During the past 4,000 years, Mount St. Helens has erupted more frequently than any other volcano in the Cascade Range. And, 3,600 years ago, Native Americans abandoned hunting grounds devastated by another Mount St. Helens eruption that was four times larger than the May 18, 1980 eruption.
Per Wiki, Mount St. Helens takes its name from the British diplomat Lord St. Helens, a friend of explorer and Royal Navy Capt. George Vancouver, who made a survey of the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is located in the Cascade Range and is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire that includes over 160 active volcanoes. Its May 18, 1980 eruption was, to date, the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.
According to the Smithsonian, there are generally around 20 volcanoes actively erupting on any particular day. The Weekly Volcano Activity Report for the week ending on July 7, 2020, shows 17 active volcanoes.
The Smithsonian Institution was established with funds from British scientist James Smithson (1765–1829). Smithson was not a US citizen and had never even set foot on American soil, but he still left his estate (valued around a half-million dollars at that time, which would be equivalent to $13.78 million today) to the United States to found “at Washington, under the name of the Smithsonian Institution, an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.”
Even though Congress accepted the bequest in 1836, another ten years elapsed before the US Senate finally passed the act organizing the Smithsonian Institution, which was signed into law by President James K. Polk on August 10 1846.
-“BB”-
Thanks. But hmmm, well, I read that somewhere. I can’t seem to find it now, though.
In play: the Smithsonian Institution has 19 museums, 21 libraries, nine research centers, and a zoo that host 30 million visitors annually — all admitted free of charge. In June 2017, the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento became a Smithsonian affiliate.
The California State Railroad Museum opened its first facility, a passenger station, in 1976. The museum building itself opened in 1981. Among other exhibits, the Museum features 21 restored locomotives and railroad cars, the oldest of which dates back to 1862.
Although the California flag was first adopted in 1911, it was not until 1953 that state law specified the exact depiction of Monarch, the bear, and the plot of grass it stands on.
Monarch the grizzly bear is stuffed and on display at the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. Monarch was captured in 1889 and was California’s last captive grizzly. He died in 1911 in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.
The monarch butterfly is one of North America’s most recognizeable and well-known butterfly species. The monarch’s name is likely a reference to King William III of England, who was also Prince of Orange (and, thus, an allusion to the butterfly’s orange color).
Monarch Airlines was an American airline company from 1946 to 1950 operating out of Denver CO. Its first flight used a Douglas DC-3, from Denver to Durango CO, a distance of approximately 300 miles (map >> https://is.gd/KgiuD8). Through mergers and acquisitions Monarch Airlines eventually became Frontier Airlines. Frontier operated out of Denver from 1950 to 1986.
A Democrat was President of the United States in 1950 (Harry S Truman of Missouri), while a Republican was President in 1986 (Ronald Reagan of California).
Harry S Truman’s middle name, simply “S”, does not stand for any name. His name is written without a period after the S, just like Elendil’s Heir wrote it. The S honors his grandfathers, Anderson Shipp Truman and Solomon Young. Truman was born in 1884, and he died in 1972.
Ulysses S. Grant’s middle initial was a mistake when he was registering at West Point. His nickname there became Sam, and Uncle Sam. Grant had been born Hiram Ulysses Grant, in 1822. He died in 1885.
Grant Cottage, where Grant spent the last months of his life, has been kept in the state it was when he died, including a jar housing his personal stash of cocaine solution, which he used as a pain killer. It’s kept in a glass jar on the mantle. DEA authorities check from time to time to make sure none is missing.
Grant Cottage is in Wilton NY, in Upstate New York, about 35 miles north of Latham NY and 45 miles north of the NY capital, Albany. It is near Saratoga Springs, and it is also near Corinth New York, the self-proclaimed snowshoe capital of the world.
There have been no burials in New York’s Manhattan south of 86th Street since 1851. There are eleven burial places still in existence that predated the ban.
The Manhattan cocktail consists of whiskey (traditionally rye whiskey), sweet vermouth, and bitters, with a cherry garnish. The drink appears to have originated in Manhattan, in the 1860s.
Dr. Manhattan, a near-omnipotent blue superhero created by a scientific accident in 1959, appeared in the original Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons graphic novel Watchmen, the 2009 Zach Snyder movie based on it and a 2019 Damon Lindelof-created HBO miniseries, both of the same title.
The Manhattan Project is known today as the WWII R&D program which led to America’s atomic bomb. However, it was never officially designated the Manhattan Project, but carried the code name “Development of Substitute Materials”.
Colonel James C. Marshall, who was chosen to head the Army’s part of the project in June 1942, created a liaison office in Washington DC but established his temporary headquarters on the 18th floor of 270 Broadway in New York, where he could draw on administrative support from the Corps of Engineers’ North Atlantic Division. It was also close to the Manhattan office of Stone & Webster, the principal project contractor, and to Columbia University. Because most of his task involved construction, Marshall worked in cooperation with the head of the Corps of Engineers Construction Division, Major General Thomas M. Robbins, and his deputy, Colonel Leslie Groves.
As noted above, the project was originally designated as “Development of Substitute Materials”, but Groves felt that this would draw attention. Since engineer districts normally carried the name of the city where they were located, Marshall and Groves agreed to name the Army’s component of the project the “Manhattan District”. “Development of Substitute Materials” remained as the official code name of the project as a whole, but was supplanted in usage over time by “Manhattan”.
-“BB”-
The grandson of my substitute teacher went on to become a Wikipedian. John Van Hengel went to Phoenix and created the first food bank, and was instrumental in spreading the concept nationally. His grandmother, probably born in the Grant administration, was a retired teacher, who frequently substituted at my school.