The Niawiakum River is a short river in the U.S. state of Washington . It is approximately 6 miles (9.7 km) long.
105-521: The Niawiakum River originates in the hills of the southwestern part of Washington . It flows generally west, emptying into Willapa Bay near Bay Center and the mouth of the Palix River . The river's entire length is only a few miles. The lower half of the Niawiakum River is a broad estuary and tidal marshland . U.S. Route 101 crosses the river near its mouth. The name "Niawiakum" derives from
210-616: A temperate rainforest . Weeks may pass without a clear day. The western slopes of the Cascade Range receive some of the heaviest annual snowfall (in some places more than 200 inches or 5,100 millimeters water equivalent) in the country. In the rain shadow area east of the Cascades, the annual precipitation is only 6 inches (150 mm). Precipitation then increases again eastward toward the Rocky Mountains (about 120 miles (190 km) east of
315-452: A topographic map . However, when the key col is far away, or when one wants to calculate the prominence of many peaks at once, software can apply surface network modeling to a digital elevation model to find exact or approximate key cols. Since topographic maps typically show elevation using contour lines , the exact elevation is typically bounded by an upper and lower contour, and not specified exactly. Prominence calculations may use
420-420: A "closer" peak than the encirclement parent (if there is one), which is still "better" than the peak in question. The differences lie in what criteria are used to define "closer" and "better." The (prominence) parent peak of peak A can be found by dividing the island or region in question into territories, by tracing the two hydrographic runoffs, one in each direction, downwards from the key col of every peak that
525-489: A "hierarchy" of peaks going back to the highest point on the island. One such chain in Britain would read: Billinge Hill → Winter Hill → Hail Storm Hill → Boulsworth Hill → Kinder Scout → Cross Fell → Helvellyn → Scafell Pike → Snowdon → Ben Nevis . At each stage in the chain, both height and prominence increase. Line parentage, also called height parentage, is similar to prominence parentage, but it requires
630-424: A cutoff to form a list of peaks ranked by elevation is standard and is the most common use of the concept, it is also possible to use prominence as a mountain measure in itself. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence , which are qualitatively different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points and stratovolcanoes . One advantage of
735-570: A distance of 17,755 km (11,032 miles), as well as the parent of the South Summit of Mount Everest at a distance of 360 m (1200 feet). The key col may also be close to the subject peak or far from it. The key col for Aconcagua, if sea level is disregarded, is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km (8,485 miles). The key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest
840-489: A given landmass, the highest peak's prominence will be identical to its elevation. An alternative equivalent definition is that the prominence is the height of the peak's summit above the lowest contour line encircling it, but containing no higher summit within it; see Figure 1. The parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua in Argentina at
945-408: A great deal of information about the peak's position. In general, the analysis of parents and lineages is intimately linked to studying the topology of watersheds . Alteration of the landscape by humans and presence of water features can give rise to issues in the choice of location and height of a summit or col. In Britain, extensive discussion has resulted in a protocol that has been adopted by
1050-479: A hierarchy which defines some peaks as subpeaks of others. For example, in Figure ;1, the middle peak is a subpeak of the right peak, which is a subpeak of the left peak, which is the highest point on its landmass. In that example, there is no controversy about the hierarchy; in practice, there are different definitions of parent. These different definitions follow. Also known as prominence island parentage , this
1155-418: A highest submerged col of about 40 m, or only 8888 m below the peak of Everest. As a result, Mauna Kea's prominence might be subjectively more impressive than Everest's, and some authorities have called it the tallest mountain from peak to underwater base. Dry prominence is also useful for measuring submerged seamounts . Seamounts have a dry topographic prominence, a topographic isolation , and
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#17330855867381260-470: A large part of the top of the volcano. The eruption flattened the forest up to 20 km north of the volcano , killed 57 people, flooded the Columbia River and its tributaries with ash and mud, and blanketed large parts of Washington eastward and other surrounding states in ash, making day look like night. Washington is the northwesternmost state of the contiguous United States . It borders Idaho to
1365-631: A large region experiences strong rain shadow effects. Semi-arid conditions occur in much of Eastern Washington with the strongest rain shadow effects at the relatively low elevations of the central Columbia Plateau —especially the region just east of the Columbia River from about the Snake River to the Okanagan Highland . Thus, instead of rain forests, much of Eastern Washington is covered with dry grassland , shrub-steppe , and dunes . The average annual temperature ranges from 51 °F (11 °C) on
