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Mount St. Helens

Mount St. Helens (known as Lawetlat'la to the indigenous Cowlitz people, and Loowit or Louwala-Clough to the Klickitat) is an active stratovolcano located in Skamania County, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It lies 83 km northeast of Portland, Oregon, and 158 km south of Seattle. Mount St. Helens takes its English name from that of the British diplomat Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Baron St Helens, a friend of explorer George Vancouver who surveyed the area in the late 18th century. The volcano is part of the Cascade Volcanic Arc, a segment of the Pacific Ring of Fire.

The Mount St. Helens major eruption of May 18, 1980, remains the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history. Fifty-seven people were killed; 200 homes, 47 bridges, 15 mi of railways, and 185 mi of highway were destroyed. A massive debris avalanche, triggered by a magnitude 5.1 earthquake, caused a lateral eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9677 to 8363 ft, leaving a 1 mi wide horseshoe-shaped crater. The debris avalanche was 2.5 km3 in volume. The 1980 eruption disrupted terrestrial ecosystems near the volcano. By contrast, aquatic ecosystems in the area greatly benefited from the amounts of ash, allowing life to multiply rapidly. Six years after the eruption, most lakes in the area had returned to their normal state.

After its 1980 eruption, the volcano experienced continuous volcanic activity until 2008. Geologists predict that future eruptions will be more destructive, as the configuration of the lava domes requires more pressure to erupt. However, Mount St. Helens is a popular hiking spot and it is climbed year-round. In 1982, the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument was established by President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Congress.

General
Mount St. Helens is 34 mi west of Mount Adams, in the western part of the Cascade Range. Considered "brother and sister" mountains, the two volcanoes are approximately 50 mi from Mount Rainier, the highest of the Cascade volcanoes. Mount Hood, the nearest major volcanic peak in Oregon, is 60 mi southeast of Mount St. Helens.

Mount St. Helens is geologically young compared with the other major Cascade volcanoes. It formed only within the past 40,000 years, and the summit cone present before its 1980 eruption began rising about 2,200 years ago. The volcano is considered the most active in the Cascades within the Holocene epoch, which encompasses roughly the last 10,000 years.

Prior to the 1980 eruption, Mount St. Helens was the fifth-highest peak in Washington. It stood out prominently from surrounding hills because of the symmetry and extensive snow and ice cover of the pre-1980 summit cone, earning it the nickname, by some, "Fuji-san of America". Its ice cover just prior to the 1980 eruption included eleven named glaciers: Wishbone, Loowit, Leschi, Forsyth, Nelson, Ape, Shoestring, Swift, Dryer, Toutle, and Talus. Of these eleven, only the Shoestring Glacier revived somewhat post-eruption. The peak rose more than 5000 ft above its base, where the lower flanks merge with adjacent ridges. The mountain is 6 mi across at its base, which is at an elevation of 4400 ft on the northeastern side and 4000 ft elsewhere. At the pre-eruption tree line, the width of the cone was 4 mi.

Streams that originate on the volcano enter three main river systems: The Toutle River on the north and northwest, the Kalama River on the west, and the Lewis River on the south and east. The streams are fed by abundant rain and snow. The average annual rainfall is 140 in, and the snowpack on the mountain's upper slopes can reach 16 ft. The Lewis River is impounded by three dams for hydroelectric power generation. The southern and eastern sides of the volcano drain into an upstream impoundment, the Swift Reservoir, which is directly south of the volcano's peak.

Although Mount St. Helens is in Skamania County, Washington, access routes to the mountain run through Cowlitz County to the west, and Lewis County to the north. State Route 504, locally known as the Spirit Lake Memorial Highway, connects with Interstate 5 at Exit 49, 34 mi to the west of the mountain. That north–south highway skirts the low-lying cities of Castle Rock, Longview and Kelso along the Cowlitz River, and passes through the Vancouver, Washington–Portland, Oregon metropolitan area less than 50 mi to the southwest. The community nearest the volcano is Cougar, Washington, in the Lewis River valley 11 mi south-southwest of the peak. Gifford Pinchot National Forest surrounds Mount St. Helens.

Crater Glacier and other new rock glaciers
During the winter of 1980–1981, a new glacier appeared. Now officially named Crater Glacier, it was formerly known as the Tulutson Glacier. Shadowed by the crater walls and fed by heavy snowfall and repeated snow avalanches, it grew rapidly (14 ft per year in thickness). By 2004, it covered about 0.36 sqmi, and was divided by the dome into a western and eastern lobe. Typically, by late summer, the glacier looks dark from rockfall from the crater walls and ash from eruptions. As of 2006, the ice had an average thickness of 300 ft and a maximum of 650 ft, nearly as deep as the much older and larger Carbon Glacier of Mount Rainier. The ice is all post-1980, making the glacier very young geologically. However, the volume of the new glacier is about the same as all the pre-1980 glaciers combined.

From 2004, volcanic activity pushed aside the glacier lobes and upward by the growth of new volcanic domes. The surface of the glacier, once mostly without crevasses, turned into a chaotic jumble of icefalls heavily criss-crossed with crevasses and seracs caused by movement of the crater floor. The new domes have almost separated the Crater Glacier into an eastern and western lobe. Despite the volcanic activity, the termini of the glacier have still advanced, with a slight advance on the western lobe and a more considerable advance on the more shaded eastern lobe. Due to the advance, two lobes of the glacier joined in late May 2008 and thus the glacier completely surrounds the lava domes. In addition, since 2004, new glaciers have formed on the crater wall above Crater Glacier feeding rock and ice onto its surface below; there are two rock glaciers to the north of the eastern lobe of Crater Glacier.

Climate
Mount St. Helens has an alpine tundra climate (ET).

Geology
Mount St. Helens is part of the Cascades Volcanic Province, an arc-shaped band extending from southwestern British Columbia to Northern California, roughly parallel to the Pacific coastline. Beneath the Cascade Volcanic Province, a dense oceanic plate sinks beneath the North American Plate; a process known as subduction in geology. As the oceanic slab sinks deeper into the Earth's interior beneath the continental plate, high temperatures and pressures allow water molecules locked in the minerals of solid rock to escape. The supercritical water rises into the pliable mantle above the subducting plate, causing some of the mantle to melt. This newly formed magma ascends upward through the crust along a path of least resistance, both by way of fractures and faults as well as by melting wall rocks. The addition of melted crust changes the geochemical composition. Some of the melt rises toward the Earth's surface to erupt, forming the Cascade Volcanic Arc above the subduction zone.

The magma from the mantle has accumulated in two chambers below the volcano: one approximately 5 - 12 km below the surface, the other about 12 - 40 km. The lower chamber may be shared with Mount Adams and the Indian Heaven volcanic field.

Ancestral stages of eruptive activity
The early eruptive stages of Mount St. Helens are known as the "Ape Canyon Stage" (around 40,000–35,000 years ago), the "Cougar Stage" (ca. 20,000–18,000 years ago), and the "Swift Creek Stage" (roughly 13,000–8,000 years ago). The modern period, since about 2500 BC, is called the "Spirit Lake Stage". Collectively, the pre–Spirit Lake stages are known as the "ancestral stages". The ancestral and modern stages differ primarily in the composition of the erupted lavas; ancestral lavas consisted of a characteristic mixture of dacite and andesite, while modern lava is very diverse (ranging from olivine basalt to andesite and dacite).

St. Helens started its growth in the Pleistocene 37,600 years ago, during the Ape Canyon stage, with dacite and andesite eruptions of hot pumice and ash. Thirty-six thousand years ago a large mudflow cascaded down the volcano; mudflows were significant forces in all of St. Helens' eruptive cycles. The Ape Canyon eruptive period ended around 35,000 years ago and was followed by 17,000 years of relative quiet. Parts of this ancestral cone were fragmented and transported by glaciers 14,000–18,000 years ago during the last glacial period of the current ice age.

