Saturday, July 14, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 14

July 14, 1907 – Two miners were killed and four “badly injured by an explosion of dynamite in the 13th level of No. 8 shaft at the Soudan mine” this evening. “The men were blasting in one of the lower levels of the mine and a heavy charge had been placed in a hole and was being tamped. It suddenly exploded and the concussion set off a box of dynamite standing nearby. The force of the explosion broke in all that end of the level.”
Tower Weekly News; “Accident at Mine, Two Miners Instantly Killed and Four Others Badly Injured”; July 19, 1907; p. 1 & 3.




Friday, July 13, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 13

July 13, 1977 – “City of Kinney, St. Louis County, secedes from the United States. City Councilors are frustrated by unsuccessful attempts to obtain a grant from the federal government for a water project, decides to secede and apply for foreign aid because "there is less paperwork." Although the U. S. did not recognize Kinney as a foreign country, Jeno Paulucci did, and he gave Kinney a used Ford to replace the inoperable city police car and 10 cases of frozen pizzas.”
http://www.thehistorypeople.com/data/docs/timeline-part3.pdf


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St._Louis_County_Minnesota_Incorporated_and_Unincorporated_areas_Kinney_Highlighted.svg

Thursday, July 12, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 12

July 12, 1978 – “The top management of the nation’s largest sunflower-seed business was wiped out [on this date] when their light plane crashed near Kenyon, Minn., killing all six people aboard. All of the victims were officers of Rauenhorst, Bellows & Associates, Inc. of Olivia [Minn.], a 5 year-old seed business whose 125 employees [had] come to dominate this west-central farming community of 3,100.”
Minneapolis Tribune; “Plane crash kills six seed firm officials”; July 13, 1978; p. 1A





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:A_sunflower.jpg

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 11

July 11, 1916 – Dan Patch, the outstanding pacer of his day, passed away on this date in Savage, Minn.  “This American bred stallion broke world speed records at least 14 times in the early 1900s, finally setting the world's record for the fastest mile by a harness horse (1m:55s) during a time trial in 1906, a record that stood unmatched for 32 years. The City of Savage, Minn. was renamed [from Hamilton] for Dan Patch's owner, Marion Willis Savage, in 1904.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Patch




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Danpatch1.jpg

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 10

July 10, 1920 - Edward Lowe, “an entrepreneur who created a whole new product with his invention of cat-box filler,” was born in St. Paul. “He made the trademark Kitty Litter® a part of the American vocabulary.”
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bllowe.htm



http://www.google.com/search?q=public+domain+images+of+Kitty+Litter%C2%AE&start=10&hl=en&sa=N&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&ei=nWfKT7HpC4fO2AX52OnaCw&ved=0CFwQsAQ4Cg&biw=1166&bih=565

Monday, July 9, 2012

On This Date in Minnesota History: July 9

July 9, 1975 - The 1975 Morris earthquake occurred in Morris, Minn. at 9:54 a.m. “The strongest instrumentally recorded rupture in the history of the state, it registered at magnitude 4.6 on the Richter scale. It was the first earthquake to be recorded on any seismic instrument in the state since 1917. Tremors were felt over much of Minnesota, northern Iowa, and the eastern Dakotas.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1975_Morris_earthquake





http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/Richter_scale.aspx