What is "northwest passage"

Northwest \North`west"\, a.

1. Pertaining to, or in the direction of, the point between the north and west; being in the northwest; toward the northwest, or coming from the northwest; as, the northwest coast.

2. Coming from the northwest; as, a northwest wind.

   Northwest passage, a passage or communication by sea between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans along the north coast of America, long sought for by navigators.

Passage \Pas"sage\, n. [F. passage. See Pass, v. i.]

1. The act of passing; transit from one place to another; movement from point to point; a going by, over, across, or through; as, the passage of a man or a carriage; the passage of a ship or a bird; the passage of light; the passage of fluids through the pores or channels of the body.

   What! are my doors opposed against my passage!
   --Shak.

2. Transit by means of conveyance; journey, as by water, carriage, car, or the like; travel; right, liberty, or means, of passing; conveyance.

   The ship in which he had taken passage.
   --Macaulay.

3. Price paid for the liberty to pass; fare; as, to pay one's passage.

4. Removal from life; decease; departure; death. [R.] ``Endure thy mortal passage.''
   --Milton.

   When he is fit and season'd for his passage.
   --Shak.

5. Way; road; path; channel or course through or by which one passes; way of exit or entrance; way of access or transit. Hence, a common avenue to various apartments in a building; a hall; a corridor.

   And with his pointed dart Explores the nearest passage to his heart.
   --Dryden.

   The Persian army had advanced into the . . . passages of Cilicia.
   --South.

6. A continuous course, process, or progress; a connected or continuous series; as, the passage of time.

   The conduct and passage of affairs.
   --Sir J. Davies.

   The passage and whole carriage of this action.
   --Shak.

7. A separate part of a course, process, or series; an occurrence; an incident; an act or deed. ``In thy passages of life.''
   --Shak.

   The . . . almost incredible passage of their unbelief.
   --South.

8. A particular portion constituting a part of something continuous; esp., a portion of a book, speech, or musical composition; a paragraph; a clause.

   How commentators each dark passage shun.
   --Young.

9. Reception; currency. [Obs.]
   --Sir K. Digby.

10. A pass or en encounter; as, a passage at arms.

    No passages of love Betwixt us twain henceforward evermore.
    --Tennyson.

11. A movement or an evacuation of the bowels.

12. In parliamentary proceedings:

    1. The course of a proposition (bill, resolution, etc.) through the several stages of consideration and action; as, during its passage through Congress the bill was amended in both Houses.

    2. The advancement of a bill or other proposition from one stage to another by an affirmative vote; esp., the final affirmative action of the body upon a proposition; hence, adoption; enactment; as, the passage of the bill to its third reading was delayed. ``The passage of the Stamp Act.''
       --D. Hosack.

       The final question was then put upon its passage.
       --Cushing.

       In passage, in passing; cursorily. ``These . . . have been studied but in passage.''
       --Bacon.

       Middle passage, Northeast passage, Northwest passage. See under Middle, Northeast, etc.

       Of passage, passing from one place, region, or climate, to another; migratory; -- said especially of birds. ``Birds of passage.''
       --Longfellow.

       Passage hawk, a hawk taken on its passage or migration.

       Passage money, money paid for conveyance of a passenger, -- usually for carrying passengers by water.

       Syn: Vestibule; hall; corridor. See Vestibule.

The Northwest Passage is a sea route connecting the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The various islands of the archipelago are separated from one another and from the Canadian mainland by a series of Arctic waterways collectively known as the Northwest Passages or Northwestern Passages.

Sought by explorers for centuries as a possible trade route, it was discovered in 1850 by Robert McClure and first navigated by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen with a small expedition in 1903–1906. Until 2009, the Arctic pack ice prevented regular marine shipping throughout most of the year. Change in the pack ice ( Arctic shrinkage) has rendered the waterways more navigable.

The contested sovereignty claims over the waters may complicate future shipping through the region: the Canadian government considers the Northwestern Passages part of Canadian Internal Waters, but the United States and various European countries maintain they are an international strait and transit passage, allowing free and unencumbered passage. If, as has been claimed, parts of the eastern end of the Passage are barely deep, the route's viability as a Euro-Asian shipping route is reduced. However, a Chinese shipping line is planning regular voyages of cargo ships using the passage to the eastern USA and Europe, after a successful passage by Nordic Orion of 73,500 tones DWT in September 2013. Fully loaded, Nordic Orion was too large to sail through the Panama Canal.

