Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/59

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EBIE CANAL 41 ERIVAN principal industries are manufactures of iron, steam engines, machinery, car- wheels, car-work, stoves, engines and boilers, chemicals, blast furnaces, auto- mobiles, flour and grist mill products, brick, leather, organ, pump, furniture, and various kinds of woodwork factories, and petroleum refineries. The leading articles of shipment are lumber, bitu- minous and semi-bituminous coal, iron ore, petroleum, and manufactured prod- ucts, and these are conveyed by rail- roads, steamboats, and sailing vessels that ply regularly between Erie and other ports on the great lakes. Among the notable buildings are the City Hall, Union Depot, Government Building (in- cludes PostofRce, Custom House, and other departments). State Soldiers' and Sailors* Home on Garrison Hill, Hamot Hospital, St. Vincent Hospital, Protes- tant Home for the Friendless, United States Marine Hospital, and Central School. Near the city is a memorial in the form of a block house, erected by the State, in honor of Anthony Wayne. The city has excellent public schools, a public library, daily and weekly news- papers, 3 National and several sav- ings banks. Erie occupies the site of a French fort, called Fort de la Presque, built in 1753, was laid out as a town in 1795; had a portion incorpo- rated as a borough in 1805; and the whole was given a city charter in 1851. It was the headquarters of Commodore Perry in the War of 1812; the fleet with which he defeated the British in the battle of Put-in-Bay was built and equipped here. Natural gas was dis- covered in 1889. Pop. (1910) 66,525; (1920) 93,372. ERIE CANAL, the largest artificial waterway in the United States, serving to connect the great lakes with the sea. It begins at Buffalo on Lake Erie, and extends to the Hudson at Albany. It is 387 miles long; has in all 72 locks; a surface width of 70 feet, bottom width of 42 feet, and depth of 7 feet. It is carried over several large streams on stone aqueducts and was opened in 1825. See New York State Barge Canal. ERIE, LAKE, one of the great chain of North American lakes, between Lakes Huron and Ontario, about 265 miles long, 63% miles broad at its center, from 200 to 270 feet deep at the deepest part; area, 9,600 square miles. The whole of its S. shore is within the terri- tory of the United States, and its N. within that of Canada. It receives the waters of the upper lakes by Detroit river at its S. W. extremity, and dis- charges its waters into Lake Ontario by the Niagara river at its N. E. end. The Welland Canal enables vessels to pass from it to Lake Ontario. It is shallow compared with the other lakes of the series, and is subject to violent storms. The principal harbors are those on the United States side — Buffalo, Erie, Cleve- land, etc. ERIE, LAKE, BATTLE OF. In the War of 1812, between the United States and Great Britain, each party tried to gain possession of Lakes Erie and On- tario as a theater for warlike opera- tions. The chief command of the naval force on Lake Ontario was held by Com- modore Chauncey, and that on Lake Erie by Master-Commandant Oliver Hazard Perry, of Rhode Island, then only 27 years old. Perry fitted out a squadron of seven vessels at Erie, and succeeded in running the British block- ade early in August, 1813. On Sept. 10 following he engaged in a fight in Put- in-Bay, near the W. extremity of the lake, with the British squadron of 6 ves- sels, mounting 63 guns. A fierce battle was waged for several hours, in the early part of which Perry's flagship, the "Lawrence," was completely disabled and struck her flag. He immediately shifted his flag to the "Niagara," and continued in action, finally defeating the British and establishing American su- premacy on the lakes. ERIGENA, JOANNES SCOTXJS (e-rij' e-na), an eminent scholar and meta- physician; probably born in Ireland about 800-810. He spent a great part of his life at the court of Charles the Bald of France, and was placed at the head of the school of the palace. The king further imposed on him the double task of translating into Latin the Greek works of the pseudo Dionysius the Are- opagite, and of composing a treatise against Godeschalc on "Predestination and Free-will." This treatise, and an- other, "Of the Division of Nature," con- tained many views in opposition to the teachings of the Church. They were condemned by the councils of Valencia in 855 and of Langi-es in 859, and Pope Nicholas I. demanded the immediate dis- grace of the culprit. He died in France about 875. ERIN, an old name for Ireland. Now used only in poetry. ERINYES. The Furies, q. v. ERIVAN, a strongly fortified city of Armenia, and the capital of the former Russian government of Transcaucasia, 3,000 feet above sea-level, and 170 miles S. W. of Tiflis. The province of the same name has an area of about 10,700 square miles, formerly bordering on