Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store

The Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store is a department store in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, within the luxury shopping district on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 60th Streets. The original 10-story structure at 611 Fifth Avenue has served as the flagship store of Saks Fifth Avenue since its completion in 1924. The store also occupies part of 623Fifth Avenue, a 36-story tower completed in 1990.
The original Saks Fifth Avenue Building was designed by Starrett & van Vleck in the classical style. It contains a facade made of Indiana limestone, brick, and cast-stone, with chamfered corners on Fifth Avenue at 49th and 50th Streets. Saks Fifth Avenue was the first department store on Fifth Avenue to comply with the 1916 Zoning Resolution, with setbacks on its upper floors. The tower addition at 623 Fifth Avenue was designed by Lee Harris Pomeroy Associates and Abramovitz Kingsland Schiff. The tower is partially designed in the style of the original structure.
The Saks Fifth Avenue Building was planned in the early 20th century by Horace Saks, head of Saks & Company, which had a flagship store at Herald Square. The building was constructed from 1922 to 1924 as "Saks-Fifth Avenue", a joint venture between Saks and his cousin Bernard Gimbel. Saks Fifth Avenue later became a department store chain in its own right, and the Fifth Avenue store became a flagship location. The original building was designated a New York City Landmark in 1984 to allow the development of the 623 Fifth Avenue tower annex. Over the years, the store has undergone numerous modifications.
Design.
Saks Fifth Avenue spans two structures: 611 Fifth Avenue, built in 1924, and an extension at 623 Fifth Avenue a 36-story tower built in 1990. Saks co-developed the tower and operates ten of its floors. The building is abutted by 18 East 50th Street to the east. It is across 50th Street from St. Patrick's Cathedral and across Fifth Avenue from the Rockefeller Center complex, both National Historic Landmarks. Within Rockefeller Center, the British Empire Building and La Maison Francaise are to the west and the International Building is to the northwest; in addition, 608 Fifth Avenue is immediately to the southwest. The building makes up a part of Fifth Avenue's "streetwalls", rows of mid-rise buildings built in the early- to mid-1900s clad in limestone or beige brick. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the original structure as a city landmark because it contributed to this design aspect of Fifth Avenue.
The original structure was designed by Starrett & van Vleck and constructed by the Cauldwell-Wingate Company, with numerous other engineers and contractors. Starrett & van Vleck created a classical exterior matching with the character of Fifth Avenue at the time, as prompted by the Fifth Avenue Association. The association granted the store its 1924 gold medal for "best new building of the year". The architects created a modern interior for the department store and followed a new city zoning law requiring setbacks for buildings' upper floors for Saks' administrative offices.
The 36-story 623 Fifth Avenue was designed by a partnership between Lee Harris Pomeroy Associates, hired by Swiss Bank Corporation (the initial building owners), and Abramovitz Kingsland Schiff (staff architects for Saks). The New York City Planning Commission requested a height not much greater than the neighboring Newsweek Building, limiting its floor count and limiting ceiling heights to 8 feet, 8 inches. The tower is often stated to have 36 stories, as the 37th and 38th floors just house mechanical equipment, as does floor 10. The tower also has a basement loading level and sub-basement.
Exterior.
Original building.
The 1924 building has ten stories, as well as three facades on 49th Street, Fifth Avenue, and 50th Street. The primary Fifth Avenue elevation is connected to the 49th and 50th Street elevations by chamfered corners. each with about of street frontage. The exterior utilizes Indiana limestone, brick, and cast stone. The design is a modest version of neoclassical buildings popular in the 1920s, reported at the time as inspired by the architecture of the late English Renaissance and by lesser-known 18th c. London buildings. The three facades are nearly identical except for minor details at ground level.
At ground level, the facade is clad with rusticated granite blocks and contains tall display windows. This first level is high-ceilinged; its exterior reads as 1.5 stories tall. The display windows are large plate glass sheets in bronze frames, with narrow sections of marble wall between each window. Annually from October to December, these display windows contain holiday decorations. On Fifth Avenue, the display windows span the block and are only interrupted by two entrances. The presence of twin entrances, while relatively rare for department stores, emphasizes the building's size and full-block Fifth Avenue frontage. The entranceways are rectangular, with carved spiral moldings and topped with a plain cornice. Sets of doors span the lower halves of the entrances, while the upper halves have windows set behind ornate metal grilles.
The 49th and 50th Street entrances have original metal canopies hung above the doorways. The canopies read "Saks & Company" between squares with quatrefoil designs; the canopy tops are decorated with a bronze frieze of urns and floral motifs. The eastern end of the 49th Street facade has a loading bay topped with an ornamental bronze cornice. The 49th Street loading bay was for receiving merchandise. A corresponding loading bay on 50th Street was used for shipping and contained an adjacent employee entrance.
The main element of the facade is on its second and third floors a 14-bay-wide order of fluted pilasters supporting an architrave, all constructed of Indiana limestone. The design is flat and restrained, though the pilasters' capitals and the architrave's frieze are ornate and inventive. Another architrave divides the second and third floors, featuring a decorative balustrade.
The fourth through sixth stories are less ornate, with a brick exterior and rectangular windows. The fourth-story windows have decorative cast stone surrounds topped by plain panels. Above this story is a sill molding, and the seventh story, also brick-faced but with ornamental stone roundels placed between each of the windows. The story is topped with a cornice and balustrade above. These first through seventh stories feature a chamfered bays between the Fifth Avenue and side street facades.
The eighth, ninth, and tenth stories are progressively set back from the street fronts. The eighth story is relatively bare, while the ninth has narrow windows surrounded alternatively by slender colonnettes and cast stone rectangular panels. The story is topped with a heavy stone cornice and plain brick parapet. The tenth story has simple windows and a brick exterior, also topped with a cornice and final stone balustrade.
623 Fifth Avenue.
The tower adjacent to the original flagship was originally known as Swiss Bank Tower and 10 East 50th Street and, since 2002, has also been known as 623 Fifth Avenue. All 38 stories of the tower addition are clad in Indiana limestone. The tower and original Saks building are easily viewable from across the street at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and its Top of the Rock observation deck. From there, 623 Fifth Avenue rises symmetrically above Saks, and with a carved-out center, reciprocating the jutting-out 30 Rockefeller Plaza. This section features ribbons of windows only separated by thin limestone spandrels; the rest of the building has standalone or punched windows.
The first seven floors of the building, constructed in 1990, feature an exterior mirroring the 1924 Saks building. The bank had favored a modern facade, though the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission desired an extension of the 1924 facade. Both Saks and the offices share street frontage on its 49th and 50th Street facades. The 50th Street facade is a near-identical replication, with only subtle changes in form and detail, and with hand-carved ornamentation. Saks gained two new display windows and an entranceway replicating the original single 50th Street entrance, while Swiss Bank Corporation gained a two-bay-wide and three-story-tall grand entrance. The 49th Street facade at ground-level is more modern, though with a Saks entrance and show windows replicating originals. The facade is pulled back from the street, giving this side a small paved forecourt. On either side of the new Saks entrance are its relocated loading dock and a secondary office tower entrance.
Interior.
The original structure had over of floor area, while the tower has . The tower's first through ninth floors are operated by Saks, with a expansion. The 10th story of the tower has mechanical equipment, while the 11th through 36th floors are separately-operated office space.
Department store.
When the original department store opened, the first through seventh stories were dedicated to sales. There were also four stories of offices and storerooms. The basement was used for shipping and receiving, the eighth story was used for offices, and the ninth and tenth stories for stockrooms and workrooms. The upper floors were subsequently turned into sales space as well.
, the store spans . The main floor is about and includes a handbag department, as well as an escalator to the second floor that was decorated by Rem Koolhaas.
The first story has a ceiling height of , while the other stories have ceiling heights of . The building's superstructure is formed by eight sets of columns. Twelve elevators were placed at the eastern end of the building, in the rear. Two enclosed stairways were installed near the Fifth Avenue entrances, and there were service stairs at each of the rear corners. The furnishings were designed in hardwood, while the wall surfaces and columns above contained white finishing. The flat-paneled ceilings had suspended light fixtures and concealed sprinkler pipes.
Office space.
Each of the office stories has a ceiling of . The office tower's two-story lobby is on the 11th and 12th floors, a sky lobby atop the Saks expansion, with four shuttle elevators taking passengers up to this lobby. The lobby originally had a waterfall and 1989 Richard Serra work, "Fin", made of curved oxidized iron and weighing 18 tons. The lobby level also has a conference center and cafeteria.
As late as 2002, the building had a five-story corporate penthouse for executive offices, with a total of 65,000 square feet. The offices, on floors 32 to 36, had Swiss pearwood-lined walls, while its elevator lobbies and reception areas had cut limestone walls. The space also featured meeting rooms, a kitchen, and a dining room.
History.
Origin: A. Saks & Co..
Andrew Saks was born to a German Jewish family, in Baltimore. He worked as a peddler and paper boy before moving to Washington, D.C. where at the age of only 20, and in the still-chaotic and tough economic times of 1867, only two years after the United States prevailed in the American Civil War, he established a men's clothing store with his brother Isadore. A. Saks & Co. occupied a storefront in the Avenue House Hotel building at 517 (300-308) 7th Street, N.W., in what is still Washington's downtown shopping district. Saks annexed the store next door, and in 1887 started building a large new store on the site of the old Avenue Hotel Building at 7th and Market Space (now United States Navy Memorial Plaza). By the 1880s, Saks had expanded his business to Indianapolis and Richmond, Virginia.
Saks opened a large department store in 1902 in New York City's Herald Square on 34th Street and Broadway (at 1293-1311 Broadway). Andrew Saks ran the New York store as a family affair with his brother Isadore, and his sons Horace and William. Andrew Saks died in 1912 and his son Horace took over the company's management. Horace Saks wanted to move to the Fifth Avenue shopping district, which had been first developed in 1905 with the opening of the B. Altman and Company Building at 34th Street, and which was gradually expanding northward. However, he deferred a relocation of the store during World War I.
Relocation.
Saks & Company leased the Buckingham Hotel and Belgravia Apartments, on Fifth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, in April 1920 for $35 million. At the time, the site was described in the "Real Estate Record" as a "new northern outpost for large retail trade". In June 1921, Starrett & Van Vleck filed plans for a nine-story building on the Fifth Avenue site. Demolition of the two structures began later that year.
Further underlining the need for a new store was the fact that, in 1922, the landlord of the Herald Square building doubled the rent. The National Democratic Club occupied the middle of the Saks site, at 617 Fifth Avenue, but the club originally refused a $1 million offer for its site, which measured . As a result, Saks & Company initially sought to construct a U-shaped building wrapping around the clubhouse. Saks merged in April 1923 with Gimbel Brothers, Inc., which was owned by Horace Saks' cousin Bernard Gimbel. Gimbel took over the Herald Square lease, paid off Saks' debt, and bought $8 million of the company's stock. The Saks Fifth Avenue store became a joint venture between Saks and Gimbel. Saks & Company bought the Democratic Club in May 1923.
On September 15, 1924, the Saks Fifth Avenue Building opened at 611 Fifth Avenue, with a full-block avenue frontage south of St. Patrick's Cathedral, facing what would become Rockefeller Center. At the time, "The Evening World" wrote that it did not consider Saks a department store, contrary to popular belief. The newspaper stated that Saks sold no dry goods or furniture, only dealing in clothing and accessories. The new store did not add any of these departments, only doubling the floor space of the existing departments. "The Wall Street Journal" projected the new store would ultimately have an annual profit of $17 million. The store would become known as "Saks-Fifth Avenue" with a hyphen, as compared with the older location, known as "Saks Herald Square" or "Saks 34th Street".
Operation.
Mid-20th century.
In 1926, the Saks brothers withdrew from the operation of Saks & Company, stating that the Fifth Avenue store had become "satisfactorily" established. Over subsequent years, several branches of the Saks Fifth Avenue brand were opened, and the Fifth Avenue store became a flagship location. From 1929 to 1969, Sophie Gimbel led the store's custom department. Gimbel, wife of the company president, designed elegant clothes and introduced women's culottes to the American public.
On the land underlying the Saks flagship, the Saks Realty Company initially owned the former Democratic Club plot, but the remaining site was owned by the George Kemp Company. In 1935, the Kemp Company bought the Democratic Club plot, thereby obtaining ownership of the entire site. Also in 1935, Saks introduced a ski department with a ski slope and skiing classes. By 1938, "Fortune" magazine characterized the Fifth Avenue store as upscale, as opposed to "the anthill bargain basement tables on Herald Square", the latter of which ended up closing in the 1960s. An imported-object gift shop, with a separate entrance on 50th Street, opened in 1950. The Fifth Avenue site was sold in 1952 to William Zeckendorf, who the following year sold it to the Rockefeller family.
Late 20th century.
In 1979, Saks submitted provisional plans to the New York City Planning Commission (CPC) for a 50-story office and residential tower east of its flagship. The lots to the east had been proposed as the site of a tower since the 1950s but had not been developed because of a lack of participation by Saks real estate interests. Saks entered a joint venture with Rockefeller Center Properties in 1981 to develop the site with a tower. Under the plan, about a quarter of the space would have been occupied by Saks while the rest would be office space. The store's land lot and the adjoining midblock parcel were in separate zoning districts with different floor area ratios, and so air rights could not be transferred unless the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated it as a landmark. According to the CPC chairman's counsel, if the flagship were a city landmark, the tower would be allowed because its development would assist the preservation of the landmark. Accordingly, the LPC designated Saks Fifth Avenue as a landmark on December 20, 1984. The LPC unanimously approved the tower proposal the following June.
Saks' agreement with Rockefeller Center Properties subsequently failed. Galbreath-Ruffin then became a partner in the tower project, but its stake was bought out by Swiss Bank Corporation. A proposal for a 36-story tower was presented by a joint venture of Saks and Swiss Bank in 1986. The former would expand its flagship space into the base of the tower while the latter would use the upper floors as its headquarters. Swiss Bank and Saks spent fourteen months negotiating over the plans. The largest point of contention was the tower addition's 50th Street frontage, which Saks wanted for display windows, but which was ultimately allocated to Swiss Bank for its entrance.
Work on the midblock site started in 1987 and the tower was completed in 1990. The store's selling floors were expanded into the first through ninth stories of the tower. The additions included a restaurant called Cafe SFA on the eighth floor and a beauty salon and spa at the ninth floor. The tower was able to obtain a prestigious Fifth Avenue address because the skyscraper is on the same land lot as the 1924 store and was built using its air rights. The tower was fully occupied by 1992. The original flagship and the tower addition have a single owner, initially Swiss Bank Corporation, which had leased the ground from Saks for 100 years. Cohen Brothers Realty Corporation acquired the Swiss Bank Tower in 1997. Following Swiss Bank's subsequent merger with UBS, the company moved its offices out of the tower.
21st century.
Starting in the late 1990s, Saks Fifth Avenue extensively renovated its flagship. Saks Fifth Avenue completed the $125 million renovation of the flagship store in 2003. A year later, Saks' new CEO Fred Wilson announced plans to undo much of the renovation and spend $150 million to further remodel the flagship. In August 2007, the United States Postal Service began an experimental program selling the "plus" ZIP Code extension to businesses. The first company to do so was Saks Fifth Avenue, which received the ZIP Code of 10022-7463 ("SHOE") for the flagship's eighth-floor shoe department. The building's eighth floor thus became the first instance in the United States in which an individual story of a building had its own ZIP Code. This coincided with the expansion of the shoe department, which had moved from the fourth floor and doubled in size to .
As of 2013, the New York flagship store's real estate value was estimated between $800 million and over $1 billion. At the time, the flagship generated around 20% of Saks' annual sales, valued at $620 million. Hudson's Bay Company, which took over the Saks Fifth Avenue chain in 2013, took out a loan the following year. The loan gave the Fifth Avenue store a book value of $3.7 billion, more than the $2.9 billion the company had paid for the entire chain.
In 2015 Saks began a $250 million, three-year restoration of the flagship store. The company president desired reinventing the flagship, opening up its floors and closing its Cafe SFA to create a new eatery, the Parisian-style L'Avenue. Saks planned a spiral staircase around a glass elevator, linking its first and second floors. It would move around departments, and transform back-room space into retail space. The main floor, which was renovated to contain a handbag department, was completed in August 2019. The value of the building was recorded at $1.6 billion in 2019, amid a general decline in the retail sector. A department for children opened in March 2020, the first in the flagship store's history. Additional work was to be completed in 2021, including a men's shoes department and a basement jewelry section.


