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Rocky Mountains

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American Geography

          "Rockies" redirects here. Rockies may also refer to the National
          League Baseball team, the Colorado Rockies. For the former
          National Hockey League team, see Colorado Rockies (NHL).
          For individual mountains named Rocky Mountain, see Rocky
          Mountain (disambiguation).

   The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a broad mountain
   range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than
   3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) from British Columbia, in Canada, to New
   Mexico, in the United States. The highest peak is Mount Elbert, in
   Colorado, which is 14,440 feet (4,401 meters) above sea level. Mount
   Robson in British Columbia, at 12,972 feet (3,954 meters) is the
   highest peak in the Canadian Rockies. The Rocky Mountain System is a
   United States physiographic region.

   In the United States, the more impressive rises above the Great Plains
   includes the Front Range from northern Colorado to northern New Mexico,
   in Wyoming along the Wind River Range and Big Horn Mountains, and in
   Montana with the Crazy Mountains and along the Rocky Mountain Front
   which extends into extreme southwestern Alberta, Canada. The Wasatch
   Range near Salt Lake City, Utah divides the Great Basin from the
   mountains in the west.

Geography and geology

   The Cathedral Group of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park,
   Wyoming.
   Enlarge
   The Cathedral Group of the Teton Range in Grand Teton National Park,
   Wyoming.

   The Rocky Mountains are commonly defined to stretch from the Liard
   River in British Columbia, down to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The
   mountains can also be considered to run all the way to Alaska or
   Mexico, but usually those mountains are considered to be part of the
   entire American cordillera, rather than part of the Rockies.

   The younger ranges of the Rocky Mountains uplifted during the late
   Cretaceous period (100 million-65 million years ago), although some
   portions of the southern mountains date from uplifts during the
   Precambrian (3,980 million-600 million years ago). The mountains'
   geology is a complex of igneous and metamorphic rock; younger
   sedimentary rock occurs along the margins of the southern Rocky
   Mountains, and volcanic rock from the Tertiary (65 million-1.8 million
   years ago) occurs in the San Juan Mountains and in other areas.
   Millennia of severe erosion in the Wyoming Basin transformed
   intermountain basins into a relatively flat terrain. The Tetons and
   other north-central ranges contain folded and faulted rocks of
   Paleozoic and Mesozoic age draped above cores of Proterozoic and
   Archean igneous and metamorphic rocks ranging in age from 1.2 billion
   (e.g., Tetons) to more than 3.3 billion years ( Beartooth Mountains)
   (Peterson 1986; Knight 1994).

   Periods of glaciation occurred from the Pleistocene Epoch (1.8
   million-70,000 years ago) to the Holocene Epoch (fewer than 11,000
   years ago). Recent episodes included the Bull Lake Glaciation that
   began about 150,000 years ago and the Pinedale Glaciation that probably
   remained at full glaciation until 15,000-20,000 years ago (Pierce
   1979). Ninety percent of Yellowstone National Park was covered by ice
   during the Pinedale Glaciation (Knight 1994). The "little ice age" was
   a period of glacial advance that lasted a few centuries from about 1550
   to 1860. For example, the Agassiz and Jackson glaciers in Glacier
   National Park reached their most forward positions about 1860 during
   the little ice age (Grove 1990).

   Water in its many forms sculpted the present Rocky Mountain landscape
   (Athearn 1960). Runoff and snowmelt from the peaks feed Rocky Mountain
   rivers and lakes with the water supply for one-quarter of the United
   States. The rivers that flow from the Rocky Mountains eventually drain
   into three of the world's Oceans: the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific
   Ocean, and the Arctic Ocean. These rivers include:
   Map showing approximate location of the Rocky Mountains.
   Enlarge
   Map showing approximate location of the Rocky Mountains.
     * Arkansas River
     * Athabasca River
     * Clark Fork River
     * Colorado River
     * Columbia River
     * Coeur d'Alene River
     * Fraser River
     * Kootenay River
     * Missouri River
     * North Saskatchewan River
     * Peace River
     * Platte River
     * Rio Grande
     * South Saskatchewan River
     * Snake River
     * Yellowstone River

   The Continental Divide is located in the Rocky Mountains and designates
   the line at which waters flow either to the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans.
   Triple Divide Peak (8020 feet/2444 m) in Glacier National Park (US) is
   so named due to the fact that water which falls on the mountain reaches
   not only the Atlantic and Pacific, but the Arctic Ocean as well.

