Edward Payson Terhune (1830 - 1907)

Refresh this page to see various historical events that occurred during Edward's lifetime.

In 1830, in the year that Edward Payson Terhune was born, 10,000 chests of opium were sold in China - one chest was 60–65 kilograms, about 140 pounds, and was worth nearly $740 in US dollars. This worked out to a trade of roughly 7.5 million US dollars in 1830.

In 1860, at the age of 30 years old, Edward was alive when on April 3rd, the Pony Express began its first delivery from St. Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California. The trip took 10 days and the riders carried 49 letters, five telegrams, and newspapers for San Francisco and other cities along the way.

In 1889, Edward was 59 years old when on May 31st, the South Fork Dam collapsed. Located in western Pennsylvania, the dam failed - sending more than 20 million tons of water into the towns below it. The flood killed more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown. The newly formed Red Cross responded to the disaster.

In 1892, Edward was 62 years old when on January 1st, Ellis Island opened to process immigrants. 700 passed through on the first day - in the first year, 450,000 were processed. The processing center was originally a 3 story wooden building - with outbuildings - that burned down a few years later.

In 1907, in the year of Edward Payson Terhune's passing, radiometric dating, a recently discovered technology that could date rocks, found that the earth was 2.2 billion years old which was dramatically older than previously thought. Later refinements and advancements in science would date the age of the earth at over 4.5 billion years.