Sierra Nevada, which provided laser toner and ink jet cartridges, as well as items such as gourmet coffees and all-natural dog treats. Additionally, the Cistercian monks of Our Lady of Dallas monastery run the Cistercian Preparatory School, a Catholic school for boys in Irving, Texas. Cistercian nuns. There are a large number of Cistercian nuns; the first community was founded in the Diocese of Langres in 1125; at the period of their widest extension there are said to have been 900 monasteries, and the communities were very large. In addition to being devoted to contemplation, the nuns in earlier times of 	Cistercians
8943157	the Order did agricultural work in the fields. In Spain and France a number of Cistercian abbesses had extraordinary privileges. Numerous reforms took place among the nuns. One of the best known of Cistercian women's communities was probably the Abbey of Port-Royal, reformed by Mother Marie Angélique Arnauld, and associated with the Jansenist controversy. The nuns have also followed the division into different orders as seen among the monks. Those who follow the Trappist reforms of De Rancé are called Trappistines. Non-Catholic Cistercians. Since 2010 there is also a branch of Anglican Cistercians in England, and in 	Cistercians
8943158	Wales since 2017. This is a dispersed and uncloistered order of single, celibate, and married men officially recognized by the Church of England. The Order enjoys an ecumenical link with the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. There are also Cistercians of the Lutheran church residing in Amelungsborn Abbey and Loccum Abbey. Cistercians The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. They are also known as Bernardines, after the highly influential Bernard of 	Cistercians
8943159	Sierra Nevada Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primarily in Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is part of the American Cordillera, an almost continuous chain of mountain ranges that forms the western backbone" of the Americas. The Sierra runs north-south and its width ranges from to across east–west. Notable features include General Sherman, the largest tree in the world by volume; Lake Tahoe, the largest  alpine lake in North America; Mount Whitney at , the highest point in the contiguous United States; and Yosemite Valley sculpted by glaciers from one-hundred-million-year-old granite, containing high waterfalls. The Sierra is home to three national parks, twenty wilderness areas, and two national monuments. These areas include Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks; and Devils Postpile National Monument. More than one hundred million years ago during the Nevadan orogeny, granite formed deep underground. The range started to uplift less than five million years ago, and erosion by glaciers exposed the granite and formed the light-colored  mountains and cliffs that make up the range. The uplift caused a wide range of elevations and climates in the Sierra Nevada, which are reflected by the presence of five life zones (areas with similar plant and animal communities). Uplift continues due to faulting caused by tectonic forces, creating spectacular fault block escarpments along the eastern edge of the southern Sierra. The Sierra Nevada has played an important role in the history of California and the United States. The California Gold Rush occurred in the western foothills from 1848 through 1855. Due to its inaccessibility, the range was not fully  explored until 1912. Name and etymology. Used in 1542 by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to describe a Pacific Coast Range (Santa Cruz Mountains), the term "Sierra Nevada" was a general identification of less familiar ranges toward the interior. In 1776, Pedro Font's map applied the name to the range currently known as the Sierra Nevada. The literal translation is "snowy mountains", from "sierra" "a range of mountains", 1610s, from Spanish "sierra" "jagged mountain range", lit. "saw", from Latin "serra" "a saw"; and from fem. of Spanish "nevado" "snowy". While many mountain ranges are unanimously referred to in the plural (Smokies , Rockies, Cascades, etc.), since "Sierra" is already pluralized in its native language, some locals who live in "the Sierra" are not hesitant to admonish those who refer to the area as "the Sierras". However, there are historical and literary references that use the plural, such as the 1871 collection of Joaquin Miller poems, "Songs of the Sierras". Geography. The Sierra Nevada lies primarily in central and eastern California, with the Carson Range, a small but historically important spur, extending into Nevada. West-to-east, the Sierra Nevada's elevation increases gradually from in the Central Valley to more than atop  the highest peaks of its crest to the east. The east slope forms the steep Sierra