Northwest Passage is a 1981 album by Stan Rogers. "Northwest Passage" compares the singer's own travels across the prairie provinces to the exploratory adventures of Sir John Franklin, Alexander Mackenzie, David Thompson, and Henry Kelsey. "The Idiot" is about a man from the Maritimes working in Alberta who yearns for his home. "Night Guard" deals with modern-day cattle rustling, and "The Field Behind the Plow" addresses the triumphs and tragedies of grain farming in Saskatchewan.

Northwest Passage is a 1940 Technicolor film, starring Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, Walter Brennan, Ruth Hussey, and others. The picture is based on a novel by Kenneth Roberts titled Northwest Passage (1937).

It is set in the mid 18th century during the French and Indian War (as the Seven Years' War in North America is usually known in the US). It is a partly fictionalised account of the St. Francis Raid, an attack by Rogers' Rangers on Saint Francis (the current Odanak, Quebec), a settlement of the Abenakis, an American Indian tribe. The purpose of the raid is to avenge the many attacks on British settlers and deter further attacks.

The title is something of a misnomer, since this film is a truncated version of the original story, and only at the end do we find that Rogers and his men are about to go on a search for the Northwest Passage.

The Northwest Passage is a historical sea route between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans through the Arctic waters of Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. It may also refer to:

• Northwest Passage (novel), a 1937 novel by Kenneth Roberts
• Northwest Passage (film), a 1940 movie based on Roberts' novel and starring Spencer Tracy and Robert Young
• Northwest Passage (TV series), a 1958-1959 television series starring Keith Larsen and Buddy Ebsen, loosely based on the characters from the Roberts novel
• Northwest Passage (newspaper), an underground newspaper of the 1960s
• Northwest Passage (album), a 1981 album by Canadian folk musician Stan Rogers
  • "Northwest Passage" (song), the title track
• "Pilot" (Twin Peaks), the Twin Peaks pilot episode from 1990 which used the working title "Northwest Passage"
• "Northwest Passage" (Fringe), a 2010 episode of the television series Fringe
• Northwest Passage, 2013 children's novel whose plot is derived from the Rogers song

Northwest Passage is an historical novel by Kenneth Roberts, published in 1937. Told through the eyes of primary character Langdon Towne, much of the novel follows the exploits and character of Robert Rogers, the leader of Rogers' Rangers, who were a colonial force fighting with the British during the French and Indian War.

Structurally, Northwest Passage is divided into halves. The first half is a carefully researched, day-by-day recreation of the raid by Rogers' Rangers on the Indian village at Saint-François-du-Lac, Quebec (or Saint Francis, to the Americans troops), a settlement of the Abenakis, an American Indian tribe. The second half of the novel covers Rogers' later life in London, England, and Fort Michilimackinac, Michigan. Roberts' decision to cover the novel's material in two distinct halves followed the actual trajectory of Rogers' life.

The book later served as the basis for a 1940 movie starring Spencer Tracy and a 1958-59 TV show on NBC starring Buddy Ebsen.

Northwest Passage is a 26-episode half-hour adventure television series produced by Metro Goldwyn Mayer about Major Robert Rogers during the time of the French and Indian War (1756–1763). The show derived its title and the main characters Rogers, Towne, and Marriner from the 1937 novel of the same name by Kenneth Roberts, and from the 1940 MGM feature film based on the novel. The scope of the novel was much broader than that of the series, and the second half of the book included an historically based attempt by Rogers to find a water route through North America as a "passage" to the Pacific Ocean. This attempt, lending its name to the novel and used by Roberts as a metaphor for the questing human spirit, is referenced in the first episode.

One of the earlier series telecast in color, Northwest Passage aired new episodes on NBC from September 14, 1958, to March 13, 1959. Keith Larsen (1924–2006) played the lead role (originally that of Spencer Tracy in the film); Buddy Ebsen (1908–2003), later the star of CBS's The Beverly Hillbillies and Barnaby Jones, appeared as Sergeant Hunk Marriner (originally played in the film by Walter Brennan, who at the time of this series was starring in the TV series The Real McCoys), and Don Burnett co-starred as Ensign Langdon Towne (originally played by Robert Young, at the time of this series starring in Father Knows Best).

Rogers formed a volunteer group, Rogers' Rangers, determined to fight with the British against the French and their Indian allies in what later became northern New York State. The series premiere entitled "Fight at the River" featured 24-year-old Denny Scott Miller as Ranger Cooper. He was later Duke Shannon on the Western Wagon Train and the military husband in NBC's Mona McCluskey.

"Northwest Passage" is one of the best-known songs by Canadian musician Stan Rogers. An a cappella song, it features Rogers alone singing the verses, with several guest vocalists harmonizing with him in the chorus. It is not to be confused with the big band tune of the same name by Ralph Burns.