Medicine Bow Mountains

The Medicine Bow Mountains are a mountain range in the Rocky Mountains that extend for from northern Colorado into southern Wyoming. The northern extent of this range is the sub-range the Snowy Range. From the northern end of Colorado's Never Summer Mountains, the Medicine Bow mountains extend north from Cameron Pass along the border between Larimer and Jackson counties in Colorado and northward into south central Wyoming. In Wyoming, the range sits west of Laramie, in Albany and Carbon counties to the route of the Union Pacific Railroad and U.S. Interstate 80. The mountains often serve as a symbol for the city of Laramie. The range is home to Snowy Range Ski Area.
The highest peak in the range is Clark Peak (), located in Rawah Wilderness and is along the southern end of the range in Northern Colorado. Much of the range is located within the Medicine Bow National Forest in Wyoming. The highest peak on the Wyoming side is Medicine Bow Peak (). The range is drained along the western flank by the Michigan and Canadian rivers, tributaries of the North Platte in North Park. On its eastern flank it is drained by the Laramie River, another tributary of the North Platte.
Geology.
The Medicine Bow Mountains resulted from continental compression during the Laramide Orogeny. Beginning about 70 million years ago, the Rockies began uplifting along thrust faults that broke up the Precambrian granite of Earth's crust. By 50 million years ago, all of Wyoming's major mountain ranges were elevated and the major basins defined. Rocks exposed along the flanks and peaks of the Medicine Bow Mountains span the Precambrian to modern, with the peaks composed of 2.4-2.0 billion year old Medicine Peak Quartzite. This rock was once a shallow marine sand deposit that has since been compressed and heated during burial, forming the metamorphic rock, quartzite. What may be traces of multicellular animals are preserved in this rock, making it of particular interest to paleontologists.
The Cheyenne belt, the 1.78–1.74 billion year old suture between the Wyoming craton and the Yavapai province that formed as North America was assembled, is exposed in the Medicine Bow Mountains.
Fauna.
Wildlife abounds in these mountains, with mule deer, elk, moose, black bear, mountain lions, coyotes, marmots, pika, Richardson's ground squirrels, bobcats, and lynx as well as a tremendous variety of birds. Brook and rainbow trout as well as grayling and golden trout are found in the streams. A disjunct population of arctic fairy shrimp (Brachinecta paludosa) has been documented in a few lakes in the northern part of the range.
Research.
Since 1987, the Glacier Lakes area of the Snowy Range has been home to the Glacier Lakes Ecosystem Experiments Site (GLEES), a field unit of the Rocky Mountain Research Station, United States Forest Service. Areas of scientific inquiry at the site include atmospheric pollutant deposition, forest carbon and water vapor cycling, effect of insect outbreaks, and alpine lake and stream hydrology. The site is 642 ha in extent and hosts facilities for the National Atmospheric Deposition Program (NADP), the National Dry Deposition Network (NDDN) and AmeriFlux (Eddy covariance).
Airline crash.
This mountain range is also home to some of the remains of a Douglas DC-4 aircraft, operated as United Airlines Flight 409. The aircraft crashed into Medicine Bow Peak on October 6, 1955, killing all 66 people on board.


