Thursday Thirteen ~ Forty Niners

this was SUPPOSE to post on Thursday 24 January....however....due to technical and logistical difficulties beyond my control....et cetera...
smile

Thirteen Random Facts about the Forty-Niners....

1. The San Francisco Forty Niners Football Team was named in homage to the prospectors of the great California Gold Rush of 1849.

2. On 24 January, 1848 gold was discovered by James Marshall. Marshall was foreman building a lumber mill for pioneer John Sutter. They kept the find quiet for some time. Sutter knew his plans to build an agricultural empire in Northern California would be overrun by gold crazed prospectors.

3. Another young owner of a Northern California lumberjack business....Anthony Morabito...campaigned tirelessly for years to be given permission to form the first professional sport team franchise to be based in San Francisco. The Forty-Niners were originally part of the All American Football Conference in 1946. In 1950 when the AAFC folded the Forty Niners were awarded the NFL franchise.

4. Gold rumors were first confirmed by San Francisco newspaper publisher and big mouth Samuel Brannan in March of 1848. In August of 1848, the New York Herald was the first major east coast newspaper to report the California Gold Rush.

5. In an address to Congress on 08 December 1848, President James Polk confirmed the discovery of Gold in California.

6. Approximately 90,000 people arrived in California in 1849....50,000 to 60,000 were Americans...although California was not yet a state of the United States of America. Ultimately over 300,000 people would rush to California to find their gold.

7. San Francisco....home of the Forty-Niners...had a full time resident population of approximately 1,000 people in 1848. By 1850 it would be over 25,000.

8. The San Francisco Forty Niners Football Team scored a measly 24 touchdowns in the past 2007 season. (yeah...that sorta sucks)

9. The gold rush of '49 did indeed ruin John Sutter....his workforce deserted in search of gold...the prospectors trashed his land, his crops and cattle were stolen.

10. On 24 January 1848...when gold was discovered at Sutter's Mill, California was still technically part of Mexico, under American military occupation. On 02 February 1848 the war ended and California became a possession of the United States as a territory, and did not become a state until 09 September 1850. California existed in the unusual condition of a region under military control. There was no civil legislature, executive or judicial body for the entire region. Local residents operated under a changing mixture of Mexican rules, American principles, and personal dictates. (kinda like now)

11. Historian H W Brands wrote:
"The old American Dream . . . was the dream of the Puritans of Benjamin Franklin's Poor Richard. . . of men and women content to accumulate their modest fortunes a little at a time, year by year by year. The new dream was the dream of instant wealth, won in a twinkling by audacity and good luck. This golden dream . . . became a prominent part of the American psyche only after Sutter's Mill."

12. The San Francisco Forty-Niners are the ONLY football team to win the Vince Lombardi Trophy five times....say what you will...it is still FIVE times baby....

1982 (26 Forty-Niners ~ 21 Bengals)
1985 (38 Forty-Niners ~ 16 Dolphins)
1989 (20 Forty-Niners ~ 16 Bengals)
1990 (55 Forty-Niners ~ 10 Broncos)
1995 (49 Forty-Niners ~ 26 Chargers)

13. One hundred and sixty years after gold was discovered on January 24, I turned Forty-Nine years of age.