This Day in History

In Alaska and in the Nation

In Alaska

• In 1778, Capt. James Cook discovered Turnagain Arm while looking for the Northwest Passage.

• In 1899, the Harriman Scientific Expedition left Seattle for Alaska.

• In 1979, U.S. Rep. Don Young, speaking in Fairbanks, suggested a way of showing the state's displeasure in the House-passed "d-2" bill. "How long could the IRS and other Federal buildings last at 60 degrees below zero if no water, lights, or power were supplied by the municipality?"

In the nation

• In 1854, the territories of Nebraska and Kansas were established.

• In 1883, 12 people were trampled to death when a rumor that the recently opened Brooklyn Bridge was in imminent danger of collapsing triggered a stampede.

• In 1911, Indianapolis saw its first long-distance auto race; Ray Harroun was the winner.

• In 1922, the Lincoln Memorial was dedicated in Washington by President Harding, Chief Justice William Howard Taft and Robert Todd Lincoln.

• In 1937, 10 people were killed when police fired on steelworkers demonstrating near the Republic Steel plant in south Chicago.

• In 1958, unidentified American service members killed in World War II and the Korean War were interred in the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

• In 1971, the American space probe Mariner 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, Fla., on a journey to Mars.

• In 1986, 21 elderly passengers were killed when a tour bus went out of control on a mountain road and plunged into the Walker River near the California-Nevada border.

• In 1998, a tornado tore through Spencer, S.D., killing six people.

• In 2003, President Bush left for a weeklong tour of Europe and the Middle East.