Mission Mountains

The Mission Mountains or Mission Range are a range of the Rocky Mountains located in northwestern Montana in the United States. They lie chiefly in Lake County and Missoula County and are south and east of Flathead Lake and west of the Swan Range. On the east side of the range is the Swan
River Valley and on the west side the Mission Valley.
The highest point in the Mission Mountains is McDonald Peak at . The range is named for its proximity to the Jesuit St. Ignatius Mission, established in the mid-19th century in what is today St. Ignatius, Montana.
Geology.
The Mission Mountains are composed largely of what is called "Belt Rock" from the Belt Supergroup. The sedimentary rocks in this group formed between 1.47 and 1.4 billion years ago in the Belt Basin. The roughly circular basin collected sediments from surrounding areas for millions of years. The basin was eventually buried and later re-exposed through the collision of several tectonic plates around 80 million years ago.
Much of the Belt Rock found in the Mission Mountains is a crumbly sedimentary rock known as mudstone. The mudstone in the Belt supergroup is often characterized by mudcracks, which points to it being formed while wet, drying, cracking, and then being repeatedly flooded with new wet material that also dried and cracked.
Most of the rock in the Mission Mountains hails from the end of the Proterozoic Eon, towards the end of what is called Precambrian time. Because they are so old, the only evidence of life in the rocks is algae blooms and very basic plant fossils. These organisms played, however, the important role of converting carbon dioxide in the water into oxygen that was pumped into the acidic and poorly oxygenated atmosphere.
The color of the mudstone in the Missions has much to do with the presence of the mineral hematite during its formation. Hematite is formed by iron particles' reaction to oxygen in the atmosphere. Green and gray stones found in the Missions were most likely formed in deep water, the red in more shallow water. Ripple marks can be found in much of the rock; they would have formed mostly in shallow water with gentle waves.
Uplift.
The features of the Mission Mountains strongly reflect work of the last few ice ages, the latest of those being just over 10,000 years ago. But the range is also the product of a much longer story, one that can be started with the breakup of the Pangaea super-continent. As the continents began to spread out, the North American Plate inched westward, grinding over and against the Pacific Plate as it went. This subduction of the Pacific Plate caused the rise of the Rocky Mountains and thereby the Missions.
About 66 million years ago, this process of uplift began to slow. This time, called the Cenozoic Era, is when the area began to look much like it does today. Looking at the globe at that time, the continents would have been about where they are today and plant and animal life would be recognizable. At that time, however, the deep valleys of western Montana would not yet have formed.
This development is believed to have come about 40 million years ago as the extensional forces that caused the uplift of the Rockies began to cause the crust to thin and crack. Near-vertical faults formed almost uniformly throughout the region, most trending northwest to southeast. The blocks then broke up, some dropping and creating valleys like the Flathead and the Swan. In all, the whole process took around 100 million years.
Pleistocene glaciation.
Three million years ago, at the end of the Cenozoic Era, western Montana would have been full of tall mountains, but it was the next geologic process that made them what they are today. Large glaciers began to form in the area 2–3 million years ago; this was the beginning of the Pleistocene Epoch. Since then, ending just 10,000 years ago, the Mission Mountains and their surroundings have been shaped by water.
The formation of the Flathead Lobe of the Alberta Cordilleran ice sheet is what set this history into motion. At its thickest points, the Flathead Lobe glacier may have extended 4,000 feet above the valley floor. The glacier reached hundreds of miles down the Rocky Mountain Trench, ending as far south as St. Ignatius, Montana. At the northern end of the range, the glacier flow split, in part flowing slowly into the Swan Valley.
A view of the area at that time would have been majestic, with large glaciers flowing around both sides and partially over the range. Smaller glaciers would have also flowed out of the mountains and joined the larger one in the valley. This explains the southward pointed, hook-shaped ridges at the end of each canyon in the range.
These processes also gave the Mission Mountains their distinct shapes. The many three-sided peaks, called horns or pyramidal peaks, and the knife-like ridges of the southern half of the range are results of the heavy mountain glaciation. The northern half of the range was largely rolled over by the Flathead Lobe, which was much like a huge moving ice sheet. This led to the shorter, more rounded features of the northern half of the range.
The Pleistocene was a time of dramatic and quick sculpting in the Mission Mountains. And though that epoch has ended, the erosion continues. Rain, snow, ice, wind, and other forces continue to work at the alpine landscape of the Missions.
Human History.
Recorded human contact with the Mission Mountains began with the native peoples thousands of years ago and runs up to the present. The Salish and Kootenai people have traditionally used the mountains as a place for fishing, hunting, berry-picking, and for performing sacred ceremonies.
The first major outside attention to the Mission Mountains came in the 1920s. Forest service employee Theodore Shoemaker led several parties of visitors thorough the range between 1922 and 1924, one of which included members of the Great Pacific Railway Company, which owned a great deal of land in the range. On a 1923 trip Shoemaker triangulated the locations of several peaks, which led to the first map of the high country.
In the 1930s, the Mission Mountains were considered for inclusion in a proposed national park in the area south of Glacier National Park. Ronan Commercial Club president J. L. Jones wrote to the National Park Service director in support of the idea, "We suggest, Mr. Albright, that you add to your already splendid services the inclusion of the Mission Range of mountains... Truly we possess here not the 'garden of Eden,' but that being lost only in myth and tradition we have a most fitting substitute 'The Garden of the Rockies.'" The park service sent a team to study the region during the summer of 1937, but in the end they rejected the proposal, writing, "the Flathead would be of special value in the National Park system if this section were not already fairly well represented by Glacier Park."
The first major protective action for the Mission Range came on October 21, 1931 when 67,000 acres of land along the east side of the Mission Divide were classified as the Mission Mountains Primitive Area. The Great Pacific Railway Company owned 30 percent of this land at the time of the classification, which was exchanged over the course of years for other land in the Flathead National Forest.
Further stories about the Mission Mountains and the surrounding area can be found in the local books, "In the Shadows of the Missions" and "Indian Trails and Grizzly Tales".
Hiking and Recreation.
As most of the Mission Mountains fall under special protection, land use is limited largely to recreation.
The best time to hike in the Mission Mountains is between the beginning of July and October. Winter ends late in the high country and even in the beginning of July hikers will often find high passes and lakes snow-covered and wet. Snow starts to fly as early as October and hiking season is over by the end of the month. Winter recreation is best in the spring months. June is wet, but between February and May one can do some great winter camping, snowshoeing and skiing.
Hikers unfamiliar with the range should know that only a few of its hikes are "easy". The terrain, especially in the south is very steep and trails are not always kept clear. If you leave the trail and start scaling the rocks you will find out quickly that 1.5-billion-year-old mudstone is very brittle and not a very reliable handhold. Climb around with caution. In the daytime it can be very hot, but nights are very cold, so pack accordingly. Though the Missions aren't huge, it is always a good idea to bring a map. The USGS topographic maps of the area are available at local sporting goods stores and not a bad thing to have in your pack.
Because the range is a protected wilderness area, motorized trail bikes, motorcycles, three- and four-wheelers, snowmobiles, hang-gliders and mountain bikes are not permitted. Getting caught with one will result in a ticket.
The range has about 45 miles of official trails. Experienced hikers can, however, break off onto the plethora of game and Indian trails that often cut through the rougher terrain. Horses can be taken used on most official and some other trails, but Missions are a rough and before riding in the Missions riders should consult local experts. People wishing to take horses into the range need to consult the Flathead National Forest requirements, which include hay restrictions and other rules.
Non-tribal members passing through land belonging to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are required to carry a valid tribal lands-usage permit, which can easily be obtained at local sporting goods stores. The pass is good for one year and allows access to the Mission Mountains, stretches of the Flathead River, among others.
Protected Areas.
The Mission Mountains have several overlapping protection areas. Much of the Mission Mountain Range is falls under the management of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Nation.
Most of the range is also part of the Flathead National Forest, under which the Mission Mountains Wilderness is designated as a wilderness area. The wilderness area is in the Swan Lake Ranger District. The 73,877 acre wilderness was designation on Jan. 4, 1975 and is managed under the Wilderness Act of 1964.
The southern end of the Mission Mountains includes a large grizzly bear protection area which is usually closed to hikers from July thru September. This allows the bears to feed on lady bugs and cut worms, and attempts to keep bear-human contact to a minimum.
Ecology.
The Mission Mountains have a wide range of flora and fauna. Mule deer, elk, white-tailed deer, mountain goats, moose, black bears, grizzly bears, coyote, wolverine, lynxes, bobcats and mountain lions have all been spotted in the range.
Smaller animals found in the Missions include hoary marmots, yellow-bellied marmots, snowshoe rabbit, pika, chipmunk, squirrel, porcupine, muskrat, badger, skunk, beaver, marten, weasel, and mink.
Western Montana's famous huckleberry is also found all over the slopes of the Mission Mountains in the mid-to-late summer. They are a favorite for hikers and grizzly bears alike.
The most common trees found in the range are the ponderosa pine, western red cedar, douglas fir, western larch, western white pine, lodgepole pine, limber pine, whitebark pine, Engelmann spruce, alpine fir, grand fir, western larch, quaking aspen, alder, and Rocky Mountain maple. Cedars most often grow in the creek bottoms while others are spread throughout the landscape.
Up in the higher reaches of the Missions one finds the alpine larch. Found between the elevations of about 6,500 feet-7,000 feet this tough little tree can be found all over the range, twisted and tangled along high ridges and surrounding its peaks.
Notable features.
A few major peaks in the Mission Mountains include: Daughter-of-the-Sun Mountain, Flat-Top, Glacier Peak, Gray Wolf Peak, Kakashe Mountain, McDonald Peak, Mount Calowahcan (formally Mt. Harding), Mountaineer Peak, Sonyelm, and West and East St. Mary's Peaks.
Lakes found in the range include: Ashley Lakes, Cold Lakes, Lake of the Stars, Lost Sheep Lake, Lucifer Lake, McDonald Lake (reservoir), Mud Lakes, Mullman Lakes, Rainbow Lake, Schwarz Lake, Summit Lake, and Terrace Lake, among others.


