How do I do this with CSS?

[kchayka]

If you were to put in 10 pages of text in column1, column1 would
automatically extend it's height accordingly.

You are showing your ignorance again. The behavior you describe only
happens in WinIE because of its broken, non-standard rendering. In a
better browser, the specified height is honored and the contents will
overflow. It will be ugly, if nothing else.

The height and width properties are absolute minimums.

No, they are not. That's what the min-height and min-width properties
are for. Next time, why don't you check your facts before you post
rubbish like this?