Human History

   Since the last great Ice Age, the Rocky Mountains were home first to
   Paleo-Indians and then to the Native American tribes of the Apache,
   Arapaho, Bannock, Blackfoot, Cheyenne, Crow. Flathead, Shoshoni, Sioux,
   Ute, and others (Johnson 1994). Paleo-Indians hunted the now-extinct
   mammoth and ancient bison (an animal 20% larger than modern bison) in
   the foothills and valleys of the mountains. Like the modern tribes that
   followed them, Paleo-Indians probably migrated to the plains in fall
   and winter for bison and to the mountains in spring and summer for
   fish, deer, elk, roots, and berries. In Colorado, along the crest of
   the Continental Divide, rock walls that Native Americans built for
   driving game date back 5,400-5,800 years (Buchholtz 1983). A growing
   body of scientific evidence indicates that Native Americans had
   significant effects on mammal populations by hunting and on vegetation
   patterns through deliberate burning (Kay 1994).

   Recent human history of the Rocky Mountains is one of more rapid change
   (Lavender 1975; Knight 1994). The Spanish explorer Francisco Vásquez de
   Coronado — with a group of soldiers, missionaries, and African slaves —
   marched into the Rocky Mountain region from the south in 1540. The
   introduction of the horse, metal tools, rifles, new diseases, and
   different cultures profoundly changed the Native American cultures.
   Native American populations were extirpated from most of their
   historical ranges by disease, warfare, habitat loss (eradication of the
   bison), and continued assaults on their culture.
   Colorado Rockies
   Enlarge
   Colorado Rockies

   Sir Alexander Mackenzie (1764 - March 11, 1820) became the first
   European to cross the Rocky Mountains in 1793. He found the upper
   reaches of the Fraser River and reached what is now the Pacific coast
   of Canada on July 20 of that year, completing the first recorded
   transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico. He arrived
   at Bella Coola, British Columbia, where he first reached saltwater at
   South Bentinck Arm, an inlet of the Pacific Ocean.

   The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) was the first scientific
   reconnaissance of the Rocky Mountains. Specimens were collected for
   contemporary botanists, zoologists, and geologists (Jackson 1962). The
   expedition was said to have paved the way to (and through) the Rocky
   Mountains for European-Americans from the East, although Lewis and
   Clark met at least 11 European-American mountain men during their
   travels.

   Mountain men, primarily French, Spanish, and British roamed the Rocky
   Mountains from 1720 to 1800 seeking mineral deposits and furs. The
   fur-trading Northwest Company established Rocky Mountain House as a
   trading post in what is now the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta in
   1799, and their business rivals the Hudson's Bay Company established
   Acton House nearby. These posts served as bases for most European
   activity in the Canadian Rockies in the early 1800s, most notably the
   expeditions of David Thompson (explorer), the first European to follow
   the Columbia River to the Pacific Ocean. After 1802, American fur
   traders and explorers ushered in the first widespread white presence in
   the Rockies south of the 49th parallel. The more famous of these
   include Americans included William Henry Ashley, Jim Bridger, Kit
   Carson, John Colter, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Andrew Henry, and Jedediah
   Smith. On July 24, 1832, Benjamin Bonneville led the first wagon train
   across the Rocky Mountains by using Wyoming's South Pass.

   The Mormons began to settle near the Great Salt Lake in 1847. In 1859,
   gold was discovered near Cripple Creek, Colorado, and the regional
   economy of the Rocky Mountains was changed forever. The
   transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869, and Yellowstone
   National Park was established in 1872. While settlers filled the
   valleys and mining towns, conservation and preservation ethics began to
   take hold. President Harrison established several forest reserves in
   the Rocky Mountains in 1891-1892. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt
   extended the Medicine Bow Forest Reserve to include the area now
   managed as Rocky Mountain National Park (Buchholtz 1983). Economic
   development began to centre on mining, forestry, agriculture, and
   recreation, as well as on the service industries that support them
   (Lavender 1975). Tents and camps became ranches and farms, forts and
   train stations became towns, and some towns became cities.

Industry and development

   Economic resources of the Rocky Mountains are varied and abundant.
   Minerals found in the Rocky Mountains include significant deposits of
   copper, gold, lead, molybdenum, silver, tungsten, and zinc. The Wyoming
   Basin and several smaller areas contain significant reserves of coal,
   natural gas, oil shale, and petroleum. For example, the Climax mine,
   located near Leadville, Colorado, was the largest producer of
   Molybdenum in the world. Molybdenum is used in heat-resistant steel in
   such things as cars and planes. The Climax mine employed over 3,000
   workers. The Coeur d’Alene mine of northern Idaho produces silver,
   lead, and zinc. Canada's largest coal mines are in the Crowsnest Pass
   near Sparwood, British Columbia and Elkford, British Columbia;
   additional coal mines exist near Hinton, Alberta.
   Colorado Rockies from space
   Enlarge
   Colorado Rockies from space

   Abandoned mines with their wakes of mine tailings and toxic wastes dot
   the Rocky Mountain landscape. In one major example, eighty years of
   zinc mining profoundly polluted the river and bank near Eagle River in
   north-central Colorado. High concentrations of the metal carried by
   spring runoff harmed algae, moss, and trout populations. An economic
   analysis of mining effects at this site revealed declining property
   values, degraded water quality, and the loss of recreational
   opportunities. The analysis also revealed that cleanup of the river
   could yield $2.3 million in additional revenue from recreation. In
   1983, the former owner of the zinc mine was sued by the Colorado
   Attorney General for the $4.8 million cleanup costs; 5 years later,
   ecological recovery was considerable (Brandt 1993). Agriculture and
   forestry are major industries. Agriculture includes dryland and
   irrigated farming and livestock grazing. Livestock are frequently moved
   between high-elevation summer pastures and low-elevation winter
   pastures, a practice known as transhumance.