Escarpment. Unlike its surroundings, the range receives a substantial amount of snowfall and precipitation due to orographic lift. Setting. The Sierra Nevada's irregular northern boundary stretches from the Susan River and Fredonyer Pass to the North Fork Feather River. It represents where the granitic bedrock of the Sierra Nevada dives below the southern extent of Cenozoic igneous surface rock from the Cascade Range. It is bounded on the west by California's Central Valley, on the east by the Basin and Range Province , and on the southeast by the Mojave Desert. The southern boundary is at Tehachapi Pass. Physiographically, the Sierra is a section of the Cascade–Sierra Mountains province, which in turn is part of the larger Pacific Mountain System physiographic division. The California Geological Survey states that "the northern Sierra boundary is marked where bedrock disappears under the Cenozoic volcanic cover of the Cascade Range." Watersheds. The range is drained on its western slope by the Central Valley watershed, which discharges into the Pacific Ocean at San Francisco. The northern third of the western Sierra is part of the Sacramento River  watershed (including the Feather, Yuba, and American River tributaries), and the middle third is drained by the San Joaquin River (including the Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced River tributaries). The southern third of the range is drained by the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern rivers, which flow into the endorheic basin of Tulare Lake, which rarely overflows into the San Joaquin during wet years. The eastern slope watershed of the Sierra is much narrower; its rivers flow out into the endorheic Great Basin of eastern California and western Nevada. From north to south, the Susan River flows into intermittent Honey  Lake, the Truckee River flows from Lake Tahoe into Pyramid Lake, the Carson River runs into Carson Sink, the Walker River into Walker Lake; Rush, Lee Vining and Mill Creeks flow into Mono Lake; and the Owens River into dry Owens Lake. Although none of the eastern rivers reach the sea, many of the streams from Mono Lake southwards are diverted into the Los Angeles Aqueduct which provides water to Southern California. Elevation. The height of the mountains in the Sierra Nevada increases gradually from north to south. Between Fredonyer Pass and Lake Tahoe, the peaks range from to more  than . The crest near Lake Tahoe is roughly high, with several peaks approaching the height of Freel Peak (). Farther south, the highest peak in Yosemite National Park is Mount Lyell (). The Sierra rises to almost with Mount Humphreys near Bishop, California. Finally, near Lone Pine, Mount Whitney is at , the highest point in the contiguous United States. South of Mount Whitney, the elevation of the range quickly dwindles. The crest elevation is almost near Lake Isabella, but south of the lake, the peaks reach only a modest . Notable features. There are several notable geographical features in the Sierra Nevada: Communities . Communities in the Sierra Nevada include Paradise, South Lake Tahoe, Truckee, Grass Valley, Mammoth Lakes, Sonora, Nevada City, Placerville, Pollock Pines, Portola, Auburn, Colfax and Kennedy Meadows. Protected areas. Much of the Sierra Nevada consists of federal lands and is either protected from development or strictly managed. The mountain range is home to three National ParksYosemite, Kings Canyon, and Sequoiaand two national monumentsDevils Postpile and Giant Sequoia. Ten national forests span much of the mountain range's remaining area. Within these national parks, monuments, and forests lie 26 wilderness areas, which together protect 15.4% of the Sierra's from logging  and grazing. The United States Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management currently control 52% of the land in the Sierra Nevada. Logging and grazing are generally allowed on land controlled by these agencies, under federal regulations that balance recreation and development on the land. The California Bighorn Sheep Zoological Area near Mount Williamson in the southern Sierra was established to protect the endangered Sierra Nevada bighorn sheep. Starting in 1981, hikers were unable to enter the Area from May 15 through December 15, in order to protect the sheep. As of 2010, the restriction has been lifted and  access to the Area is open for the whole year. Geologic history. The earliest rocks in the Sierra Nevada are metamorphic roof pendants of Paleozoic age, the oldest being metasedimentary rocks from the Cambrian in the Mount Morrison region. These dark-colored hornfels, slates, marbles, and schists are found in the western foothills (notably around Coarsegold, west of the Tehachapi Pass) and east of the Sierra Crest. The earliest granite of the Sierra started to form in the Triassic period. This