Dawson Creek is a small city in northeastern British Columbia, Canada.
It covers an area of 20.66 square kilometres (8 sq mi) with a 2006
population of 11,615 people. Dubbed "The Capital of the Peace", it is
a service centre for the rural areas south of the Peace River and the
seat of the Peace River Regional District. Dawson Creek turned from a
small farming community to a regional centre when the western terminus
of the Northern Alberta Railways was extended there in 1932, and the
US Army used that terminus as a transshipment point in 1942 during the
construction of the Alaska Highway. Most of the city's development
occurred between 1942 and 1966 when highways and railways were built
connecting the farming area of the Peace River Country to the rest of
BC through Dawson Creek. Dawson Creek derived its name from the creek
of the same name that runs through the city. The creek was named after
George Mercer Dawson by a member of his land survey team when they
passed through the area in August 1879. The city, at the southern end
of the Alaska Highway, is known as the "Mile 0 City" and is also home
to a regional fall fair and heritage interpretation village.
Read the rest of this article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_Creek%2C_British_Columbia
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1797:
French Revolutionary Wars: British Lieutenant General Ralph
Abercromby and a force of over 6,000 men invaded Spanish-controlled
Puerto Rico.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_San_Juan_%281797%29)
1895:
The Empire of Japan and the Chinese Qing Empire signed the Treaty of
Shimonoseki, an unequal treaty that ended the First Sino-Japanese War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Shimonoseki)
1942:
World War II: Captured French General Henri Giraud escaped from
German captivity in the K??nigstein Castle.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Giraud)
1961:
Armed Cuban exiles backed by the CIA invaded Cuba, landing in the
Bay of Pigs, with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bay_of_Pigs_Invasion)
1975:
The Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot captured Phnom Penh, ending the
Cambodian Civil War, and established the Democratic Kampuchea.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambodian_Civil_War)
1982:
A new "patriated" Constitution of Canada, including the Canadian
Charter of Rights and Freedoms, was signed into law.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constitution_Act%2C_1982)
1986:
The Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly declared peace, ending the
Three Hundred and Thirty Five Years' War.
(
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hundred_and_Thirty_Five_Years%27_War)
_____________________
Wiktionary's Word of the day:
kedge: To move a boat by tossing a small anchor in the desired
direction of movement, then hauling the boat by using the anchor
cable.
(
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kedge)
_____________________
Wikiquote of the day:
I am not a novelist, really not even a writer; I am a storyteller. One
of my friends said about me that I think all sorrows can be borne if
you put them into a story or tell a story about them, and perhaps this
is not entirely untrue. To me, the explanation of life seems to be its
melody, its pattern. And I feel in life such an infinite, truly
inconceivable fantasy.
-- Karen Blixen
(
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Karen_Blixen)