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Geography fun facts and oddities: Difference between revisions
→Rocks: addig pompey's pillar
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* See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake Virginia earthquake, 2011 (wiki)]] | * See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Virginia_earthquake Virginia earthquake, 2011 (wiki)]] | ||
=== Rocks === | === Rocks === | ||
* ''' | * '''Devil's Tower''' | ||
* click EXPAND for | * click EXPAND for details on Devil's Tower | ||
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[[File: | [[File:Devils Tower Darton 1900.jpg|thumb||200px|Devils Tower, 1900 (wiki)]] | ||
** | ** a butte formation in Wyoming that abruptly juts out of the landscape 1,267 ft high | ||
** | ** the name comes from an English misinterpretation of the Native American name for it | ||
*** | *** the native name is "bear's house" (among others) and was understood in English by a US Army expedition leader as "Bad God's Tower," thus "Devil's Tower" | ||
* | *** a Native American legend of its origin is that young girls where chased by bears, and their prayers for salvation were answered by the "Great Spirit" by lifting the rock they sat upon into the air, out of reach from the bears, whose claws scratched marks into the sides of the rock while trying to reach them. | ||
See | * See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devils_Tower Devil's Tower (wiki)]] | ||
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* '''Independence Rock''' | * '''Independence Rock''' | ||
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** served as a landmark for 19th century western settlers, some of whom carved their names on the rock and some of which are still visible | ** served as a landmark for 19th century western settlers, some of whom carved their names on the rock and some of which are still visible | ||
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* ''' | * Pompy's Tower" (Pompey's Pillar National Monument) | ||
* click EXPAND for | * click EXPAND for details on Pompey's Pillar | ||
{{https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeys_Pillar_NM_(9424545304).jpg#/media/File:Pompeys_Pillar_NM_(9424545304).jpg|right|thumbnail|350px|Pompey's Pillary National Monument (wiki)]] | |||
[[https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Popi_sig550.jpg#/media/File:Popi_sig550.jpg|right|thumbnail|350px|William Clark's inscription on the rock, 1806 (wiki)]] | |||
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* rock formation rising from the Montana plain | |||
* famous for its graffiti: | |||
** William Clark, of the Lewis & Clark Expedition (1803-06) inscribed his name on the rock on July 25, 1806 | |||
** Clark's journal entry of that day: | |||
** <pre>“This rock which I shall Call Pompy's Tower is 200 feet high and 400 paces in secumphrance… The nativs have ingraved on the face of this rock the figures of animals &c. near which I marked my name and the day of the month & year.” | |||
** he named it "Pompy's Tower" after his nickname for the son of his translators, Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau | |||
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* '''Three Sisters''' or '''Three Sisters Islands''' | |||
* click EXPAND for info on & legends behind the name of the rocks: | |||
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[[File: | [[File:The Three Sisters islets, DC.jpg|thumb|200px|right|The Three Sisters islets, DC (wiki)]] | ||
** | ** three rocky islands in the Potomac River in Washington, DC | ||
** | *** three Native American sisters who died crossing the river there while trying to rescue their brothers who had been kidnapped by another tribe | ||
*** three Native American sisters who were banished to the islands after refusing the husbands selected for them by their father; the sisters cursed the spot, which is said to make an eerie sound whenever the River is about to take a life | |||
*** | *** a 1925 novel included a story about three nuns who drowned at the spot | ||
* See [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ | See: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(District_of_Columbia) Three Sisters (wiki)]] | ||
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