   Human population is not very dense in the Rocky Mountains, with an
   average of four people per square kilometer (10 per square mile) and
   few cities with over 50,000 people. However, the human population grew
   rapidly in the Rocky Mountain states between 1950 and 1990. The 40-year
   statewide increases in population range from 35% in Montana to about
   150% in Utah and Colorado. The populations of several mountain towns
   and communities have doubled in the last 40 years. Jackson Hole,
   Wyoming, increased 260%, from 1,244 to 4,472 residents, in 40 years.

Tourism

   Every year the scenic areas and recreational opportunities of the Rocky
   Mountains draw millions of tourists. The main language of the Rocky
   Mountains is English. But there are also linguistic pockets of Spanish
   and Native American languages.

   People from all over the world visit the sites to hike, camp, or engage
   in mountain sports. In the summer, main tourist attractions are
   Snowmelt runoff fills a reservoir in the Rocky Mountains near Dillon,
   Colorado.
   Enlarge
   Snowmelt runoff fills a reservoir in the Rocky Mountains near Dillon,
   Colorado.
     * Pikes Peak
     * Royal Gorge
     * Rocky Mountain National Park
     * Yellowstone National Park
     * Grand Teton National Park
     * Glacier National Park (U.S.)
     * Arapaho National Forest

   Canadian National Parks in the mountain range are
     * Banff National Park
     * Jasper National Park
     * Kootenay National Park
     * Waterton Lakes National Park
     * Yoho National Park

   Glacier National Park (U.S.) and Waterton Lakes National Park border
   each other on the U.S./Canadian border and collectively are known as
   the Waterton-Glacier International Peace Park. (See also International
   Peace Park.)

   In the winter, skiing is the main attraction. The major ski resorts
   are:
   Snowpack accumulation at 14,255 ft. on Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain
   National Park (photo courtesy of USDA).
   Enlarge
   Snowpack accumulation at 14,255 ft. on Longs Peak in Rocky Mountain
   National Park (photo courtesy of USDA).
     * Colorado:
          + Aspen
          + Vail
          + Keystone
          + Breckenridge
          + Winter Park
     * Utah:
          + Alta
          + Snowbird
          + Park City
          + Brighton
     * Idaho:
          + Sun Valley
     * Montana:
          + Big Mountain
          + Big Sky
     * Alberta:
          + Lake Louise
          + Sunshine Village
     * British Columbia:
          + Fernie
     * Wyoming:
          + Jackson Hole Ski Resort
          + Grand Targhee

   The adjacent Columbia Mountains in British Columbia and Idaho contain
   major resorts such as Schweitzer, Panorama and Kicking Horse.

   See also: List of U.S. Rocky Mountain ski resorts, List of Alberta ski
   resorts, List of B.C. ski resorts

Climate

   Aerial view of the Colorado Rocky Mountains in summer
   Enlarge
   Aerial view of the Colorado Rocky Mountains in summer

   Aerial view of the Colorado Rocky Mountains in winter
   Enlarge
   Aerial view of the Colorado Rocky Mountains in winter

   The Rocky Mountains have a highland climate. The average annual
   temperature in the valley bottoms of the Colorado Rockies near the
   latitude of Boulder is 43 °F (6 °C). July is the hottest month there
   with an average temperature of 82 °F (28 °C). In January, the average
   monthly temperature is 7 °F (−14 °C), making it the region's coldest
   month. The average precipitation per year there is approximately 14
   inches (360 mm).

   The summers in this area of the Rockies are warm and dry, because the
   western fronts impede the advancing of water-carrying storm systems.
   The average temperature in summer is 59 °F (15 °C) and the average
   precipitation is 5.9 inches (150 mm). Winter is usually wet and very
   cold, with an average temperature of 28 °F (−2 °C) and average snowfall
   of 11.4 inches (29.0 cm). In spring, the average temperature is 40 °F
   (4 °C) and the average precipitation is 4.2 inches (107 mm). And in the
   fall, the average precipitation is 2.6 inches (66 mm) and the average
   temperature is 44 °F (7 °C).
   The Rocky Mountains prevent the Wasatch Front metropolitan area of Utah
   from expanding eastward.
   Enlarge
   The Rocky Mountains prevent the Wasatch Front metropolitan area of Utah
   from expanding eastward.
   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_Mountains"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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