Nathaniel Bishop

Nathaniel Bishop (? – 30 June 1723) was a Hudson's Bay Company employee who became master of Fort Prince of Wales.


Shane Belcourt

Shane Anthony Belcourt (born December 30, 1972) is a Métis writer, director, and cinematographer living and working in Canada. He is best known for his feature film "Tkaronto", which depicts the life of urban Métis and First Nations people.
The film was reviewed by Jason Anderson at "Eye Weekly", who wrote "The quality of writer-director Shane Belcourt's feature debut – named after our city's original Mohawk name – is all the more remarkable when you consider that it was made in six months on a measly budget of $20,000. Based on Belcourt's experience as the son of a Métis father, the movie portrays the crises of Jolene and Ray (Duane Murray), two thirtysomethings who can't figure out a way to square up their urban lifestyles and material ambitions with what an elder (played by Lorne Cardinal) calls “blood memory.” But for all of "Tkaronto"'s heavy themes, the film has a sense of lightness that makes it one of the year's most appealing local indie features."
Biography.
Belcourt was born in Ottawa, Ontario on December 30, 1972 to parents Tony Belcourt and Judith Pierce-Martin (née Streatch). A Métis filmmaker with a deep respect for the traditions and knowledge of Aboriginal people, the majority of his work explores and celebrates Aboriginal issues and culture. His debut feature film, "Tkaronto", was chosen as the Closing Night film at the 2007 imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival.
He is the son of Métis leader Tony Belcourt and brother of graphic designer Suzanne Belcourt and painter Christi Belcourt.


Timothy Demonbreun

Jacques-Timothée Boucher, Sieur de Montbrun (; 23 March 1731 – October 1826), anglicized as Timothy Demonbreun, was a French-Canadian fur trader, a Lieutenant in the American Revolution, and Lieutenant-Governor of the Illinois Territory. He is known as the "first citizen" of Nashville, Tennessee.
Hunter and entrepreneur.
Demonbreun's great-grandfather, Pierre Boucher, was the first Canadian to be raised to the rank of nobility. His father, Etienne, served in the French army in Canada during the French and Indian War, the North American front of the Seven Years' War.
After his country, France, was beaten in the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in Canada in 1759, Jacques-Timothee Boucher at the age of 28 migrated south to the British colonies, what became the United States, and got into the fur trade. Preferring the simple life of a trapper and hunter, he dropped the noble title, adapting it in an anglicization as his new surname, Demonbreun. He had begun traveling to the Middle Tennessee area in the 1760s while in his 30s.
In 1766, while hunting near the muddy water at the mouth of a small creek entering the Cumberland River in the region called "French Lick," Demonbreun noticed a large number of buffalo and deer using a salt lick. The spring is a natural source of sulfurated water, and eventually became known as Sulphur Dell. He lived in a cave there for several months until he could build a cabin near the river to use as his home base for fur trapping. Demonbreun made frequent trips to the early Nashville settlement to engage in fur trading with local Native Americans. When James Robertson and the Watauga settlers established Fort Nashborough in 1778, they were surprised and relieved to find that Demonbreun, a white man, was thriving there.
Military service.
Demonbreun joined the George Rogers Clark expedition and received an appointment as lieutenant governor in command of the Northwest Territory. He settled at Fort Kaskaskia in the Illinois Country, where he served as lieutenant governor from 1783-1786. In 1786 he resigned from military service and soon thereafter moved permanently to Nashville.
Family.
Demonbreun traveled extensively, and managed two careers and two families. He fulfilled his duties as lieutenant governor of the Illinois Territory and maintained a family in Kaskaskia. Demonbreun had five children by his wife, Therese Archange Gibault, in Illinois.
During his time in Nashville, he took a mistress named Elizabeth Bennett and had three children by her: Polly (Cagle); William; and John Baptiste Demonbreun. .
In his will, he mentions three of his legal children by name: Agnes Doza, Julia Johnson, and Timothy DeMonbreun. He specifically lists children William, John, and Polly as illegitimate (or natural). He does not mention the mother of either family of children, nor his son Felix, though Felix Demonbreun is well documented through census and other records. According to Felix's grandson, Samuel, Felix was removed from Timothy's will because he elected to become a Baptist minister against the wishes of his father who was French Catholic.
Later life.
Eventually, Demonbreun developed a thriving mercantile and fur trading business in the Nashville area with seventeen employees. By 1800 his mercantile business on Nashville's Public Square advertised such items as window glass, paper, cured deer hides, and buffalo tongues. An 1809 newspaper advertisement announced that he was opening a tavern, also on the Public Square.
The Revolutionary French hero, Marquis de Lafayette, visited Nashville on May 4, 1825, during his farewell tour of the United States. Andrew Jackson presided over a banquet in his honor at the Nashville Inn. Jacques-Timothée, or Timothy Demonbreun, by then very elderly, conversed with the Marquis in their native French. When he died in 1826, Demonbreun divided his substantial fortune among his children.
Historical records and memorials.
No record of the burial site of Nashville's "First Citizen" survived. He was most likely buried at Nashville City Cemetery but early records no longer exist. A historical marker at the northwest corner of Third Avenue North and Broadway, in the city, marks the site of his home.
In 1996 a monument sculpted by Alan LeQuire to honor Demonbreun was erected near Fort Nashborough, overlooking the Cumberland River in downtown Nashville. Demonbreun Street, named for him, crosses Interstate 40 in downtown Nashville.
A monument has been erected in honor of Timothy Demonbreun at Carney Cemetery in Ashland City, Tennessee, but historians do not believe he was buried there. At the time of his death, this was the farm of his past mistress Elizabeth Bennett, and her husband Joseph Duratt.
Name.
Because French orthography was so fluid at the time, and because of widespread variations in English orthography, the spelling and version of Demonbreun's name is of some debate. The preferred use today is Timothy Demonbreun, though the first name is sometimes rendered in the French as "Timothé", "Timothée" or "Timothe". As for the last name, it derives from the French words, de (of) mont (mount) bruen (brown) for of mount brown, and is also rendered variously as "Demontbrun", "de Montbrun", "Demontbreun", "de Montbreun", "De Mont-Breun", "De Monbrun", and others. Descendants of Demonbreun (it is a very common surname in Middle Tennessee) spell the name with and without the middle "T," as one word or two, with a "U" in place of the "O," with and without the "E," and with an "N" or an "M" at the end. In addition, other variations such as "Demumbrine" and "Demombrum" also exist. Demonbreun Street in Nashville shows the preferred spelling. A popular local pronunciation is , and rhymes with "Northumbrian."


Kill Van Kull

The Kill Van Kull is a tidal strait between Staten Island, New York and Bayonne, New Jersey in the United States. It is approximately long and wide and connects Newark Bay with Upper New York Bay. The Robbins Reef Light marks the eastern end of the Kill, Bergen Point its western end. It is spanned by the Bayonne Bridge and is one of the most heavily traveled waterways in the Port of New York and New Jersey.
Historically, it has been one of the most important channels for the commerce of the region, providing a passage for marine traffic between Upper New York Bay and the industrial towns of northeastern New Jersey. During the colonial era, it played a significant role in travel between New York and the southern colonies, with passengers changing from ferries to coaches at Elizabethtown (now Elizabeth).
Since the final third of the 20th century, it has provided the principal access for oceangoing container ships to Port Newark-Elizabeth Marine Terminal, the busiest port facility in the eastern United States, and Howland Hook Marine Terminal. The strait has required continued dredging and deepening to accommodate the passage of ever-larger ships. In many areas, the sandy bottom has been excavated down to rock and now requires blasting. The Bayonne Bridge's deck was raised in 2017 so that New Panamax ships could travel the Kill Van Kull.
Etymology.
Kill Van Kull translates as "channel of the pass" or "ridge". Nearby is the Arthur Kill, the name of which is an Anglicization of "achter kill" meaning "back channel", referring to its location "behind" Staten Island.
The name "Kill Van Kull" originated in the early 17th century, during the Dutch colonial era, when the region was part of New Netherland. Places were named by early explorers and settlers in reference to their shape, topography, or other geographic qualities. The area around Newark Bay was called Achter Kol. The bay lies behind Bergen Hill, the emerging ridge of the Hudson Palisades which begins on Bergen Neck, the peninsula between it and the Upper New York Bay. Behind or "achter" the ridge was a "col" or "mountain pass" to the interior. "Kill" comes from the Middle Dutch word "kille" meaning creek. The bay was known as Cull Bay during the British colonial era.