granite is mostly found east of the crest and north of 37.2°N. In the Triassic and into  the Jurassic, an island arc collided with the west coast of North America and raised a chain of volcanoes, in an event called the Nevadan orogeny. Nearly all subaerial Sierran Arc volcanoes have since disappeared; their remains were redeposited during the Great Valley Sequence and the subsequent Cenozoic filling of the Great Valley, which is the source of much of the sedimentary rock in California. In the Cretaceous, a subduction zone formed at the edge of the continent. This means that an oceanic plate started to dive beneath the North American plate. Magma formed through the subduction of the ancient  Farallon Plate rose in plumes (plutons) deep underground, their combined mass forming what is called the Sierra Nevada batholith. These plutons formed at various times, from 115 Ma to 87 Ma. The earlier plutons formed in the western half of the Sierra, while the later plutons formed in the eastern half of the Sierra. The Sierra Nevada formed the western margin of a high plateau to the east, the Nevadaplano. Twenty million years ago, crustal extension associated with the Basin and Range Province caused extensive volcanism in the Sierra. About 10 Ma, the Sierra Nevada started to form when a  block of crust between the Coast Range and the Basin and Range Province started to tilt to the west as heat from the Basin and Range extension thinned the eastern part of the block, making it more buoyant than the western portion of the block. Rivers started cutting deep canyons on both sides of the range. Lava filled some of these canyons, which have subsequently eroded leaving table mountains that follow the old river channels. About 2.5 Ma, the Earth's climate cooled, and ice ages started. Glaciers carved out characteristic U-shaped canyons throughout the Sierra. The combination of  river and glacier erosion exposed the uppermost portions of the plutons emplaced millions of years before, leaving only a remnant of metamorphic rock on top of some Sierra peaks. Uplift of the Sierra Nevada continues today, especially along its eastern side. This uplift causes large earthquakes, such as the Lone Pine earthquake of 1872. Climate and meteorology. The climate of the Sierra Nevada is influenced by the Mediterranean climate of California. During the fall, winter and spring, precipitation in the Sierra ranges from where it occurs mostly as snow above . Precipitation is highest on the central and northern portions of  the western slope between elevation, due to orographic lift. Above , precipitation diminishes on the western slope up to the crest, since most of the precipitation has been wrung out at lower elevations. Most parts of the range east of the crest are in a rain shadow, and receive less than 25 inches of precipitation per year. While most summer days are dry, afternoon thunderstorms are common, particularly during the North American Monsoon in mid and late summer. Some of these summer thunderstorms drop over an inch of rain in a short period, and the lightning can start fires. Summer high  temperatures average . Winters are comparatively mild, and the temperature is usually only just low enough to sustain a heavy snowpack. For example, Tuolumne Meadows, at elevation, has winter daily highs about with daily lows about . The growing season lasts 20 to 230 days, strongly dependent on elevation. The highest elevations of the Sierra have an alpine climate. The Sierra Nevada snowpack is the major source of water and a significant source of electric power generation in California. Many reservoirs were constructed in the canyons of the Sierra throughout the 20th century, Several major aqueducts serving both agriculture and urban areas  distribute Sierra water throughout the state. However, the Sierra casts a rain shadow, which greatly affects the climate and ecology of the central Great Basin. This rain shadow is largely responsible for Nevada being the driest state in the United States. Precipitation varies substantially from year to year. It is not uncommon for some years to receive precipitation totals far above or below normal. The height of the range and the steepness of the Sierra Escarpment, particularly at the southern end of the range, produces a wind phenomenon known as the "Sierra Rotor". This is a horizontal rotation of the  atmosphere just east of the crest of the Sierra, set in motion as an effect of strong westerly winds. Because of the large number of airplanes that have crashed in the Sierra Nevada, primarily due to the complex weather and atmospheric conditions such as downdrafts and microbursts caused by geography there, a portion of the area, a triangle whose vertices are Reno, Nevada; Fresno, California; and Las Vegas, Nevada, has been dubbed the "Nevada Triangle", in reference to the Bermuda Triangle. Some