Rocky Mountains Essay Research Paper Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains Essay, Research PaperRocky Mountains or Rockies, great concatenation of rugged mountain ranges in westernNorth America, widening from cardinal New Mexico to northeastern BritishColumbia, a distance of about 3220 kilometer ( about 2000 myocardial infarction ) . The Great Basin and theRocky Mountain Trench, a vale running from northwesterly Montana to northernBritish Columbia, surround the Rockies on the E by the Great Plains and on theWest. The Rocky Mountains organize portion of the Great, or Continental, Divide, whichoffprints rivers run outing into the Atlantic or Arctic oceans from those fluxingtoward the Pacific Ocean. The Arkansas, Colorado, Columbia, Missouri, RioGrande, Saskatchewan, and Snake rivers rise in the Rockies. The Rockies may bedivided into four chief subdivisions? Southern, Central, Northern, andCanadian. The Southern Rockies, which include the system & # 8217 ; s broadest and highestparts, extend from cardinal New Mexico, through Colorado, to the Great Divide,or Wyoming, Basin, in southern Wyoming. This subdivision, which encompasses RockyMountain National Park, is composed chiefly of two northern-southern belts ofmountain ranges with several basins, or Parkss, between the belts.
The constituentparts include the Sanger de Crisco and Laramie mountains and the Front Range, inthe E, and the San Juan Mountains and the Swatch and Park scopes, in theWest. The Southern Rockies include the concatenation & # 8217 ; s loftiest point, Mount Elbert( 4399 m/14,433 ft high ) , in cardinal Colorado. More than 50 other extremums of theRocky mountainss lifting above 4267 m ( 14,000 foot ) are in Colorado ; these include LongsPeak ( 4345 m/14,255 ft high ) and Pikes Peak ( 4301 m/14,110 ft high ) .
The CentralRocky mountainss are in northeasterly Utah, western Wyoming, eastern Idaho, and southernMontana. They encompass the Bighorn ; Bear tooth, and Unite Mountains and theAbsaroka, Wind River, Salt River, Teton, Snake River, and Wasatch ranges. TheUnite Mountains are the lone major part of the Rockies that extends east Westinstead than north south. Among the extremums of the Central Rockies, which includeGrand Eton and Yellowstone national Parkss, are Gannett Peak ( 4207 m/13,804 foothigh ) , Grand Eton ( 4197 m/13,771 ft high ) , and Fremont Peak ( 4185 m/13,730 foothigh ) . The Northern Rockies are in northern Idaho, western Montana, andnortheasterly Washington. They include the Saw tooth, Cabinet, Salmon River, andClearwater Mountains and the Bitterroot Range.
The loftiest points in thesubdivision, which includes Glacier National Park, are Granite Peak ( 3901 m/12,799ft high ) and Borax Peak ( 3859 m/12,662 ft high ) . The Canadian Rockies, locatedin southwesterly Alberta and eastern British Columbia, are composed of acomparatively narrow belt of mountain scopes that terminates at the Lizard Riverlowland in northeasterly British Columbia. The extremums of the subdivision, which takesin Banff, Jasper, Kootenay, Waterton Lakes, and Yoho National Parks, includeMount Robson ( 3954 m/12,972 ft high ) , Mount Columbia ( 3747 m/12,294 ft high ) ,and The Twins ( 3734 m/12,251 ft high ) . Slopes by and large are really steep, andthere are legion glaciers. The Rocky Mountains are a geologically complexsystem with jaggy extremums every bit good as about flat-topped lifts. The Rockieswere formed chiefly by crustal upheavals in relatively recent times, during thetardily Cretaceous and early Tertiary periods, and subsequently were reshaped byglaciation during the Pleistocene Epoch.
Today the Rockies receive chairsums of precipitation, most of which occurs in the winter. Lower degrees arecovered chiefly by grassland, which gives manner to extended woods, chieflyof conifers. Above the forest is a zone of grasses and scattered bushs.
Mostextremums have small flora around the acme, and some have a year-around capof snow and ice. The Rockies are sparsely populated for the most portion andcontain few metropoliss. The chief economic resources of the mountains areminerals, such as coal, Cu, gold, Fe ore, lead, molybdenum, crude oil andnatural gas, Ag, and Zn.
Important excavation centres include Leadville andClimax, Colorado ; Atlantic City, Wyoming ; Kellogg, Idaho ; Butte, Montana ; andFernie and Kimberley, British Columbia. Major forest merchandises industries,particularly heavy, are concentrated in the Northern and Canadian Rockies, andbig Numberss of sheep and cowss are raised in the Rockies of Colorado,Wyoming, and Montana. The concatenation has many centres for out-of-door diversion andtouristry. Bighorn Mountains, isolated scope of the Rocky Mountains, lying E ofthe Bighorn River and widening by and large north from cardinal Wyoming intosouthern Montana. The scope averages more than 2134 m ( 7000 foot ) in lift ;the highest acme is Cloud Peak ( 4019 m/13,187 foot ) in Wyoming. Along the upperdegrees are big cone-bearing woods, which are portion of Bighorn National Forest.
Bitterroot Range, mountain scope, northwesterly United States, a concatenation of theRocky Mountains, widening about 700 kilometers ( about 435 myocardial infarctions ) along the Montana-Idahoboundary line. Rugged and forested, with an mean lift of 2740 m ( about 9000foot ) , it remains one of the most unaccessible countries in the United States. In 1805the Lewis and Clark Expedition traveled west through Lolo Pass ( 1595 m/5233 foot )in the scope. Guadalupe Mountains, mountain scope, southwesterly United States, asubdivision of the Rocky Mountains, widening from southern New Mexico to westernTexas. Guadalupe Peak ( 2667 m/8749 foot above sea degree ) , the highest in theconcatenation, is in Texas.