Hudson, Ontario

Hudson is a township municipality incorporating the congruent geographic township in Timiskaming District in northeastern Ontario, Canada. Hudson is located directly west of the city of Temiskaming Shores and has only one named settlement, the community of Hillview.
History.
Hudson was surveyed in 1887. However, the first settlers did not arrive until 1897, and the township was incorporated in 1904. The first Census of Canada to take place after settlement, in 1901, recorded the population as 46.
Demographics.
The township had a population count of 503 in the Canada 2016 Census, an increase of 5.7% from the 476 recorded in the Canada 2011 Census.
Transportation.
Ontario Highway 65 passes through the township on its way from Temiskaming Shores towards Matachewan.


Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit

Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit (Born 1550 c., Died 1603) was a French naval and military captain and a lieutenant of New France, who built at Tadoussac in present-day Quebec, the oldest and strongest surviving French settlement in the Americas.
Background.
Fishermen from Brittany, Normandy, the Basque country, who came ashore in Acadia during the summer months to dry their fish, found that they could carry on profitable trade with the Indians, exchanging axes, knives, pots and cloth for furs. In that epoch, only the rich men in Paris could afford a beaver robe, that could be bartered for an axe, knife or other sharp objects. With such profits possible, many fishermen and their backers turned to the fur trade, which was not only far more profitable but also easier to carry out. Such a lucrative trade also attracted the attention of some gentlemen of the court who had influence with the king. The king had the power to grant monopolies, the sole right to trade in certain commodities, but the monopolies were granted in return for favours rendered to the crown of France.
Life.
Pierre de Chauvin de Tonnetuit was born in Dieppe, Normandy, of a wealthy merchant family. In 1583 he was serving under admiral Aymar de Chaste in the Azores. In 1589 he was captain of the important Huguenot garrison at Honfleur. By 1596, Chauvin had developed an interest in commercial and maritime enterprises. He now owned four vessels, the Don-de-Dieu, the Espérance, the Bon-Espoir, and the Saint-Jean, and he was regularly engaged in the North American fur trade and cod-fishery of Canada and Newfoundland.
A Calvinist, he had given illustrious service in the wars against the League, and was soon rewarded with a position of influence in the new king’s court. Chauvin, along with François Gravé Du Pont, obtained a fur trading monopoly for New France in 1599 from Henri IV.
Tadoussac.
Chauvin embarked from Honfleur in the early spring of 1600, with his four ships and the intended colonists, Gravé as his partner and lieutenant, and Pierre Du Gua de Monts. Against the advice of Gravé, Chauvin chose Tadoussac as his destination. Basque and Norman whalers were already using Tadoussac as a stopping point. Strategically situated on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at the junction with the Saguenay River, with a harbour adjacent, Tadoussac had long been a Montagnais summering place for barter, and for half a century a fur-trading and fishing resort for Europeans. But with the arms they received the Montagnais had ousted the Iroquois from the region; they were soon to be visited by a revenge of equal horror, and driven far into the interior. Tadoussac was to suffer; and as allies of the Montagnais, and soon of the Algonquins and Hurons too, all enemies of the Iroquois, the French and their fur trade were distressed for many years. The area was ill fitted for settlement because of the rugged terrain and poor soil, and because of the cold in winter.
A house was built at Tadoussac, which Champlain saw and described as being "twenty-five feet long by eighteen wide and eight feet high, covered with boards with a fireplace in the middle," encompassed by a wattle palisade and a ditch. Champlain's map of Tadoussac in 1608, depicts this structure on the east bank of a stream which enters the harbour; underneath are the words "abitasion du Cappn chauvain de lan 1600" (habitation of Capt. Chauvin of the year 1600). After the colonists were settled, de Chauvin and his companions devoted their energies to the traffic in pelts until the autumn, when they sailed for France with a cargo of beaver and other furs. At Tadoussac they left 16 men to face the unknown northern winter; only 5 survived, and these owed their lives to Indian hospitality.
Chauvin sent only one vessel, the "Espérance", to the Saguenay the following spring, but did not sail himself.
Chauvin died in 1603, after two years of successful trading and was briefly succeeded by Aymar de Chaste.
Legacy.
The Poste de traite Chauvin Historical Museum is a replica of Chauvin's original house in Tadoussac. The museum hosts exhibitions on the themes: prehistory, encounters, trading, oil trade and trading posts.


Henry Woodward (colonist)