1470-425: A low-pressure cyclone system takes over in the north Pacific Ocean. The air spiraling inward in a counter-clockwise fashion causes Washington's prevailing winds to come from the southwest, and bring cool and overcast weather and a predictably wet season . The term " Pineapple Express " is used colloquially to describe atmospheric river events, where repeated storm systems are directed by this persistent cyclone from
1575-455: A preliminary assessment of the risks and opportunities presented given the possibility of a rise in global temperatures and their effects on Washington state. Rainfall in Washington varies dramatically going from east to west. The Olympic Peninsula's western side receives as much as 160 inches (4,100 mm) of precipitation annually, making it the wettest area of the 48 conterminous states and
1680-409: A prominence cutoff criterion. The height parent is the closest peak to peak A (along all ridges connected to A) that has a greater height than A, and satisfies some prominence criteria. The disadvantage of this concept is that it goes against the intuition that a parent peak should always be more significant than its child. However it can be used to build an entire lineage for a peak which contains
1785-437: A prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak. It is common to define a peak's parent as a particular peak in the higher terrain connected to the peak by the key col. If there are many higher peaks there are various ways of defining which one is the parent, not necessarily based on geological or geomorphological factors. The "parent" relationship defines
1890-466: A proposal to use the name "State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth", which would conflict with the current state of Washington. Residents of Washington (known as "Washingtonians") and the Pacific Northwest simply refer to the state as "Washington", and the nation's capital "Washington, D.C.", "the other Washington", or simply "D.C." The 9,300-year-old skeletal remains of Kennewick Man , one of
1995-504: A state; the creation of Idaho Territory in 1863 established the final eastern border. A Washington state constitution was drafted and ratified in 1878, but it was never officially adopted. Although never approved by the United States Congress, the 1878 constitution is an important historical document that shows the political thinking of the time; it was used extensively during the drafting of Washington state's 1889 constitution,
2100-583: A three-man commission ruling in favor of the United States in 1872. The border established by the Oregon Treaty and finalized by the arbitration in 1872 remains the boundary between Washington and British Columbia . The growing population of Oregon Territory north of the Columbia River formally requested a new territory. As a result of the Monticello Convention , held in present-day Cowlitz County ,
2205-439: A varied range of bird species. This range includes raptors, shorebirds, woodland birds, grassland birds, ducks, and others. There have also been a large number of species introduced to Washington, dating back to the early 18th century, including horses and burros. The channel catfish , lamprey , and sturgeon are among the 400 known freshwater fishes . Along with the Cascades frog, there are several forms of snakes that define
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#17330855867382310-479: Is Aconcagua (6,960 m), in Argentina , and its prominence is 6,138 m. (To further illustrate the rising-sea model of prominence, if sea level rose 56 m, North and South America would be separate continents and Denali would be 6138 m, its current prominence, above sea level. At a slightly lower level, the continents would still be connected and the high point of the combined landmass would be Aconcagua,
2415-417: Is about 100 m (330 feet) distant. A way to visualize prominence is to imagine raising sea level so the parent peak and subject peak are two separate islands. Then lower it until a tiny land bridge forms between the two islands. This land bridge is the key col of the subject peak, and the peak's prominence is its elevation from that key col. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it
2520-482: Is an extremely important business throughout much of Eastern Washington, as the soil is highly productive and irrigation , aided by dams along the Columbia River, is fairly widespread. The spread of population in Eastern Washington is dominated by access to water, especially rivers. The main cities are all located alongside rivers or lakes; most of them are named after the river or lake they adjoin. Farther east,
2625-439: Is an objective measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominence are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits. Peaks with high prominence tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains. For example,
2730-443: Is becoming preferred. There are two varieties of topographic prominence: wet prominence and dry prominence. Wet prominence is the standard topographic prominence discussed in this article. Wet prominence assumes that the surface of the earth includes all permanent water, snow, and ice features. Thus, the wet prominence of the highest summit of an ocean island or landmass is always equal to the summit's elevation. Dry prominence, on
2835-406: Is defined as follows. In Figure 2 the key col of peak A is at the meeting place of two closed contours, one encircling A (and no higher peaks) and the other containing at least one higher peak. The encirclement parent of A is the highest peak that is inside this other contour. In terms of the falling-sea model, the two contours together bound an "island", with two pieces connected by an isthmus at