Laramie Mountains, scope of the Rocky Mountains, westernUnited States, widening from southeasterly Wyoming into northern Colorado. Thehighest point, Laramie Peak, is 3131 m ( 10,272 foot ) above sea degree. Coal, thechief mineral, is found in the foothills.
San Juan Mountains, mountainscope, southwesterly United States, in southwesterly Colorado and northwesterly NewMexico. Part of the Rocky Mountains, it is of volcanic beginning and is rich inminerals. The highest extremums are in Colorado and include Uncompahgre Peak ( 4361m/14,309 foot ) , Mount Sneffels ( 4313 m/14,150 foot ) , and Wetterhorn Peak ( 4272m/14,017 foot ) . Sangre de Cristo Mountains, mountain scope, western United States,the southernmost scope of the Rocky Mountains, in south cardinal Colorado andnorth cardinal New Mexico.
The really high and narrow scope extends southeast andSouth for about 354 kilometers ( 220 myocardial infarction ) , from Salida, Colorado, to Santa Fe County, NewMexico. Blanca Peak ( 4372 m/14,345 foot ) , in Colorado, is one of the highestmountains of the Rockies. Sawatch Range, mountain scope, cardinal Colorado, asubdivision of the Rocky Mountains. The scope extends for about 177 kilometers ( about 110 myocardial infarctions )and reaches a tallness of 4399 m ( 14,433 foot ) at Mount Elbert, the highest point inthe province. Teton ( mountain scope ) , scope of the Rocky Mountains, in northwesterlyWyoming, and southwesterly Idaho, merely South of Yellowstone National Park, Westof Jackson Lake and the Snake River. The highest extremum is Grand Teton ( 4197m/13,771 foot ) , located in Grand Teton National Park. Teton Pass ( 2569 m/8429 foot )and Phillips Pass ( 3261 m/10,700 foot ) are merely south of the park. UintaMountains, mountain scope, western United States, chiefly in northeasterly Utahand partially in southwesterly Wyoming, portion of the Rocky Mountains.
The extremums ofthe Uinta Mountains are largely level because of eroding by glaciers and theWaterss of the Yampa and Green rivers. The scope is about 240 kilometers ( about 150 myocardial infarctions )long and 48 to 64 kilometers ( 30 to 40 myocardial infarction ) broad. The highest lift is Kings Peak,which is 4123 m ( 13,528 foot ) high and is besides the highest point in Utah.
WasatchRange, mountain scope, western United States, in the Rocky Mountain system. Thescope is about 240 kilometers ( about 150 myocardial infarctions ) long ; portion of the Central Rockies, itBegins in southeasterly Idaho and runs due south, E of the Great Salt Lake andthrough the centre of Utah, bit by bit stoping in southwesterly Utah. The normtallness of the scope is about 3050 m ( about 10,000 foot ) , and the highest extremum,Mount Nebo, is 3620 m ( 11,877 foot ) high. Wind River Range, scope of the RockyMountains, western Wyoming, organizing portion of the Continental Divide. The GreenRiver rises in the southwesterly incline of the scope, and many feeders of theWind River flow off on the northeasterly side. The scope contains Fremont Peak( 4185 m/13,730 foot ) and Gannett Peak ( 4207 m/13,804 foot ) ; the latter is thehighest point in Wyoming.
Arkansas ( river, United States ) , river, western U.S. ,a major feeder of the Mississippi River, 2350 kilometer ( 1460 myocardial infarction ) long.
Rising incardinal Colorado, in the Sawatch Range of the Rocky Mountains, at an height ofabout 4270 m ( about 14,000 foot ) , the river flows by and large east and forms adisruptive watercourse passing over bouldery beds and through deep canons such as theRoyal Gorge. As it flows through the fields of Kansas, the river broadens to awider, less bombastic watercourse until it enters Oklahoma ; at that point it receivestwo main feeders, the Cimarron and the Canadian rivers. Except for a bignorthern crook in Kansas, the Arkansas River follows a southeasterly class,unifying with the Mississippi River above Arkansas City, Arkansas. The H2Odegrees of the river are highly variable, and several dikes have been built forinundation control and irrigation and to make hydroelectric power ; one of the mostimpressive, the John Martin Dam in southeasterly Colorado, was built in 1948.
TheArkansas River Navigation System, completed in the early 1970s, made the rivernavigable to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Athabasca, river and lake, in western Canada, thatform portion of the Mackenzie River system. The Athabasca River, 1231 kilometer ( 765 myocardial infarction )long, begins in Jasper National Park in southwesterly Alberta. Its beginning is theColumbia Icefield, high in the Rocky Mountains. The river flows north-east acrossAlberta and empties through a shallow delta into Lake Athabasca in northeasterlyAlberta. The river was one time an of import path for pelt bargainers. Lake Athabasca,which straddles the AlbertaSaskatchewan- boundary line, is about 320 kilometers ( about 200 myocardial infarctions )long and screens about 7936 sq kilometer ( about 3064 sq myocardial infarction ) .
Fort Chipewyan, which wasbuilt along the southwesterly shore of the lake in 1788, became one of thepart & # 8217 ; s most of import fur-trading stations. Today Lake Athabasca is used forcommercial fishing. It is drained to the North by the Slave River. Largesedimentations of petroleum-bearing sand are located along the lower Athabasca River,near Fort McMurray. Long known but untapped because of high extraction costs,the sedimentations are now mined utilizing new engineering and efficient methods. In 1994the end product amounted to one-fourth of Canada & # 8217 ; s petroleum oil production. Canadian,besides South Canadian, unnavigable river, southwesterly United States, 1460 kilometer ( 906myocardial infarction ) long. The Canadian River is formed in northeasterly New Mexico by the brotherhoodof several subdivisions from the southern Rocky Mountains.
