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Today's featured article Big Butte Creek is a 12-mile (19 km) long tributary of the Rogue River located in the U.S. state of Oregon. It drains approximately 245 square miles (630 km2) of Jackson County. The north fork of the creek begins on Rustler Peak and the south fork's headwaters are near Mount McLoughlin. They meet near Butte Falls, and Big Butte Creek flows generally northwest until it empties into the Rogue River about 1 mile (1.6 km) southwest of Lost Creek Dam (William L. Jess Dam). Big Butte Creek's watershed was originally settled over 8,000 years ago by the Klamath, Upper Umpqua, and Takelma tribes of Native Americans. In the Rogue River Wars of the 1850s, most of the Native Americans were either killed or forced into Indian reservations. The first non-indigenous settlers arrived in the 1860s, and the area was quickly developed. The creek was named after Snowy Butte, an early name for Mount McLoughlin. In the late 19th century, the watershed was primarily used for agriculture and logging. The small city of Butte Falls was incorporated in 1911. (more...) Recently featured: Hurricane Nate – Vijayanagara Empire – Cartman Gets an Anal Probe Did you know... From Wikipedia's newest content: ... that the development of Danish sculpture was greatly influenced by Jacques Saly, a Frenchman, who designed the statue (pictured) of King Frederick V? ... that Olympic bronze medalist John Russell was a member of the United States' last military delegation to equestrian at the Summer Olympics as well as its first civilian one? ... that in a 1998 case the Singapore Court of Appeal held the Internal Security Act contained no precedent facts as Parliament clearly intended that detention decisions were to be made by the Government? ... that the Archives of American Gardens holds images and records of over 6,350 United States gardens, many of which were collected by the Garden Club of America in the 1920s? ... that Lydd Town F.C. were promoted after winning their league five times in a row? ... that Eugene Eisenmann worked as a lawyer before writing The Species of Middle American Birds for the Linnaean Society of New York? ... that although the title of the postwar satirical journal Ulenspiegel means "owl mirror" in High German, in Low German it means "kiss my behind"?

In the news Mohammed Waheed Hassan (pictured) is sworn in as President of the Maldives following the resignation of Mohamed Nasheed. Queen Elizabeth II, the second-longest reigning British monarch, celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. An earthquake off the coast of Negros Oriental, Philippines, kills 81 people and causes extensive damage. Russian scientists reportedly reach Lake Vostok, a body of water isolated under the Antarctic ice shield, after drilling a borehole 12,362 feet (3,768 m) deep. On this day... February 10: Feast of Saint Paul's Shipwreck in Malta 1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroyed the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina. 1906 – The Royal Navy battleship HMS Dreadnought (pictured) was launched, representing such a marked advance in naval technology that her name came to be associated with an entire generation of battleships. 1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: The Battle of Amba Aradam began and ended nine days later in a decisive tactical victory for Italy and the neutralisation of almost the entire Ethiopian army as a fighting force. 1962 – "Rudolf Abel", a Soviet spy arrested by the FBI, was exchanged for Gary Powers, the pilot of the CIA spy plane that had been shot down over Soviet airspace two years earlier. 2008 – The Namdaemun gate in Seoul, the first of South Korea's National Treasures, was severely damaged by arson. More anniversaries: February 9 – February 10 – February 11 It is now February 10, 2012 (UTC) – Refresh this page

Today's featured picture A male Dendropsophus microcephalus frog, displaying its vocal sac—membranes of skin under the throat or on the corner of the mouth that distend to amplify its call. The species lives in moist areas in most of Central America and northern South America. Photo: Brian Gratwicke Recently featured: Brandenburg an der Havel – Odd-eyed cat – The Wave by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

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