2940-404: Is equal to its wet prominence (4205 m) plus the depth of its highest submerged col (about 5125 m). Totaling 9330 m, this is greater than any mountain apart from Everest. The dry prominence of Aconcagua is equal to its wet prominence (6960 m) plus the depth of the highest submerged col of the Bering Strait (about 40 m), or about 7000 m. It is worth noting Mauna Kea
3045-553: Is equal to its wet prominence plus the depth of its highest submerged col. Because Earth has no higher summit than Mount Everest , Everest's prominence is either undefined or its height from the lowest contour line. In a dry Earth, the lowest contour line would be the deepest hydrologic feature, the Challenger Deep , at 10,924 m depth. Everest's dry prominence would be this depth plus Everest's wet prominence of 8848 m, totaling 19,772 m. The dry prominence of Mauna Kea
3150-406: Is more prominent than peak A. The parent is the peak whose territory peak A is in. For hills with low prominence in Britain, a definition of "parent Marilyn " is sometimes used to classify low hills ("Marilyn" being a British term for a hill with a prominence of at least 150 m). This is found by dividing the region of Britain in question into territories, one for each Marilyn . The parent Marilyn
3255-457: Is not used because there is no obvious choice of cutoff. This choice of method might at first seem arbitrary, but it provides every hill with a clear and unambiguous parent peak that is taller and more prominent than the hill itself, while also being connected to it (via ridge lines). The parent of a low hill will also usually be nearby; this becomes less likely as the hill's height and prominence increase. Using prominence parentage, one may produce
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3360-572: Is relatively close to its submerged key col in the Pacific Ocean, and the corresponding contour line that surrounds Mauna Kea is a relatively compact area of the ocean floor. Whereas a contour line around Everest that is lower than 9330m from Everest's peak would surround most of the major continents of the Earth. Even just surrounding Afro-Eurasia would run a contour line through the Bering Straight, with
3465-677: Is the Marilyn whose territory the hill's summit is in. If the hill is on an island (in Britain) whose highest point is less than 150 m, it has no parent Marilyn. Prominence parentage is the only definition used in the British Isles because encirclement parentage breaks down when the key col approaches sea level. Using the encirclement definition, the parent of almost any small hill in a low-lying coastal area would be Ben Nevis , an unhelpful and confusing outcome. Meanwhile, "height" parentage (see below)
3570-405: Is the only U.S. state named after a president. Confusion between the state of Washington and the city of Washington, D.C., led to renaming proposals during the statehood process for Washington in 1889, including David Dudley Field II 's suggestion to name the new state "Tacoma"; these proposals failed to garner support. Washington, D.C.'s, own statehood movement in the 21st century has included
3675-549: Is the second most populous state on the West Coast and in the Western United States, after California . Mount Rainier , an active stratovolcano , is the state's highest elevation at 14,411 feet (4,392 meters), and is the most topographically prominent mountain in the contiguous U.S. Washington is a leading lumber producer, the largest producer of apples, hops, pears, blueberries, spearmint oil, and sweet cherries in
3780-650: The 1700 Cascadia earthquake and associated tsunami . Field trips to the river have been part of a Certificate Program in Tsunami Science and Preparedness offered by the University of Washington (UW) in cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The program was the first offered by the International Tsunami Training Institute, set up by NOAA in response to
3885-499: The Blue Mountains and the eastern sides of the Cascades. Mammals native to the state include the bat , black bear , bobcat , cougar , coyote , deer , elk , gray wolf , hare , moose , mountain beaver , muskrat , opossum , pocket gopher , rabbit , raccoon , river otter , skunk , and tree squirrel . Because of the wide range of geography, the state of Washington is home to several different ecoregions, which allow for
3990-435: The Blue Mountains . The state of Washington has a temperate climate. The eastern half of Washington has a semi-arid to warm-summer mediterranean climate , while the western side of Washington as well as the coastal areas of the state have a cool oceanic climate or warm-summer mediterranean climate. Major factors determining Washington's climate include the large semi-permanent low pressure and high pressure systems of
4095-532: The Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. Washington is part of a region known as the Pacific Northwest , a term which always refers to at least Washington and Oregon, and may or may not include some or all the following, depending on the user's intent: Idaho, western Montana , northern California , British Columbia, and Alaska . The high mountains of the Cascade Range run north-south, bisecting
4200-559: The Cascade Mountains westward, Western Washington has a mostly Mediterranean climate , with mild temperatures and wet winters, autumns and springs, and relatively dry summers. The Cascade Range has several volcanoes , which reach altitudes significantly higher than the rest of the mountains. From north to south, these major volcanoes are Mount Baker , Glacier Peak , Mount Rainier , Mount St. Helens , and Mount Adams . All are active volcanoes. Mount Rainier—the tallest mountain in