Mansel Carter

Mansel Carter (May 12, 1902- June 5, 1987), also known as "Man of the Mountain", was a businessman and prospector. In 1987, "The Phoenix" named him one of "Arizona Legends". The San Tan Historical Society of Queen Creek recognized his gravesite at Gold Mountain in the San Tan Mountain Regional Park in Queen Creek, Arizona as a tourist attraction. In 2017, the town of Queen Creek named a new community park the "Mansel Carter Oasis Park" in his honor.
Early years.
Carter was born in Quaker City, Ohio. When he was young, he studied photography and worked as a mechanic in his hometown. He moved to Indiana and purchased an airplane with which he provided a shuttle service. During the Great Depression, he worked as a lumberjack on the Zuni Indian Reservation.
Marion E. Kennedy.
In 1941, Carter moved to the town of Gilbert, Arizona, and opened a photography shop. He was drafted by the United States Army during World War II and served a short tour of duty. He was eventually discharged on account of his age. He met and befriended Marion E. Kennedy (1874-1960), a Cherokee Indian from Oklahoma whose job was delivering ice. Kennedy had at one time attended the Indian School in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where he studied geology. One of his classmates was Jim Thorpe, a notable Native-American sports hero.
Gold prospecting.
Carter received a monthly pension from the military. Both Carter and Kennedy decided to try their hands as gold prospectors and moved to the San Tan Mountains in the town of Queen Creek. The mountain men, as they became known, established various claims, and their campsite became their home. Kennedy taught Carter how to drill for gold, and they became life-long friends. When Kennedy died in 1960, Carter buried him near their campsite.
Carter discontinued prospecting for gold after the death of his friend. He handcarved and sold "cactus curios" to the many visitors from different parts of the country. Carter was featured in "Arizona Road" with Bill Leverton. He kept a guest book, which along with some of his cactus curios and many of his personal belongings, were donated to the San Tan Historical Society’s Museum after he died in 1987 of cancer. That same year "The Phoenix" named him an "Arizona Legend".
Both Carter and Kennedy are buried where their campsite was located near the Goldmine Trail. Their gravesite is considered a historical tourist attraction by the San Tan Historical Society of Queen Creek. The mountain in which they prospected is known as the Gold Mountain and the area is now part of the San Tan Mountain Regional Park system. In 2017, the town of Queen Creek named a new community park the "Mansel Carter Oasis Park".


Bitterroot Mountains

The Northern and Central Bitterroot Range, collectively the Bitterroot Mountains (Salish: čkʷlkʷqin), is the largest portion of the Bitterroot Range, part of the Rocky Mountains and Idaho Batholith, located in the panhandle of Idaho and westernmost Montana in the Western United States. The mountains encompass an area of 4,862 square miles (12,593 km²).
The mountains are bordered on the north by Lolo Creek, to the northeast by the Clark Fork, on the south by the Salmon River, on the east by the Bitterroot River and Valley, and on the west by the Selway and Lochsa Rivers. Its highest summit is Trapper Peak, at .
Northern Bitterroot Range.
The Northern Bitterroot Range is the northernmost and shortest subrange of the Bitterroot Mountains. The Northern Bitterroots encompass 1,869 square miles (4,841 km²) and its two tallest peaks are the 7,930 foot (2,417 m) Rhodes Peak and the 7,770 foot (2,368 m) Quartz Benchmark.
The Northern Bitterroots also contain a smaller subrange, the Grave Creek Range. The Grave Creek Range is 262 square miles (679 km²) in area and its highest peak is the 7,270 foot (2,216 m) Petty Mountain.
Central Bitterroot Range.
The Central Bitterroot Range is the southernmost and tallest subrange of the Bitterroot Mountains. The Central Bitterroots encompass 2,993 square miles (7,752 km²) and its two tallest peaks are the 10,157 foot (3,096 m) Trapper Peak and the 9,983 foot (3,043 m) El Capitan.
The Central Bitterroots also contain a smaller subrange, the Como Peaks. The Como Peaks subrange is 79 square miles (205 km²) in area and its highest peak is the aforementioned El Capitan.
Early history.
The Bitterroot Mountains presented an unexpected, formidable obstacle to Lewis and Clark during their expedition westward, and ended their expectation of finding a "Northwest Passage" giving an easy connection from the Atlantic watershed to that of the Pacific.
Bitterroot controversy.
Swanson (2011) examines the critical role of Guy M. Brandborg of the U.S. Forest Service, who was supervisor of the Bitterroot National Forest from 1935 to 1955. By insisting on selection cutting, he tried to protect the watersheds and wildlife habitats that are harmed by clear-cutting. After he retired in 1955 Brandborg denounced the Forest Service for deviating from his model. He launched a public attack, known as the "Bitterroot controversy." Brandborg lobbied to secure passage of the National Forest Management Act of 1976, that codified his model.