The second eruptive period, the Cougar Stage, started 20,000 years ago and lasted for 2,000 years. Pyroclastic flows of hot pumice and ash along with dome growth occurred during this period. Another 5,000 years of dormancy followed, only to be upset by the beginning of the Swift Creek eruptive period, typified by pyroclastic flows, dome growth and blanketing of the countryside with tephra. Swift Creek ended 8,000 years ago.

Smith Creek and Pine Creek eruptive periods
A dormancy of about 4,000 years was broken around 2500 BC with the start of the Smith Creek eruptive period, when eruptions of large amounts of ash and yellowish-brown pumice covered thousands of square miles. An eruption in 1900 BC was the largest known eruption from St. Helens during the Holocene epoch, depositing the Yn tephra. This eruptive period lasted until about 1600 BC and left 18 in deep deposits of material 50 mi distant in what is now Mount Rainier National Park. Trace deposits have been found as far northeast as Banff National Park in Alberta, and as far southeast as eastern Oregon. All told there may have been up to 2.5 mi3 of material ejected in this cycle. Some 400 years of dormancy followed.

St. Helens came alive again around 1200 BC—the Pine Creek eruptive period. This lasted until about 800 BC and was characterized by smaller-volume eruptions. Numerous dense, nearly red hot pyroclastic flows sped down St. Helens' flanks and came to rest in nearby valleys. A large mudflow partly filled 40 mi of the Lewis River valley sometime between 1000 BC and 500 BC.

Castle Creek and Sugar Bowl eruptive periods
The next eruptive period, the Castle Creek period, began about 400 BC, and is characterized by a change in the composition of St. Helens' lava, with the addition of olivine and basalt. The pre-1980 summit cone started to form during the Castle Creek period. Significant lava flows in addition to the previously much more common fragmented and pulverized lavas and rocks (tephra) distinguished this period. Large lava flows of andesite and basalt covered parts of the mountain, including one around the year 100 BC that traveled all the way into the Lewis and Kalama river valleys. Others, such as Cave Basalt (known for its system of lava tubes), flowed up to 9 mi from their vents. During the first century, mudflows moved 30 mi down the Toutle and Kalama river valleys and may have reached the Columbia River. Another 400 years of dormancy ensued.

The Sugar Bowl eruptive period was short and markedly different from other periods in Mount St. Helens history. It produced the only unequivocal laterally directed blast known from Mount St. Helens before the 1980 eruptions. During Sugar Bowl time, the volcano first erupted quietly to produce a dome, then erupted violently at least twice producing a small volume of tephra, directed-blast deposits, pyroclastic flows, and lahars. East Dome, a small hypersthene-homblende dacite dome on the east slope of the volcano, was likely formed around the Sugar Bowl period. Formation of East Dome was preceded by an explosive eruption.

Kalama and Goat Rocks eruptive periods

Roughly 700 years of dormancy were broken in about 1480, when large amounts of pale gray dacite pumice and ash started to erupt, beginning the Kalama period. The 1480 eruption was several times larger than that of May 18, 1980. In 1482, another large eruption rivaling the 1980 eruption in volume is known to have occurred. Ash and pumice piled 6 mi northeast of the volcano to a thickness of 3 ft; 50 mi away, the ash was 2 in deep. Large pyroclastic flows and mudflows subsequently rushed down St. Helens' west flanks and into the Kalama River drainage system.

This 150-year period next saw the eruption of less silica-rich lava in the form of andesitic ash that formed at least eight alternating light- and dark-colored layers. Blocky andesite lava then flowed from St. Helens' summit crater down the volcano's southeast flank. Later, pyroclastic flows raced down over the andesite lava and into the Kalama River valley. It ended with the emplacement of a dacite dome several hundred feet (~200 m) high at the volcano's summit, which filled and overtopped an explosion crater already at the summit. Large parts of the dome's sides broke away and mantled parts of the volcano's cone with talus. Lateral explosions excavated a notch in the southeast crater wall. St. Helens reached its greatest height and achieved its highly symmetrical form by the time the Kalama eruptive cycle ended, in about 1647. The volcano remained quiet for the next 150 years.

The 57-year eruptive period that started in 1800 was named after the Goat Rocks dome and is the first period for which both oral and written records exist. As with the Kalama period, the Goat Rocks period started with an explosion of dacite tephra, followed by an andesite lava flow, and culminated with the emplacement of a dacite dome. The 1800 eruption probably rivaled the 1980 eruption in size, although it did not result in massive destruction of the cone. The ash drifted northeast over central and eastern Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana. There were at least a dozen reported small eruptions of ash from 1831 to 1857, including a fairly large one in 1842. (The 1831 eruption is likely what tinted the sun bluish-green in Southampton County, Virginia on the afternoon of August 13—which Nat Turner interpreted as a final signal to launch the United States' largest slave rebellion. ) The vent was apparently at or near Goat Rocks on the northeast flank. Goat Rocks dome was near the site of the bulge in the 1980 eruption, and it was obliterated in the major eruption event on May 18, 1980, that destroyed the entire north face and top 1300 ft of the mountain.

1980 to 2001 activity
On March 20, 1980, Mount St. Helens experienced a magnitude 4.2 earthquake, and on March 27, steam venting started. By the end of April, the north side of the mountain had started to bulge. On May 18, a second earthquake, of magnitude 5.1, triggered a massive collapse of the north face of the mountain. It was the largest known debris avalanche in recorded history. The magma in St. Helens burst forth into a large-scale pyroclastic flow that flattened vegetation and buildings over an area of 230 sqmi. More than 1.5 million metric tons of sulfur dioxide were released into the atmosphere. On the Volcanic Explosivity Index scale, the eruption was rated a 5, and categorized as a Plinian eruption.

The collapse of the northern flank of St. Helens mixed with ice, snow, and water to create lahars (volcanic mudflows). The lahars flowed many miles down the Toutle and Cowlitz Rivers, destroying bridges and lumber camps. A total of 3900000 yd3 of material was transported 17 mi south into the Columbia River by the mudflows.

For more than nine hours, a vigorous plume of ash erupted, eventually reaching 12 to 16 mi above sea level. The plume moved eastward at an average speed of 60 mph with ash reaching Idaho by noon. Ashes from the eruption were found on top of cars and roofs the next morning as far away as Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

By about 5:30 p.m. on May 18, the vertical ash column declined in stature, and less-severe outbursts continued through the night and for the next several days. The St. Helens May 18 eruption released 24 megatons of thermal energy and ejected more than 0.67 mi3 of material. The removal of the north side of the mountain reduced St. Helens' height by about 1300 ft and left a crater 1.2 to 1.8 mi wide and 2,084 ft deep, with its north end open in a huge breach. The eruption killed 57 people, nearly 7,000 big-game animals (deer, elk, and bear), and an estimated 12 million fish from a hatchery. It destroyed or extensively damaged more than 200 homes, 185 mi of highway, and 15 mi of railways.

Between 1980 and 1986, activity continued at Mount St. Helens, with a new lava dome forming in the crater. Numerous small explosions and dome-building eruptions occurred. From December 7, 1989, to January 6, 1990, and from November 5, 1990, to February 14, 1991, the mountain erupted, sometimes huge clouds of ash.

2004 to 2008 activity
Magma reached the surface of the volcano about October 11, 2004, resulting in the building of a new lava dome on the existing dome's south side. This new dome continued to grow throughout 2005 and into 2006. Several transient features were observed, such as a lava spine nicknamed the "whaleback", which comprised long shafts of solidified magma being extruded by the pressure of magma beneath. These features were fragile and broke down soon after they were formed. On July 2, 2005, the tip of the whaleback broke off, causing a rockfall that sent ash and dust several hundred meters into the air.

Mount St. Helens showed significant activity on March 8, 2005, when a 36000 ft plume of steam and ash emerged—visible from Seattle. This relatively minor eruption was a release of pressure consistent with ongoing dome building. The release was accompanied by a magnitude 2.5 earthquake.

