October 11th, 2008

Today in History

1975:
Saturday Night Live debuts with George Carlin as the guest host.

1958:
Pioneer program: NASA launches the lunar probe Pioneer 1 (the probe falls back to Earth and burns up).

1899:
Boer War begins: In South Africa, a war between the United Kingdom and the Boers of the Transvaal and Orange Free State erupts.

1811:
Inventor John Stevens' boat, the Juliana, begins operation as the first steam-powered ferry (service between New York, New York, and Hoboken, New Jersey).

1809:
Along the Natchez Trace in Tennessee, explorer Meriwether Lewis dies under mysterious circumstances at an inn called Grinder's Stand.