Gunnison River

The Gunnison River is located in western Colorado, and it is one of the largest tributaries of the Colorado river. The 180-mile (289-km) long river flows east to west, and it has a drainage area of 7,923 square miles (20,520 km2) according to the USGS. The drainage basin of the Gunnison River collects water from different habitats, such as forests and alpine meadows, located the along Continental Divide. As the river flows westward, it carves through the San Juan Mountains. It flows into the Colorado River at Grand Junction.
The Gunnison River Basin is popular for recreational activities such as fishing, rafting, boating, camping, hiking, and rock climbing.
Contamination of the Gunnison River with selenium and mercury results from irrigation of high-selenium soils derived from the Mancos Shale and from mineral mining. The region surround the Gunnison River is also part of the Colorado Mineral Belt. Contamination of the Gunnison River with selenium and mercury is a conservation concern for the bonytail chub, Colorado pikeminnow, humpback chub, and the razorback sucker, whose critical habitat includes the lower Gunnison River.
Basin features.
The Gunnison River is formed by the confluence of Taylor and East rivers at Almont in eastern Gunnison County, Colorado. Just past the town of Gunnison, the river begins to swell into the expanse of Blue Mesa Reservoir, a reservoir formed by Blue Mesa Dam, where it receives the Lake Fork of the Gunnison. Just downstream, it is dammed again to form Morrow Point Reservoir and then dammed again to form Crystal Reservoir. The reservoirs produce hydroelectric power and supply the surrounding areas with water for both municipal and irrigation use.
The reservoirs are located along the upper part of the Gunnison River. Below Crystal Dam, the Gunnison River begins to roar through massive cataracts.
The Gunnison River then flows through the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, one of the longest, narrowest, and deepest gorges in the world. At the outlet of the Black Canyon, it receives the North Fork River, and then downstream, near Delta, Colorado, it is joined by the Uncompahgre River. It then winds through desert canyonlands, where it receives Kannah Creek. It then empties out of the Dominguez Canyon into the Colorado River at Grand Junction, where some years it rivals the Colorado River for equal volume.
The Gunnison River ranges in width from and in-depth from . The river's powerful current and many rapids make upstream travel nearly impossible. It is navigable by small craft throughout its course and by larger boats below the Black Canyon. Parts of the Black Canyon are non-navigable by any sort of craft because of giant cataracts. Navigation through the entire canyon is dangerous and for experienced boaters only.
History.
The first non-native to see and record information of the Gunnison River was Juan Maria de Rivera, who came to the banks of the river just below its confluence with the Uncompahgre River in 1761 and 1765. It was again seen in 1776 by Silvestre Vélez de Escalante. At the time the Spanish name for the river was "Rio de San Javier (Xavier)"; the Native American name was "Tomichi". Escalante noted that Rivera thought it was "the great Rio del Tizon", the long-used Spanish name for the lower Colorado River.
Through the mid-1800s, the river was variously named the Eagle, Eagle Tail, South Fork of the Grand, Grande, and Grand River. Exploration reports and published maps of the 1850s and 1860s most commonly referred to the river as the Grand River. In subsequent years, however, the river was renamed for U.S. Army Captain John W. Gunnison of the Topographic Engineers, who was ambushed and killed by Pahvant Utes while mapping a trail west in Utah Territory in 1853.
Fishing.
The lower section of the Gunnison River is designated as Gold Medal Water and Wild Trout Water. The designated area begins 200 yards below the Crystal Dam and stretches through the Gunnison Gorge to the confluence of the North Fork and Gunnison Rivers.
Engineering.
Part of the river's water is diverted to irrigate the Uncompahgre Valley via the Gunnison Tunnel, which was built between 1905 and 1909. The Blue Mesa Dam, Morrow Point Dam, and Crystal Dam–built between the 1960s and the 1970s–are part of the Colorado River Storage Project.
Timeline of river development and management projects.
Past.
Throughout the late 19th and early 20th century the Bureau of Reclamation built multiple dams (Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal) and reservoirs (Blue Mesa, Morrow Point, and Crystal). All of these projects provided the area with large amounts of water which supported local agriculture, recreation, and other industries. Development of the Gunnison River prompted concerns from those wanting to preserve the scenic beauty of the river (especially the Black Canyon of the Gunnison). In the 1930s President Herbert Hoover designated the Black Canyon of the Gunnison River a national monument in order to protect "the roar of the river." By the end of the 20th century the Black Canyon received more protections when the US Congress declared the canyon a national park.
Present.
In 2008 the Black Canyon Decree was passed which resolved legal disputes over water resources in Colorado and protect the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. The decree set a flow regime that "will protect the water-dependent resources of the Black Canyon and help restore the ecological balance in the river system disrupted by three federal dams immediately upstream of the Park." The condition of the Gunnison River continues to improve with increased protections for Black Canyon National Park and as stakeholders, scientists, and natural resource managers continue their efforts to protect the Gunnison River. Their efforts include conducting scientific research and publishing information that informs the general public how they can protect the river. According to a progress report from 2019, the Gunnison Basin Selenium Management Program continues its efforts to “develop and implement a Selenium Management Program (SMP), in cooperation with the State of Colorado and Gunnison River basin water users to reduce adverse effects of selenium on endangered fish species in the Gunnison and Colorado rivers."
Future.
The Gunnison River is threatened by climate change, demand for water resources and ongoing challenges regarding selenium contamination. Because of these factors the future of the Gunnison River is uncertain.
Ecosystem contamination.
Selenium and mercury contamination of the Gunnison River results from irrigation of soils that are naturally high in selenium, mining activity, and atmospheric mercury deposition. Selenium and mercury contribute to concerns about conservation of resident biota. Four fish species - the humpback chub, bonytail chu, Colorado pikeminnow, and the razorback sucker - are endemic to the region. Critical habitat for these species includes the lower Gunnison River. Elevated salinity concentrations are also a problem for the river and its users. Soils derived from the Mancos Shale, east of the Uncompahgre River, are naturally high in both selenium and salinity.
Selenium.
Elevated selenium in the Gunnison River Basin reflects the underlying geology. The Gunnison River Basin sits atop the Mancos Shale which is naturally elevated in selenium. The seleniferous soil the shale produces have come to the subsurface due to weathering of the rock and uplift. Agricultural irrigation of seleniferous soils is one mechanism of selenium loading to the Gunnison River. As farmland in the Gunnison River Basin is abundant, the amount of selenium reaches well over the normal concentration in areas from Grand Junction to the tributaries in the upper Gunnison River. Some of the most concentrated tributaries of the Gunnison, namely the Uncompahgre, load large amounts of selenium to the Gunnison River. Selenium concentrations in the River can be as high as 11 ppm during peak times. Agricultural areas in the Gunnison River Basin are heavily farmed and provide large amounts of sediment during the growing months. Concentrations of selenium in the Gunnison River rise in April until they peak in August due to irrigation drainage. These peaks in selenium concentrations coincide with the reproduction events of the Colorado pikeminnow and the razorback sucker. High amounts of selenium are deposited into the yolk by the mother and juvenile fish eat algae that is highly concentrated with selenium in August. Effects of high selenium concentrations in fish include reduced oxygenation rates and lowered total energy capacity used for movement and reproduction, with fitness consequences for migratory fish such as the Colorado pikeminnow. Elevated selenium exposure can also cause malformations in adult fish.
Mercury.
Mercury in the Gunnison River comes from human activities including surface mining and burning fossil fuels such as coal. As rain water is discharged, it transports mercury to the river where bacteria biotransform mercury into methylmercury. Methylmercury has no biological benefit but rather bioaccumulates and biomagnifies through the trophic levels of the Gunnison River ecosystem. These concentrations of mercury can be as high as 13% above thresholds set in place by the EPA. Humpback chub, bonytail chub, Colorado pikeminnow, and the razorback sucker are susceptible to elevated concentrations of mercury based on their long distance annual migrations to reproduce. The Colorado pikeminnow is especially vulnerable to high concentrations of mercury as its life cycle is relatively long and the distances they travel for migration are especially far.
Remediation.
Organizations throughout Colorado are collaborating on pollution remediation in the Gunnison River in order to increase habitat quality for the razorback sucker and the Colorado pikeminnow. Some of these organizations and plans include The Gunnison River Basin's Selenium Management Plan, The Selenium Control Program, and the Bureau of Reclamation's Gunnison Basin Selenium Management Program. These programs aim to minimize the impact of selenium and salinity as unhealthy amounts of salinity lead to lower reproduction rates of fish was well as problems with agriculture. Current remediation attempts have led to a 43% reduction of selenium concentrations since the 1980s but additional reductions are needed to ensure the safety of the ecosystem. These attempts include giving funding to farmers of the Gunnison River Basin to reduce the amount of sedimentation deposited back into the river and therefore lower the overall amount of selenium being loaded into the river via tributaries. Salinity is being addressed by implementing local investments into the water use infrastructure by converting old systems to direct pipeline and sprinklers to help reduce the amount of runoff into the Gunnison. By reducing the amount of runoff being directed into the Gunnison, less selenium has been deposited into the river by irrigation drainage. As climate change reduces stream flow in the Gunnison River, future concentrations of both selenium and mercury will continually rise. This has led water managers and stakeholders from the Gunnison River Basin to review options in order to reduce the impact of climate change. These plans for the future hope to strengthen the critical water infrastructure, reduce agriculture water shortages, and encourage the beneficial relationship between agricultural, environmental and recreational water uses. In addition, the Clean Water State Revolving Fund has awarded the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment almost $13 million for future research and development along with pollution control and mitigation attempts. Most recently, the Gunnison River will soon be evaluated by state water quality officials to determine if the improvement programs have been successful in reducing the selenium and salinity levels toxic to the endangered fish. If the selenium levels are above the 4.6 mg/L water quality standard, the Gunnison will be subject to reclassification.


Andrew Todd (fur trader)

Andrew Todd (c. 1754–1796) was an Ulster merchant and fur trader at Montréal and Louisiana. Born into a wealthy family at Coleraine, County Londonderry, he was the son of Daniel Todd (1735-1783) of Randalstown, Co. Antrim, and his wife Letitia Thornton, sister of Lt.-General Sir William Thornton. He came to North America to work in the trading firm of his uncle, Isaac Todd, who was the business partner of James McGill at Montreal. He became a junior partner of the firm and in 1791 was admitted as a member of the Beaver Club. In 1794, the Spanish Governor, Francisco Luis Héctor de Carondelet, granted him an exclusive monopoly over all the trade in Louisiana; highly sought after particularly by Canadians as it was then still separate to the United States. This gave him the exclusive right to the valuable trade on the Upper Mississippi River, the Missouri River and the area north of Ohio. He jealously defended his position and soon became known in the region as "Don Andreas", successfully sending vast stores of goods up from New Orleans while bringing back furs. His uncle's firm back in Montreal, "Todd, McGill & Co.," had found itself in a position to then monopolize the supply of the entire Mississippi Valley, but the declaration of war between Spain and Britain in October 1796, followed by Andrew's death at New Orleans later that year, dashed their expectations. At his decease, Andrew Todd was unmarried and left no children. By his will, he released his slave, Jack, and left his entire estate to his uncle, Isaac, except for $500 that he left to James McGill, the other executor of his will.


List of mountain peaks of Montana

This article comprises three sortable tables of major mountain peaks of the U.S. State of Montana.
The summit of a mountain or hill may be measured in three principal ways:
Highest major summits.
Of the highest major summits of Montana, three peaks exceed elevation and 44 peaks exceed elevation.
Most prominent summits.
Of the most prominent summits of Montana, four peaks are ultra-prominent summits with more than of topographic prominence and 39 peaks exceed of topographic prominence.
Most isolated major summits.
Of the most isolated major summits of Montana, eight peaks exceed of topographic isolation .


Deborah Moody

Deborah, Lady Moody (born Deborah Dunch) (1586– circa 1659) is notable as the founder of Gravesend, Brooklyn, and is the only woman known to have started a village in colonial America. She was the first known female landowner in the New World. As a wealthy titled woman, she had unusual influence in New Netherland, where she was respected. In the Massachusetts Bay Colony, where she had first settled after leaving England because of persecution as an Anabaptist, she had been described by contemporaries as "a dangerous woman" and chose excommunication over giving up her beliefs.
Biography.
Deborah Dunch was born in London in 1586, the daughter of Walter Dunch of Avebury Manor in Wiltshire and his wife, also called Deborah. She was the daughter of James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham and his wife. Walter's father was Sir William Dunch, the Auditor of the Royal Mint.
Deborah married Sir Henry Moody, 1st Baronet. By marriage she was entitled to be addressed as Lady Moody. She was widowed by 1629, after her husband died at age 46.
Lady Moody left England in 1639 due to religious persecution, as she had adopted Anabaptist beliefs. At the age of 54, she settled in the town of Saugus, Massachusetts. She moved to a large farm in Swampscott, just outside of Salem. She corresponded with other religious Nonconformists in the area, attracting negative attention from her closest neighbor, Reverend Hugh Peter. Peter believed in religious unity in the Massachusetts Puritan colony. He had already expelled Anne Hutchinson, another Anabaptist woman, two years prior to Moody's arrival. In 1643, Moody was put on trial for allegedly spreading religious dissent. Puritan leader John Endecott described her as a "dangerous woman", during her trial. The Church told her to change her beliefs or be excommunicated.
Moody chose excommunication. She gathered her fellow Anabaptists, and set out once again to find a place where they could peacefully practice their religion. In 1643, Director Willem Kieft of the Dutch West India Company was looking for new settlers to add to the population in New Netherland. He had recently started a war with the local Lenape and wanted more settlers to defend the newly seized land. Lady Moody had money and followers, and accepted the opportunity to create a new community.
Since the Netherlands and their colonies had policies of relative religious tolerance, in order to encourage trade, Moody's Anabaptist beliefs presented less of a problem. The Dutch West India Company entrusted Moody with the southwestern tip of Long Island. This includes the areas now known as parts of Bensonhurst, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and Sheepshead Bay. Moody named her new community Gravesend. Gravesend was the first New World settlement founded by a woman. Moody allowed total religious freedom in Gravesend, as long as it fell within the laws of the colony.
As Gravesend prospered, Moody gained influence in the government of New Netherland. She was among the few prominent settlers invited to greet the new Director-General, Peter Stuyvesant, when he arrived in 1647. Stuyvesant called on her to mediate a tax dispute in 1654. In 1655, she was called upon to nominate magistrates for Gravesend. Moody lived in Gravesend until her death in 1659.
Today, Gravesend, as its name became known, is part of Brooklyn in New York City, with the original town square still evident in the street layout. It is named Lady Moody Square (see photo) in honor of the founder.
In the fall of 2014, Moody was honored for founding the town of Gravesend in "Built by Women New York City", a competition launched by the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation. It identified outstanding and diverse sites and spaces designed, engineered and built by women. A memorial was erected to her at Lady Moody Square, named in her honor in Gravesend.