Another feature to emerge from the dome was called the "fin" or "slab". Approximately half the size of a football field, the large, cooled volcanic rock was being forced upward as quickly as 6 ft per day. In mid-June 2006, the slab was crumbling in frequent rockfalls, although it was still being extruded. The height of the dome was 7550 ft, still below the height reached in July 2005 when the whaleback collapsed.

On October 22, 2006, at 3:13 p.m. PST, a magnitude 3.5 earthquake broke loose Spine 7. The collapse and avalanche of the lava dome sent an ash plume 2000 ft over the western rim of the crater; the ash plume then rapidly dissipated.

On December 19, 2006, a large white plume of condensing steam was observed, leading some media people to assume there had been a small eruption. However, the Cascades Volcano Observatory of the USGS did not mention any significant ash plume. The volcano was in continuous eruption from October 2004, but this eruption consisted in large part of a gradual extrusion of lava forming a dome in the crater.

On January 16, 2008, steam began seeping from a fracture on top of the lava dome. Associated seismic activity was the most noteworthy since 2004. Scientists suspended activities in the crater and the mountain flanks, but the risk of a major eruption was deemed low. By the end of January, the eruption paused; no more lava was being extruded from the lava dome. On July 10, 2008, it was determined that the eruption had ended, after more than six months of no volcanic activity.

Future hazards
Future eruptions of Mount St. Helens will likely be even larger than the 1980 eruption. The current configuration of lava domes in the crater means that much more pressure will be required for the next eruption, and hence the level of destruction will be higher. Significant ashfall may spread over 40000 mi2, disrupting transportation. A large lahar flow is likely on branches of the Toutle River, possibly causing destruction in inhabited areas along the I-5 corridor.

Ecology
In its undisturbed state, the slopes of Mount St. Helens lie in the Western Cascades Montane Highlands ecoregion. This ecoregion has abundant precipitation; an average of 2373 mm of precipitation falls each year at Spirit Lake. This precipitation supported dense forest up to 1600 m, with western hemlock, Douglas fir, and western redcedar. Above this, this forest was dominated by Pacific silver fir up to 1300 m. Finally, below treeline, the forest consisted of mountain hemlock, Pacific silver fir and Alaska yellow cedar. Large mammals included Roosevelt elk, black-tailed deer, American black bear, and mountain lion.

The treeline at Mount St. Helens was unusually low, at about 1340 m, the result of prior volcanic disturbance of the forest, as the treeline was thought to be moving up the slopes before the eruption. Alpine meadows were uncommon at Mount St. Helens. Mountain goats inhabited higher elevations of the peak, although their population was eliminated by the 1980 eruption.

Ecological disturbance caused by eruption
The eruption of Mount St. Helens has been subject to more ecological study than has any other eruption, because research into disturbance commenced immediately after the eruption and because the eruption did not sterilize the immediate area. More than half of the papers on ecological response to volcanic eruption originated from studies of Mount St. Helens.

Perhaps the most important ecological concept originating from the study of Mount St. Helens is the biological legacy. Biological legacies are the survivors of catastrophic disturbance; they can either be alive (e.g., plants that survive ashfall or pyroclastic flow), organic debris, or biotic patterns remaining from before the disturbance. These biological legacies highly influence the reestablishment of the post-disturbance ecology.

Some species from each trophic level survived the 1980 eruption, which allowed for relatively quick re-establishment of food webs. Larger species saw greater mortality rates, with each of the area's large mammals — mountain goats, elk, deer, black bear and cougars — completely decimated. Eventually, each of the larger mammals migrated back into the area. Without access to adequate forage, many elk starved to death in the winters in the following decades. By 2014, the mountain goat population had grown back to 65 members. In 2015, there were 152. Mountain goats are culturally significant to the Cowlitz Tribe, whose members historically harvested shed tufts of goat wool left behind on the mountain, and the tribe has played a role in monitoring the population, which continues to recover without human intervention.

Importance to indigenous tribes
Native American lore contains numerous stories to explain the eruptions of Mount St. Helens and other Cascade volcanoes. The best known of these is the Bridge of the Gods story told by the Klickitat people.

In the story, the chief of all the gods and his two sons, Pahto (also called Klickitat) and Wy'east, traveled down the Columbia River from the Far North in search for a suitable area to settle.

They came upon an area that is now called The Dalles and thought they had never seen a land so beautiful. The sons quarreled over the land, so to solve the dispute their father shot two arrows from his mighty bow – one to the north and the other to the south. Pahto followed the arrow to the north and settled there while Wy'east did the same for the arrow to the south. The chief of the gods then built the Bridge of the Gods, so his family could meet periodically.

When the two sons of the chief of the gods fell in love with a beautiful maiden named Loowit, she could not choose between them. The two young chiefs fought over her, burying villages and forests in the process. The area was devastated and the earth shook so violently that the huge bridge fell into the river, creating the cascades of the Columbia River Gorge.

For punishment, the chief of the gods struck down each of the lovers and transformed them into great mountains where they fell. Wy'east, with his head lifted in pride, became the volcano known today as Mount Hood. Pahto, with his head bent toward his fallen love, was turned into Mount Adams. The beautiful Loowit became Mount St. Helens, known to the Klickitats as Louwala-Clough, which means "smoking or fire mountain" in their language (the Sahaptin call the mountain Loowit).

The mountain is also of sacred importance to the Cowlitz and Yakama tribes that also live in the area. They find the area above its tree line to be of exceptional spiritual significance, and the mountain (which they call "Lawetlat'la", roughly translated as "the smoker") features prominently in their creation story, and in some of their songs and rituals. In recognition of its cultural significance, over 12000 acre of the mountain (roughly bounded by the Loowit Trail) have been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Other area tribal names for the mountain include "nšh'ák'w" ("water coming out") from the Upper Chehalis, and "aka akn" ("snow mountain"), a Kiksht term.

Exploration by Europeans
Royal Navy Commander George Vancouver and the officers of HMS Discovery made the Europeans' first recorded sighting of Mount St. Helens on 19 May 1792, while surveying the northern Pacific Ocean coast. Vancouver named the mountain for British diplomat Alleyne Fitzherbert, 1st Baron St Helens on 20 October 1792, as it came into view when the Discovery passed into the mouth of the Columbia River.

Years later, explorers, traders, and missionaries heard reports of an erupting volcano in the area. Geologists and historians determined much later that the eruption took place in 1800, marking the beginning of the 57 year-long Goat Rocks Eruptive Period (see geology section). Alarmed by the "dry snow", the Nespelem tribe of northeastern Washington supposedly danced and prayed rather than collecting food and suffered during that winter from starvation.

In late 1805 and early 1806, members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition spotted Mount St. Helens from the Columbia River but did not report either an ongoing eruption or recent evidence of one. They did however report the presence of quicksand and clogged channel conditions at the mouth of the Sandy River near Portland, suggesting an eruption by Mount Hood sometime in the previous decades.

In 1829, Hall J. Kelley led a campaign to rename the Cascade Range as the President's Range and also to rename each major Cascade mountain after a former President of the United States. In his scheme Mount St. Helens was to be renamed Mount Washington.

European colonization and use of the area

The first authenticated non-Indigenous eyewitness report of a volcanic eruption was made in March 1835 by Meredith Gairdner, while working for the Hudson's Bay Company stationed at Fort Vancouver. He sent an account to the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, which published his letter in January 1836. James Dwight Dana of Yale University, while sailing with the United States Exploring Expedition, saw the quiescent peak from off the mouth of the Columbia River in 1841. Another member of the expedition later described "cellular basaltic lavas" at the mountain's base.

In the late fall or early winter of 1842, nearby European settlers and missionaries witnessed the so-called Great Eruption. This small-volume outburst created large ash clouds, and mild explosions followed for 15 years. The eruptions of this period were likely phreatic (steam explosions). Josiah Parrish in Champoeg, Oregon witnessed Mount St. Helens in eruption on 22 November 1842. Ash from this eruption may have reached The Dalles, Oregon, 48 mi southeast of the volcano.