4305-675: The Columbia District . Fur trapper James Sinclair , on orders from Sir George Simpson , Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, led some 200 settlers from the Red River Colony west in 1841 to settle on Hudson Bay Company farms near Fort Vancouver . The party crossed the Rockies into the Columbia Valley , near present-day Radium Hot Springs , British Columbia, then traveled south-west down
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4410-728: The Continental Divide to the Pacific Ocean as part of the Anglo–American Convention of 1818 , which established the 49th parallel as the international boundary west from Lake of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains . Resolution of the territorial and treaty issues west to the Pacific was deferred until a later time. In 1819, Spain ceded its rights north of the 42nd parallel to the United States. Negotiations with Great Britain over
4515-555: The Indian Ocean tsunami of 2004. Washington (state) Washington , officially the State of Washington , is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is often referred to as Washington state to distinguish it from the national capital , both named after George Washington (the first U.S. president ). Washington borders the Pacific Ocean to
4620-528: The Kootenai River and Columbia River. Despite such efforts, Britain eventually ceded all claims to land south of the 49th parallel to the United States in the Oregon Treaty on June 15, 1846. In 1836, a group of missionaries, including Marcus Whitman , established several missions and Whitman's own settlement Waiilatpu, in what is now southeastern Washington state, near present-day Walla Walla County , in
4725-594: The Lower Chehalis name for the river. 838 acres (339 ha) of the lower river is a protected land preserve called the Niawiakum River Natural Area Preserve , yet most of the land is controlled by Weyerhaeuser which has resulted in significant clearcut logging and damage to the forest and river ecosystems. Two of the largest Western Red Cedar trees in the world, the Niawiakum Giant and
4830-595: The San Juan Islands is heavily inhabited by killer , gray, and humpback whales. In Eastern Washington, the flora is vastly different. Tumbleweeds and sagebrush dominate the landscape throughout large parts of the countryside. Russian olives and other trees are common alongside riverbanks; however, apart from the riversides, large swaths of Eastern Washington have no naturally existing trees at all (though many trees have been planted and are irrigated by people, of course). A wider variety of flora can be found in both
4935-792: The Santiago , part of a two-ship flotilla with the Sonora . He claimed the coastal lands up to Prince William Sound for Spain as part of their claimed rights under the Treaty of Tordesillas , which they maintained made the Pacific a "Spanish lake" and all its shores part of the Spanish Empire. Soon thereafter, the smallpox epidemic of the 1770s devastated the Native American population. In 1778, British explorer Captain James Cook sighted Cape Flattery , at
5040-522: The Seattle metropolitan area , the center of transportation, business, and industry on Puget Sound , an inlet of the Pacific Ocean consisting of numerous islands, deep fjords and bays carved out by glaciers. The remainder of the state consists of deep temperate rainforests in the west; mountain ranges in the west, center, northeast, and far southeast; and a semi-arid basin region in the east, center, and south, given over to intensive agriculture. Washington
5145-463: The U.S. Congress passed legislation to create Washington Territory . It was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore on March 2, 1853. The boundary of Washington Territory initially extended farther east than the present state, including what is now the Idaho Panhandle and parts of western Montana, and picked up more land to the southeast that was left behind when Oregon was admitted as
5250-601: The United States Congress during the creation of Washington Territory in 1853; the territory was to be named "Columbia", for the Columbia River and the Columbia District , but Kentucky representative Richard H. Stanton found the name too similar to the District of Columbia (the national capital, itself containing the city of Washington), and proposed naming the new territory after President Washington. Washington
5355-585: The "deep freeze" winters of 1883–1884, 1915–1916, 1949–1950, and 1955–1956, among others. During these events, Western Washington experienced up to 6 feet (1.8 m) of snow, sub-zero (−18 °C) temperatures, three months with snow on the ground, and lakes and rivers frozen over for weeks. Seattle's lowest officially recorded temperature is 0 °F (−18 °C) set on January 31, 1950, but low-altitude areas approximately three hours away from Seattle have recorded lows as cold as −48 °F (−44 °C). The Southern Oscillation greatly influences weather during
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#17330855867385460-604: The Idaho border). The Olympic mountains and Cascades compound this climatic pattern by causing orographic lift of the air masses blown inland from the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the windward side of the mountains receiving high levels of precipitation and the leeward side receiving low levels. This occurs most dramatically around the Olympic Mountains and the Cascade Range. In both cases, the windward slopes facing southwest receive high precipitation and mild, cool temperatures. While
