance ensures. In the earliest days of railways, single wagons were manhandled on timber rails always in connection with mineral extraction, within a mine or quarry leading from it. Guidance was not at first provided except by human muscle power, but a number of methods of guiding the wagons were employed; the spacing between the rails had to be compatible with that of the wagon wheels. The timber rails wore rapidly. In some localities, the plates were made L-shaped, with the vertical part of the L guiding the wheels; as the guidance of the wagons was improved, short strings of wagons could be connected and pulled by horses, the track could be extended from the immediate vicinity of the mine or quarry to a navigable waterway. The wagons were built to a consistent pattern and the track would be made to suit the wagons: the gauge was more critical.
The Penydarren Tramroad of 1802 in South Wales, a plateway, spaced these at 4 ft 4 in over the outside of the upstands. The Penydarren Tramroad carried the first journey by a locomotive, in 1804, it was successful for the locomotive, but unsuccessful for the track: the plates were not strong enough to carry its weight. A considerable progressive step was made. Edge rails required a close match between rail spacing and the configuration of the wheelsets, the importance of the gauge was reinforced. Railways were still seen as local concerns: there was no appreciation of a future connection to other lines, selection of the track gauge was still a pragmatic decision based on local requirements and prejudices, determined by existing local designs of vehicles. Thus, the Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway in the West of Scotland used 4 ft 6 in; the Arbroath and Forfar Railway opened in 1838 with a gauge of 5 ft 6 in, the Ulster Railway of 1839 used 6 ft 2 in Locomotives were being developed in the first decades of the 19th century.
His designs were so successful that they became the standard, when the Stockton and Darlington Railway was opened in 1825, it used his locomotives, with the same gauge as the Killingworth line, 4 ft 8 in. The Stockton and Darlington line was immensely successful, when the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, the first intercity line, was built, it used the same gauge, it was hugely successful, the gauge, became the automatic choice: "standard gauge". The Liverpool and Manchester was followed by other trunk railways, with the Grand Junction Railway and the London and Birmingham Railway forming a huge critical mass of standard gauge; when Bristol promoters planned a line from London, they employed the innovative engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He decided on a wider gauge, to give greater stability, the Great Western Railway adopted a gauge of 7 ft eased to 7 ft 1⁄4 in; this became known as broad gauge. The Great Western Railway was successful and was expanded and through friendly associated companies, widening the scope of broad gauge.
At the same time, other parts of Britain built railways to standard gauge, British technology was exported to European countries and parts of North America using standard gauge. Britain polarised into two areas: those that used standard gauge. In this context, standard gauge was referred to as "narrow gauge" to indicate the contrast; some smaller concerns selected other non-standard gauges: the Eastern Counties Railway adopted 5 ft. Most of them converted to standard gauge at an early date, but the GWR's broad gauge continued to grow; the larger railway companies wished to expand geographically, large areas were considered to be under their control. When a new
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