The river flows Souththrough New Mexico and so turns east, traversing the Texas Panhandle intoOklahoma. Following a rambling class, it eventually joins the Arkansas River.The river & # 8217 ; s merely major feeder is the North Canadian River, 1260 kilometer ( 784 myocardial infarction )long, which runs about parallel to the Canadian River in Oklahoma. Thetributary joins the Canadian River at Eufaula in eastern Oklahoma to organize theEufaula Reservoir. In northeasterly New Mexico, a semiarid part, the CanadianRiver provides an of import H2O beginning at the Conchas Dam, a flood-control andirrigation undertaking. Colorado ( river, North America ) , river, in southwesterlyUnited States and northwesterly Mexico, 2330 kilometer ( 1450 myocardial infarction ) long, the longest riverWest of the Rocky Mountains. The Colorado rises merely West of the ContinentalDivide, in northern Colorado, and, for the first 1600 kilometer ( about 1000 myocardial infarction ) of itsclass, passes through a series of deep gorges and canons that were created bythe gnawing force of its current.
The river flows in a by and large southwesterlyway across Colorado into southeasterly Utah, where it joins its headtributary, the Green River. After traversing the northern part of Arizona, theColorado flows west for 446 kilometers ( 277 myocardial infarction ) through the olympian Grand Canyon. Itso flows in a by and large southern way and forms the boundary betweenArizona and the provinces of Nevada and California.
Near Yuma, Arizona, the rivercrosses the international boundary line into Mexico and flows for about 145 kilometers ( 90 myocardial infarction )to its oral cavity on the Gulf of California, an recess of the Pacific Ocean. Besidesthe Green River, the most of import feeders of the Colorado include theDolores and Gunnison rivers, in Colorado ; the San Juan River, in Utah ; and theSmall Colorado and Gila rivers, in Arizona. With its feeders, the Coloradodrains parts of seven provinces, a entire country, in Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada,Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and California, of about 626,800 sq km ( about 242,000sq myocardial infarction ) and 5180 sq kilometer ( 2000 sq myocardial infarction ) more in Mexico. To command the enormousflow of the Colorado, peculiarly under inundation conditions, an extended seriesof dikes, many of them constructed by the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation, has beenbuilt along the river and its feeders. Noteworthy is the Hoover Dam, whichimpounds the river at the Black Canyon to organize Lake Mead, one of the largestunreal lakes in the universe. The Glen Canyon Dam, in north-central Arizonamerely South of the Utah boundary line, is the 3rd highest dike in the U.S. In add-onto modulating the flow of H2O, dikes on the Colorado harness hydroelectricpower and supply storage reservoirs for irrigation undertakings. As such, they havebeen instrumental in repossessing the semiarid and waterless parts through which theriver flows. The Imperial Valley of southern California is an first-class illustrationof land reclaimed by the Waterss of the Colorado. A figure of reservoirs havebeen incorporated into national diversion countries.
The Glen Canyon NationalRecreation Area in Utah encompasses Lake Powell, formed by the Glen Canyon Dam.Lakes Mead and Mohave ( the latter formed by Davis Dam ) are portion of Lake MeadNational Recreation Area in Arizona. The Colorado was foremost explored by theSpanish sailing master Hernando de Alarc? N, who ascended the river for more than 160kilometer ( 100 myocardial infarction ) in 1540-1541. The Colorado and its head feeder, the Green, wereexhaustively explored for the first clip in 1869 by the American geologist JohnWesley Powell.
On this study Powell and his party made the first recordedtransition of the Grand Canyon. The building of the Glen Canyon Dam in 1963dramatically reduced the natural flow of sand and foods down the Centennial stateRiver and into the Grand Canyon. In March 1996 the federal authorities releasedmore than 380 billion litres ( 100 billion gallons ) of H2O from Glen CanyonDam. This unreal inundation added more than three pess to some beaches downstreamand cleared fish engendering evidences of dust and deposit. Further ReadingColumbia ( river, North America ) , Major River of western North America, lifting inColumbia Lake, merely west of the chief scope of the Rocky Mountains, insoutheasterly British Columbia.
The river was once known as the Oregon River.The Columbia River is about 2000 kilometer ( 1240 myocardial infarction ) long. It ab initio flowsnorth-west, through a long, narrow vale called the Rocky Mountain Trench, andso turns aggressively south, hedging the Selkirk Mountains and go throughing throughUpper Arrow Lake and Lower Arrow Lake. It following receives the Kootenay ( spelledKootenai in the United States ) and Pend Oreille rivers before come ining the provinceof Washington, where it foremost flows South and so traverses a great discharge, knownas the Big Bend. After having the Snake River, the Columbia turns west andsignifiers much of the boundary between the provinces of Washington and Oregon beforeemptying into the Pacific Ocean through a wide estuary. The river flows throughseveral dramatic canons and deep vale. About tierce of its class isin Canada.
The Columbia and its feeders together drain a huge basin of about673,400 sq kilometer ( about 260,000 sq myocardial infarction ) . Large oceangoing ships can voyage thelower Columbia River every bit far as Vancouver, Washington ; and, with the assistance oflocks, smaller Marine vass can make The Dalles, Oregon, approximately 300 kilometers ( about186 myocardial infarction ) upstream. Barges and other shallow-draught boats can voyage a farther220 kilometer ( 137 myocardial infarction ) . The Columbia River has immense hydroelectric potency, andsince the 1930s several big power undertakings have been built on it. The largestof these, the Grand Coulee Dam, in cardinal Washington, is the cardinal unit of theColumbia Basin Project, a federal project besides designed to water up to485,623 hectares ( 1.2 million estates ) of semiarid land. Other of import powerundertakings on the Columbia include Bonneville, The Dalles, John Day, McNary,Priest Rapids, Rocky Reach, and Chief Joseph dikes, in the United States, andMica Dam, in Canada.