In October 1843, future California governor Peter H. Burnett recounted a very likely apocryphal story of an Indigenous man who badly burned his foot and leg in lava or hot ash while hunting for deer. The story went that the injured man sought treatment at Fort Vancouver, but the contemporary fort commissary steward, Napoleon McGilvery, disclaimed knowledge of the incident. British lieutenant Henry J. Warre sketched the eruption in 1845, and two years later Canadian painter Paul Kane created watercolors of the gently smoking mountain. Warre's work showed erupting material from a vent about a third of the way down from the summit on the mountain's west or northwest side (possibly at Goat Rocks), and one of Kane's field sketches shows smoke emanating from about the same location.

On April 17, 1857, the Republican, a Steilacoom, Washington, newspaper, reported that "Mount St. Helens, or some other mount to the southward, is seen ... to be in a state of eruption". The lack of a significant ash layer associated with this event indicates that it was a small eruption. This was the first reported volcanic activity since 1854.

Before the 1980 eruption, Spirit Lake offered year-round recreational activities. In the summer there was boating, swimming, and camping, while in the winter there was skiing.

Human impact from the 1980 eruption

Fifty-seven people were killed during the eruption. Had the eruption occurred one day later, when loggers would have been at work, rather than on a Sunday, the death toll could have been much higher.

Eighty-three-year-old Harry R. Truman, who ran the Spirit Lake Lodge and had lived near the mountain since 1929, gained much media attention when he decided not to evacuate before the impending eruption, despite repeated pleas by local authorities. His body was never found after the eruption.

Another victim of the eruption was 30-year-old volcanologist David A. Johnston, who was stationed on the nearby Coldwater Ridge. Moments before his position was hit by the pyroclastic flow, Johnston radioed his last words: "Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!" Johnston's body was never found.

U.S. President Jimmy Carter surveyed the damage and said, "Someone said this area looked like a moonscape. But the moon looks more like a golf course compared to what's up there." A film crew, led by Seattle filmmaker Otto Seiber, was dropped by helicopter on St. Helens on May 23 to document the destruction. Their compasses, however, spun in circles and they quickly became lost. A second eruption occurred on May 25, but the crew survived and was rescued two days later by National Guard helicopter pilots. Their film,  The Eruption of Mount St. Helens!, later became a popular documentary.

The eruption had negative effects beyond the immediate area of the volcano. Ashfall caused approximately $100 million of damage to agriculture downwind in Eastern Washington, equivalent to $ in.

The eruption also had positive impacts on society. Apple and wheat production were higher in the 1980 growing season, possibly due to ash helping to retain moisture in the soil. The ash was also a source of income: it was the raw material for the artificial gemstone helenite, or for ceramic glazes, or sold as a tourist curio.

Protection and later history
In 1982, President Ronald Reagan and the U.S. Congress established the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, a 110000 acre area around the mountain and within the Gifford Pinchot National Forest.

Following the 1980 eruption, the area was left to gradually return to its natural state. In 1987, the U.S. Forest Service reopened the mountain to climbing. It remained open until 2004 when renewed activity caused the closure of the area around the mountain (see Geological history section above for more details). The Monitor Ridge trail, which previously let up to 100 permitted hikers per day climb to the summit, ceased operation. On July 21, 2006, the mountain was again opened to climbers. In February 2010, a climber died after falling from the rim into the crater.

Due to the eruption, the state recognizes the month of May as "Volcano Awareness Month" and events are held at Mt. St. Helens, or within the region, to discuss the eruption, safety concerns, and to commemorate lives lost during the natural disaster.

On May 14, 2023, a mudslide and debris flow given the moniker, South Coldwater Slide by the U.S. Forest Service, destroyed the 85 ft Spirit Lake Outlet Bridge on Washington State Route 504 and cut off access to the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Closures and access to Coldwater Lake and hiking trails would vary in the month after the slide.

Climbing and recreation
Mount St. Helens is a common climbing destination for both beginning and experienced mountaineers. The peak is climbed year-round, although it is more often climbed from late spring through early fall. All routes include sections of steep, rugged terrain. A permit system has been in place for climbers since 1987. A climbing permit is required year-round for anyone who will be above 4800 ft on the slopes of Mount St. Helens.

The standard hiking/mountaineering route in the warmer months is the Monitor Ridge Route, which starts at the Climbers Bivouac. This is the most crowded route to the summit in the summer and gains about 4600 ft in approximately 5 mi to reach the crater rim. Although strenuous, it is considered a non-technical climb that involves some scrambling. Most climbers complete the round trip in 7 to 12 hours.

The Worm Flows Route is considered the standard winter route on Mount St. Helens, as it is the most direct route to the summit. The route gains about 5700 ft in elevation over about 6 mi from trailhead to summit but does not demand the technical climbing that some other Cascade peaks like Mount Rainier do. The route name refers to the rocky lava flows that surround the route. This route can be accessed via the Marble Mountain Sno-Park and the Swift Ski Trail.

The mountain is now circled by the Loowit Trail at elevations of 4000 –. The northern segment of the trail from the South Fork Toutle River on the west to Windy Pass on the east is a restricted zone where camping, biking, pets, fires, and off-trail excursions are all prohibited.

On April 14, 2008, John Slemp, a snowmobiler from Damascus, Oregon, fell 1,500 feet into the crater after a snow cornice gave way beneath him on a trip to the volcano with his son. Despite his long fall, Slemp survived with minor injuries, and was able to walk after coming to a stop at the foot of the crater wall, where he was rescued by a mountain rescue helicopter.

A visitor center run by the Washington State Parks is in Silver Lake, Washington, about 30 mi west of Mount St. Helens. Exhibits include a large model of the volcano, a seismograph, a theater program, and an outdoor natural trail.

title: Mount St. Helens


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 * ESP Guitars, a manufacturer of electric guitars
 * ESP-Disk, a 1960s free-jazz record label based in New York
 * The Electric Soft Parade, a British band formed in 2001
 * Eric Singer Project, a side project founded in the 1990s by musician Eric Singer
 * E.S. Posthumus, an independent music group formed in 2000, that produces cinematic style music
 * ESP, a collaboration between Space Tribe and other artists

Television

 * E.S.P. (TV series), a horror Philippine drama by GMA Network
 * "E.S.P." (UFO), an episode of the British science fiction television series UFO
 * "ESP". An episode of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist

Business

 * Easy Software Products, a software-development company, originator of the Common UNIX Printing System (CUPS)
 * Email service provider, a specialist organisation that offers bulk email marketing services
 * Entertainment Software Publishing, a Japanese video-game publisher

Mathematics and computing

 * EFI system partition, a partition used by machines that adhere to the Extensible Firmware Interface
 * 'Elder Scrolls plugin', the .ESP file-format used in computer games such as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
 * Email service provider (marketing), an organization offering e-mail services
 * Encapsulating Security Payload, an encryption protocol within the IPsec suite
 * Equally spaced polynomial
 * ESP game, an online human computation game
 * ESP register (Extended Stack Pointer register), in Intel IA-32 (x86/32-bit) assembler
 * Euclidean shortest path, the problem of finding a route between two points while avoiding obstacles
 * Event stream processing, technology that acts on data streams
 * Psychology of programming, sometimes referred to as 'empirical study of programming'
 * ESP32, a series of low-cost wireless-enabled microcontrollers

Spain and Spanish

 * 3-letter code for Spain in ISO 3166-1 alpha-3
 * Spanish language (Español), non-ISO language code
 * Spanish peseta, the ISO 4217 code for the former currency of Spain

Technology

 * Electrical submersible pump, a pump designed to work submerged in fluid
 * Electron spin trapping, a scientific technique
 * Electronic skip protection, in portable CD players
 * Electronic stability program, a computer device used in cars to improve traction
 * Electrostatic precipitator, a device that removes particles from a flowing gas
 * Enterprise simulation platform, or Prepar3D, a Lockheed-Martin commercial version of Flight Simulator X SP2
 * External static pressure, the air pressure faced by a fan blowing into an air duct
 * External stowage platform, a type of cargo platform used on the International Space Station

Other uses

 * Eastern State Penitentiary, a museum in Philadelphia, former prison
 * Effective Sensory Projection, a term used in the Silva self-help method
 * Empire State Plaza in Albany, New York
 * Empire State Pullers, a New York tractor pulling circuit
 * English for specific purposes, a subset of English language learning and teaching
 * European Skeptics Podcast (TheESP), a weekly podcast representing several European skeptic organisations in Europe
 * Executive Success Programs, personal development courses offered by the NXIVM cult
 * Extra-solar planet, a planet located outside the Solar System
 * Ezilenlerin Sosyalist Partisi, a Turkish political party
 * Extracellular polymeric substance, produced by bacteria for aggregation and gliding mobility

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: ESP


text:
Mobile magazine explosion

On May 25, 1865, in Mobile, Alabama, in the Southern United States, an ordnance depot or "magazine" exploded, killing some 300 persons. This event occurred just before the end of the American Civil War, during the occupation of the city by Federal troops.

