On This Day February 3rd

 OTD

February 3rd is the Thirty-fourth day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 331 days remain until the end of the year.

 

Events

1488 – Bartolomeu Dias of Portugal lands in Mossel Bay after rounding the Cape of Good Hope, becoming the first known European to travel so far south.

1509 – The Portuguese navy defeats a joint fleet of the Ottoman Empire, the Republic of Venice, the Sultan of Gujarat, the Mamlûk Burji Sultanate of Egypt, the Zamorin of Calicut, and the Republic of Ragusa at the Battle of Diu in Diu, India.

1690 – The colony of Massachusetts issues the first paper money in the Americas.

1706 – During the Battle of Fraustadt, Swedish forces defeated a superior Saxon-Polish-Russian force by deploying a double envelopment.

1783 – Spain–United States relations are first established.

1787 – Militia led by General Benjamin Lincoln crushed the remnants of Shays' Rebellion in Petersham, Massachusetts.

1870 – The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing voting rights to male citizens regardless of race.

1913 – The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, authorizing the Federal government to impose and collect an income tax.

1917 – World War I: The American entry into World War I began when diplomatic relations with Germany were severed due to its unrestricted submarine warfare.

1959 – Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson is killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake, Iowa, an event later known as The Day the Music.

1960 – British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change," signaling that his Government was likely to support decolonization.

95 – Astronaut Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to pilot the Space Shuttle as mission STS-63 gets underway from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

 

Birthdays

1338 – Joanna of Bourbon (d. 1378)

1736 – Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Austrian composer and theorist (d. 1809)

1790 – Gideon Mantell, English scientist (d. 1852)

1811 – Horace Greeley, American journalist and politician (d. 1872)

1816 – Ram Singh Kuka, Indian, credited with starting the Non-cooperation movement

1874 – Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, and playwright (d. 1946)

1894 – Norman Rockwell, American painter and illustrator (d. 1978)

1904 – Pretty Boy Floyd, American gangster (d. 1934)

1920 – Henry Heimlich, American physician, and author (d. 2016)

1939 – Michael Cimino, American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2016)

1945 – Bob Griese, American football player and sportscaster

1967 – Tim Flowers, English footballer and coach

1970 – Warwick Davis, English actor, producer, and screenwriter

1990 – Sean Kingston, American-Jamaican singer-songwriter

 

Holiday Spotlight

The Yukon Quest Sled Race

  Yukon River serves as the historical highway of the north. The trail would follow the routes taken by prospects to reach the Klondike during the 1898 Gold Rush and then to the Alaskan interior for subsequent gold rushes in the early 1900s. They despised the Iditarod Sled Dog Race’s numerous checkpoints and envisioned an endurance race where contestants would rely on themselves and survival would be as important as speed. On the 25th anniversary of the event, Shank stated, “We wanted more of a Bush experience, a race with a little woodsmanship in it.”

 Four Alaskans conceived The Yukon Quest in a bar in April 1983: LeRoy Shank, Roger Williams, Ron Rosser, and William ‘Willy’ Lipps. The four proposed a 1,000-mile sled dog race from Fairbanks, Alaska, to Whitehorse, Yukon, commemorating the Klondike Gold Rush era. A sled dog race from Fairbanks to Whitehorse had been discussed as early as 1976. But it wasn’t until this discussion that the Yukon Quest became more than a concept. The race was dubbed the “Yukon Quest” by them to honor the Yukon River.

 The first Yukon Quest put race logistics and all participants to the test. In 1984, 26 teams left Fairbanks. Twenty teams arrived in Whitehorse over the next 16 days. Six teams were forced to abandon the race along the way. Sonny Lindner won the Yukon Quest for the first time, finishing in over 12 days.

 

Other Include

American Painters Day

Barber Day

Doggy Date Night

Elmo's Birthday

Feed the Birds Day

Four Chaplains Day

Ice Cream for Breakfast Day

International Golden Retriever Day

International Pisco Sour Day

National Carrot Cake Day

National Carrot Day

National Cordova Ice Worm Day

National Missing Person's Day

National Patient Recognition Day

National Play Outside Day

National Wedding Ring Day

National Women's Physicians Day

Take a Cruise Day

Take Your Child to the Library Day

The Day the Music Died