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A Date When Everything Seemed to Happen

Writer's picture: Dennis L. PetersonDennis L. Peterson

Some days in history seem to have it all. Such was this day, January 24. Events that occurred on this date in history involved economics, politics, the military, and even athletics. Here's what I mean.


Economics


On January 24 1848, James Marshall discovered gold in a mill race at the mill he was building in partnership with John Sutter (Sutter's Mill) in Coloma, California. (That's Marshall at the bottom of the accompanying photo.) Boy! Did that ever get the ball rolling as people began to rush to the Golden State to get rich quickly! They were called Forty-Niners. I guess it took until 1849 for gold fever to reach the East and for the Easterners to feel the symptoms, make the preparations, and then get there, traveling either overland or "around the Horn." As with all get-rich-quick schemes, however, most of them came back broke. Many of those who did manage to make their fortune did so, not by mining, but by selling supplies to those who did. By the way, the price of gold in 1849 was $20.67 an ounce. Today it's around $2,700 an ounce.


Politics


Speaking of gold, on this date in 1901 (or was it 1902? The sources disagree.) Denmark signed a treaty with the United States to sell the Danish West Indies to us for $5 million in gold. The Danish West Indies consisted of the Caribbean islands of St. Thomas, St. John, and St. Croix, and the U.S. had been interested in obtaining them since before the War Between the States. But the transaction was postponed until 1917 because of problems getting the treaty ratified by the governments of both parties to the agreement. Negotiations dragged off and on (mostly off) until the sale was finalized in 1917. By that time, the selling price had risen to $25 million. Sort of reminds one of Trump's recent offer (or threat?) to buy Greenland from Denmark, doesn't it? If we do get it, I hope we do so before the price goes up!


Military


Vast government bureaucracies move slowly, but that's because individual bureaucrats move slowly. But some people move slowly because they insist on doing everything "by the book," following orders to the letter. One such individual was a Japanese World War II soldier, Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi, who was discovered on Guam on this date in 1972. The last order he had received from his commanding officer was never to surrender, and he didn't. He hid, surviving by his wits, in a secluded cave on the island for 28 years. Fearing for his life when two native shrimpers happened to bump into him while checking their traps, he attacked them. They managed to subdue him, however, and turned him over to local authorities. He was embarrassed to return to Japan, but he later married and became an advocate of simple living. And he was certainly an expert at that! He died of a heart attack in 1997.


Athletics


Baseball is over until spring training begins (and it can't come soon enough for me!), but it's always alive and well in history. For example, on this date in 1950, Jackie Robinson signed a record one-year contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers for a whopping $35,000. He had not only broken the "color barrier" in 1947 but also finished the 1949 season with a batting average of .342, 16 homers, 124 RBIs, and 37 stolen bases, leading the majors in that latter statistic. So he had deserved every penny of that $35,000. In his 10-year career with Brooklyn, he was on the National League All-Star team every year from 1949 to 1954. He played 1,382 games for them; batted 4,879 times; scored 947 runs; and hit 1,518 singles, 243 doubles, 54 triples, and 137 homers. He stole 700 based, had 734 RBIs, and a career batting average of .308. He certainly earned his salary and deserved his election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility--on January 24, 1962, 12 years after signing that $35,000 contract. Incidentally, that contract would be worth nearly half a million dollars today. In 2001, one of his jerseys sold at auction for $4.2 million. But that's chicken feed in contrast to the insane salaries of even mediocre players today. (This link https://www.jackierobinsonmuseum.org/?story-type=story is to a site that features many photos and videos of Robinson in action, especially in the World Series.)


So January 24 has been filled with significant events throughout history. The question for each of us today is what we will do with the 24 hours we have in our January 24.


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©2022 by Dennis L. Peterson

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