The depot was a warehouse on Beauregard Street, where the troops had stacked some 200 tons of shells and powder. Some time in the afternoon of May 25, a cloud of black smoke rose into the air and the ground began to rumble. Flames shot up into the sky and bursting shells were heard throughout the city. In the nearby Mobile River, two ships sank, and a man standing on a wharf was blown into the river. Several houses collapsed from the concussion.

A reporter for The Mobile Morning News newspaper described "bursting shells, flying timbers, bales of cotton, horses, men, women, and children co-mingled and mangled into one immense mass". He continued: "The heart stood still, and the stoutest cheek paled as this rain of death fell from the sky and crash after crash foretold a more fearful fate yet impending ... old and young, soldier and citizen vied with each other in deeds of daring to rescue the crumbled and imprisoned."

On the heels of the explosion came fires, which burned until the entire northern part of Mobile lay in smoking ruins. A huge hole where the warehouse once stood remained for many years, a reminder of the disaster.

The exact cause of the magazine explosion was never determined. Some northern newspapers tried to pin the blame on an imagined gang of unreconstructed Confederate officers. Most people, though, accepted that it was the result of simple carelessness on the part of workers handling wheelbarrows full of live ammunition.

title: Mobile magazine explosion


text:
Talk:Mobile magazine explosion

The Mobile magazine explosion was one of the great disasters of U.S. history. I've always been a bit perplexed that it is rarely mentioned in history texts, and even on the Web there is a dearth of information about it. I suppose that because it came at the tail-end of the bloody Civil War, a few more hundred deaths just didn't seem to amount to much worth talking about. But, like the explosion of the steamboat Sultana around the same period, it was a disaster roughly comparable to the World Trade Center attack of September 11, 2001, at least in terms of the horror.

title: Talk:Mobile magazine explosion


text:
User:GayCommunist

Into free software, astrophysics, history etc. I've decided to work a bit on the various Tolkien articles here. Yes, I know, real subjects would be more useful to Wikipedia, but the existing Tolkien articles were just so pathetic.

Welcome to Wikipedia! Most of the Tolkien fans around here have been busy in other areas. ;-) Your help is appreciated. --Stephen Gilbert

Cool, love the in-your-face handle. Welcome to the the 'pedia. User:maveric149

I haven't seen you around in awhile, how have you been? --KQ

Yes, welcome back.You've had a long Wikipedia-vacation... --Stephen Gilbert

 * Hi you guys! I was kind of put off by the slow Phase II software, by the subdomain problems (especially for Tolkien stuff), and by some (IMO) politically tainted articles. But now, with Phase III, Ed Poor's work, and a few turns of the NPOV screw, my inspiration has returned. :) --GayCom

Welcome back! I'm glad to see you have returned. --mav

Okay... I know what you mean about pathetic articles, etc. Before I wrote it, there was not even an article on pinball! --User:Juuitchan

Hi - search for Second Age Theatre Company brings up your Second Age site - company is known as Second Age so might get confusing for those searching - the theatre company is named after the seven ages of man speech in As You Like It rather than Tolkien - what would you recommend?Maevenicsam 12:22, 15 May 2007 (UTC)]]

--

Greetings! Might I invite you to add yourself to the nascent list of Queer Wikipedians? - montréalais

 * Okay, so I'm not really gay. But I am communist. :) -- GayCom

title: User:GayCommunist


text:
County

A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French  denoting a jurisdiction under the sovereignty of a count (earl) or a viscount. Literal equivalents in other languages, derived from the equivalent of "count", are now seldom used officially, including, contea, contado, comtat, condado, Grafschaft, graafschap, and zhupa in Slavic languages; terms equivalent to 'commune' or 'community' are now often instead used.

When the Normans conquered England, they brought the term with them. The Saxons had already established the districts that became the historic counties of England, calling them shires; many county names derive from the name of the county town (county seat) with the word shire added on: for example, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire. The Anglo-Saxon terms earl and earldom were taken as equivalent to the continental terms "count" and "county" under the conquering Normans, and over time the two blended and became equivalent. Further, the later-imported term became a synonym for the native Old English word  or, in Modern English, shire – an equivalent administrative division of the kingdom. The term "county" evolved, consequently, to designate a level of local administration that was immediately beneath a national government, within a unitary (non-federal) system of government. County later also became used differently in some federal systems of government, for a local administrative division subordinate to a primary subnational entity, such as a Province (e.g. Canada) or a level 3 territorial unit such as NUTS 3. In the United States and Canada, founded 600 years later on the British traditions, counties are usually an administrative division set by convenient geographical demarcations, which in governance have certain officeholders (for example sheriffs and their departments) as a part of the state's and province's mechanisms, including geographically common court systems.

A county may be further subdivided into districts, hundreds, townships, or other administrative jurisdictions within the county. A county usually, but not always, contains cities, towns, townships, villages, or other municipal corporations, which in most cases are somewhat subordinate or dependent upon county governments. Depending on the nation, municipality, and local geography, municipalities may or may not be subject to direct or indirect county control. The functions of both levels are often consolidated into a city government when the area is densely populated, and are generally not when it is less densely populated.

Outside English-speaking countries, an equivalent of the term county is often used to describe subnational jurisdictions that are structurally equivalent to counties in the relationship they have with their national government; but which may not be administratively equivalent to counties in predominantly English-speaking countries.

Kenya
Counties are the current second-level political division in Kenya. Each county has an assembly where members of the county assembly (MCAs) sit. This assembly is headed by a governor. Each county is also represented in the Senate of Kenya by a senator. Additionally, a women's representative is elected from each county to the Parliament of Kenya to represent women's interests. Counties replaced provinces as the second-level division after the promulgation of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya.

Liberia
Liberia has 15 counties, each of which elects two senators to the Senate of Liberia.

China
The English word county is used to translate the Chinese term xiàn ( or ). In Mainland China, governed by the People's Republic of China (PRC), counties and county-level divisions are the third level of regional/local government, coming under the provincial level and the prefectural level, and above the township level and village level.

There are 1,464 so-named "counties" out of 2,862 county-level divisions in the PRC, and the number of counties has remained more or less constant since the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). It remains one of the oldest titles of local-level government in China and significantly predates the establishment of provinces in the Yuan dynasty (1279–1368). The county government was particularly important in imperial China because this was the lowest level at which the imperial government is functionally involved, while below it the local people are managed predominantly by the gentries. The head of a county government during imperial China was the magistrate, who was often a newly ascended jinshi.

In older context, district was an older English translation of xiàn before the establishment of the Republic of China (ROC). The English nomenclature county was adopted following the establishment of the ROC. In addition, provincial cities have the same level of authority as counties. Above county, there are special municipalities (in effect) and province (suspended due to economical and political reasons). There are currently 13 counties in the ROC-controlled territories.

During most of the imperial era, there were no concepts like municipalities in China. All cities existed within counties, commanderies, prefectures, etc., and had no governments of their own. Large cities (must be imperial capitals or seats of prefectures) could be divided and administered by two or three counties. Such counties are called 倚郭縣 (yǐguō xiàn, 'county leaning on the city walls') or 附郭縣 (fùguō xiàn, 'county attached to the city walls'). The yamen or governmental houses of these counties exist in the same city. In other words, they share one county town. In this sense, a yǐguō xiàn or fùguō xiàn is similar to a district of a city.