5565-644: The Interior had a different subsistence-based culture based on hunting, food-gathering and some forms of agriculture, as well as a dependency on salmon from the Columbia and its tributaries. The area has been known to host megathrust earthquakes in the past, the last being the Cascadia earthquake of 1700 . The first recorded European landing on the Washington coast was by Spanish Captain Don Bruno de Heceta in 1775, on board
5670-579: The Northwest Coast to explorers and traders from other nations, most notably Britain and Russia as well as the fledgling United States. American captain Robert Gray (for whom Grays Harbor County is named) then discovered the mouth of the Columbia River. He named the river after his ship, the Columbia . Beginning in 1792, Gray established trade in sea otter pelts. The Lewis and Clark Expedition entered
5775-768: The Oregon Trail, wandered north to settle in the Puget Sound area. Spanish and Russian claims to the region were ceded in the early 19th century through a series of treaties. The Spanish signed the Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, and the Russians the Russo-American Treaty of 1824 and 1825 . The Oregon Question remained contested between the United Kingdom and the United States until the 1846 Oregon Treaty established
5880-481: The Pacific coast to 40 °F (4 °C) in the northeast. The lowest temperature recorded in the state was −48 °F (−44 °C) in Winthrop and Mazama . The highest recorded temperature in the state was 120 °F (49 °C) at Hanford on June 29, 2021. Both records were set east of the Cascades. Western Washington is known for its mild climate, considerable fog, frequent cloud cover, long-lasting drizzles in
5985-411: The Puget Sound lowlands are known for clouds and rain in the winter, the western slopes of the Cascades receive larger amounts of precipitation, often falling as snow at higher elevations. Mount Baker , near the state's northern border, is one of the snowiest places in the world. In 1999, it set the world record for snowfall in a single season—1,140 inches (95 ft; 29 m). East of the Cascades,
6090-515: The Seal Slough Cedar, sit on Weyerhaeuser land, however, surrounding clearcuts have nearly killed the Seal Slough Cedar. The river estuary and its tidal salt marsh vegetation is among the highest quality of the entire Washington and Oregon coasts. There are ongoing efforts to protect more of the Niawiakum estuary along with the nearby Bone River estuary. The lower Niawiakum River shows traces of
6195-461: The U.S., 2000 ft (610 m) of prominence has become an informal threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. Lists with a high topographic prominence cutoff tend to favor isolated peaks or those that are the highest point of their massif ; a low value, such as the Nuttalls', results in a list with many summits that may be viewed by some as insignificant. While the use of prominence as
6300-561: The U.S., and ranks high in the production of apricots, asparagus, dry edible peas, grapes, lentils, peppermint oil, and potatoes. Livestock, livestock products, and commercial fishing—particularly of salmon, halibut, and bottomfish —are also significant contributors to the state's economy. Washington ranks second only to California in wine production. Manufacturing industries in Washington include aircraft, missiles, shipbuilding, and other transportation equipment, food processing, metals, and metal products, chemicals, and machinery. The state
6405-503: The border between British North America and the United States along the 49th parallel until the Strait of Georgia . Vague wording in the treaty left the ownership of the San Juan Islands in doubt; during the so-called Pig War , both nations agreed to a joint military occupation of the islands. Kaiser Wilhelm I of the German Empire was selected as an arbitrator to end the dispute, with
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#17330855867386510-408: The child peak. For example, one common use of the concept of parent is to make clear the location of a peak. If we say that Peak A has Mont Blanc for a parent, we would expect to find Peak A somewhere close to Mont Blanc. This is not always the case for the various concepts of parent, and is least likely to be the case for encirclement parentage. Figure 3 shows a schematic range of peaks with
6615-518: The climate becomes less arid, with annual rainfall increasing as one goes east to 21.2 inches (540 mm) in Pullman, near the Washington–Idaho border. The Okanogan Highlands and the rugged Kettle River Range and Selkirk Mountains cover much of the state's northeastern quadrant. The Palouse southeast region of Washington was grassland that has been mostly converted into farmland, and extends to
6720-628: The cold season. During the El Niño phase, the jet stream enters the U.S. farther south through California, therefore late fall and winter are drier than normal with less snowpack. The La Niña phase reinforces the jet stream through the Pacific Northwest, causing Washington to have more rain and snow than average. In 2006, the Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington published The Impacts of Climate change in Washington's Economy ,
6825-410: The color underlying the minor peaks indicating the encirclement parent. In this case the encirclement parent of M is H whereas an intuitive view might be that L was the parent. Indeed, if col "k" were slightly lower, L would be the true encirclement parent. The encirclement parent is the highest possible parent for a peak; all other definitions indicate a (possibly different) peak on the combined island,