Riding Mountain House

Riding Mountain House was a Hudson's Bay Company trading post set up to the south of what is now the Riding Mountain National Park, on the Little Saskatchewan River.
It was built in 1860 and maintained until 1895, by which time there was little remaining trade in furs.
It was near modern-day Elphinstone, Manitoba.
The Hudson's Bay Company established the post for the purpose of trading with the Ojibwe people led by Chief Okanase and then by Chief Keeseekoowenin.
The Keeseekooweenin First Nation owns the reserve where Riding Mountain House once stood.
In 1875, the band was offered the choice of staying at Riding Mountain House or moving to Dauphin Lake, with fourteen heads of families voting to stay and nine to move to Dauphin Lake. The advantage of Dauphin Lake was that it had better hunting and fishing, and was more isolated from European settlement.
However, those who wanted to stay had built houses, cleared and fenced land and were raising good crops of potatoes, wheat, barley and garden vegetables. A Presbyterian Mission under the Rev. George Flett was set up nearby.
The trading post lies on or very near to land currently owned by the Nature Conservancy of Canada


North West River

North West River is a small town located in central Labrador. Established in 1743 as a trading post by French Fur Trader Louis Fornel, the community later went on to become a hub for the Hudson's Bay Company and home to a hospital and school serving the needs of coastal Labrador. North West River is the oldest modern settlement in Labrador.
Names.
Fornel's trading post was known as (French for "Eskimo Bay Fort"). It was succeeded in 1757 by . The Hudson's Bay Company established , whose surrounding settlement became known as and then .
History.
Prehistory.
Central Labrador has been inhabited by Indigenous societies, such as Innu and the Maritime Archaic people, for over 7,000 years due to its bountiful wildlife.
Trapping.
In 1743 French fur trader Louis Fornel was the first European to establish a year-long settlement at the present site of North West River. The site was primarily used to trade furs with the local indigenous peoples for European goods. French settlers from Quebec moved to the area surrounding North West River to work as voyageurs and coureurs des bois (i.e., trappers). Many took on Inuit wives creating a population of Métis trappers and traders. Traders would also do business trading goods with the nomadic Naskapi Innu.
European fur traders relied on the knowledge of the land possessed by the trappers and the Innu to provide them with furs. Trappers living in and around North West River would come to the trading post to exchange furs, such as beaver, mink, marten, seal, fox, and bear, for flour, raisins, canvas tents, axes, guns and other goods. Trappers maintained traplines inherited from relatives throughout central Labrador.
Hudson's Bay Company.
With the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1763) Labrador was passed from the French to the British. With the arrival of the British came the Hudson's Bay Company in 1836 who would enjoy a trade monopoly over central Labrador's furs for more than 100 years. The newest of the Hudson's Bay trading posts was constructed in 1923 and still remains as museum run and maintained by the Labrador Heritage Society.
Grenfell Mission.
In 1893 British doctor Wilfred Grenfell began traveling the Labrador coast providing medical services to fishermen and the aboriginals living in Labrador. In 1914 the International Grenfell Association was formed. The mission took doctors and nurses from the United Kingdom, and a handful of Commonwealth countries, to serve the people of Newfoundland and Labrador. One of these doctors was Dr. Harry L. Paddon, who in 1915 established a hospital in North West River which would eventually serve the entire coast of Labrador.
In 1981 the International Grenfell Association dissolved, leaving all properties to the Grenfell Regional Health Services Board, a locally run board, no longer relying on the support of missionaries. The hospital in North West River was closed by the provincial government in 1983.
Expeditions.
On July 15, 1903, Leonidas Hubbard with his two companions departed North West River for his tragic canoe expedition.
On June 27, 1905, Mina Benson Hubbard departed North West River to complete her husband's failed mission of 1903.
In August, 1905, North West River was the camp site for a solar eclipse expedition sent by the government of the Dominion of Canada and including members of the British Astronomical Association, whose report states that "the resident population of the place consisted only of the Hudson Bay factor [...] and the two factors in charge of a French fur trading station on the opposite bank of the river, some two or three half-breed trappers, and a small company of Montagnais Indians, temporarily encamped at the station".
In July, 1928, Gino Watkins used North West River as the base for an expedition in which he and Jamie Scott explored the area on foot, by canoe and with dog sledge. They were initially accompanied by Lionel Leslie. In nine months the pair travelled about 800 miles by canoe and 1500 miles by dog sledge.
Cable Car.
The North West River Cable Car was first used in 1961 as a way to connect the people of North West River to neighboring Sheshatshiu and to the road leading to Happy Valley-Goose Bay.
The Cable Car remained in use until a permanent bridge was constructed in 1980.
Present day.
The fur trade collapsed after the Second World War. Many trappers abandoned their traplines to work at the new air force base at nearby Goose Bay.
Although North West River has remained small in size over the last 250 years, it remains a lively place full of history. The town offers scenic walking trails along the waterfront, through the forest or to the top of "Sunday Hill" where hikers can see a panoramic view of Lake Melville, the Mealy Mountains, Grand Lake and Little Lake.
A modern bridge connects North West River to the rest of the continent which was constructed in 1980. Before that a cable car spanned the river for 19 years. Before that the river was only passable by boat.
In 2017, the town became the focus of a reality TV show, Discovery Channel Canada's "Last Stop Garage" featuring "CRB", the only garage in town, and last garage on the highway before it ends.
Indigenous peoples.
The interests of the Inuit in North West River are represented in Nunatsiavut by the "Sivunivut Inuit Community Corporation". The board members of Sivunivut are elected by residents of North West River and the chairperson (currently Trudy Mesher-Barkman) serves in the Nunatsiavut Assembly. The Innu population of North West River is overseen by the Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation which controls the Sheshatshiu reserve adjacent to North West River. The combined population of the reserve and North West River was 1,867 in 2011.
Economy.
North West River is home to a bed and breakfast, a motel, one convenience store, a gas station and garage, a barber shop, a hair salon as well as a craft shop selling local handmade crafts. Guided tours are offered by local outfitters.
Museums and information.
The Labrador Heritage Foundation operates a museum in the restored Hudson's Bay trading post. Various artifacts relating to the fur trade and Labrador history are cataloged and on display. The museum keeps regular hours in the Summer and can offer tours if booked ahead of time in the Winter.
The Labrador Interpretation Centre, located on Sunday Hill Road, is designed to provide a comprehensive view into the history and culture of Labrador. The centre features an art gallery, temporary exhibit space and a small theatre.
North West River Beach Festival.
Held on the North West River Beach the last weekend of July, The North West River Beach Festival is in its 36th year. The two-day event is Labrador's largest music festival. Locals, travelers and ex-pats gather at the festival to socialize and watch local performers play traditional Labrador music. There are also crafts, foods and games.
In 2007, the Beach Festival was moved to the North West River Waterfront instead of its traditional location on the beach.
Climate and terrain.
North West River experiences generally mild summers with cold winters. Winter usually begins in mid November and lasts until mid April and summer begin in June and end in early September. The temperature generally ranges from about at its coldest in the winters to about in the summers.
The town is located on a hill dividing Little Lake from the larger Lake Melville. A small band of water (North West River) connects the two. The area of North West River is located on a sandy plain surrounded by mountains. The sand and gravel forming this plain was deposited by glaciers during the Last Glacial Period.