Henry Woodward (c. 1646 – c. 1690), often referred to as Dr. Henry Woodward, was the first British colonist of colonial South Carolina. He established relationships with many Native American Indians in the American southeast. He initiated trade, primarily in deerskins and slaves, with many Indian towns and tribes.
Early life.
Not much is known about Henry Woodward's early life. He is thought to have been born in Barbados. His ancestry may have been Scottish. His father was William Woodward and his mother was Esther Martin.
In 1666, Henry Woodward accompanied Captain Robert Sandford's exploration of the South Carolina coast. Woodward volunteered to remain in the Port Royal Sound vicinity and live among the Cusabo Indians, to establish relations and learn their language. For this he was granted, temporarily, "formall possession of the whole Country to hold as Tennant att Will" by the Lords Proprietors.
Captured by Spanish.
In 1667 Woodward was captured by the Spanish of Spanish Florida, taken to St. Augustine, Florida and held captive for about a year. As a prisoner he was well-treated. He professed Catholicism and was made official surgeon. During this time he learned about the thriving Spanish-Indian trading system. This experience helped him in rapidly establishing an English trading system after he regained his freedom.
Woodward escaped in 1668, after the English buccaneer and privateer Robert Searle raided St. Augustine. For about two years Woodward served as surgeon on privateer vessels in the Caribbean before being shipwrecked on Nevis in August 1669. He then took passage on the Carolina fleet of 1669-1670, which established Charleston, South Carolina. Henry Woodward became an interpreter and Indian agent for the fledgling colony. Starting in 1670, Woodward began taking a series of expeditions into the interior, making contact with various Indian groups. While a few Spanish expeditions had explored the interior of the American southeast in the sixteenth century, Woodward was the first English colonist to do so. Notably, Woodward was the last European to visit the paramount chiefdom of Cofitachequi in 1670.
Westo and Shawnee.
The Westo Indians were initially hostile to the new colony of South Carolina. In October 1674 some Westo Indians visited Woodward, who was widely known among the Indians, at St. Giles plantation on the head of the Ashley River. They requested he travel with them to their village (Hickauhaugau) on the Savannah River. During this visit Woodward initiated a trading relationship between Carolina and the Westo. While in Hickauhaugau Woodward witnessed the arrival of two Shawnee Indians. These Shawnee had probably migrated to the Apalachicola River region in the 1640s in order to trade with the Spanish and perhaps to escape the Iroquois wars in the north. Using sign language, the Shawnee warned the Westo of impending attack from the "Cussetaws, Checsaws, & Chiokees," earning the goodwill of the Westo. Later the Apalachicola Shawnee migrated to the Savannah River area, approached Henry Woodward privately and established a relationship that eventually doomed the Westo. These Shawnee became known in South Carolina as the "Savannah" Indians. When war broke out between the Westo and South Carolina in 1679, the Savannah Shawnee assisted South Carolina. By 1680 the Westo had been decimated and the Savannah Shawnee moved into their lands along the lower Savannah River.
In April 1677, South Carolina's Lords Proprietors, claiming a monopoly on Indian trade, forbade all trade with the Indians and the Spanish, except by their official agents. The destruction of the Westo left Woodward out of favor with the colony's Lords Proprietors. In 1682 Woodward got shot in the head but still manage to travel to England, where he not only obtained a pardon, but an official position as Indian agent for the Lords Proprietors. Woodward agreed to conduct the Indian trade for the proprietors in return for 20% of the profits.
Stuarts Town and the Yamasee.
A group of Scots founded a settlement, called Stuarts Town, in the Port Royal Sound area of South Carolina in 1684. The Scots of Stuarts Town and the English of Charles Town never got along. The Scots asserted their independence by initiating their own Indian trade, establishing a strong alliance with the powerful and newly arrived Yamasee Indians. In 1685, Henry Woodward found himself arrested in Stuarts Town while passing through the area on mission to the "proto-Creeks" of the Chattahoochee River. His arrest was apparently due to the desire of Lord Cardross of Stuarts Town to control trade with the Creek. Woodward was soon released and seems to have assisted the Stuarts Town Scots and their Yamasee Indian allies. Although part of the English Charles Town faction, Woodward may have been Scottish himself.
The Yamasee, backed by the Stuarts Town Scots, conducted a series of devastating raids on the Spanish mission province of Guale and then proceeded to invade the province of Timucua in Florida, bringing back many Indian slaves to sell to the Scots of Stuarts Town. Woodward, once back in Charles Town, was among those who loudly denounced the Stuarts Town settlement for these events. The Yamasee raids soon brought a Spanish counterattack that destroyed Stuarts Town. It is likely, however, that Woodward profited from the Yamasee raids, and even assisted. In denouncing the Scots he was probably taking the Charles Town side in the political dispute between Charles Town and Stuarts Town.
By 1684 the Spanish mission province of Guale was in ruins and generally abandoned.
Introduction of rice.
Woodward is generally credited with introduction of viable rice crops to the colonies stemming from his time in Charles Town in 1685. Pirate trader John Thurber returned from a trip to Madagascar with a bag of seed rise which he gave as a gift to Woodward, whose experiments showed that the marshy soil was ideal for rice cultivation.
Trade with Chattahoochee River Indians.
Starting perhaps as early as 1675, and definitely by the mid-1680s, Woodward was traveling to the southwest of modern Georgia, visiting the Indian towns along the lower Chattahoochee River such as Coweta and Cussita (later to be key towns of the Creek Nation). He led a dozen other Charles Town traders to the Chattahoochee Indians. These traders took over the business after Woodward's death.
During these trips Woodward discovered some Chickasaw Indians who had married into the Chattahoochee River "proto-Creek" groups. The ties between the Chickasaw and the proto-Creeks were fairly strong, which helped the English to discover a new market among the Chickasaw to the far west. Woodward was involved in this initial stage of English-Chickasaw relations, but he died before the first adventurous traders traveled to Chickasaw territory in the early 1690s.
The lower Chattahoochee River region had previously been contacted by Spain and was considered a potential mission province known as the Apalachicola Province. A visit by Woodward in 1685 sparked a Spanish reaction. Lieutenant Governor Antonio Matheos led a force of 6 Spanish soldiers and as many as 200 gun-toting Apalachee Indians from Mission San Luis de Apalachee in western Florida to the lower Chattahoochee towns. The English traders hid or fled. The following year, 1686, Matheos returned with a larger force, marching from town to town and confiscating firearms, deerskins, and other trade goods. Matheos offered the towns of "Apalachicola Province" the chance to submit to Spanish authority. Eight towns did so. The four that did not, including Coweta and Cussita, were burned to the ground. Following this, the four towns grudgingly pledged their obedience to Spain. Within years, English traders from South Carolina were again active among these towns, but, in 1690, Henry Woodward died in Charles Town.
Legacy.
Henry Woodward was an ancestor of numerous colonial figures, politicians and businesspeople in South Carolina. A significant part of the Charleston planter and merchant elite was descended from him. Among his descendants is Ursula von der Leyen.


Wemyss Mackenzie Simpson

Wemyss Mackenzie (McKenzie) Simpson (March 30, 1824 – March 31, 1894) was a Canadian fur trader and political figure. He represented Algoma in the House of Commons of Canada as a Conservative member from 1867 to 1871.
He was born in London, England in 1824, the son of Geddes Mackenzie Simpson. He studied at Eton College and came to Lower Canada in 1841 as an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company. Simpson served with the company until 1864, serving as the last factor for the post at Sault Ste. Marie, where he settled after his retirement. His cousin, George Simpson, was a governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1870, Simpson acted as guide and interpreter for the Red River Expeditionary Force. In 1871, he was named Indian Commissioner for Rupert's Land and resigned from his seat in the House of Commons. Later that same year, he arranged Treaties 1 and 2 with the Ojibwa and Swampy Cree Nations in southern Manitoba.
Simpson was married twice: to Annie Ironside in 1853 and later to Eliza Ironside, her sister. He died at Fort Monroe, Virginia in 1894.


HD Mountains

The HD Mountains are located in southwest Colorado. They are part of the San Juan Mountain range, which are part of the Rocky Mountains.