6930-693: The contiguous 48 states. Western Washington also is home of the Olympic Mountains , far west on the Olympic Peninsula , which support dense forests of conifers and areas of temperate rainforest . These deep forests, such as the Hoh Rainforest , are among the only rainforests in the continental United States. While Western Washington does not always experience a high amount of rainfall as measured in total inches of rain per year, it does consistently have more rainy days per year than most other places in
7035-524: The country. Eastern Washington —the part of the state east of the Cascades—has a relatively dry climate, in distinct contrast to the west side. It includes large areas of semiarid steppe and a few truly arid deserts in the rain shadow of the Cascades; the Hanford reservation receives an average annual precipitation of 6 to 7 inches (150 to 180 mm). Despite the limited amount of rainfall, agriculture
7140-429: The disadvantage in using the encirclement parent. A hill in a low-lying area like the Netherlands will often be a direct child of Mount Everest , with its prominence about the same as its height and its key col placed at or near the foot of the hill, well below, for instance, the 113-meter-high key col of Mont Blanc . When the key col for a peak is close to the peak itself, prominence is easily computed by hand using
7245-417: The east, bounded mostly by the meridian running north from the confluence of the Snake River and Clearwater River (about 117°02'23" west), except for the southernmost section where the border follows the Snake River. Oregon is to the south, with the Columbia River forming the western part and the 46th parallel forming the eastern part of the Oregon–Washington border. During Washington's partition from Oregon,
7350-475: The encirclement parent.) While it is natural for Aconcagua to be the parent of Denali, since Denali is a major peak, consider the following situation: Peak A is a small hill on the coast of Alaska, with elevation 100 m and key col 50 m. Then the encirclement parent of Peak A is also Aconcagua, even though there will be many peaks closer to Peak A which are much higher and more prominent than Peak A (for example, Denali). This illustrates
7455-467: The entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca , but Cook did not realize the strait existed. It was not discovered until Charles William Barkley , captain of the Imperial Eagle , sighted it in 1787. The straits were further explored by Spanish explorers Manuel Quimper in 1790 and Francisco de Eliza in 1791, and British explorer George Vancouver in 1792. The British–Spanish Nootka Convention of 1790 ended Spanish claims of exclusivity and opened
7560-440: The height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contour line encircling it but containing no higher summit within it. It is a measure of the independence of a summit . The key col ("saddle") around the peak is a unique point on this contour line and the parent peak is some higher mountain, selected according to various criteria. The prominence of a peak is the least drop in height necessary in order to get from
7665-489: The high contour (giving in a pessimistic estimate ), the low contour (giving an optimistic estimate), their mean (giving a "midrange" or "rise" prominence ) or an interpolated value (customary in Britain). The choice of method depends largely on the preference of the author and historical precedent. Pessimistic prominence, (and sometimes optimistic prominence) were for many years used in USA and international lists, but mean prominence
7770-495: The key col. The encirclement parent is the highest point on this entire island. For example, the encirclement parent of Mont Blanc , the highest peak in the Alps , is Mount Everest . Mont Blanc's key col is a piece of low ground near Lake Onega in northwestern Russia (at 113 m (371 ft) elevation), on the divide between lands draining into the Baltic and Caspian Seas . This is
7875-459: The list, or cutoff . John and Anne Nuttall's The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m (about 50 ft), and Alan Dawson's list of Marilyns uses 150 m (about 500 ft). (Dawson's list and the term "Marilyn" are limited to Britain and Ireland). In the contiguous United States, the famous list of " fourteeners " (14,000 foot / 4268 m peaks) uses a cutoff of 300 ft / 91 m (with some exceptions). Also in
7980-435: The main sources of prominence data in Britain and Ireland. Other sources of data commonly ignore human-made alterations, but this convention is not universally agreed upon; for example, some authors discount modern structures but allow ancient ones. Another disagreement concerns mountaintop removal , though for high-prominence peaks (and for low-prominence subpeaks with intact summits), the difference in prominence values for
8085-473: The manufacture of warships. Seattle was the point of departure for many soldiers in the Pacific, several of whom were quartered at Fort Lawton, which later became Discovery Park . In Eastern Washington, the Hanford Works atomic energy plant was opened in 1943 and played a major role in the construction of atomic bombs . After the end of World War II, and with the beginning of the civil rights movement ,
8190-420: The meeting place of two 113 m (371 ft) contours, one of them encircling Mont Blanc; the other contour encircles Mount Everest. This example demonstrates that the encirclement parent can be very far away from the peak in question when the key col is low. This means that, while simple to define, the encirclement parent often does not satisfy the intuitive requirement that the parent peak should be close to
8295-615: The most prominent reptiles and amphibians. Coastal bays and islands are often inhabited by plentiful amounts of shellfish and whales. There are five species of salmon that ascend the Western Washington area, from streams to spawn. Topographically prominent In topography , prominence or relative height (also referred to as autonomous height , and shoulder drop in US English, and drop in British English) measures