Most of these dikes are besides used for inundation control and forirrigation. The American adventurer Robert Gray explored the oral cavity of the ColumbiaRiver in 1792. He named the river for his ship. The Lewis and Clark Expeditionexplored the lower Columbia from 1805 to 1806, and David Thompson, a Canadiansurveyor and adventurer, followed the river from its beginning to its oral cavity in 1811.The Columbia one time had great Numberss of salmon and supported a big canningindustry ; the fish stock was badly depleted in the 1900s as a consequence of dikebuilding and pollution. In an attempt to protect the salmon from extinction,the Northwest Power Planning Council in 1994 approved a program to reconstruct salmonstock by increasing the H2O flow through the dikes and by developing home groundprotection criterions.
Further Reading Continental Divide ( besides called the GreatDivide ) , ridge of mountains in North America, dividing the watercourse that flowWest ( into the Pacific Ocean ) from those that flow east ( into the Atlantic Oceanand its fringy seas ) . Most of the divide follows the crest of the RockyMountains. It extends from Alaska in the United States into the Yukon Territoryand British Columbia in Canada and signifiers portion of the boundary line between BritishColumbia and Alberta, besides in Canada. It so passes through Montana, Wyoming,Colorado, and New Mexico in the United States and continues south into Mexicoand Central America along the crest of the Sierra Madre Occidental. The termContinental divide may be applied to the principal watershed boundary of anycontinent. Fraser, river in southern British Columbia, Canada. The Fraser risesin the Rocky Mountains, in Mount Robson Provincial Park near the Alberta boundary line,and flows 1370 kilometer ( 850 myocardial infarction ) before voidance, through a delta, into the Strait ofGeorgia, near Vancouver. The Fraser ab initio flows northwest through a subdivisionof a deep, narrow vale called the Rocky Mountain Trench.
It so turns Southnear the metropolis of Prince George, where it receives its major western feeder,the Nechako River. In its cardinal subdivision, the volume of the river additions,and below Quesnel its Bankss bit by bit take on a canyonlike facet. Importantfeeders in this subdivision include the West Road and Chilcotin rivers, from theWest, and the Thompson River, from the E.
From Lytton to Yale the river flowsthrough a canon of great scenic beauty. At the canon & # 8217 ; s southern terminal the Fraserbase on ballss between the Cascade Range to the E and the Coast Mountains to theWest. A small below Yale, at Hope, the river turns aggressively west, and thefertile lower Fraser Valley begins. The Fraser empties into the Strait ofGeorgia through three chief channels. The river is used by commercial vass fora short distance upstream. From May to July the Fraser Valley is capable toimplosion therapy ; a series of butchs helps protect the delta.
The Fraser drains an countryof approximately 238,000 sq km ( about 91,890 sq myocardial infarction ) . Much of the river basin is to a great extentwooded, and forest-products industries dominate the economic system of the coloniesalong the river. The lower Fraser Valley, including the delta, has extremelyproductive farms.
Assorted species of pink-orange spawn in the Fraser, and salmonpiscaries are located near the river & # 8217 ; s oral cavity. The river has great hydroelectricpossible, but it remains undeveloped for fright of damaging effects on themigratory wonts of the salmon. The Fraser is extremely polluted, particularly at itsoral cavity. The first European to see the river was Sir Alexander Mackenzie in1793. It is named for the fur bargainer Simon Fraser, who explored much of it in1808. In 1858 gold was found in alluvial crushed rocks north of Yale, and a major goldhaste ensued.
Louise, Lake, glacial lake in southwesterly Alberta, Canada. LakeLouise is located at an lift of 1731 m ( 5680 foot ) in Banff National Park,near the town of Lake Louise. The lake is about 2.4 kilometers ( about 1.5 myocardial infarctions ) long and1.2 kilometer ( 0.75 myocardial infarction ) broad.
Sheltered by the Rocky Mountains, Lake Louise is knownfor the placid beauty of its turquoise-blue surface, which mirrors nearbyscenic woods and snowcapped extremums. The lake is fed from the North by thedramatic Victoria Glacier and is drained by the Bow River in the sou’-east.Lake Louise was named in 1884 for the Canadian governor-general & # 8217 ; s married woman, who wasbesides the 4th girl of Queen Victoria.
Missouri ( river ) ( IllinoisEmissourita, ” inhabitants of the large muddy ” ) , river in cardinal UnitedStates. The Missouri is formed by the meeting of the Jefferson, Gallatin, andMadison rivers at Three Forks in southwesterly Montana. The longest river in theUnited States, the Missouri is one of the primary feeders of the MississippiRiver.
It flows 3726 kilometer ( 2315 myocardial infarction ) and drains an country of about 1,370,000 sq kilometer( about 529,000 sq myocardial infarction ) . The Missouri ab initio flows north, hedging the chiefscope of the Rocky Mountains. Then it passes through a 366-m ( 1200-ft ) gorgecalled the Gates of the Mountains, turns north-east and reaches Fort Benton,Montana, the caput of pilotage. From Fort Benton the river flows east and isjoined by the Milk River at Frazer, Montana, and by the Yellowstone River atBuford, North Dakota. From this point the Missouri flows by and large southeastthrough North Dakota and South Dakota to Sioux City, Iowa, where it turns southand becomes the boundary between Nebraska and Kansas on the West and Iowa andMissouri on the E. The Platte River is received near Omaha, Nebraska, and theKansas River at Kansas City, Missouri.