For example, the city of Guangzhou (seat of the eponymous prefecture, also known as Canton in the Western world) was historically divided by Nanhai County (南海縣) and Panyu County (番禺縣). When the first modern city government in China was established in Guangzhou, the urban area was separated from these two counties, with the rural areas left in the remaining parts of them. However, the county governments remained in the city for years, before moving into the respective counties. Similar processes happened in many Chinese cities.

Nowadays, most counties in mainland China, i.e. with "Xian" in their titles, are administered by prefecture-level cities and have mainly agricultural economies and rural populations.

Iran

The ostans (provinces) of Iran are further subdivided into counties called shahrestān. County consists of a city centre, a few bakhsh, and many villages around them. There are usually a few cities (, shahar) and rural agglomerations (, dehestān) in each county. Rural agglomerations are a collection of a number of villages. One of the cities of the county is appointed as the capital of the county.

Each shahrestān has a government office known as farmândâri (فرمانداری), which coordinates different events and government offices. The farmândâr فرماندار, or the head of farmândâri, is the governor of the shahrestān.

Fars Province has the highest number of shahrestāns, with 36, while Qom uniquely has one, being coextensive with its namesake county. Iran had 324 shahrestāns in 2005 and 443 in 2021.

Korea
County is the common English translation for the character 군 (gun or kun) that denotes the current second level political division in South Korea. In North Korea, the county is one type of municipal-level division.

Denmark
Denmark was divided into counties (amter) from 1662 to 2006. On 1 January 2007 the counties were replaced by five Regions. At the same time, the number of municipalities was slashed to 98.

The counties were first introduced in 1662, replacing the 49 fiefs (len) in Denmark–Norway with the same number of counties. This number does not include the subdivisions of the Duchy of Schleswig, which was only under partial Danish control. The number of counties in Denmark (excluding Norway) had dropped to around 20 by 1793. Following the reunification of South Jutland with Denmark in 1920, four counties replaced the Prussian Kreise. Aabenraa and Sønderborg County merged in 1932 and Skanderborg and Aarhus were separated in 1942. From 1942 to 1970, the number stayed at 22. The number was further decreased by the 1970 Danish municipal reform, leaving 14 counties plus two cities unconnected to the county structure; Copenhagen and Frederiksberg.

In 2003, Bornholm County merged with the local five municipalities, forming the Bornholm Regional Municipality. The remaining 13 counties were abolished on 1 January 2007 where they were replaced by five new regions. In the same reform, the number of municipalities was slashed from 270 to 98 and all municipalities now belong to a region.

France

A comté was a territory ruled by a count (comte) in medieval France. In modern France, the rough equivalent of a county as used in many English-speaking countries is a department (département). Ninety-six departments are in metropolitan France, and five are overseas departments, which are also classified as overseas regions. Departments are further subdivided into 334 arrondissements, but these have no autonomy; they are the basis of local organisation of police, fire departments and, sometimes, administration of elections.

Germany

Each administrative district consists of an elected council and an executive, and whose duties are comparable to those of a county executive in the United States, supervising local government administration. Historically, counties in the Holy Roman Empire were called Grafschaften. The majority of German districts are "rural districts" (German: Landkreise), of which there are 294. Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants (and smaller towns in some states) do not usually belong to a district, but take on district responsibilities themselves, similar to the concept of independent cities and there are 107 of them, bringing the total number of districts to 401.

Hungary
The administrative unit of Hungary is called vármegye (between 1950 and 2022 they were called megye, historically also comitatus in Latin), which can be translated with the word county. The two names are used interchangeably ('megye' used in common parlance, and when referring to the counties of other states), just like before 1950, when the word 'megye' even appeared in legal texts. The 19 counties constitute the highest level of the administrative subdivisions of the country together with the capital city Budapest, although counties and the capital are grouped into seven statistical regions.

Counties are subdivided into districts (járás) and municipalities, the two types of which are towns (város) and villages (község), each one having their own elected mayor and council. 23 of the towns have the rights of a county although they do not form independent territorial units equal to counties.

The vármegye was also the historic administrative unit in the Kingdom of Hungary, which included areas of present-day neighbouring countries of Hungary. Its Latin name (comitatus) is the equivalent of the French comté. Actual political and administrative role of counties changed much through history. Originally they were subdivisions of the royal administration, but from the 13th century they became self-governments of the nobles and kept this character until the 19th century when in turn they became modern local governments.

Ireland

The island of Ireland was historically divided into 32 counties, of which 26 later formed the Republic of Ireland and 6 made up Northern Ireland.

These counties are traditionally grouped into four provinces: Leinster (12 counties), Munster (6), Connacht (5) and Ulster (9). Historically, the counties of Meath and Westmeath and small parts of surrounding counties constituted the province of Mide, which was one of the "Five Fifths" of Ireland (in the Irish language the word for province, cúige, means 'a fifth': from cúig, 'five'); however, these have long since been absorbed into Leinster. In the Republic each county is administered by an elected "county council", and the old provincial divisions are merely traditional names with no political significance.

The number and boundaries of administrative counties in the Republic of Ireland were reformed in the 1990s. For example, County Dublin was divided into three: Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, Fingal, and South Dublin; the City of Dublin had existed for centuries before. The cities of Cork and Galway have been separated from the town and rural areas of their counties. The cities of Limerick and Waterford were merged with their respective counties in 2014. Thus, the Republic of Ireland now has 31 'county-level' authorities, although the borders of the original twenty-six counties are still officially in place.

In Northern Ireland, the six county councils and the smaller town councils were abolished in 1973 and replaced by a single tier of local government. However, in the north as well as in the south, the traditional 32 counties and 4 provinces remain in common usage for many sporting, cultural and other purposes. County identity is heavily reinforced in the local culture by allegiances to county teams in hurling and Gaelic football. Each Gaelic Athletic Association county has its own flag/colours (and often a nickname), and county allegiances are taken quite seriously. See the counties of Ireland and the Gaelic Athletic Association.

Italy
In Italy the word county is not used; the administrative sub-division of a region is called provincia. Italian provinces are mainly named after their principal town and comprise several administrative subdivisions called comuni ('communes'). There are currently 110 provinces in Italy.

In the context of pre-modern Italy, the Italian word contado generally refers to the countryside surrounding, and controlled by, the city state. The contado provided natural resources and agricultural products to sustain the urban population. In contemporary usage, contado can refer to a metropolitan area, and in some cases large rural/suburban regions providing resources to distant cities.

Lithuania
Apskritis (plural apskritys) is the Lithuanian word for county. Since 1994 Lithuania has 10 counties; before 1950 it had 20. The only purpose with the county is an office of a state governor who shall conduct law and order in the county.

Norway
Norway has been divided into 11 counties (fylker, fylke; singular: fylke) since 2020; they previously numbered 19 following a local government reform in 1972. Until that year Bergen was a separate county, but today it is a municipality within the county of Vestland. All counties form administrative entities called county municipalities (fylkeskommuner or fylkeskommunar; singular: fylkeskommune), further subdivided into municipalities (kommuner or kommunar; singular: kommune). One county, Oslo, is not divided into municipalities, rather it is equivalent to the municipality of Oslo.

Each county has its own county council (fylkesting) whose representatives are elected every four years together with representatives to the municipal councils. The counties handle matters such as high schools and local roads, and until 1 January 2002 hospitals as well. This last responsibility was transferred to the state-run health authorities and health trusts, and there is a debate on the future of the county municipality as an administrative entity. Some people, and parties, such as the Conservative and Progress Party, call for the abolition of the county municipalities once and for all, while others, including the Labour Party, merely want to merge some of them into larger regions.

