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Buffalo Bill

(Encyclopedia) Buffalo Bill, 1846–1917, American plainsman, scout, and showman, b. near Davenport, Iowa. His real name was William Frederick Cody. His family moved (1854) to Kansas, and after the…

National Forest System

(Encyclopedia) National Forest System, federally owned reserves, c.191 million acres (77.4 million hectares), administered by the Forest Service of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture. The system is made…

plain

(Encyclopedia) plain, large area of level or nearly level land. Elevated plains are called plateaus, or tablelands, and very low, wet plains are called swamps. Plains have different names in…

Blackfoot

(Encyclopedia) Blackfoot, Native North Americans of the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They occupied in the early 19th cent. a large…

locust, in zoology

(Encyclopedia) locust, in zoology, name for certain migratory members of the short-horned grasshopper family (Acrididae). Like other members of this family, locusts have antennae shorter than their…

saddle

(Encyclopedia) saddle, seat or pad to support the rider on an animal, chiefly a horse. The saddles mentioned in the Bible are generally considered to have been saddlecloths. The ancient Greeks…

selenium

(Encyclopedia) seleniumseleniumsəlēˈnēəm [key], nonmetallic chemical element; symbol Se; at. no. 34; at. wt. 78.96; m.p. 217℃; b.p. about 685℃; sp. gr. 4.81 at 20℃; valence −2, +4, or +6. Selenium is…

prairie dog

(Encyclopedia) prairie dog, short-tailed, ground-living rodent, genus Cynomys, of the squirrel family, closely related to the ground squirrels, chipmunks, and marmots. There are several species,…

Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls

(Encyclopedia) Wilder, Laura Elizabeth Ingalls, 1867–1957, American author of the classic Little House series of children's books, b. Pepin, Wis. She and her pioneer family traveled (1869–79)…

Mackenzie

(Encyclopedia) Mackenzie, river, c.1,120 mi (1,800 km) long, issuing from Great Slave Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada, and flowing generally NW to the Arctic Ocean through a great delta. Between…