Documents in Year 1903                     

Links of Interest:

• Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt, Twenty-sixth U.S. President

(1901-1909)

• President Theodore Roosevelt visits Yellowstone National Park

(Video clip with historical photos) April 8-24, 1903 - President Roosevelt visits Yellowstone National Park and speaks at the ceremony for the laying of the cornerstone for the Roosevelt Arch at the North entrance to Yellowstone National Park where the figure 8 Grand Loop begins.

• John Muir and President Theodore Roosevelt's camping trip in Yosemite

(Delightful Video clip with historical photos) May 15, 1903 - President Roosevelt sneaks away from his delegation to camp in Yosemite with John Muir who discusses making all of Mariposa Grove and Yosemite Valley a national park which happens in 1905 by an act of Congress.

• Food:

  Tuna is put into cans. A machine for making peanut butter is patented by Ambrose W. Straub.
  Anderson, Jean American Century Cookbook. p 19

• Entertainment:

  "The Great Train Robbery"

The first silent film, The Great Train Robbery, debuts in 1903.

• Inventions:

Airplane

December 17, 1903 - The Wright Brothers first successful flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Crayons

Non-toxic stick made from wax and pigment.

Electrocardiograph (EKG)

Records the heart's electrical impulses. Inventor Einthoven received Nobel Prize in 1924.

Safety Glass and Windshield Wipers

• Native Americans:

Typhus epidemic kills Inuit population of Southampton Island (The Arctic)
Viola, Herman I, North American Indians, Crown Publishers, New York: New York, 1996

• National Parks - John Muir

John Muir (1838-1914) was America's most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist. He is one of California's most important historical personalities. He has been called "The Father of our National Parks," "Wilderness Prophet," and "Citizen of the Universe." As early as 1876, he urged the federal government to adopt a forest conservation policy through articles published in popular periodicals. In 1892 he founded the Sierra Club. In 1901, Muir published Our National Parks, the book that brought him to the attention of President Theodore Roosevelt. In 1903, Roosevelt visited Muir in Yosemite. There, together, beneath the trees, they laid the foundation of Roosevelt's innovative and notable conservation programs.

• Natural Resources:

  Buffalo Soldiers of 9th & 10th Cavalry protect National Parks in California

(Interesting Video clip with historical photos) Every spring the US Cavalry left the presidio in San Francisco, CA and made a 2 week trip into the Sierra Mountains to patrol/protect the three National Parks there (General Grant, Sequoia and Yosemite) from vandalism and hunting as well as build roads and fences. Captain Charles Young was the first African American put in charge of a National Park.

• Photography:

  Edward S. Curtis

(American Photographer of Native Americans 1899-1929)