Poland

The territorial administration of Poland since 1999 has been based on three levels of subdivision. The country is divided into voivodeships (provinces); these are further divided into powiats (counties or districts). The term powiat is often translated into English as county (or sometimes district). In historical contexts this may be confusing because the Polish term hrabstwo (a territorial unit administered/owned by a hrabia (count) is also literally translated as "county" and it was subordinated under powiat.

The 380 county-level entities in Poland include 314 "land counties" (powiaty ziemskie) and the 66 "city counties" (miasta na prawach powiatu or powiaty grodzkie) powiat. They are subdivisions of the 16 voivodeship, and are further subdivided into 2,477 gminas (also called commune or municipality).

Romania

The Romanian word for county, comitat, is not currently used for any Romanian administrative divisions. Romania is divided into a total of 41 counties (județe), which along with the municipality of Bucharest, constitute the official administrative divisions of Romania. They represent the country's NUTS-3 (Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics – Level 3) statistical subdivisions within the European Union and each of them serves as the local level of government within its borders. Most counties are named after a major river, while some are named after notable cities within them, such as the county seat.

Sweden
The Swedish division into counties, län, which literally means 'fief', was established in 1634, and was based on an earlier division into provinces; Sweden is divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities (kommuner). At the county level there is a county administrative board led by a governor appointed by the central government of Sweden, as well as an elected county council that handles a separate set of issues, notably hospitals and public transportation for the municipalities within its borders. The counties and their expanse have changed several times, most recently in 1998.

Every county council corresponds to a county with a number of municipalities per county. County councils and municipalities have different roles and separate responsibilities relating to local government. Health care, public transport and certain cultural institutions are administered by county councils while general education, public water utilities, garbage disposal, elderly care and rescue services are administered by the municipalities. Gotland is a special case of being a county council with only one municipality and the functions of county council and municipality are performed by the same organisation.

Ukraine
In Ukraine the county (повіт) was introduced in Ukrainian territories under Poland in the second half of the 14th century, and in the eighteenth century under the Russian Empire in the Cossack Hetmanate, Sloboda Ukraine, Southern Ukraine, and Right-Bank Ukraine. In 1913 there were 126 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited territories of the Russian Empire. Under the Austrian Empire in 1914 there were 59 counties in Ukrainian-inhabited Galicia, 34 in Transcarpathia, and 10 in Bukovina. Counties were retained by the independent Ukrainian People's Republic of 1917–1921, and in Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Romania until the Soviet annexations at the start of World War II. 99 counties formed the Ukrainian SSR in 1919, where they were abolished in 1923–25 in favour of 53 okruhas (in turn replaced by oblasts in 1930–32), although they existed in the Zakarpattia Oblast until 1953.

United Kingdom
The United Kingdom is divided into a number of metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties. There are also ceremonial counties which group small non-metropolitan counties into geographical areas broadly based on the historic counties of England. In 1974, the metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties replaced the system of administrative counties and county boroughs which was introduced in 1889. The counties generally belong to level 3 of the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS 3).

In 1965 and 1974–1975, major reorganisations of local government in England and Wales created several new administrative counties such as Hereford and Worcester (abolished again in 1998 and reverted, with some transfers of territory, to the two separate historic counties of Herefordshire and Worcestershire) and also created several new metropolitan counties based on large urban areas as a single administrative unit. In Scotland, county-level local government was replaced by larger regions, which lasted until 1996. Modern local government in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and a large part of England is trending towards smaller unitary authorities: a system similar to that proposed in the 1960s by the Redcliffe-Maud Report for most of Britain.

The name "county" was introduced by the Normans, and was derived from a Norman term for an area administered by a Count (lord). These Norman "counties" were simply the Saxon shires, and kept their Saxon names. Several traditional counties, including Essex, Sussex and Kent, predate the unification of England by Alfred the Great, and were originally more or less independent kingdoms (although the most important Saxon Kingdom on the island of Britain, Alfred's own Wessex, no longer survives in any form).

England

In England, in the Anglo-Saxon period, shires were established as areas used for the raising of taxes, and usually had a fortified town at their centre. This became known as the shire town or later the county town. In many cases, the shires were named after their shire town (for example Bedfordshire), but there are several exceptions, such as Cumberland, Norfolk and Suffolk. In several other cases, such as Buckinghamshire, the modern county town is different from the town after which the shire is named. (See Toponymical list of counties of the United Kingdom)

Most non-metropolitan counties in England are run by county councils and are divided into non-metropolitan districts, each with its own council. Local authorities in the UK are usually responsible for education, emergency services, planning, transport, social services, and a number of other functions.

Until 1974, the county boundaries of England changed little over time. In the medieval period, a number of important cities were granted the status of counties in their own right, such as London, Bristol and Coventry, and numerous small exclaves such as Islandshire were created. In 1844, most of these exclaves were transferred to their surrounding counties.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the six county councils, if not their counties, were abolished in 1973 and replaced by 26 local government districts. The traditional six counties remain in common everyday use for many cultural and other purposes.

Scotland and Wales

The thirteen historic counties of Wales were fixed by statute in 1539 (although counties such as Pembrokeshire date from 1138) and most of the shires of Scotland are of at least this age. The Welsh word for county is sir which is derived from the English 'shire'. The word is officially used to signify counties in Wales. In the Gaelic form, Scottish traditional county names are generally distinguished by the designation siorramachd—literally "sheriffdom", e.g. Siorramachd Earra-ghaidheal (Argyllshire). This term corresponds to the jurisdiction of the sheriff in the Scottish legal system.

Canada
The provinces of Ontario and Quebec, and formerly Nova Scotia, have a two-tier system of local government in which counties are upper tier municipalities.

Manitoba and Saskatchewan are divided into rural municipalities. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut are divided into regions; however, these regions only serve to streamline the delivery of territorial governmental services, and have no government of their own. Newfoundland and Labrador, and Yukon do not have any second-level administrative subdivision between the provincial/territorial government and their municipalities.

New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island
The counties of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island are historical and have no governments of their own today. However, they remain used as census divisions by Statistics Canada, and by locals as geographic identifiers.

Ontario
The primary administrative division of Southern Ontario is its 22 counties, which are upper-tier local governments providing limited municipal services to rural and moderately dense areas—within them, there are a variety of lower-tier towns, cities, villages, etc. that provide most municipal services. This contrasts with Northern Ontario's 10 districts, which are geographic divisions but not local governments—although some towns, etc. are within them that are local governments, the low population densities and much larger area have significant impacts on how government is organized and operates. In both Northern and Southern Ontario, urban densities in cities are one of two other local structures: regional municipalities (restructured former counties which are also upper tiers) or single-tier municipalities.

Quebec
Quebec's counties are more properly called "Regional County Municipalities" (municipalités régionales de comté). The province's former counties proper were supplanted in the early 1980s.

Alberta
A county in Alberta used to be a type of designation in a single-tier municipal system; but this was nominally changed to "municipal district" under the Municipal Government Act, when the County Act was repealed in the mid-1990s. However, at the time the new "municipal districts" were also permitted to retain the usage of county in their official names.

As a result, in Alberta, the term county is synonymous with the term municipal district – it is not its own incorporated municipal status that is different from that of a municipal district. As such, Alberta Municipal Affairs provides municipal districts with the opportunity to change to a county in their official names, but some have chosen to hold out with the municipal district title. The vast majority of "municipal districts" in Alberta are counties.

British Columbia
British Columbia has counties for the purposes of its justice system but otherwise they hold no governmental function. For the provision of all other governmental services, the province is divided into regional districts that form the upper tier, which are further subdivided into local municipalities that are partly autonomous, and unincorporated electoral areas that are governed directly by the regional districts.

Manitoba
The province of Manitoba was divided into counties; however, these counties were abolished in 1890.

Jamaica
Jamaica is divided into 14 parishes which are grouped together into 3 historic counties: Cornwall, Middlesex, and Surrey.

United States

Counties in U.S. states are administrative or political subdivision of the state in which their boundaries are drawn. In addition, the United States Census Bureau uses the term "county equivalent" to describe places that are comparable to counties, but called by different names. Today, 3,142 counties and county equivalents carve up the United States, ranging in number from 3 for Delaware to 254 for Texas.