John Rae (explorer)

John Rae (, ; 30 September 1813 – 22 July 1893) was a Scottish surgeon who explored parts of northern Canada.
Rae explored the Gulf of Boothia, northwest of the Hudson Bay, from 1846 to 1847, and the Arctic coast near Victoria Island from 1848 to 1851. In 1854, back in the Gulf of Boothia, he obtained credible information from local Inuit peoples about the fate of the Franklin Expedition, which had disappeared in the area in 1848. Rae was noted for his physical stamina, skill at hunting, boat handling, use of native methods, and ability to travel long distances with little equipment while living off the land.
Early life.
Rae was born at the Hall of Clestrain in Orkney in the north of Scotland with family ties to Clan MacRae. After studying medicine in Edinburgh, he graduated with a degree from the University of Edinburgh and was licensed by the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
He went to work for the Hudson's Bay Company as a surgeon, accepting a post at Moose Factory, Ontario, where he remained for ten years. While working for the company, treating both European and indigenous employees, Rae became known for his prodigious stamina and skilled use of snowshoes. He learned to live off the land like a native and, working with the local craftsmen, designed his own snowshoes. This knowledge allowed him to travel great distances with little equipment and few followers, unlike many other explorers of the Victorian era.
Explorations.
Gulf of Boothia.
From 1836 to 1839, the Scottish explorer and fur trader Thomas Simpson sailed along much of the northern coast of Canada. His cousin Sir George Simpson proposed to link the furthest-east point Thomas Simpson had reached by sending an overland expedition from Hudson Bay. Rae was chosen because of his well-known skill in overland travel, but he first had to travel to the Red River Colony to learn the art of surveying. On , Rae left Moose Factory, went up the Missinaibi River, and took the usual voyageur route west.
When he reached the Red River Colony on 9 October, he found his instructor seriously ill. After the man died, Rae headed for Sault Ste. Marie in Ontario to find another instructor. The two-month, winter journey was by dog sled along the north shore of Lake Superior. From there, Sir George told him to go to Toronto to study under John Henry Lefroy at the Toronto Magnetic and Meteorological Observatory. Returning from Toronto, he received final instructions at Sault Ste. Marie.
Rae finally departed on the voyage to Simpson's furthest-east on 5 August 1845, taking the usual voyageur route via Lake Winnipeg and reaching York Factory on 8 October, where he wintered. On 12 June 1846, he headed north in two boats and reached Repulse Bay at the south end of the Melville Peninsula in July. The local Inuit told him that there was salt water to the northwest, so he chose this as his base. On his first journey, which began on 26 July, he dragged one of his boats northwest to Committee Bay in the south of the Gulf of Boothia. Here he learned from the Inuit that the Gulf of Boothia was a bay and that he would have to cross land to reach Simpson's furthest-east.
In 1830, John Ross had also been told that the Gulf of Boothia was a bay. He sailed partway up the east coast of the Gulf, but has soon turned back because he needed to make preparations for winter. He became one of the first Europeans to winter in the high Arctic without the aid of a depot ship. By December he had learned how to build igloos, which he later found warmer than European tents.
Rae's second journey began on 5 April 1847. He crossed to Committee Bay, travelled up its west coast for four days and then headed west across the base of the Simpson Peninsula to Pelly Bay. He went north and from a hill thought he could see Lord Mayor Bay, on the west side of the Gulf of Boothia, where John Ross had been trapped in ice from 1829 to 1833. He circled much of the coast of the Simpson Peninsula and returned to Repulse Bay. His third journey began on 13 May 1847. He crossed from Repulse Bay to Committee Bay and went up the east coast hoping to reach the Fury and Hecla Strait, which William Edward Parry's men had seen in 1822. The weather was bad and they began to run short of food. On 28 May, Rae turned back at a place he called Cape Crozier which he thought was about south of the strait.
He left Repulse Bay on 12 August, when the ice broke up, and reached York Factory on 6 September 1847. He soon left for England and Scotland. Although he had not reached Simpson's furthest-east, he had reduced the gap to less than .
Arctic coast.
From 1848 to 1851, Rae made three journeys along the Arctic coast. The first took him from the Mackenzie River to the Coppermine River, which had been done before. On the second he tried to cross to Victoria Island but was blocked by ice. On the third he explored the whole south coast of Victoria Island.
By 1848, it was clear that Sir John Franklin's expedition, which had traveled west from the coast of Greenland in 1845, had been lost in the Arctic. Three expeditions were sent to find him: one from the east, one through the Bering Strait, and one overland to the Arctic coast, this last led by Sir John Richardson. Most of the Arctic coast had been traced a decade earlier by Thomas Simpson. North of the coast were two coastlines called Wollaston Land and Victoria Land (Victoria Island). Franklin's crew was thought to be somewhere in the unexplored area north of that. The 61-year-old Richardson chose Rae as his second-in-command.
First journey.
The Rae–Richardson Arctic Expedition left Liverpool in March 1848, reached New York, and took the usual voyageur routes west from Montreal. On 15 July 1848, the expedition reached Fort Resolution on Great Slave Lake. John Bell was sent downriver to establish winter quarters at Fort Confidence on the east arm of Great Bear Lake. Richardson and Rae traveled down the Mackenzie River and turned east along the coast.
They hoped to cross north to Wollaston Land, as southern Victoria Island was then known, but ice conditions made this impossible. Through worsening ice, they rounded Cape Krusenstern at the west end of Coronation Gulf (not Cape Krusenstern in Alaska), and turned south. By the first of September it was clear that they had run out of time, so they abandoned their boats and headed overland. They crossed the Rae River and Richardson River and on 15 September reached their winter quarters at Fort Confidence at the northeast end of Great Bear Lake.
Second journey.
In December and January, Rae made two trips northeast to find a better route to Coronation Gulf. On 7 May, Richardson and Bell left with most of the men. Rae left on 9 June with seven men. Hauling a boat overland they reached the Kendall River on 21 June. The next day they reached the Coppermine River and waited a week for the ice to break up. They descended the Coppermine and waited again for the ice to clear on Coronation Gulf.
It was 30 July before they reached Cape Krusenstern on Coronation Gulf. From here they hoped to cross the Dolphin and Union Strait to Wollaston Land. On 19 August, they made the attempt, but after they were caught in fog and moving ice and spent three hours rowing back to their starting point. Rae waited as long as he could and turned back, reaching Fort Confidence on the first of September. On the return journey their boat was lost at Bloody Falls and Albert One-Eye, the Inuk interpreter, was killed.
Third journey.
They reached Fort Simpson to the west of Yellowknife in late September. A week later William Pullen showed up, having sailed east from the Bering Strait and up the Mackenzie River. In June 1850, Rae and Pullen went east up the Mackenzie with that year's furs. On 25 June, just short of Great Slave Lake, he was met by an express canoe. Pullen was promoted to captain and told to go north and try again. Rae received three letters from Sir George Simpson, Francis Beaufort, and Lady Jane Franklin all telling him to return to the Arctic. Simpson promised supplies and left the route to Rae's discretion. Pullen left immediately with most of the equipment.
Rae escorted the furs as far as Methye Portage and returned to Fort Simpson in August. En route he wrote Sir George a letter outlining his complex but ultimately successful plan. That winter he would go to Fort Confidence and build two boats and collect supplies. Next spring he would use dog sleds to cross to Wollaston Land and go as far as he could before the ice melt made it impossible to recross the Strait. Meanwhile, his men would have hauled the boats overland to Coronation Gulf. When the ice melted he would follow the coast by boat as long as there was open water. He reached Fort Confidence in September and spent the winter there.
On 25 April 1851, he left the fort. On 2 May he crossed the frozen strait via Douglas Island to Lady Franklin Point, the southwestern-most point on Victoria Island. Heading east he passed and named the Richardson Islands and passed what he thought was the westernmost point reached by Thomas Simpson on his return journey in 1839. Heading west he passed Lady Franklin Point and followed the coast north and west around Simpson Bay, which he named. The coast swung north but it was getting late.
He made a final push, the coast swung to the northeast and on 24 May, he could look north across Prince Albert Sound. Unknown to Rae, just 10 days earlier, a sledge party from Robert McClure's expedition had been on the north side of the sound. He turned south, crossed Dolphin and Union Strait safely and on 5 June turned inland. The journey to camp on the Kendall River was the least pleasant part of the journey since he had to travel over melting snow and through meltwater.