On having the Kansas, the Missouribends east and flows across the province of Missouri. About 27 kilometers ( about 17 myocardial infarctions )North of St. Louis, the muddy Missouri enters the channel of the Mississippi.Other of import metropoliss on the river are Bismarck, North Dakota ; Council Bluffs,Iowa ; Saint Joseph, Missouri ; and Atchison, Leavenworth, and Kansas City,Kansas. The upper Missouri traverses cragged terrain covered with densecone-bearing woods. These woods support big animate beings, including bears, moose,and moose.
Fish found in the cold upper river include the Montana grayling andthe rainbow trout. The center and lower river vales are lined with grasslandsand woods of poplar, hickory, and other trees, supplying a home ground forconeies, foxes, beavers, and other animate beings. Fish in the heater lower riverinclude bass, several species of mudcat, and carp. Historically, afigure ofNative American peoples lived in the vale along the Missouri, including theHidatsa, Crow, Iowa, Arikara, Blackfoot, and Sioux. The part was popular forAmerican bison hunting and agribusiness, and the folks used the river for commercialism. In1673 French-Canadian adventurer Louis Jolliet and Gallic missionary and adventurerJacques Marquette became the first Europeans to detect the Missouri when theycame across the lower river during a journey down the Mississippi. The lowerriver became an of import path for pelt bargainers, who began to venture farther upthe river.
During the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806, Americanadventurers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark became the first Whites to researchthe river basin from its oral cavity to its headwaters. Steamboat traffic on theMissouri began in 1819 with the ocean trip of the Independence, and shortly steamboatswere taking colonists west, every bit good as haling cargo such as grain, pelt,timber, and coal. Steamboat activity peaked in 1858, but so the buildingof railwaies lessened traffic on the river. The lower part of the river nowsupports commercial flatboat lines, which carry agricultural merchandises, steel, andoil. In order to heighten navigability and supply inundation control, hydroelectricpower, and irrigation, the Missouri River Basin Program was created in 1944.Under this plan and the subsequent Missouri Basin Program, a series of dikes,reservoirs, and locks were built on the river. However, in 1993 heavy rainscaused record-breaking implosion therapy along the Missouri and other subdivisions of theMississippi River.
Further Reading Saskatchewan ( river, Canada ) , river incardinal Canada, 550 kilometer ( 340 myocardial infarction ) long. It is formed in cardinal Saskatchewan bythe meeting of the North Saskatchewan and South Saskatchewan rivers and flowseast into Manitoba, where it passes through Cedar Lake before emptying into LakeWinnipeg. The North Saskatchewan River ( 1200 km/760 myocardial infarction long ) rises in the RockyMountains of southwesterly Alberta and flows east past Edmonton, Alberta, andPrince Albert, Saskatchewan. The South Saskatchewan River ( 1390 km/865 myocardial infarction long ) ,formed by the occasion of the Bow and Oldman rivers in southern Alberta, flowsnor’-east past Medicine Hat, Alberta, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. TheSaskatchewan River system stretches 2600 kilometer ( 1600 myocardial infarction ) and drains most of thewestern prairie. It was an of import path in the fur trade of the eighteenth centurybut has no navigational value today. The river system is widely used forirrigation, nevertheless, and it has several hydroelectric installations, notablyGardiner Dam on the South Saskatchewan River, near Saskatoon, and Grand RapidsDam, at the oral cavity of the Saskatchewan River.
Arapahoe Peak, mountain, northernColorado, in the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, near Boulder ; 4117 m( 13,506 foot ) high. On the face of the extremum is an ice field known as ArapahoeGlacier. Blanca Peak, mountain, south cardinal Colorado, in the Sangre de CristoScope of the Rocky Mountains, near Great Sand Dunes National Monument. It is4372 m ( 14,345 foot ) high and is one of the highest mountains in the province.
ExpresswaiesPeak, one of the most celebrated extremums in the Rocky Mountains, located in the FrontRange, cardinal Colorado, near Colorado Springs. Although the lift ( 4301m/14,110 foot ) of the extremum is non the highest in the province, Pikes Peak is notedfor a dominating position. Tourists can go up the mountain by three differentagencies: by horseback, by a cog railroad about 14 kilometers ( 9 myocardial infarction ) long, or bycar over a well-constructed route. Two springs, Manitou and Colorado, arelocated near the pes of the mountain. On the acme of Pikes Peak is ameteoric station. The extremum was discovered in 1806 by the American adventurerand army officer Zebulon Montgomery Pike. It was first climbed in 1820.
Bufflehead, common name for a little north American diving duck. Its name isderived from “ buffalo-head, ” an allusion to the big size of itsshort-beaked caput, particularly in males, created by particularly bouffant plumes.The organic structure feather of males is black and white above and white below, the caputcalendered black with a big white spot from the oculus to the dorsum border. Females aredark brown, with a smaller white spot on the side of the caput. Adults are about38 centimeter ( about 15 in ) long.
Buffleheads nest in wooded countries of Canada and theRocky Mountains, and winter on bays, lakes, rivers, and seaports. Scientificcategorization: The bufflehead belongs to the folk Mergini in the householdAnatidae. It is classified as Bucephala albeola. Grosbeak, common name forseveral species of large-billed seed-eating birds of the fringillid, or finch,household and of the emberizid household. Of the fringillid grossbeak, merely two arefound in North America: the comparatively little billed pine grossbeak, of northerncone-bearing woods around the universe, and the really big billed evening grossbeak.The latter species strains in cone-bearing woods in Canada and the northernmostUnited States, widening in the Rocky Mountains South to Mexico. It wintersirregularly in the United States, in some old ages occupying in great Numberss,on occasion south to northern Florida. Until the 1950s it bred merely as Far Eastas Michigan and Ontario, but it so began spread outing its scope to New York, NewEngland, and the Maritime Provinces.
