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In the early 1840’s, California was a place that housed very few people and was not of much interest to people. One man, John Sutter, saw it as a land of opportunity, a place where he could build an agricultural empire. In 1847, Sutter sent some men down to the American River to build a sawmill which would provide lumber for his visionary farm.

Things were going as planned, the sawmill was almost finished, when all of a sudden, one of the men James Marshall spotted something shiny. It was on this day, January 24, 1848, that the first gold of the gold rush was discovered.

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Welcome to San Francisco, one of the most beautiful and cultural cities in the world. But it wasn’t always that way. Imagine a time in the 1840’s when there were only a few hundred people that lived in what is now a metropolis. If you know about the gold rush, then you can probably guess why San Francisco became so important. Let’s take a look.

With the first words of gold came the most successful prospectors. These men, called the Forty-Niners, because of the year 1849, were able to gather gold at a rate of more than an ounce every hour.

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How does light behave as it passes through different materials?

Answering this questions brings up some of the peculiar properties of light, the fastest moving “thing” known - at 186,000 miles per second. But is it a thing? Does light have mass? We really do not know (yet). This experiment, however, reveals something about what we do know about light and its media.

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Ever wonder what it feels like to fly? Most people have the thought every once in a while, when they watch a bird take wing, or set a balloon adrift. Acting on the thought is a different matter, entirely. In fact, some people consider flying a way of life. Those people are called skydivers.

The first parachute jump was enacted on October 22, 1797 by a French man named Andre-Jacques Garnerin. He was considered to be a bit of a swindler, traveling around the country performing in fairs and exhibitions. You see, he had been charging people money to watch his air balloon take off, and would suddenly act as though the balloon were malfunctioning and unable to take off. Garnerin would keep the money anyhow, and the people tended to get upset.

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Ready to carve the best jack-o-lantern of your life? Simply follow these easy steps, and you could have the best pumpkin around. Make sure to get your parents help when using a knife.

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Here are some more funny jokes you can tell your friends!

Q: Why did the man put his money in the freezer?

A: He wanted cold hard cash!

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Get out your skeletons and your pumpkins and all things that are scary, because Halloween is right around the corner. In some people’s eyes, this is the best holiday of the year, and on this day, you’ll see that both children and adults alike dressed like ghouls and witches and anything else that’s not their normal clothes.

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Have you ever been to the beach in the morning and noticed the breeze coming off the land towards the ocean?

Sailors always raise the sail on their boats in the early morning because the breeze will push the boat out to sea. The reverse is true in the evening. Fishermen will raisetheir sail and the breeze will push the boat from the sea back towards the land. Today we’ll learn why the morning land breezes and the afternoon sea breezes work in the way that they do.

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New Orleans Jazz was first heard about 1900, in a musical climate laden with folklore influences ranging from ragtime to spirituals, from work songs to blues, from minstrel shows to marching bands, from the colorful Mardi Gras celebrations to the picturesque funeral processions.

New Orleans played a key role in the birth and growth of Jazz, and the music’s early history has been more thoroughly researched and documented there than anywhere else. But, while the city may have had more and better Jazz than any other from about 1895 to 1917, New Orleans was by no means the only place where the sounds were incubating.

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Do you remember the song, “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star”? You might not realize that its melody was written by a man considered by a great many scholars to be the world’s greatest composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

In his short life (1756-1791), Mozart accomplished many feats which may not ever be repeated. As a seven and eight year old, he began to compose his first music. At age 13, he wrote an entire mass for his friend’s Father Cominicus Hagenauer.

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Halloween is just over a week away. Make sure you read next week’s edition of the Tribune to find out about the history of Halloween and read about how to carve the perfect pumpkin. If you do not want to dress up but you still want to enjoy some Halloween fun-try some of these great recipes for spooky but yummy treats! Make sure you ask an adult with cooking experience for help with the stove.

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Q: Why did a cow go to Hollywood?

A: He wanted to become a MOOOOviestar.

Q: What did the porcupine say to the cactus?

A: “Is that you, Mama?”

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