On 15 June 1851, two days after the boat arrived, he set off down the Kendall River and Coppermine River with 10 men. He waited several times for the ice to clear and in early July he started east along the south coast of Coronation Gulf. In late July he crossed the mouth of Bathurst Inlet and reached Cape Flinders at the western end of the Kent Peninsula. He reached Cape Alexander at its east end on 24 July, and on 27 July crossed the strait to Victoria Island. He explored Cambridge Bay which he found to be a better harbour than Dease and Simpson had reported.
He left the bay and went east along an unknown coast. The coast swung north and the weather got worse. By August he was in Albert Edward Bay. Blocked by ice, he went north on foot and reached his furthest on 13 August. Returning, he left a cairn which was found by Richard Collinson's men two years later. He then made three unsuccessful attempts to cross Victoria Strait east to King William Island. Victoria Strait is nearly always impassable. On 21 August, he found two pieces of wood that had clearly come from a European ship. These were probably from Franklin's ship, but Rae chose not to guess.
On 29 August, he reached Lady Franklin Point and crossed to the mainland. He worked his way up the swollen Coppermine and reached Fort Confidence on 10 September. He had traveled on land, by boat, charted of unknown coast, followed the whole south coast of Victoria Island, and proved that Wollaston Land and Victoria Land were part of the same island, but had not found Franklin.
By 1849, Rae was in charge of the Mackenzie River district at Fort Simpson. While exploring the Boothia Peninsula in 1854, Rae made contact with local Inuit, from whom he obtained much information about the fate of the Franklin expedition. His report to the Admiralty carried shocking and unwelcome evidence that cannibalism had been a last resort for some of the survivors. When it was leaked to the press, Franklin's widow Lady Jane Franklin was outraged and recruited many important supporters, among them Charles Dickens, who wrote several pamphlets condemning Rae for daring to suggest Royal Navy sailors would have resorted to cannibalism. In return, Dickens argued – from analogy – that the Inuit, whom he viewed very negatively, as evidenced by his writings, are more likely to have killed the expedition's survivors.
Franklin's fate.
Rae headed south to Fort Chipewyan in Alberta, waited for a hard freeze, travelled by snowshoe to Fort Garry in Winnipeg, took the Crow Wing Trail to Saint Paul, Minnesota, and then travelled to Chicago, then Hamilton, Ontario, New York, and London, which he reached in late March 1852. In England he proposed to return to Boothia and complete his attempt to link Hudson Bay to the Arctic coast by dragging a boat to the Back River. He went to New York, Montreal, and then Sault Ste. Marie by steamer, Fort William by canoe, and reached York Factory on 18 June 1853, where he picked up his two boats.
He left on 24 June and reached Chesterfield Inlet on 17 July. Finding a previously unknown river, he followed it for before it became too small to use. Judging that it was too late to drag the boat north to the Back River, he turned back and wintered at his old camp on Repulse Bay. He left Repulse Bay on 31 March 1854. Near Pelly Bay he met some Inuit, one of whom had a gold cap-band. Asked where he got it, he replied that it came from a place 10 to 12 days away where 35 or so "kabloonat" had starved to death. Rae bought the cap-band and said he would buy anything similar.
On 27 April, he reached frozen salt-water south of what is now called Rae Strait. A few miles west, on the south side of the bay, he reached what he believed was the Castor and Pollux River, which Simpson had reached from the west in 1839. He then turned north along the western portion of the Boothia Peninsula, the last uncharted coast of North America, hoping to reach Bellot Strait and so close the last gap in the line from Bering Strait to Hudson Bay. The coast continued north instead of swinging west to form the south shore of King William Land.
On 6 May, he reached his furthest north, which he named Point de la Guiche after an obscure French traveller he had met in New York. It appeared that King William Land was an island and the coast to the north was the same as had been seen by James Clark Ross in 1831. Author Ken McGoogan has claimed that Rae here effectively discovered the final link in the Northwest Passage as followed in the following century by Roald Amundsen, although Arctic historian William Barr has refuted that claim, citing the uncharted between Ross's discoveries and the Bellot Strait.
With only two men fit for heavy travel, Rae turned back. Reaching Repulse Bay on 26 May, he found several Inuit families who had come to trade relics. They said that four winters ago some other Inuit had met at least 40 "kabloonat" who were dragging a boat south. Their leader was a tall, stout man with a telescope, thought to be Francis Crozier, Franklin's second-in-command. They communicated by gestures that their ships had been crushed by ice and that they were going south to hunt deer. When the Inuit returned the following spring they found about 30 corpses and signs of cannibalism. One of the artefacts Rae bought was a small silver plate. Engraved on the back was "Sir John Franklin, K.C.H". With this important information, Rae chose not to continue exploring. He left Repulse Bay on 4 August 1854, as soon as the ice cleared.
Later career.
With the prize money awarded for finding evidence of the fate of Franklin's expedition, Rae commissioned the construction of a ship intended for polar exploration, the "Iceberg". The ship was built at Kingston, Canada West. Rae moved to Hamilton, Canada West, also on Lake Ontario, in 1857, where his two brothers lived and operated a shipping firm on the Great Lakes.
The "Iceberg" was launched in 1857. Rae intended to sail her to England the following year to be outfitted for polar voyages. In the meantime, she was put to use as a cargo ship. Tragically she was lost with all seven men on board in 1857, on her first commercial trip, hauling coal from Cleveland, Ohio, to Kingston. The wreck, somewhere in Lake Ontario, has never been located. While in Hamilton, Rae became a founding member of the Hamilton Scientific Association, which became the Hamilton Association for the Advancement of Literature, Science and Art, one of Canada's oldest scientific and cultural organizations.
In 1860, Rae worked on the telegraph line to America, visiting Iceland and Greenland. In 1864, he made a further telegraph survey in the west of Canada. In 1884, at age 71, he was again working for the Hudson's Bay Company, this time as an explorer of the Red River for a proposed telegraph line from the United States to Russia.
Death and legacy.
John Rae died from an aneurysm in Kensington on 22 July 1893. A week later his body arrived in Orkney. He was buried at St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall.
A memorial to Rae, lying as in sleep upon the ground, is inside the cathedral. The memorial by North Ronaldsay sculptor Ian Scott, unveiled at Stromness pierhead in 2013, is a statue of Rae with an inscription describing him as "the discoverer of the final link in the first navigable Northwest Passage." Rae Strait, Rae Isthmus, Rae River, Mount Rae, Point Rae, and Rae-Edzo were all named for him.
The outcome of Lady Franklin's efforts to glorify the dead of the Franklin expedition meant that Rae, who had discovered evidence suggesting a much less noble fate, was shunned somewhat by the British establishment. Although he found the first clue to the fate of Franklin, Rae was never awarded a knighthood, nor was he remembered at the time of his death, dying quietly in London. In comparison, fellow Scot and contemporary explorer David Livingstone was buried with full imperial honours in Westminster Abbey.
Historians have since studied Rae's expeditions and his roles in finding the Northwest Passage and learning the fate of Franklin's crew. Authors such as Ken McGoogan have noted Rae was willing to adopt and learn the ways of indigenous Arctic peoples, which made him stand out as the foremost specialist of his time in cold-climate survival and travel. Rae also respected Inuit customs, traditions, and skills, which went against the beliefs of many 19th-century Europeans that most native peoples were too primitive to offer anything of educational value.
In July 2004, Orkney and Shetland MP Alistair Carmichael introduced into the UK Parliament a motion proposing, "inter alia", that the House "regrets that Dr Rae was never awarded the public recognition that was his due". In March 2009, he introduced a further motion urging Parliament to formally state it "regrets that memorials to Sir John Franklin outside the Admiralty headquarters and inside Westminster Abbey still inaccurately describe Franklin as the first to discover the [North West] passage, and calls on the Ministry of Defence and the Abbey authorities to take the necessary steps to clarify the true position." In October 2014, a plaque dedicated to Rae was installed at Westminster Abbey.
Rae is depicted in the 2008 movie "Passage" from the National Film Board of Canada.
In June 2011, a blue plaque was installed by English Heritage on the house where John Rae spent the last years of his life, No. 4 Lower Addison Gardens, in Kensington, west London. After a conference in September 2013 in Stromness, Orkney to celebrate the 200th anniversary of John Rae's birth, a statue was erected to Rae at the pierhead. In December 2013, The John Rae Society was formed in Orkney to promote Rae's achievements.