Wet Mountains

The Wet Mountains are a small mountain range in southern Colorado, named for the amount of snow they receive in the winter. They are a sub-range of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, in the southern Rocky Mountains System. There are three variant names of mountain range: Cuerno Verde, Greenhorn Mountains, and Sierra Mojada.
Geography.
Most of the Wet Mountains range is within Custer County. Greenhorn Peak and part of the range are in Huerfano County and Pueblo County. The range runs approximately from U.S. Highway 50 to Walsenburg.
The tallest point is known as Greenhorn Mountain, which has multiple peaks, the highest of which reaches . Greenhorn Peak, St. Charles Peak, and North Peak all reach above tree line. The range provides the eastern boundary of the Wet Mountain Valley, bordered on the west by the Sangre de Cristos.
Settlements.
The adjacent Wet Mountain Valley contains the small towns of Westcliffe and Silver Cliff. Within the mountains, Highway 96 weaves its way down to Wetmore by way of "Hardscrabble Canyon" and is one of only three main exits from the valley. The only other highway in the range is Highway 165, which travels through the range to Rye and Colorado City, and can also be noted for Lake Isabel and Bishop's Castle.
Other towns/communities in the small range include Beulah and Rosita, which is now a ghost town after a period of gold and silver mining over the past two centuries.
Transport.
The summit of SH 96 in Hardscrabble Canyon has no official name, but is known locally as Hardscrabble Pass, elevation 9085 ft (2769 m). Its broad saddle is just east of Silver Cliff. The summit of SH 165 is Bigelow Divide, elevation 9403 ft (2866 m), near Ophir Creek Campground. The intersection of the two highways, between Silver Cliff and Wetmore, is McKenzie Junction, elevation 8359 ft. The gravel road that connects SH 78 from Beulah to SH 165 is known locally as Bathtub Pass, for a discarded roadside clawfoot bathtub.
Geology.
The Wet Mountains are the east flank of an uplifted faulted anticline. The core of the range consists of Precambrian granitic rocks with Paleozoic and Mesozoic strata in fault contact around the southern end and in the northwest. The range lies on the southeast end of the Central Colorado volcanic field and contains Eocene to Oligocene (38–29 Ma) volcanic rocks and carbonatites.


Mount Royal (sternwheeler)

Mount Royal was a sternwheeler that worked on the Skeena River and Stikine Rivers in British Columbia, Canada, from 1902 until 1907. She was named after Lord Strathcona who was also known as Donald Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal.
"Mount Royal" was owned by the Hudson's Bay Company which also owned "Caledonia" and "Strathcona". These sternwheelers were used to serve the communities along the river before and during the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. During her six seasons of service, "Mount Royal" was piloted by Captain SB Johnson.
"Mount Royal" was built to run against "Hazelton" a privately owned sternwheeler that worked as a passenger and freight steamer for Robert Cunningham.
Construction and launch.
"Mount Royal" was built by Alexander Watson in Victoria at Albion Iron Works (VMD). Watson designed her specifically for navigating the treacherous Skeena River. Using fine Douglas fir and Eastern oak, he built one of the fastest, lightest and most luxurious sternwheelers that ever ran on the Skeena. Even with a full load of passengers and cargo, she only sat in 36 inches in the water.
On "Mount Royal"'s launch date of April 9, 1902, she got hung up during the launch, and after two hours was freed, only to get caught up again, this time swinging into the bank. It would be several more days before she was successfully launched into the bay. A bad launch was considered to be an ill omen and, in this case, was one that would be fulfilled.
Sternwheeler race on the Skeena.
When "Mount Royal" arrived at the Skeena, rivalry flared between her and the Robert Cunningham’s "Hazelton" almost immediately, with each captain trying to beat the other's times from Port Essington to Hazelton and back. The standing order from both companies was "beat the other boat." Inevitably, this led to a side-by-side race, an old but dangerous tradition among sternwheelers. In the spring of 1904, both boats wanted to be the first one of the season to arrive in Hazelton. Captain Bonser started out in "Hazelton" first, and while he was wooding-up 105 miles upstream, he saw "Mount Royal" with Johnson at the helm coming up from behind. Wooding-up was immediately ceased and "Hazelton" pulled into the stream as "Mount Royal" approached and they raced bow to bow. Slowly "Mount Royal" gained on "Hazelton". Captain Bonser was having none of it and he rammed "Mount Royal" several times. Johnson lost control and the current carried her back downstream, bow first. Bonser wagged "Hazelton"'s stern at "Mount Royal", tooted the whistle and continued triumphantly upstream.7 Furious, Johnson left the pilothouse unattended to retrieve a rifle and shot at the departing "Hazelton". Afterwards, Johnson laid charges on Bonser claiming he deliberately rammed "Mount Royal". Bonser claimed in his defense that it was an accident.
The Federal Department of Marine investigated and decided that both captains were at fault, Bonser for ramming "Mount Royal", and Johnson for leaving the helm. The men were reprimanded and the case was closed.
The HBC and Robert Cunningham came to a mutual decision that the rivalry was not profitable and an agreement was reached to end it. The HBC paid Robert Cunningham $2,500 to tie up his vessel, and they hauled his freight for free. Later, the HBC bought "Hazelton".
The wreck of "Mount Royal".
In 1907, Captain Johnson was still in charge of "Mount Royal". On the afternoon of July 6, he was returning from Hazelton and was steaming through the Kitselas Canyon, when disaster struck. A strong wind pushed her into a large rock formation named Ringbolt Island, wedging her crosswise against the current. Luckily, she held while the passengers and crew scrambled to safety on the shore. Johnson assessed the situation and decided that "Mount Royal" could be saved and with ten crewmen, he returned aboard. He had decided that the best way to deal with this problem was to use the capstan to winch the sternwheeler back over Ringboat Island. This proved to be a disastrous decision. The king post broke and rammed through the bottom of "Mount Royal" and she buckled as the current washed over her, then she rolled upside down and broke into pieces. Although Johnson survived, six of the crewmen drowned, including the first officer. One of the four survivors was rescued by George Little, who would later become the founder of the town of Terrace. George and a companion spotted the wrecked hull as the wreckage floated past the community of Kitselas. Curious, they paddled out to it and saw a hand waving at them from a hole in hull. The survivor was "Mount Royal"'s chief engineer, Ben Maddigan, who was trapped in the bilge and filthy, but unhurt. After George Little chopped him out, Little commented that there must have been some air down there. The exhausted engineer replied, "I don’t know about air, but there was one hell of a lot of water!"
There was a strongbox aboard "Mount Royal" when she sank, and the strongbox contained an undisclosed amount of money. The strongbox was never recovered. An estimate of the amount in the strongbox is about $700. The box contained both paper and coin. It has also been stated that there was a large shipment of gold-dust from either the Omineca Country or Lorne Creek on board. The gold dust theory may be a fabrication. Many ill-equipped attempts have been made to recover the strongbox, but all have failed.


Ferdinand Jacobs

Ferdinand Jacobs ( – November 1783) was a Hudson's Bay Company chief factor. He joined the company's outpost in Prince of Wales's Fort (now Churchill, Manitoba) in 1732. In 1752 he was promoted to chief factor of the trading post.


Rumachenanck

The Rumanchenank were a Lenape people who inhabited the region radiating from the Palisades in New York and New Jersey at the time of European colonialization in the 17th century. Settlers to the provincial colony of New Netherland called them the "Haverstroo" meaning "oat straw", which became "Haverstraw" in English, and still used to describe part of their territory.
Like the Tappan, whose territory overlapped, the Rumanchenank were a seasonally migrational people, who farmed (companion planting), hunted, fished, and trapped. As all Lenape tribes, they were divided into clans, in this case Wolf, Turkey, and Turtle. They spoke the Munsee dialect of Lenape. They, as well as the Hackensack, Raritan, Wappinger, Canarsee, were collectively known as the River Indians. Those groups living in the adjoining highlands to the west and valley to north have become known as the Munsee, and sometimes the Esopus. The Haverstraws were the tribesmen who had the trouble with Verrazzano and the crew of the Half Moon while that vessel was anchored near Stony Point in 1609.
On 6 March 1660, a representative of the Rumanchenank took part, with other local leaders, in a peace treaty with the settlers at New Amsterdam, capital of the province. Various land conveyances in 1666, 1671, 1683, and 1685 involved the Haverstraw, and indicate their territory as having been on disputed lands involved in the New York-New Jersey Line War, which was not finally settled until the 18th century.
In 1664 after the supremacy of the English, the Rumanchenank were absorbed by the Tappans.
Some Rumachenanck may have become part of the Ramapough Mountain Indians.


Manawan

Manawan (named Manouane until 1991), officially named communauté Atikamekw de Manawan (French for "Atikamekw Community of Manawan"), is a First Nations reserve on the south-western shores of Lake Métabeskéga in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada. It belongs to the Atikamekw of Manawan band of the Atikamekw Nation.
The 5-kilometre (3 mile) by 2-kilometre (-mile) reserve is an enclave within the Baie-Atibenne unorganized territory, approximately north of Saint-Michel-des-Saints. It is accessible by gravel road.
The reserve takes its name from the Manouane River that has its source nearby. The standardized writing of the Atikamekw language spells it as Manawan, and this form was adopted on January 8, 1991. It means "place where they gather eggs".
Toponymy.
"Manawan" means "place where we gather eggs" in Atikamekw language. The real name of the place where is located the village of Manawan is "Metapeckeka"" which mean "where swamps emerge" or "savannath that emerge from a bay".
Geography.
The Indian Reserve of Manawan is an enclave within the Baie-Atibenne unorganized territory in Lanaudière, Quebec. It is located at northeast of Mont-Laurier and it covers an area of . It is linked by a gravel road to Saint-Michel-des-Saints to the south which is the closest service centre. The main city the closest to the village is Montreal.
History.
At least since 1850 and probably earlier, the shores of Lake Métabeskéga were a gathering place for Atikamekw families from Wemotaci. This location, near their winter hunting grounds, was known in the 19th century as Metapeckeka, meaning "swamp coming from a bay" (from the fact that the lake is often dotted with floating plant debris that winds blew of the banks).
Around 1870, logging companies moved into the area, prompting several families to permanently settle on the site. A year later, the Hudson's Bay Company opened its post. But damming of Kempt, Manawan, and Châteauvert Lakes in the early 1900s inundated the old village. A new village formed downstream at the current site.
Establishing a reserve for themselves proved difficult for the Atikamekw. The repeated requests of Chief Louis Néwashish for this portion of their territory were rebuffed by the Canadian Government, saying that the Maniwaki reserve, created in 1850, was reserved for them. The Atikamekw refused to go and live there. The federal government still declined to establish a reserve, arguing that Wemotaci was also for them. After years of correspondence followed by numerous trips in birch-bark canoe to Ottawa and lengthy negotiations for federal services, the government agreed. On August 29, 1906, the Manouane Reserve was officially founded with of land and having some 50 inhabitants.
The Hudson's Bay Company general store closed circa 1941. The village experienced further growth in the 1950s when more families settled down as a result of growing forest exploitation and the construction of large dams. In 1973, Manawan was connected by road to Saint-Michel-des-Saints.
Land History.
Current Situation
Demographics.
Historic populations:
Mother tongue:
Education.
There are 2 schools on the reserve:


