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Black Hawk
Black Hawk was a Sauk Indian. He was born at the
mouthe of Rock River in Illinois. He became cheif of his
tribe in 1788. Black Hawk had two sons.
In 1804 the Sauk and Fox tribes agreed to to give up
their land and they signed a treaty. Black Hawk did not
agree with this because he said that the chiefs were drunk
with liquor before signing the treety. During the war of
1812 Black Hawk and 500 of his warriors helpaed the British
for a while.
The Black Hawk War started when the British asked the
indians to give up theer land and move west of the
Mississippi River. The Indians lost. By 1830 most of the
Sauk Fox Indians had moved weste of the Mississippi River.
Black Hawk ande his two sons were taken captive during
the war. They were taken to Fortress Monroe until 1833.
Then they were releised, and they jooned the rest of their
tribe on the reservotion near Fort Des Moines. Black Hawk's
surrender marked the end of of Indian held land in Illinois.
Black Hawk died on the reservation near Des Moines on
October 31, 1838. Black Hawk's body was moved to the
Sociaty Building in Burlington, Iowa. His remains were lost
when the building caught fire and burned to the ground.
A fifty foot statue of Black Hawk now stands beside the
Rock River near Oregon, Illinois. It was sculpted by
Lorando Taft.
PAN AMERICAN HIGHWAY
The Pan American Highway is is made up of highways that
start on the U.S.-Mexican border and run through Mexico,
Central America, and end up in Southern Chile. The Pan
American Highway, which consists of major higheways,
alternate routes, and branch roads is 29,000 miles long.
The main highways of the system connect the capitials of
Latin America. The system is linked with U.S. highways at
four major points on the border.
MAJOR ROUTES
The Northern Section of the Highway includes four main
routes that extend Southward from the U.S.-Mexican border
and meet at Mexico City. From there the highway continues
southeastward until it reaches Panama City. The section
that runs between Laredo, Texas and Panama City, Panama, is
commonly known as the the Inter-American Highway. In the
early 1970's the section of the highway between Panama City
and Columbia was still incompleate. But shipping routes
enabled travelors to pass the densely forested region of
eastern Panama and northwestern Columbia. In South America,
alternate routes from coastal cities in Columbia allowed
motorists from Panama who have shipped their cars here to
make connections with the main routes of the highway system.
In Columbia, one of the main routes extends southwarde
through the Andes Mountains roughly paralllel to the Pacific
coast. Another main route extends southward from Caracas,
Venezuela, through Bogota, Columbia, to join the first route
at Murillo, Columbia. Then it continues south through the
Andes Mountain range to Ecuador where it crosses the Equator
and runs into Peru. In Peru the highway forks. One fork
turns eastward towards La Paz, Bolivia. The other continues
southward through the Atacama Desert to Santiago, Chile. At
Santiago turns eastward and heads accross the Andes to
Buenos Aires. Routes of the highway system turn gennerally
north from Buenos Aires into Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia, and
Brazil. In Brazil, a main section of the highway runs
parallel to the the coast as far as Rio de Janeiro where it
turns inland and heads for Brasilia, Brazil. Rio de Janeiro
and southern Brazil are linked with Paraguay by a branch of
the highway.
Highway Conditions and Facilities
Most of the roads and the highways of the Pan-American
highway are surfaced with paving, gravel, or other materials
that are passable at all times of the year. Still, some
sections of the highway are difficult to travel on,
especially in bad weather. Many tourist facillities have
been built along the Mexican portion of the highway. This
has been an important factor in the development of Mexico's
tourist industry. Accommodation and service stations in
Latin America are more widly spread and are often linked to
big cities along the highway.
History
Construction of the highway was first proposed at the
fifth International Conference of American States. In 1925
the Pan American Highway Congress was organized as a
permmanent institution. At first, the highway was to be a
single route. Then in 1929 a plan was adopted that made
Latin American highways into an extensive integruted system.
Construction of the Inter- American Highway was begun in the
1930's. The first compleated section was opened to the
public in 1936.
In WWII the highway was very important for the defense
of the Western Hemisphere. Mostly because of more U.S. help
the rate of construction was increased. Many sections were
completed during and after the war. In the early 1970's,
only the uncompleted sections in Panama and Columbia
remained a major obstacle to direct overland travvel between
the continents of the Western Hemisphere.