First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica

The First Presbyterian Church in Jamaica is located in Jamaica, Queens, a neighborhood of New York City. Organized in 1662, it is the oldest continuously serving Presbyterian church in the United States.
History.
The church was first organized in 1662. Most of its founders came from Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Though there are older churches on Long Island, this congregation has never stopped service. In 1699, a stone church was built on what is now Jamaica Avenue, paid for by tax dollars. In 1702, the congregations of Grace Episcopal and First Reformed split off. A new church was constructed in 1813 near what is now 163rd Street. It was moved, along with a manse built in 1824, in 1920 to the present location at 89-60 164th Street. Two years later, a bronze tablet was erected to mark the 260th anniversary. In 1925, a church house, now known as the Magill Memorial Building, was erected to accommodate the growing church's need for office and classroom space. In 1959, Donald Trump was confirmed here and attended services in his formative years within a then all-white congregation. In April 2008, the church celebrated its 345th anniversary. Later that year, the church turned down landmark recognition by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Ministries and community outreach.
Internal ministries include communications within the church (e.g. newsletter, bulletin, etc.); drama within the church (e.g. Christmas pageants); small group ministries centering on personal interests; Brothers on the Move, the men's ministry; Presbyterian Women; and the Alice Horn Gift Shop, including the Pastor's Book of the Month Club.
The church has many community outreach programs, including blood drives, prostate cancer screenings, sponsoring Girl Scouts and Cub Scouts, and running the Bread of Life Food Pantry, which serves the nearly 39% of homes in Queens afflicted by hunger. It also partners with many organizations, including Alcoholics Anonymous, Blood Services of New York City, the Cornell University Extension Program, and the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development.
The church also partners with YouthWorks, which allows young people from all over the world to experience the wonderful diversity of culture and worship styles found in Jamaica.
Tree of Life Center.
The Tree of Life Center is an outreach program to economically empower Jamaica, and make individuals in the community self-sufficient. Programs at the Center include GED, ESL, and SAT preparation, financial literacy and job readiness classes, and hunger relief. The Center also complements existing social service providers.


List of extreme summits of the Rocky Mountains

This article comprises four sortable tables of mountain summits of the Rocky Mountains of North America that are the higher than any other point north or south of their latitude or east or west their longitude in those mountains.
The summit of a mountain or hill may be measured in three principal ways:


Sierra Noble

Sierra Dawn Sky Noble (born February 20, 1990) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, and fiddle player. Her first album was instrumental, she played a traditional fiddle and followed up with a vocal album in 2008. She has won numerous musical awards, and has opened for famous rock stars like Bon Jovi. She is also an active philanthropist.
Biography.
Early life.
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Noble is the third and youngest daughter of Sherry Noble (born in Kingston, Ontario) and David Noble (born in Muscatine, Iowa). She moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1990.
Sierra attended École Laura Secord School from pre-school to the grade 4 when she transferred to Wolseley School for grades 5 and 6. She attended and graduated from Gordon Bell High School with the exception of grades 10 and 11 when she attended The University of Winnipeg Collegiate on a full scholarship from the University of Winnipeg president, Lloyd Axworthy.
Sierra Noble began by busking at The Forks in Winnipeg. At the age of 12, Sierra became the youth ambassador for the Manitoba Campaign to Ban Landmines. In this capacity she began making presentations about the global landmine issue in various schools, universities, and colleges. In 2004 she was selected to be one of two representatives of Canada at the Ban Landmines International Children's Conference.
Music career.
In 2005, she released an instrumental album of traditional Old Time fiddle music entitled "Spirit of The Strings", produced by Randy Hiebert (guitar player of The Bellamy Brothers), distributed by Arbor Records/EMI Canada.
In December 2008, Sierra released her debut vocal release entitled "Possibilities" on MapleMusic Recordings, produced by Toronto-based record producer, Bill Bell. The first single release from the album, "Possibility" (co-written by Noble, Chris Burke-Gaffney, and Keith Macpherson) was on rotation on pop radio and country radio in Canada, with the music video for the song reaching No. 1 on MuchMore and appeared in the Top 20 in CMT (Canada)'s Cross Canada Countdown.
In 2011, she won the 52nd edition of the Viña del Mar International Song Festival with the song "Try Anything".
Philanthropy.
She has received various awards for her humanitarian and volunteer services including the Inaugural Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Manitoba Premier’s Volunteer Service Award, the Canadian Red Cross Young Humanitarian of the Year 2012, the Manitoba Teacher’s Society Young Humanitarian Award, and Manitoba Hydro’s Spirit of the Earth Youth Award.
The citation for the Manitoba Teacher’s Society Young Humanitarian read: "Sierra Noble is a Grade 5 student at Wolseley School who has taken it upon herself to help children who have been victims of war. A visit to a War Child exhibit last September inspired her to promote awareness of the landmine issue. She has spoken at a number of schools, collected signatures for a petition to the U.S. president and was heavily involved in Landmines Awareness Week. Sierra works directly with war-affected refugee children at a downtown center called NEEDS. Currently, she is trying to help a Somalian boy get the rest of his family to Canada from Nairobi, Kenya".


