James Campbell Mincher (born 1850)

In 1850, in the year that James Campbell Mincher was born, on September 9th, in the middle of the Gold Rush, California was admitted to the US as the 31st state. Previously the western part of Alta California, the state, by itself, is now has the 6th largest economy in the world when compared to other countries.

In 1876, on June 4th, the Transcontinental Express - an express train - arrived in San Francisco, using the 7 year old transcontinental railroad line. It took 83 hours and 39 minutes from New York City - about 3.5 days - to cross the country.

In 1881, on October 26th, the "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" happened in Tombstone, Arizona. The gunfight lasted only 30 seconds - the Earps and Doc Holliday on one side and the "Cowboys" on the other side. The McLaury brothers and Billy Clanton of the Cowboys were killed. Two of the Earp brothers and Doc Holliday were wounded.

In 1908, a mysterious Siberian explosion leveled over 770 square miles of forest. There were no human casualties. Explanations of the explosion have included a comet, meteorite, natural atomic explosion, or a crashed UFO. Although it is called an impact event - the largest one in recorded earth history - there is no crater and it is widely thought that the explosion was caused by a meteor exploding 3 to 6 miles above the earth.

In 1966, on July 1st, Medicare became available after President Johnson signed into law the Medicare Act in 1965. President Truman had received the first Medicare card since he had been the first to propose national healthcare law. insurance.