June 30
1377: Foundation stone laid for Ulm Minster, in Ulm, Germany. Will not be completed until 1890, when it becomes the tallest church in the world.
1859: French acrobat Charles Blondin is 1st to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope
1933: US Assay Offices close in Helena, MT, Boise, ID and Salt Lake City, UT
1942: Robert Ballard, American explorer and discoverer (discovered Titanic wreck in 1985), born in Wichita, Kansas
July 1
1847: 1st US postage stamps go on sale, 5 cent Franklin and 10 cent Washington, NYC
1871: The decimal currency system is made uniform in
Canada
1979: Sony introduces
the Walkman, first popular
portable cassette player
1982: Kosmos 1383, 1st search & rescue satellite, launched
2002: The International
Criminal Court is established
to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against
humanity, war crimes, and
the crime of aggression
July 2
1679: Europeans first visit
Minnesota and see headwaters
of Mississippi in an expedition led by Daniel Greysolon de
Du Luth
1776: New Jersey gives the right to vote to all adults who could show a net worth of 50 pounds
1776: Continental Congress
resolves “these United Colonies are and of right ought to be
Free and Independent States”
1867: 1st US elevated railroad begins service, NYC
1971: USSR performs underground nuclear test
July 3
1767: Norway’s oldest
newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date)
1930: US Veterans
Administration created
1947: 252,288 people (record) pass through Grand Central
Station, NYC
1983: American Calvin Smith
sets new world record of 9.93 for 100m in Colorado Springs, beats Jim Hines 1968 mark by 0.02 seconds
July 4
1054: Brightest known super-nova SN 1054 (creates the Crab Nebula) 1st reported by Chinese astronomers
1840: The Cunard Line’s 700 ton wooden paddle steamer RMS Britannia departs from Liverpool bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia on the first transatlantic crossing with a scheduled end
1918: Abigail Van Buren [Pauline Phillips], American columnist and radio show host known for “Dear Abby” advice column, twin sister of fellow advice columnist Ann Landers (Eppie Lederer), born in Sioux City, Iowa (d. 2013)
July 5
1934: “Bloody Thursday” –
Police open fire on striking
longshoremen in San Francisco
1937: Spam, the luncheon meat
is first introduced into the
market by the Hormel Foods
Corporation
1966: Saturn I rocket launched
at Cape Kennedy
2018: Heatwave in southern
Quebec, Canada, kills 33
July 6
1669: LaSalle leaves Montreal
to explore Ohio River
1928: Largest recorded
hailstone at the time 1.5 lbs
(7 inches in diameter) falls in Potter, Nebraska
1945: US President Harry
Truman signs executive order establishing Medal of Freedom
1949: Freak heat wave sent
central coast of Portugal to 158°F for 2 minutes
Break for Independence on Fourth of July Pass
As the Mission of the Sacred Heart was being completed in 1853, General Isaac Stevens, the first governor of Washington
Territory, came through the Northwest with a survey party in search of a northern route for a transcontinental railroad. He assigned Lt. John Mullan with a crew of about 150 men to construct a 624 mile wagon road from Ft. Benton on the Missouri River in Montana to Ft. Walla Walla on the Columbia River in Washington.
The Mullan Road was the first wagon road to cross the Rocky Mountains to the Inland of the Pacific Northwest. It was built
between the spring of 1859 and summer of 1862. It led from Fort Benton, Montana, to Fort Walla Walla in the Washington Territory, and it roughly follows the path of modern-day Interstate-90 through the Rockies.
Mullan Road was designated a historic site by the National
Register of Historical Places in 1975, and the American Society of Civil Engineers designated it a historic civil engineering landmark in 1977.
At this site Captain Mullan and his crew recorded their visit by carving the date into a large Ponderosa Pine tree.
Captain Mullan and his crew celebrated the 4th of July in 1861 on top of this mountain as they took a break from clearing passage for the road they were building over it. Thus the current name of “4th of July pass” today.
Mullan Road was designated a historic site by the National
Register of Historical Places in 1975, and the American Society of Civil Engineers designated it a historic civil engineering landmark in 1977.
Content: Courtesy of waymarking.comand historyofidaho.com
Photo:”Yellow Stone Trail, Fourth of July Canyon near
Coeur d’Alene, Idaho.” – historyofidaho.com, Mike Fritz Collection.