Block Island

Block Island is an American island in the state of Rhode Island located in Block Island Sound approximately south of the mainland and east of Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, named after Dutch explorer Adriaen Block. It is part of Washington County and shares the same area as the town of New Shoreham. The Nature Conservancy added Block Island to its list of "The Last Great Places" which consists of 12 sites in the western hemisphere, and about 40 percent of the island is set aside for conservation. It is part of the Outer Lands region, a coastal archipelago.
Block Island is a popular summer tourist destination and is known for its bicycling, hiking, sailing, fishing, and beaches. It is also the location of Block Island North Light on the northern tip of the island and Block Island Southeast Light on the southeastern side, both historic lighthouses. Much of the northwestern tip of the island is an undeveloped natural area and resting stop for birds along the Atlantic flyway.
Popular events include the annual Fourth of July Parade, celebration, and fireworks. The island's population can triple over the normal summer vacation crowd. As of the 2010 Census, the island's population is 1,051 living on a land area of .
History.
Before 1637.
Block Island was formed by the same receding glaciers that formed the Outer Lands of Cape Cod, the Hamptons, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket during the end of the last ice age thousands of years ago.
The Niantic people called the island "Manisses" (meaning "Manitou's Little Island"), or just "Little Island". Archaeological sites indicate that these people lived largely by hunting deer, catching fish and shellfish, and growing corn, beans, and squash, presumably with the Three Sisters technique. They migrated from forest to coastal areas to take advantage of seasonal resources. One modern researcher has theorized that Native Americans may have established a settlement as early as 500 BC, although there is no consensus on that idea.
Giovanni da Verrazzano sighted the island in 1524 and named it "Claudia" in honor of Claude, Duchess of Brittany, queen consort of France and the wife of Francis I. However, several contemporaneous maps identified the same island as "Luisa," after Louise of Savoy, the Queen Mother of France and the mother of Francis I. Verrazano's ship log stated that the island was "full of hilles, covered with trees, well-peopled for we saw fires all along the coaste." Almost 100 years later, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block charted the island in 1614; he simply named it for himself, and this was the name that stuck.
Pequot War.
The growing tensions among the tribes of the region in this time caused the Niantics to split into two divisions: the Western Niantics, who allied with the Pequots and Mohegans, and the Eastern Niantics, who allied with the Narragansetts.
In 1632, Indians (likely Western Niantics associated with the Pequots) killed colonial traders John Stone and Walter Norton, and the Pequots of eastern Connecticut were blamed. A Pequot delegation presented magistrates in Boston with two bushels of wampum and a bundle of sticks representing the number of beavers and otters with which they would compensate the colonists for the deaths. They sought peace with the colonies and also requested help establishing concord with the Narragansetts, who bordered them to the east. The colonial authorities, in turn, demanded the Indians responsible for killing Stone and Norton, a promise not to interfere with colonial settlement in Connecticut, and 400 fathoms of wampum and the pelts of 40 beavers and 30 otters.
In 1636, John Gallup came across the boat of trader John Oldham, a noted troublemaker. Oldham had flirted with impropriety since the day that he landed on American soil. Not long after arriving in Plymouth in 1623, he "grew very perverse and showed a spirit of great malignancy," according to Plymouth Colony Governor William Bradford. He was later accused of religious subversion and responded with impertinence, hurling invective at his accusers and even drawing a knife on Captain Myles Standish. He was banished from Plymouth and fled to Massachusetts Bay, settling first in Nantasket, then Cape Ann, and finally Watertown, where he continued to indulge his penchant for mayhem. Despite his unsavory reputation, Massachusetts Bay sought his extensive knowledge of the New England coast when they asked him to retrieve a hefty ransom on the colony's behalf. It was on this mission that Oldham was murdered and dismembered.
Massachusetts sent ninety men to Block Island in August under John Endicott on a punitive expedition for Oldham's murder with instructions to kill every Niantic warrior and capture the women and children, who would be valuable as slaves. The expedition was ordered by Massachusetts Governor Henry Vane to "massacre all of the Native men on the island". The English burned sixty wigwams and the corn fields. They also shot every dog, but the Niantics fled into the woods, and the soldiers only managed to kill fourteen of them. Deciding that this punishment was insufficient, Endicott and his men sailed over to Fort Saybrook before going after the Pequot village at the mouth of the Thames River to demand one thousand fathoms of wampum to pay for the murder. They took some Pequot children as hostages to insure peace, and these incidents are seen as the initial events that led to the Pequot War.
Settlement.
Massachusetts Bay Colony claimed the island by conquest. In 1658, the colony sold the island to a group of men headed up by Endicott. In 1661, the Endicott group sold the island to a party of twelve settlers that later grew to sixteen (of whom only seven actually settled there) led by John Alcock, who are today memorialized at Settler's Rock, near Cow's Cove. In 1663, island settler Thomas Terry gave six acres of land at the island's largest fresh pond and its surrounding area to four "chief sachems". Their names were recorded as Ninnecunshus, Jaguante, Tunkawatten, and Senatick, but they were known by the colonists as Mr. Willeam, Repleave (Reprive), and Soconosh. This land was given to "them being the Cheife Sachems upon the Island there Heires & Assignes Forever to plant and Improve". This land was then known as the Indian Lands. The Sachems called the Fresh Pond Tonnotounknug. In 1664, Indians on the island numbered somewhere from 1,200 to 1,500. By 1774, that number had been reduced to fifty-one. A Dutch clearly shows Block Island, indicated as "Adriaen Blocks Eylant" ("Adrian Block's Island").
In the late seventeenth century, an Englishwoman called New England's first woman doctor lived on Block Island. Her name was Sarah Sands "née" Walker and she has also been suggested as a very early abolitionist. She married sea captain James Sands (one of the original sixteen, as recorded by Settler's Rock) in 1645 and had possibly six children, including a daughter named Mercy, born 1663. In 1699, Scottish sailor William Kidd visited Block Island, shortly before he was hanged for piracy. At Block Island, he was supplied by Mercy Sands (then Mrs. Raymond). The story has it that, for her hospitality, Kidd bade Mrs. Raymond to hold out her apron, into which he threw gold and jewels until it was full. After her husband Joshua Raymond died, Mercy moved with her family to what would become the Raymond-Bradford Homestead in northern New London, Connecticut (later Montville) where she bought much land. The Raymond family was thus said to have been "enriched by the apron". Mercy Sands died at Lyme in 1741.
Block Island was incorporated by the Rhode Island general assembly in 1672, and the island government adopted the name "New Shoreham."
Since Colonial times.
During the War of 1812, the island was briefly occupied by the British Navy under the command of Sir Thomas Hardy. British vessels included HMS Dispatch, HMS Terror, HMS Nimrod, HMS Pactolus, and HMS Ramillies. Hardy took the fleet to Block Island in search of food and to establish a strategic position at the mouth of Long Island Sound. The British were enraged to discover that nearly all Block Island livestock and food stores had been transferred to Stonington, Connecticut in advance of their arrival. On August 9, 1814, Hardy and his fleet departed Block Island for Stonington Harbor in part to lay claim to the Block Island food stores and livestock. Hardy's pre-dawn raid on August 10 was repulsed with damage to his fleet in a battle that has since become known as the Battle of Stonington.
The original North Lighthouse was built in 1829, but it was replaced in 1837 after the original was washed out to sea. The ocean claimed the replacement lighthouse also, and the lighthouse that can be seen today was constructed in 1867. Construction began on Block Island's Southeast Lighthouse a few years later in 1873.
Block Island has no natural harbors; breakwaters were constructed in 1870 to form Old Harbor. New Harbor was created in 1895 when a channel was dug to connect the Great Salt Pond to the ocean through the northwestern side of the island.
The Island Free Library was established in 1875 and is Block Island's only public library.
Isaac Church was the Island's last recorded full-blooded Manisses Indian; he died in 1886 at age 100. He was survived by one son and one daughter whose descendants still reside in Rhode Island today. The landmark Isaac's Corner is named in honor of him, located at the intersection of Center Road, Lakeside Drive, and Cooneymus Road. Isaac is buried to the east of the four corners in the Historical Indian Burial Ground. In 2011, the Block Island Historical Society dedicated the Block Island Manissean Ancestral Stone. In attendance at the unveiling ceremony were descendants of the Manisses Indians, with Tiondra White Rapids Martinez, a direct descendant of Isaac Church, opening the ceremony in their native tongue.
During World War II, several artillery spotters were located on the island to direct fire from the heavy gun batteries at Fort Greene in Point Judith which protected the entrance to Narragansett Bay. Lookout positions for the spotters were built to look like houses. The US government offered to evacuate the island, as it could not be effectively defended from enemy invasion, but the islanders chose to stay. Days before the war ended against Germany, the Battle of Point Judith took place seven miles to the northeast of the island.
The island's airport was opened in 1950 and remains open today as a general aviation airport. In 1972, the Block Island Conservancy was founded. The Conservancy and other environmental organizations are responsible for protecting over 40% of the island from development. In 1974, Old Harbor Historic District was declared a National Register historic district. More information can be found in the following books concerning Block Island's old buildings, islanders, history, and ongoing efforts to conserve the land, together with a collection of 800 period photographs of the island spanning the 1870s to the 1980s and all by historian Robert M. Downie:
Climate.
Block Island's weather is greatly influenced by the surrounding ocean and prevailing winds that generally blow offshore. The climate is oceanic (Köppen "Cfb"), a rarity on an east coast island in the northern hemisphere. The ocean stays cold during the spring and summer months, so Block Island stays cooler than the mainland during this period. July and August average in the mid- to upper-70s instead of low- to mid-80s that New York and southern New England experience. Block Island's record high temperature is on August 26 and 27, 1948 and the record low is on January 16, 1994. The lowest high temperature on record was on December 31, 1962 and January 8, 1968, and the highest low temperature on record was on August 2, 1979. Block Island stays warmer than the mainland during the fall and winter months when the ocean remains relatively warmer than the mainland. The hardiness zone is 7a.
Arts and culture.
Annual events.
One of the most popular celebrations on the island is the Fourth of July Parade. Anybody can enter a float into the parade, as long as it coordinates with the theme of that respective year. For example, the theme in 2016 was sports and recreation. In addition to the parade, there is a fireworks display on the beach on the night of July 3. The parade is on the fourth and is judged by officials who give out prizes in three categories: family floats, company floats, and overall floats. They also give out one extra prize for the overall category which is the grand prize, consisting of $500.
Every summer, the island hosts Block Island Race Week, a competitive, week-long sailboat race. On odd years, the event is held by the Storm Trysail Club, and on even years by the Block Island Race Week. Yachts compete in various classes, sailing courses in Block Island Sound and circumnavigating the island.
Tourist attractions.
Southeast Lighthouse is located at the southeast corner of the island on the Mohegan Trail. The lighthouse was constructed in 1875 and remains to this day an active US Coast Guard navigational aid. The lighthouse was moved in 1993, in danger of falling off the bluffs due to erosion. In addition to offering tours of the tower, the lighthouse has a museum that is open during the summer season.
The Mohegan Bluffs are located a short distance to the west of Southeast Lighthouse. The bluffs are the site of a pre-colonial battle between the invading Mohegan, and the native Niantic in which the Mohegan were driven off the edge of the tall cliffs to their deaths on the beach below. A staircase of 141 steps leads to the bottom of these clay cliffs and looks out over the Atlantic. On clear days, Montauk, New York can be seen in the distance from the southern and western sides of the island.
Rodman's Hollow is a glacial outwash basin, near the southern shore of the island. The hollow has several walking trails.
North Lighthouse is located at Sandy Point on the northern tip of Block Island. The North Lighthouse warns boaters of a sandbar extending from this end of the island. The surrounding dunes are part of the Block Island National Wildlife Refuge, home to many species, including the piping plover and American burying beetle. A short walk away from the North Lighthouse lies the tip of the island, with ocean on both sides of a thin strip of land.
The Block Island Historical Society Museum is located near the downtown area and contains a broad array of Block Island artifacts.
 is a U-boat wreck east of the island, lying in of water. Recreational divers frequently visit the wreck, though at least three have died there.
The Block Island Wind Farm, the first offshore wind farm built in the United States, is located from south-east of the island. The five turbines, each high, commenced commercial operation in December 2016.
The island has at least 40 restaurants, but most are closed outside of tourist season; mainland restaurants use New England Airlines to deliver food to the island.
Parks and recreation.
There are 17 miles of beach on Block Island. Crescent Beach can be viewed from the Pt. Judith Ferry and the New London Express Ferry on the way to the island. It contains five smaller beaches: Fred Benson Town Beach (popularly known as State Beach), Surf Beach, Scotch Beach, Rouse's Beach, and Mansion Beach, all of which are located on Corn Neck Road. North of Mansion Beach are Clayhead and Pots & Kettles. Clayhead is a set of cliffs which can be seen from the ferry in from Point Judith or New London. This area is rocky and contains iron-rich clay deposits, and is a popular area for shell and rock hunting.
Cow Cove, Settler's Rock, and Sandy Point make up the northernmost point of Block Island where the North Lighthouse is located. Settler's Rock is located at Cow Cove, where the settlers landed and swam to shore bringing with them the island's first cows, which they pushed off the boats and forced ashore. Attached to the rock is a plaque naming the original settlers of Block Island. Coastguard Beach (or "the channel") is situated between the Great Salt Pond and the ocean on the north west side of the island. Ballard's Beach is on the south side of the Block Island Ferry Dock and jetty. Bluffs Beach (or Vail) is set at the bottom of Mohegan Bluffs.
Block Island also hosts an office of The Nature Conservancy. The Conservancy named Block Island as one of its top 12 sites in the Western Hemisphere, and a large portion of the island is legally protected and set aside for conservation.
Transportation.
The island is connected year-round by a ferry to Point Judith, and in summer to New London, Connecticut, Orient Point, New York, Montauk, New York, and Newport, Rhode Island, with the latter service also offering an extended route to Fall River, Massachusetts. The traditional ferry takes about an hour to reach the island from Point Judith. A high-speed ferry on the same route takes 35 minutes, and another high-speed ferry from New London takes just over an hour.
New England Airlines offers regularly scheduled 12-minute flights to Block Island State Airport from Westerly, Rhode Island. The island airport is officially called Block Island State (code: BID) and the terminal is about one mile from the town center.
Incidents.
Air crashes.
On August 26, 1995, a Cessna 185 seaplane carrying four people crashed while attempting to land in the waters off Old Harbor Beach, an area not normally used for seaplane landings. The plane cleared a dune but hit a power line, causing it to crash into a restaurant and hit a car at the island's only gas station. All four people on the plane perished, as well as a woman who was sitting in her car as it was being fueled. The restaurant was destroyed by the impact of the plane and resulting fire.
On July 5, 2006, a plane carrying three people crashed ½ mile west of the airport during bad weather. The aircraft had just taken off and was on its way to White Plains, New York.
Shipwrecks.
The area around Block Island has been the site of numerous shipwrecks, including the Steamer "Larchmont" in 1907. The 1738 wreck of the "Princess Augusta" (also known as the Palatine ship) was later immortalized by John Greenleaf Whittier in his 1867 poem "The Wreck of the Palatine." In 1877, the freighter "Achilles" struck a submerged rock off the island and ran aground. In 1992, the Cunard liner "Queen Elizabeth 2" struck a submerged rock.
Two submarines also sank off Block Island: in 1925, and in 1945.