counts put the number of crashes in the triangle at 2,000, including millionaire and record-breaking flyer Steve  Fossett. Hypotheses that the crashes are related in some way to the United States Air Force's Area 51, or to the activities of extra-terrestrial aliens, have no evidence to support them. Ecology. The Sierra Nevada is divided into a number of biotic zones, each of which is defined by its climate and supports a number of interdependent species. Life in the higher elevation zones adapted to colder weather, and to most of the precipitation falling as snow. The rain shadow of the Sierra causes the eastern slope to be warmer and drier: each life zone is higher in  the east. A list of biotic zones, and corresponding elevations, is presented below: History. Native Americans. Archaeological excavations placed Martis people of Paleo-Indians in northcentral Sierra Nevada during the period of 3,000 BCE to 500 CE. The earliest identified sustaining indigenous people in the Sierra Nevada were the Northern Paiute tribes on the east side, with the Mono tribe and Sierra Miwok tribe on the western side, and the Kawaiisu and Tübatulabal tribes in the southern Sierra. Today, some historic intertribal trade route trails over mountain passes are known artifact locations, such as Duck Pass with its obsidian arrowheads . The California and Sierra Native American tribes were predominantly peaceful, with occasional territorial disputes between the Paiute and Sierra Miwok tribes in the mountains. Washo and Maidu were also in this area prior to the era of European exploration and displacement. Initial European-American exploration. American exploration of the mountain range started in 1827. Although prior to the 1820s there were Spanish missions, "pueblos" (towns), "presidios" (forts), and "ranchos" along the coast of California, no Spanish explorers visited the Sierra Nevada. The first Americans to visit the mountains were amongst a group led by fur trapper Jedediah Smith, crossing north  of the Yosemite area in May 1827, at Ebbetts Pass. In 1833, a subgroup of the Bonneville Expedition led by Joseph Reddeford Walker was sent westward to find an overland route to California. Eventually the party discovered a route along the Humboldt River across present-day Nevada, ascending the Sierra Nevada, starting near present-day Bridgeport and descending between the Tuolumne and Merced River drainage. The group may have been the first non-indigenous people to see Yosemite Valley. The Walker Party probably visited either the Tuolumne or Merced Groves of giant sequoia, becoming the first non-indigenous people to  see the giant trees, but journals relating to the Walker party were destroyed in 1839, in a print shop fire in Philadelphia. In the winter of 1844, Lt. John C. Frémont, accompanied by Kit Carson, was the first American to see Lake Tahoe. The Frémont party camped at . Gold rush. The California Gold Rush began at Sutter's Mill, near Coloma, in the western foothills of the Sierra. On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the  American River. Rumors soon started to spread and were confirmed in March 1848 by San Francisco newspaper publisher and merchant Samuel Brannan. Brannan strode through the streets of San Francisco, holding aloft a vial of gold, shouting "Gold! Gold! Gold from the American River!" On August 19, 1848, the "New York Herald" was the first major newspaper on the East Coast to report the discovery of gold. On December 5, 1848, President James Polk confirmed the discovery of gold in an address to Congress. Soon, waves of immigrants from around the world, later called the "forty-niners", invaded the Gold  Country of California or "Mother Lode". Miners lived in tents, wood shanties, or deck cabins removed from abandoned ships. Wherever gold was discovered, hundreds of miners would collaborate to put up a camp and stake their claims. Because the gold in the California gravel beds was so richly concentrated, the early forty-niners simply panned for gold in California's rivers and streams. However, panning cannot take place on a large scale, and miners and groups of miners graduated to more complex placer mining. Groups of prospectors would divert the water from an entire river into a sluice alongside  the river, and then dig for gold in the newly exposed river bottom. By 1853, most of the easily accessible gold had been collected, and attention turned to extracting gold from more difficult locations. Hydraulic mining was used on ancient gold-bearing gravel beds on hillsides and bluffs in the gold fields. In hydraulic mining, a high-pressure hose directed a powerful stream or jet of water at gold-bearing gravel beds. It is estimated that by the mid-1880s, 11 million ounces (340 t) of gold (worth approximately US$15 billion in December 2010 prices) had been recovered by "hydraulicking