Some property this enlargement to betterwinter endurance, as many people put out helianthus seeds and other nutrient for thesebirds. Some cardinaline grossbeaks are wholly tropical. In North America thebest-known species are the rose-breasted grossbeak, of the E, and its westernopposite number, the black-headed grossbeak.
In both the male is strikingly colored:black and white with a bright-pink chest topographic point in the former, and black andorange-brown in the latter. The females look like elephantine sparrows. The bluegrossbeak is found in the southern United States and Mexico. Males are rich bluewith brown flying bars, and females are dark brown. Scientific categorization:Grosbeaks belong to the households Fringillidae and Emberizidae, of the orderPasseriformes. They are sometimes all placed in either one of those households.
The pine grossbeak is classified as Pinicola enucleator, the eventide grossbeak asCoccothraustes vespertina ( sometimes Hesperiphona vespertina ) , the rose-breastedgrossbeak as Pheucticus ludovicianus, the black-headed grossbeak as Pheucticusmelanocephalus, and the bluish grossbeak as Guiraca caerulea. Grouse, common namefor 17 species of birds of the pheasant household, found around the universe in thenorthern hemisphere ; two of the three species of ptarmigan inhabit both theUnited states and Eurasia. Grouse vary in size from males of the capercailzie, 86 centimeter( 34 in ) long, of European cone-bearing woods, to the 32 centimeter ( 12.5 in )white-tailed ptarmigan, of western North American Mountains.
In most species thesexes differ in colour, but none have genuinely bright feather. Bright colourss arelimited to red or yellow comblike constructions over the eyes, expanded during thegenteelness season, or pouch of bare tegument that inflate like balloons duringwooing shows. Copulating systems are luxuriant in most grouse, and in many themales are polygamous, meeting in the spring at certain spheres where they competefor couples. As extremely popular game birds, grouse have been intensively studied.Best known and most widely distributed of the American species is the ruffedgrouse, which occurs in forests from Alaska to Newfoundland, south to thenorthern Rocky Mountains and the Appalachians. The name comes from a frill ofblack ( seldom, coppery ) plumes at the sides of the cervix. These plumes arelarger in males than in females, and are spread widely during wooingshows, when the male prances on a moss-covered log.
This species is celebrated forthe springtime “ beating ” of the males, a sound produced by thewhipping of the wings against the air, as the male stands vertical. The soundcarries a great distance, and resembles a noisy gasolene engine get downing up. Twoother North American grouse, the bluish grouse of western mountains and the morewidely distributed spruce grouse are confined to cone-bearing woods.
The maleblue grouse has inflatable cervix pouch, changing geographically in colour fromyellow to reddish purple ; the spruce grouse deficiencies such pouch. These two specieshave been called “ sap biddies ” because of their evident bravery,doing them easy to run. Two species of prairie poulet, the closely relatedsharp-tailed grouse, and the sage grouse, dwell in unfastened state. The latter, andweller of sagebrush countries, particularly in the Great Basin, is the largestAmerican grouse. Males reach 75 centimeter ( 30 in ) in length ; females are smaller ( 58cm/23 in ) . During the communal wooing shows, males strut about with theirpeaky tail plumes fanned out, and a brace of xanthous pouch on their thoraxsinflated. Scientific categorization: Grouse belong to the household Phasianidae ofthe order Galliformes. The capercailzie is classified as Tetrao urogallus, thewhite-tailed ptarmigan as Lagopus leucurus, and the ruffed grouse as Bonasaumbellus.
The blue grouse is classified as Dendragapus obscurus and the sprucegrouse as Dendragapus canadensis. Prairie poulets are classified in the genusTympanuchus. The sharp-tailed grouse is classified as Tympanuchus phasianellusand the sage grouse as Centrocercus urophasianus.
Further Reading Solitaire( bird ) , common name applied to assorted species of American thrush. In the UnitedStates, one species, Townsend & # 8217 ; s solitaire, is found chiefly in the RockyMountains. The bird is mostly chocolate-brown grey in colour, with a white-eye ring anda fan flying spot. All solitaires are brilliant vocalists.
Solitaire was besides thename of an nonextant, flightless bird resembling the fogy. It inhabited Rodrigues,an island in the Indian Ocean, until the last half of the eighteenth century.Scientific categorization: Solitaires belong to the household Turdidae of the orderPasseriformes. Townsend & # 8217 ; s solitaire is classified as Myadestes townsendi. Thesolitaire that is now nonextant belongs to the household Raphidae, orderColumbiformes, and is classified as Pezophaps solitaria. Columbine ( flower ) ,common name for certain perennial herbs with lacy, lobed foliages and delicateflowers.
Unusually, both sepals and petals are colored, and the petals extendto organize a goad. The 40 known species are widely distributed in the NorthTemperate Zone and demo a prismatic scope of colour. North American and Eurasiaticspecies, every bit good as a figure of loanblends, are grown in gardens. Among the commonspecies are the wild aquilegia, with vermilion to tap flowers, native from NovaScotia to Texas, and the Colorado, or Rocky Mountain, aquilegia, with bluishflowers. Scientific categorization: Columbines belong to the householdRanunculaceae. Wild aquilegia is classified as Aquilegia canadensis.