Pierre-Charles Le Sueur

Pierre-Charles Le Sueur (c. 1657, Artois, France – 17 July 1704, Havana, Cuba) was a French fur trader and explorer in North America, recognized as the first known European to explore the Minnesota River valley.
Le Sueur came to Canada with the Jesuits to their mission at Sault Sainte Marie, but very soon he turned himself to fur trade and became a coureur des bois. He was fluent in several Native languages, which was crucial to his success in trade. Around 1683, he received some samples of bluish clay from the middle reaches of a tributary of the Mississippi and took it back to France to be analyzed. A chemist, Alexandre L'Huillier, deemed it to be copper ore. Le Sueur returned to New France to mine this ore, but was waylayed by, among other things, a prison term for overreaching his trade privileges. He was present at the formal assertion of French sovereignty of Canada, declared in 1689 by Nicholas Perrot at Green Bay. Eventually, however, he was given a royal commission to open a copper mine (although some suggested he was more interested in "mining furs").
In 1699, he was with the group that ascended the Mississippi River from Biloxi to the "country of the Nadouessioux", stopping to overwinter at Isle Pelée or Fort Perrot above Lake Pepin. He went upstream as far as Saint Anthony Falls. After trading with the local Dakota bands (the Mdewankantons, Wahpetons and Wahpekutes) in the area, in the summer and fall of 1700 he and a group of 20 men went further up the river known to the native population as "minisota", or "cloud reflected water". This river was known to later voyageurs as the St. Pierre, but it is unclear if Le Sueur knew it by that name at the time. The group continued to the Blue Earth River, where they built Fort L'Huillier, named for the chemist who declared it to be copper ore. They overwintered at Fort L'Huillier, trading furs and other merchandise with the local Indian bands. They found the prairies full of bison, and learned to subsist largely on a meat diet. In May 1701, Le Sueur left a garrison of men at the fort under the command of d'Eraque and accompanied a large quantity of the blue earth (Dakota language: "makháto") back to Fort Mobile for further analysis, which revealed that it was not copper and thus worthless. Later that year, Fort L'Huillier was attacked by Sac and Fox Indians. 3 men were killed in the attack on the fort, which was then abandoned.
Le Sueur sailed to France to secure a commission to serve as a local magistrate in what is now Alabama. "Le Sueur was supposed to leave France on the Loire in 1703 but he did not actually sail until the spring of 1704 aboard the Pélican. The ship, which was carrying nurses and women to Louisiana, stopped at Havana where Le Sueur contracted yellow fever. He had to be left behind and, after drawing up his will, he died on 17 July and was buried in the parish church of San Cristóbal."
He is the namesake of Le Sueur, Minnesota, Le Sueur River and Le Sueur County, Minnesota.