8400-564: The next few decades failed to settle upon a compromise boundary and the Oregon boundary dispute was highly contested between Britain and the United States. Disputed joint occupancy by Britain and the U.S. lasted for several decades. With American settlers pouring into Oregon Country , Hudson's Bay Company , which had previously discouraged settlement because it conflicted with the fur trade, reversed its position in an attempt to maintain British control of
8505-459: The north Pacific Ocean, the continental air masses of North America, and the Olympic and Cascade mountains. In the spring and summer, a high-pressure anticyclone system dominates the north Pacific Ocean, causing air to spiral out in a clockwise fashion. For Washington, this means prevailing winds from the northwest bring relatively cool air and a predictably dry season . In the autumn and winter,
8610-522: The oldest and most complete human remains found in North America, were discovered in Washington in the 1990s. The region has been home to many established tribes of indigenous peoples for thousands of years. They are notable for their ornately carved welcome figures, canoes, long houses and masks. Prominent among their industries were salmon fishing and, notably among the Makah , whale hunting. The peoples of
8715-527: The one and only official Constitution of the State of Washington. Washington became the 42nd state of the United States on November 11, 1889. Early prominent industries in the new state included agriculture and lumber. In Eastern Washington, the Yakima River Valley became known for its apple orchards, while the growth of wheat using dry farming techniques became particularly productive. Heavy rainfall to
8820-500: The original plan for the border followed the Columbia River east until the confluence with the Snake, and then would have followed the Snake River east; this was changed to keep Walla Walla 's fertile farmland in Washington. To the west of Washington lies the Pacific Ocean. Its northern border lies mostly along the 49th parallel , and then via marine boundaries through the Strait of Georgia , Haro Strait , and Strait of Juan de Fuca , with
8925-402: The other hand, ignores water, snow, and ice features and assumes that the surface of the earth is defined by the solid bottom of those features. The dry prominence of a summit is equal to its wet prominence unless the summit is the highest point of a landmass or island, or its key col is covered by snow or ice. If its highest surface col is on water, snow, or ice, the dry prominence of that summit
9030-571: The production of electricity. This culminated in 1941 with the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam , the largest concrete structure in the United States and the largest dam in the world at its construction. During World War II, the state became a focus for war industries. While the Boeing Company produced many heavy bombers , ports in Seattle, Bremerton , Vancouver , and Tacoma were available for
9135-522: The rest of the country, and for a time, it possessed a large shipbuilding industry. The region around eastern Puget Sound developed heavy industry during the period including World War I and World War II , and the Boeing company became an established icon in the area. During the Great Depression , a series of hydroelectric dams were constructed along the Columbia River as part of a project to increase
9240-566: The same time many white patients recovered, they held "medicine man" Marcus Whitman personally responsible, and executed Whitman and twelve other white settlers. This was called the Whitman massacre in 1847. This event triggered the Cayuse War between settlers and Indians. Fort Nisqually , a farm and trading post of the Hudson's Bay Company and the first European settlement in the Puget Sound area,
9345-497: The state on October 10, 1805. Explorer David Thompson , on his voyage down the Columbia River, camped at the confluence with the Snake River on July 9, 1811, and erected a pole and a notice claiming the territory for Great Britain and stating the intention of the North West Company to build a trading post at the site. Britain and the United States agreed to what has since been described as "joint occupancy" of lands west of
9450-457: The state's growing Black or African American population's wages were 53% above the national average. The early diversification of Washington through the Great Migration led to successful efforts at reducing discrimination in the workplace. In 1950, Seattle's first black representative for the state's legislature was elected. At the 1970 U.S. census , the black population grew to 7.13% of
9555-485: The state's land area, mostly west of the northern Cascades. Approximately two-thirds of Washington's forested area is publicly owned, including 64 percent of federal land. Common trees and plants in the region are camassia , Douglas fir, hemlock, penstemon , ponderosa pine, western red cedar , and many species of ferns. The state's various areas of wilderness offer sanctuary, with substantially large populations of shorebirds and marine mammals. The Pacific shore surrounding
9660-407: The state. In addition to Western Washington and Eastern Washington , residents call the two parts of the state the "Westside" and the "Eastside", "Wet side" and "Dry side", or "Timberland" and "Wheatland", the latter pair more commonly in the names of region-specific businesses and institutions. These terms reflect the geography, climate, and industry of the land on both sides of the Cascades. From