Colorado,or Rocky Mountain, aquilegia is classified as Aquilegia caerulea. IndianPaintbrush, common name for any of a genus of one-year, two-year, and perennialherbs ( see Figwort ) . The genus, which contains about 200 species, is native tothe ice chest parts of North and Central America and Asia, and to the Andes.Because Indian paintbrushes, besides called painted cups, are parasitic on theroots of other workss, they have non been naturalized and have seldom beencultivated off from their native home ground. The workss have long, hairy,unbranching stems with surrogate foliages. The topmost foliages, or bracts, arebrightly colored and much showier than the invisible interspersedflowers. The flowers, which are borne in spikes, have a two-lobed calyx, atwo-lobed corolla, four stamens, and a lone pistil. The corolla, which isnormally xanthous, is encased within the calyx, and is normally indiscernible.
Thefruit is a two-celled capsule. The common painted cup is the province flower ofWyoming. The calyx of this works is light-green white, but the bracts are intensescarlet. The vermilion paintbrush is a common wild works of the eastern UnitedStates. The common Indian paintbrush is a stalwart herb found in Canada and in thecragged parts of the northern United States from New England to the RockyMountains. Its calyx is light-green white tinted with purple ruddy.
Scientificcategorization: Indian paintbrushes make up the genus Castilleja, of the householdScrophulariaceae. The common painted cup is classified as Castilleialinariaefolia, the vermilion paintbrush as Castilleja coccinea, and the commonIndian paintbrush as Castilleja septentrionalis. Sagebrush, common name appliedto any of several related aromatic, acrimonious bush, native to the fields andmountains of western North America, but particularly to the Great Basin, theextended desert part West of the Rocky Mountains in the United States.Sagebrush is some of the few woody members of their household ( see CompositeFlowers ) . The most common species in the United States is the common sage brush,a many-branched works that grows from 0.3 to 6 m ( 1 to 20 foot ) in tallness.
It hassilvery, toothed foliages and terminal bunchs of little, xanthous flowers. Asimilar species, the low sage brush, attains a maximal tallness of 30 centimeter ( 1 foot ) andis abundant in the fields of Colorado and Wyoming. Because sage brush frequently growsin parts where there are few other woody workss, it is sometimes used forfuel. In some countries the leaf is used as winter eatage. Overgrazing of nativegrasses has caused a proportionate addition in sage brush.
Scientificcategorization: Sagebrush is classified in the genus Artemisia of the householdCompositae. The common sage brush is classified as Artemisia tridentata. The lowsage brush is classified as Artemisia arbuscula. Bighorn Sheep, largest andbest-known wild sheep of the North American continent, besides called RockyMountain sheep. They are found from southern British Columbia to northwesternMexico. A adult Bighorn may average 101 centimeter ( 40 in ) at the shoulder andscope in weight from 79 to 158 kilograms ( 175 to 350 pound ) . The great curving horns, whichmay take more than one bend, attain a length of up to 127 centimeter ( up to 50 in ) . TheEwes have smaller horns, rarely transcending 38 centimeter ( 15 in ) .
The coat is non woollybut long, full, and coarse, like that of a caprine animal. The animate beings have a short couplingseason, during which the random-access memory clash head-on in a conflict for the Ewe ; for theremainder of the twelvemonth the sheep normally divide into separate male and female herds.The Bighorns leap from shelf to ledge at great velocity and clasp slippery surfaceswith the shock-absorbing elastic tablets of the pess. The animate beings haveexceptionally acute senses of sight, odor, and hearing.
Two other assortmentsfound in northwest North America are the white sheep, or Dall sheep, and thedeep grey or grey-brown Stone & # 8217 ; s sheep. The Bighorn is related to the AsiaticOvis ammon, the moufflon, and the domestic sheep. Scientific categorization: Thebighorn sheep belongs to the household Bovidae, in the order Artiodactyla.
It isclassified as Ovis canadensis. Ground Squirrel, common name for certainburrowing, tellurian, western American gnawers characterized by big cheekpouches opening inside their oral cavities. Land squirrels are frequently mistakenlycalled goffers. Like the true goffers, they are agricultural threats, destructinggrass and grain. Their surrogate name, ground squirrel ( Greek for “ seedlover ” ) , is derived from their usual diet. The land squirrel resemblesboth the prairie Canis familiaris and the chipmunk.
Most land squirrels are chocolate-brown oryellowish-gray, with light musca volitanss on the upper parts. Some species havelongitudinal chevrons along their dorsums. In the northern portion of their scope theyhibernate during the winter ; the continuance of hibernation varies with theenvironment, and in some species hibernation may widen from September to May.Land squirrels are found in unfastened state, frequently in waterless parts. The GreatPlains land squirrel, found west of the Rocky Mountains, is typical of most ofthe ground squirrels.
The rough-haired land squirrel is 28 centimeter ( 11 in ) long and hasan 8-cm ( 3-in ) bushy tail. Its dorsum is brown and its lower parts yellowish-gray ;it has a white mentum and a white ring around each oculus. The caput is stubby, withunit of ammunition, broad ears. The legs are short. These animate beings seek their nutrient near totheir tunnels.
They mate after they emerge from hibernation in the spring ; thefemale bears 5 to 13 offspring at a clip. The 13-striped ground squirrel, found nearthe Mississippi River, has 7 grayish-yellow chevrons running down its dorsum,interspersed with 6 chevrons composed of musca volitanss. Its lower parts are fawn coloured.
This carnal subsists on mice, insects, and grain. Scientific categorization:Land squirrels belong to the household Sciuridae. The Great Plains landsquirrel is classified as Spermophilus elegans, the 13-striped land squirrelas Spermophilus tridecemlineatus. Further Reading Mule Deer, common name for abig cervid of the western and cardinal United States, so called because of itshighly big ears, which step about 25 centimeter ( about 10 in ) in length.