Forty-eight of the 50 U.S. states use the term "county", while Alaska and Louisiana use the terms "borough" and "parish", respectively, for analogous jurisdictions. A consolidated city-county such as Philadelphia and San Francisco is formed when a city and county merge into one unified jurisdiction. Conversely, an independent city like Baltimore, St. Louis, and all cities in Virginia legally belongs to no county, i.e. no county even nominally exists in those places compared to a consolidated city-county where a county does legally exist in some form. The District of Columbia, outside the jurisdiction of any state, is viewed by the U.S. Census Bureau as a single county equivalent.

The specific governmental powers of counties vary widely between the states. They are generally the intermediate tier of state government, between the statewide tier and the immediately local government tier (typically a city, town/borough or village/township). Some of the governmental functions that a county may offer include judiciary, county prisons, land registration, enforcement of building codes, and federally mandated services programs. Depending on the individual state, counties or their equivalents may be administratively subdivided into townships, boroughs or boros, or towns (in the New England states, New York and Wisconsin). For independent cities and consolidated city-counties, those places report directly to the state.

New York City is a special case where the city is made up of five boroughs, each of which is territorially coterminous with a county of New York State. In the context of city government, the boroughs are subdivisions of the city but are still called "county" where state function is involved, e.g., "New York County Courthouse".

County governments in Rhode Island and Connecticut have been completely abolished but the entities remain for administrative and statistical purposes. Alaska's 323,440 sqmi Unorganized Borough also has no county equivalent government, but the U.S. Census Bureau further divides it into statistical county equivalent subdivisions called census areas.

The areas of each county also vary widely between the states. For example, the territorially medium-sized state of Pennsylvania has 67 counties delineated in geographically convenient ways. By way of contrast, Massachusetts, with far less territory, has massively sized counties in comparison even to Pennsylvania's largest, yet each organizes their judicial and incarceration officials similarly.

Most counties have a county seat: a city, town, or other named place where its administrative functions are centered. Some New England states use the term shire town to mean "county seat". A handful of counties like Harrison County, Mississippi have two or more county seats, usually located on opposite sides of the county, dating back from the days when travel was difficult. In Virginia, where all cities are independent, some double as county seats despite not being part of a county. Notable examples include the independent City of Fairfax serving as the seat of Fairfax County and Salem serving as the county seat of Roanoke County.

Australia
In the eastern states of Australia, counties are used in the administration of land titles. They do not generally correspond to a level of government, but are used in the identification of parcels of land.

The local communities in Australia that share the same post code are usually referred to as suburbs or localities. Several neighboring suburbs are often serviced by the same local government known as a council, whose jurisdiction is officially known as the local government area (LGA). An LGA functions basically the same way as a county of other countries, although it is called instead as "city", "municipality", "shire", "borough", "town", "district" or simple "councils" depending on the state/territory and subregion. It performs municipal services and regulates permits for land uses, but lacks any legislative or law enforcement powers.

New Zealand
After New Zealand abolished its provinces in 1876, a system of counties similar to other countries' systems was instituted, lasting until 1989. They had chairmen, not mayors as boroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as burial and land subdivision control) were different for the counties.

During the second half of the 20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a district (e.g. Rotorua) or a change of name to either district (e.g. Waimairi) or city (e.g. Manukau City).

The Local Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in the 1989 shake-up, which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the Chatham Islands County, which survived under that name for a further 6 years but then became a "Territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council".

Argentina
Provinces in Argentina are divided into departments (departamentos), except in the Buenos Aires Province, where they are called partidos. The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires is divided into communes (comunas).

Brazil
States in Brazil were divided into microregions (microrregiões) before they were replaced by "immediate geographic regions" in 2017.

title: County


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User:Eean

Contributed some back in beginning, have been working mostly on Wiktionary now.

http://www.monroe.nu

title: User:Eean


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1054

Year 1054 (MLIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar.

Events
East-West schism: the ongoing break of communion between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches.

Byzantine Empire

 * Sultan Tughril leads a large Seljuk army out of Azerbaijan into Armenia, possibly to consolidate his frontier, while providing an incentive to his Turkoman allies in the form of plunder. Tughril divides his army into four columns, ordering three to veer off to the north to raid into central and northern Armenia, while he takes the fourth column towards Lake Van. The Seljuk Turks capture and sack the fortress city of Artchesh, after an 8-day siege.

Europe

 * Battle of Mortemer: The Normans, led by Duke William (the Conqueror), defeat a French army (near Mortemer), as it is caught pillaging and plundering. King Henry I of France withdraws his main army from the Duchy of Normandy as a result. Guy I, Count of Ponthieu, is captured during the course of the battle.

Scotland

 * July 27 – Siward, earl of Northumbria, invades Scotland, to support King Malcolm III against Macbeth, who has usurped the Scottish throne from Malcolm's father, Duncan I. Macbeth is defeated at Dunsinane.

Africa

 * The Almoravids retake the trading center of Aoudaghost from the Ghana Empire. Repeated Almoravid incursions, aimed at seizing control of the trans-Saharan gold trade, disrupt Ghana's dominance of the trade routes.

Asia

 * Lý Nhật Tôn, third king of the Lý Dynasty, begins to rule in Vietnam, and changes the country's official name to Đại Việt.

Astronomy

 * July 4 (approx.) – SN 1054, a supernova, is first observed by the Chinese, Arabs and possibly Native Americans, near the star Zeta Tauri. For 23 days it remains bright enough to be seen in daylight. Its remnants form the Crab Nebula (NGC 1952).

Religion

 * Spring – Pope Leo IX sends a legatine mission, under Cardinal Humbert of Silva Candida, to Constantinople, to negotiate with Patriarch Michael I Cerularius, in response to his actions concerning the church in Constantinople. Leo becomes the first pope directly to invoke the forged Donation of Constantine, citing a large portion in a letter to Michael, believing it genuine.
 * July 16 – East-West Schism: Humbert of Silva Candida, representative of the newly deceased Leo IX, breaks the relations between Western and Eastern Churches, through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal Bull of excommunication during the celebration of the Divine Liturgy.

Births

 * September 2 – Sukjong, ruler of Goryeo (d. 1105)
 * Al-Hariri of Basra, Abbasid poet and scholar (d. 1122)
 * Bohemond I of Antioch, Italo-Norman nobleman (approximate date)
 * George II (Giorgi), king of Georgia (approximate date)
 * Judith of Lens, niece of William the Conqueror (or 1055)
 * Judith of Swabia, queen consort of Hungary (d. 1105)
 * Langri Tangpa, Tibetan Buddhist master (d. 1123)
 * Ramon Berenguer II, Count of Barcelona (or 1053)
 * Tong Guan, Chinese general and adviser (d. 1126)

Deaths

 * February 20 – Yaroslav the Wise, Kievan Rus' grand prince (b. c.978)
 * March 8 – Azelin (Azellinus), bishop of Hildesheim
 * April 19 – Pope Leo IX, German pontiff of the Catholic Church (b. 1002)
 * July 19 – Bernold (Bernulf), bishop of Utrecht
 * August 25 – Fujiwara no Michimasa, Japanese nobleman (b. 992)
 * August 31 – Kunigunde of Altdorf, German noblewoman (b. c.1020)
 * September 1 – Fortún Sánchez, Navarrese nobleman (b. c.992)
 * September 15 – García Sánchez III, king of Pamplona (b. c.1012)
 * September 24 – Hermann of Reichenau, German music theorist (b. 1013)
 * Abu Sahl Zawzani, Persian statesman and chief secretary
 * Atiśa, Tibetan Buddhist leader and master (b. c.980)
 * Cacht ingen Ragnaill, queen consort of Munster
 * Nuño Álvarez de Carazo, Castilian nobleman
 * Osbern Pentecost, Norman knight and nobleman
 * Osgod Clapa (Osgot), Anglo-Saxon nobleman

title: 1054