9765-505: The state— is 50 miles (80 km) south of the city of Seattle, from which it is prominently visible. The U.S. Geological Survey considers 14,411-foot-tall (4,392 m) Mount Rainier the most dangerous volcano in the Cascade Range, due to its proximity to the Seattle metropolitan area , and most dangerous in the continental U.S. according to the Decade Volcanoes list. It is also covered with more glacial ice than any other peak in
9870-431: The summit to any higher terrain. This can be calculated for a given peak in the following manner: for every path connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the path; the key col (or highest saddle , or linking col , or link ) is defined as the highest of these points, along all connecting paths; the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of its key col. On
9975-622: The territory of both the Cayuse and the Nez Perce Indian tribes. Whitman's settlement would in 1843 help the Oregon Trail , the overland emigration route to the west, get established for thousands of emigrants in the following decades. Whitman provided medical care for the Native Americans, but when Indian patients—lacking immunity to new, "European" diseases—died in striking numbers, while at
10080-469: The total population. In 1970, the state was one of only four U.S. states to have been providing legal abortions before the 1973 Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade which loosened abortion laws nationwide. On May 18, 1980, following a period of heavy tremors and small eruptions, the north face of Mount St. Helens slid off in the largest landslide in recorded history before erupting violently , destroying
10185-415: The tropical Pacific regions a great distance into the Pacific Northwest. Western Washington is very cloudy during much of fall, winter, and early spring. Seattle averages the least sunshine hours of any major city in the United States. Despite Western Washington's marine climate similar to many coastal cities of Europe, there are exceptions such as the "Big Snow" events of 1880, 1881, 1893, and 1916, and
10290-497: The two conventions is typically relatively small. The key col and parent peak are often close to the sub-peak but this is not always the case, especially when the key col is relatively low. It is only with the advent of computer programs and geographical databases that thorough analysis has become possible . For example, the key col of Denali in Alaska (6,194 m) is a 56 m col near Lake Nicaragua . Denali's encirclement parent
10395-487: The west of the Cascade Range produced dense forests, and the ports along Puget Sound prospered from the manufacturing and shipping of lumber products, particularly the Douglas fir . Other industries that developed in the state included fishing, salmon canning and mining. For a long period, Tacoma had large smelters where gold, silver, copper, and lead ores were treated. Seattle was the primary port for trade with Alaska and
10500-447: The west, Oregon to the south, Idaho to the east, and shares an international border with the Canadian province of British Columbia to the north. Olympia is the state capital , and the most populous city is Seattle . Washington is the 18th-largest state , with an area of 71,362 square miles (184,830 km ), and the 13th-most populous state, with more than 7.8 million people. The majority of Washington's residents live in
10605-771: The winter and warm, temperate summers. The eastern region, which does not benefit from the general moderating effect of the Pacific Ocean, occasionally experiences extreme climate. Arctic cold fronts in the winter and heat waves in the summer are not uncommon. In the Western region, temperatures have reached as high as 118 °F (48 °C) in Maple Valley during the June 2021 heat wave , and as low as −6 °F (−21 °C) in Longview , and even -8 F (-22 C) in Sammamish . Forests cover about half
10710-418: The world's second-highest mountain is K2 (height 8,611 m, prominence 4,017 m). While Mount Everest 's South Summit (height 8,749 m, prominence 11 m ) is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a sub-summit of the main summit (which has a height and prominence of 8,848 m). Many lists of mountains use topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion in
10815-412: Was among the first states to introduce same-sex marriage , and was one of only four states to have provided legal abortions on request before Roe v. Wade in 1973. Washington voters also approved a 2008 referendum on the legalization of physician-assisted suicide , making it one of 10 states to have legalized the practice. Washington was named after President George Washington by an act of
10920-643: Was formed from the western part of the Washington Territory , which was ceded by the British Empire in the Oregon Treaty of 1846. It was admitted to the Union as the 42nd state in 1889. One of the wealthiest and most socially liberal states in the country, Washington consistently ranks among the top states for highest life expectancy and employment rates. It was one of the first states (alongside Colorado ) to legalize medicinal and recreational cannabis ,
11025-483: Was founded in 1833. Black pioneer George Washington Bush and his Caucasian wife, Isabella James Bush, from Missouri and Tennessee , respectively, led four white families into the territory and founded New Market, now Tumwater , in 1846. They settled in Washington to avoid Oregon 's black exclusion law , which prohibited African Americans from entering the territory while simultaneously prohibiting slavery . After them, many more settlers, migrating overland along
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