Thisanimate being attains a tallness of 107 centimeter ( 42 in ) at the shoulder. The name black-tailedcervid is sometimes applied to a races of the mule cervid populating the RockyMountains. The tail of this cervid along the basal two-thirds is white above anddark below ; the terminal tierce is black. Scientific categorization: The mulecervid belongs to the household Cervidae. It is classified as Odocoileus hemionus.Rocky Mountain Goat, besides mountain caprine animal, common name of a species of antelopethat inhabits the high mountains from the northwesterly United States to Alaska.Mountain caprine animals live in parts of heavy snowfall and tend to populate vicinitieswith many crags and drops.
They are first-class climbers, and their hooves, whichhold soft tablets rimmed with crisp borders, enable them to mount and run on snow,ice, or bare stone. The Rocky Mountain caprine animal is 90 to 120 centimeter ( 36 to 47 in ) tall atthe shoulders. The organic structure is hardy and the legs are short and stout.
Both sexeshold black horns, which contrast with the yellow-white, bushy hair coveringthe full organic structure, and a beardlike tussock of hair underneath the mentum. RockyMountain caprine animals are herbivorous ruminants, feeding on any exposed flora theydiscovery. They are non gregarious, except during the coupling season between Novemberand early January. The immature are born by and large between May and June. Scientificcategorization: The Rocky Mountain caprine animal belongs to the household Bovidae.
It isclassified as Oreamnos americanus. Wolf, carnivore related to the Canis aureus anddomestic Canis familiaris. Powerful dentitions, bushy dress suits, and unit of ammunition students characterize allwolves. Certain features of the skull separate them from domesticCanis familiariss, some strains of which they otherwise resemble. There are two species ofwolves: the grey, or lumber, wolf, one time widely distributed but now found merely inCanada, Alaska, and northern Europe and Russia, except for a few stray battalionsin other parts ; and the ruddy wolf, found merely in Texas and the southeasterlyUnited States. An grownup grey wolf measures up to 2 m ( 6.5 foot ) in length,including the tail ( less than half the organic structure length ) , and weighs up to 80 kilograms ( 175pound ) . The pelt of the grey wolf is red-yellow or yellow-grey with black spots onits dorsum and sides, and white on its thorax and venters.
There are besides black orbrown grey wolves, and those in the far north may be pure white. The ruddy wolf issmaller in size and normally darker in colour. Wolfs are every bit at place onprairies, in forest lands, and on all but the highest mountains. In the winterthey travel in battalions seeking for nutrient. Small animate beings and birds are the commonquarry of wolves, but a battalion sometimes attacks caribou, reindeer, sheep, and otherbig mammals, normally choosing weak, old, or really immature animate beings for easiergaining control.
When no unrecorded quarry can be found, wolves feed on carrion ( disintegrating fleshof dead animate beings ) . They besides eat berries. The lair, or den, of a wolf may be acave, a hollow tree bole, a brush, or a hole in the land dug by the wolf.In the spring, females have litters of one to eleven whelps. Adult wolvessometimes feed immature whelps by regurgitating partially digested nutrient for them. Thewhelps usually stay with the parents until the undermentioned winter but may staymuch longer. Parents and immature constitute a basic battalion, which establishes anddefends a district marked by urine and fecal matters. Larger battalions may besides piece,peculiarly in the winter.
The battalion leader is called the alpha male and hismate is the alpha female. As societal animate beings, wolves exhibit behavioural formsthat clearly communicate laterality over or entry to one another. Thecommunal ululation of a battalion may function to piece its members, communicate withother battalions, publicize its territorial claims, or it may be merely a manner ofshowing pleasance. Ocular and scent signals are besides of import incommunicating. Although grey wolves are still abundant across northern Europeand Asia, merely remnant populations exist elsewhere in Europe. Their Numberss inNorth America besides have been greatly diminished. They are reasonably abundant merelyin Alaska and Canada ; smaller Numberss exist in the Pacific Northwest and upperMidwest, chiefly in Minnesota.
Under the Endangered Species Act, the UnitedStates Fish and Wildlife Service ( USFWS ) as threatened in Minnesota and as anendangered species elsewhere in the United States except Alaska list the greywolf. The ruddy wolf, besides listed as endangered species, was the first species forwhich the USFWS developed a recovery program. The diminishing Numberss of wolves arethe consequence of invasions on their district by worlds, who have long regardedwolves as rivals for quarry and every bit unsafe to livestock, pets, and people.However, few if any healthy wolves have attacked worlds, whom they alternatively seekto avoid. Wolfs are valuable marauders in the nutrient web, and their decimationhas led to the overpopulation of certain other carnal species in assorted countries.
Active attempts to re-introduce wolves to national Parkss in the United States arenow underway, although such attempts are controversial. Because prairie wolfs havehybridized with some ruddy wolves, an effort to re-introduce ruddy wolves to partsof North Carolina has involved placing ruddy wolves that are non portion prairie wolf.The success of this undertaking is non yet clear. In 1995 and 1996 the USFWSreintroduced Canadian grey wolves into Yellowstone National Park and theSawtooth Mountain part in cardinal Idaho, despite protests from nearby ranchersand some life scientists.
The reintroduced wolves are bring forthing more offspring thanexpected. When 10 genteelness braces reside in these parts for three old ages, thegrey wolf will be taken off the list of endangered species in the northern RockyMountains. Wolf biologists estimate that this end may be met by the twelvemonth 2002without transfering extra wolves from Canada.
By 1997 thesereintroduction attempts were wining beyond outlooks of wolf life scientists.Scientific categorization: The wolf belongs to the household Canidae. The grey, orlumber, wolf is classified as Canis lupus. The ruddy wolf is classified as Canisrufus.