While it recalls the history of early explorers who were trying to discover a route across Canada to the Pacific Ocean (especially Sir John Franklin, who lost his life in the quest for the Northwest Passage - see Franklin's lost expedition), its central theme is a comparison between the journeys of these past explorers and the singer's own journey to and through the same region. The singer ultimately reflects that, just as the quest for a northwest passage might be considered a fruitless one (in that a viable and navigable northwest passage was never found in the days of Franklin and his kind), a modern-day journeyer along similar paths might meet the same end. The song also references the geography of Canada, including the Fraser River ("to race the roaring Fraser to the sea") on the western coast and the Davis Strait to the east. He is driving across the Prairies, allowing him to view cities behind him fall and cities ahead rise.

The song appears on an album of the same name released by Rogers in 1981, and is considered one of the classic songs in Canadian music history. In the 2005 CBC Radio One series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version, "Northwest Passage" ranked fourth, behind only Neil Young's " Heart of Gold", Barenaked Ladies' " If I Had $1,000,000" and Ian and Sylvia's " Four Strong Winds". It has been referred to as one of Canada's unofficial anthems by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper, and former Governor General Adrienne Clarkson quoted the song both in her first official address and in her speech at the dedication of the new Canadian embassy in Berlin.

The song also appeared in the final episode of the television series, Due South and has been covered in acoustic form by the British duo Show of Hands on their album Cold Frontier. Show of Hands do not perform the song a capella but use guitar and violin to provide musical backing. It also appeared on an episode of the PBS series NOVA about the discovery of gravesites belonging to members of the Franklin Expedition. The exhumation and study of the bodies revealed that the crew of the Franklin Expedition suffered from lead poisoning, possibly contributing to the catastrophic failure of the men to survive.

The song was used on October 9, 2007 by the BBC World Service's World Today programme during a story about the expansion of Canada's efforts to confirm its sovereignty over the arctic region through which the Northwest Passage runs.

Artist Matt James used the lyrics to accompany his illustrations for a children’s book that received a 2013 Governor General’s Literary award.

"Northwest Passage" is the 21st episode of the second season of the American science fiction drama television series Fringe, and the 41st episode overall. The episode follows Peter ( Joshua Jackson) as he continues to stay away from Boston after learning his true parallel universe origins; his travels take him to a small town, where he helps the local police investigate mysterious disappearances.

The episode was written by Ashley Edward Miller, Zack Stentz, Nora Zuckerman, and Lilla Zuckerman. Joe Chappelle served as the episode director. It featured a guest appearance by actress Martha Plimpton. Pearl Jam musician Mike McCready helped write the music for the episode.

"Northwest Passage" first aired in the United States on May 6, 2010 to an estimated 5.82 million viewers. It received generally positive reviews, as many critics praised the writers' decision to focus on Peter in a new location. Others noted references to the television series Twin Peaks.

The Northwest Passage was a bi-weekly underground newspaper in Bellingham, Washington, which was published from March 17, 1969 to June 1986. The paper was co-founded by three men Frank Kathman, who took the role of Publisher; Laurence Kee, as Managing Editor; and Michael Carlson (now Harman), as Art Director. While the three devoted their full-time energies to the daily running and initial growth of the paper, several members of the Bellingham community made major contributions to the content and character of the publication. From its inception, the Northwest Passage stood out from other 'underground' tabloids at the time because of its graphic content, which was spearheaded by Carlson, and embellished by the talents of artists Cindy Green, Gary Hallgren, and others. (Hallgren went on to a noted career as a New York-based graphics artist, illustrator, and cartoonist.)

Frank Kathman had originally been influenced by a college class that he took with Bernard Weiner at Western Washington State College (now University), where the underground press was studied. Later, Kathman and Carlson wrote and designed a recruitment poster that was printed, calling for the founding of the paper. They recruited Kee, who was a reporter for the Bellingham Herald, and the only one of the three with a steady paycheck, so it came down to him to write a check to the Lynden Tribune on March 17, 1969, in order to get the first issue printed. Kee was later fired from the conservative Herald for his involvement with the Passage.

The paper was sustained from that point on by personal donations from the community; by sales in a few news boxes and through personal hawking campaigns in Bellingham and Seattle; through subscriptions sold to individuals and university and community libraries all over the country; and through the sale of display advertising—most notably through a deal with Warner Bros. Records. The Tribune later refused to print the Passage, bending to conservative political pressures in the county, and the Passage was moved to the Skagit Valley Herald for further printing. Published in tabloid newspaper format and selling for 25 cents, it was a member of the Underground Press Syndicate and the Liberation News Service, and reported circulation of 6000 copies in 1972. Crews of volunteers set type and did layout.