Johannes Megapolensis

Johannes Megapolensis (1603–1670) was a "dominie" (pastor) of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Dutch colony of New Netherland (present-day New York state in the United States), beginning in 1642. Serving for several years at Fort Orange (present-day Albany, New York) on the upper Hudson River, he is credited with being the first Protestant missionary to the Indians in North America. He later served as a minister in Manhattan, staying through the takeover by the English in 1664.
The minister is best known as the author of "A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Figure, Costume, Religion, and Government", first published from his letters by friends in 1644 in North Holland, and being translated into English in 1792 and printed in Philadelphia. He is also known for having assisted the French missionary, Father Isaac Jogues in the 1643. The priest had been serving as a missionary to the Hurons and had been taken captive by the Mohawk. After his tenure in Rensselaerwyck, Megapolensis went to New Amsterdam intending to return to Holland. Governor Peter Stuyvesant prevailed upon him to remain and undertake the duties of pastor. In 1664, he was instrumental in facilitating a smooth transition to British rule.
Biography.
Early life.
Megapolensis was born in Koendyck (Koedijk), Netherlands in 1603. His father, also named Johannes, was a Protestant "dominie" or minister in Egmont-aan-Zee. The father Latinized the family name from the original van Mecelenburg. (Another source suggests the original name was von Grootstede.) However, from his translations of the "Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts", A.J.F. van Laer suggests that Magapolensis was not the son, but the nephew of Johannes, Sr. and married the daughter of the latter's wife by her first marriage. He became a Protestant clergyman after abandoning Catholicism in his youth. In 1634 he was pastor in Wieringerwaard. Four years later he was minister at Schoorl.
In 1630 the younger Megapolensis married Mathilde Willems in the Netherlands. The couple had at least four children born there in the next twelve years. Their son Johannes became a surgeon working at Fort Orange. In 1654, their daughter Hillegond married Cornelis van Ruyven, secretary to the colonial Council.
Rensselaerwyck.
In 1642 Megapolensis was hired by Kiliaen van Rensselaer, the Patroon of Rensselaerwyck, a vast estate encompassing much of what is now Albany and Rensselaer counties, to serve as minister to his territory. The contract was for six years. A disagreement arose between Van Rensselaer and the Directors of the Dutch West India Company, the Directors maintaining that they alone had the authority to commission clergy for the colony. As the ship was about to sail, the parties resolved their differences, neither side conceding their prerogatives. When it became known that Van Rensselaer planned to erect a church upriver at Rensselaerswyck, Governor Kieft hastened his plans to rebuild the church in Fort Amsterdam.
Megapolensis and his family went to New Netherland, where he served in Rensselaerswyck and later Fort Orange until 1649. At first the family lived in Greenbush, New York before moving to Fort Orange (now the city of Albany). Van Rensselaer made it clear that in the event of disagreements between the chief administrator, Arent van Curler and the chief legal officer Adriaen van der Donck, Megapolensis should try to arbitrate the dispute, but that ultimately the decision would lie with the older, mature clergyman pending any appeal to the patroon.
During this period, Megapolensis served as missionary to the Mohawk people, and is believed to be the first Protestant missionary to Native Americans in North America. The Mohawk territory was west of Fort Orange in the Mohawk River valley but extending up to the St. Lawrence River and down to the Delaware River, with other territories used for hunting. During the summer trading season, Mohawks frequently spent the night in Dutch houses, including the dominie's.
He became fluent in the Mohawk language and recorded many details about the Mohawk people and their culture. From his letters home, his friends in the Netherlands compiled "A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians, their Country, Language, Figure, Costume, Religion, and Government," publishing it in North Holland in 1644. This was apparently done without his knowledge or permission. The account was reprinted by Joost Hartgers in 1651 in the Netherlands. The first English translation by Ebenezer Hazard was printed by him in 1792 in Philadelphia, with a revised translation by Brodhead in 1857. Another version translated by A. Clinton Crowell of Brown University was printed in 1909 by Jameson in the United States.
In his letters, Megapolensis had compared the land of Rensselaerwyck to that of Germany and described the rich abundance of game, birds and other wildlife. Megapolensis described Mohawk dress, marriage customs and culture. He characterized the Mohawk ritual torture of captives as cruel, but noted that they seldom killed people in their culture, despite their lack of laws and authorities as he understood them. He contrasted that with the much higher rate of murders in his home country of the Netherlands.
The minister was known for assisting French Catholic missionary Isaac Jogues escape captivity, when he was being held by the Mohawk. They were hostile to Jogues because of earlier French attacks against Mohawk villages. In the autumn of 1642, Jogues was captured by the Mohawk and brought to their village of Ossernenon. Hearing of this, Arent van Curler, commissary of Rensselaerwyck, visited the "first castle" of the Mohawks and attempted to ransom Jogues, but without success as the Mohawk were not inclined to release him at that time. About a year later, the Mohawk were persuaded to bring the priest with them when they came to Beverwijck to trade. Once there, Van Curler helped Jogues to escape. The dominie helped conceal the priest until a deal could be reached and the Frenchman put on a ship to take him downriver. Pastor Megapolensis befriended Jogues and accompanied him to New Amsterdam, where Jogues stayed with the pastor while waiting for a ship to take him to France. The following year François-Joseph Bressani was also ransomed.
New Amsterdam.
At the conclusion of his term of ministry, Megapolensis planned to return to Holland, but was asked by Pieter Stuyvesant to become chief minister of the Dutch church in New Amsterdam. The dominie was initially reluctant and had to be persuaded with "friendly force". By the time he decided to stay, his wife had sailed and she returned to New Amsterdam in 1650. As dominie in New Amsterdam, Megapolensis was also responsible for mission stations in Bergen, New Jersey, the village of Haarlem, and occasionally in Brooklyn. In 1652, the Amsterdam "classis" sent Samuel Drisius, then serving in London, to assist Megapolensis. In 1656 Megapolensis purchased land in the city from Abraham Isaacsen Verplanck. That same year Lutherans in New Netherland petitioned for permission for public worship. This was opposed both by the authorities in the colony as well as in Amsterdam as it was viewed as reducing the Reformed congregation. The Lutherans wrote the Lutheran consistory in Amsterdam to send a good, God-fearing preacher, "...since among the Reformed here there is one who formerly was a Jesuit and on that account is very politic and disputatious." By this they meant Dominie Megapolensis. They also charged that the baptismal liturgy used was too similar to "the Papal church".
On March 18, 1655, he sent a letter to the Classis at Amsterdam, noting, “Last summer some Jews came here from Holland in order to trade... they came several times to my house, weeping and bemoaning their misery. If I directed them to the Jewish merchants, they said they would not even lend them a few stivers”. Megapolensis further argued that the followers of the “unrighteous Mammon” aimed to get possession of Christian property and to outdo other merchants by drawing all trade toward themselves. These “godless rascals, who are of no benefit to the country, but look at everything for their own profit, may be sent away from here.”
During 1657-1658 French Jesuit Simon Le Moyne journeyed from Ossernenon to Fort Orange and then to New Amsterdam to attend to the few Catholics residing there as well as some French sailors who had recently arrived in port with a prize ship. While there, he paid a call on Megapolensis to thank him for his kindness to Jogues.
In 1664 he and his son Samuel, a physician as well as minister, were among the advisers counseling Stuyvesant, the governor of the city, to surrender New Amsterdam to the English, who had taken control of other Dutch territory At one point, they drew him away as Stuyvesant was about to order a barrage on English frigates off the fort. The West India Company would later blame the capitulation on councilors and clergymen, "...desirous of saving their houses which were next to the fort." Susanah Shaw Romney says that his daughter Hillegond van Ruyven and Lydia de Meyer crossed enemy lines to Long Island to conduct back-door negotiations with the English. Shortly after their return, "...a council of residents and colonial leaders presented Stuyvesant with English terms, and he finally empowered a group of Amsterdammers to negotiate the peaceful handover."
Staying in New York, as it was renamed by the English, the minister helped establish the rights of the Reformed Church under English rule. His role in the surrender may have had repercussions, as on two separate occasions years later, prominent Dutch citizens testified under oath to his loyalty to the West India Company. Some accounts say that Megapolensis returned to Holland a few years later in 1668, where he died. According to Thomas DeWitt, it was his son Samuel, associate pastor at New Amsterdam, who returned to Holland. Others say that Johannes remained in New York, dying there in 1669 or 1670.