The Northwest Passage was originally housed in Kee's home on Maplewood Ave., where the bedrooms were converted to graphics layout rooms. Later, when Kee and the paper were evicted from the rented house, the Passage moved to a house in the outlying area, on Yew Street Rd. The next home of the paper was in a taxidermy building on W. Holly St., near the downtown area. Later, the paper moved to offices in the Morgan Block Building in the Fairhaven District of Bellingham, known as "Happy Valley", or the "Southside". "Happy Valley" had been a common name for the area since before the founding of Fairhaven. The Block building also housed Good Earth Pottery, Fairhaven Music, and the Community Food Co-op, and was a hive of the counterculture from 1969 through the end of the Vietnam War. At the time, Fairhaven was a hippie enclave—a temporary autonomous zone of cooperative enterprise that spawned the community garden program, a cooperative primary school, and a co-op flour mill(has since become a family owned business and moved out of Bellingham), all of which are still thriving forty years later.

Though initially a kind of hippie paper focusing on the counterculture and ending the war in Vietnam, under the leadership of Kathman and Kee, and later Chris Condon and others, it quickly became an important source of investigative journalism on political and environmental issues in Bellingham and the Pacific Northwest in general. Its environmental journalism earned it such a solid reputation—sometimes influencing policy decisions—that politicians and oversight agencies and polluting corporations made sure to subscribe or obtain copies to read. During the People's Park riots in Berkeley, California during the summer of 1969, the Passage was chosen as the pool print representative for the national media, and was allowed inside the Park to be "embedded" with the armed National Guard unit that was holding the Park against the siege conducted by thousands of demonstrators who were trying to get the park restored to its former use as a public area. The resulting article by Kee was representative of other reporting by the Passage which was often quoted by other publications and even reprinted by some on occasion. Although the editorial and reporting reach of the Passage extended out into the nation and the world, the paper nevertheless retained its local community feeling in Bellingham, throughout its existence.

Other early editors included Mary Kay Becker, later a state legislator and a judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals; Bob Hicks, who had a long newspaper career as an editor with the Portland Oregonian and later as an online reviewer; Roxanne Park, who became a leader with the Prison Sentencing Commission for the State of Washington; Bernard Weiner, who became a critic/editor with the San Francisco Chronicle for nearly two decades and co-founded the political-analysis website The Crisis Papers; Buck Meloy, who became a leader in the fishing community in Alaska and along the Pacific Coast; Cindy Green (Davis), co-creator of the popular Molasses Jug centerfold (along with Shiela Gilda), went on to a successful career as a graphic artist; David Wolf, who moved on to various leadership roles with the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County; John Servais, who founded and edits the website NorthwestCitizen; Melissa Queen, who became a noted yoga teacher/board member at the Mount Madonna Center in California; Joel Connelly, who became the politics writer for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer newspaper; Marga Rose (Hancock), who became executive director of the American Institute of Architects–Seattle. Original editor Laurence Kee left the paper to found the Seattle rock band Child, and in Los Angeles played with the Eric Burdon Band and others, before coming back to Bellingham to teach at W.W.U.'s Fairhaven College in their "Artist-In-Residence" program;and Jeff(Yehuda)Fine, who while with the paper wrote the columns on Wild Pacific Northwest Herbs and later went on to found and become the Principal of one of the Earliest Alternative High Schools for the Mendocino Unified School District in California-The Community School (http://www.mendocinousd.org/schools/mendocinohs/index.cfm?fuseaction=dep_intro&dept_id=61),and then moved to Israel Brooklyn where he was ordained as a Rabbi, became head guidance counselor for Yeshiva University in NYC and later a noted author of the bestselling recovery book, Times Square Rabbi-Finding the Hope in Lost Kids' Lives (Hazelden, UP Publishing )and The Real Deal-For Parents' Only ; The Top 75 Questions Teens Want Answered Today as well as soon 2015 to be published his first novel Shadow Walker (Simon & Schuster ) a riveting novel on the rise of sex trafficking in America.

From 1969 to 1977 Northwest Passage was based in Bellingham, relocating in 1977 to Seattle. After 1981 it was published monthly.

Northwest Passage is a book based upon the famous Canadian song Northwest Passage. The song is a story of a man's travel through the arctic of Canada while following famed explorers like Alexander Mackenzie, David Thompson, John Franklin, and Henry Kelsey. The book is written and narrated by Matthew James, who is an award winning Canadian musician, illustrator, and author and has been nominated for, and won, the Governor General's Award for children's literature. The book is full of unique illustrations, also done by Matt James, showing the story as it is mentioned in the song. It also includes a timeline of Canadian exploration, miniature biographies on explorers of the Northwest Passage, and portraits of major explorers.