Across the plains, a long and terrible drought had killed crops in the field and turned previously abundant farmlands into a vast and arid wasteland. In Oklahoma, this was the time of the great Dust Bowl and the down fall of thousands of farming families into poverty and homelessness, the subject of John Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath. On May 11, 1934, a huge dust storm carried millions of tons of Great Plains dirt across the entire eastern U.S. The dense clouds reached major east coast cities from Boston to Atlanta, according to the History Channels' website. The plow had gone in too deep in …

On this day in 1869, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads joined their tracks in Promontory, Utah, with a ceremonial spike. This event signaled the beginning of transcontinental railroad travel in the United States. No more stagecoaches or wagon trains were needed as West and East united and civilization gradually subdued the last wild places of America. Leading the enterprise were four principal investors, whose names are prominent in California: Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Charles Crocker and Mark Hopkins. Eastern and Western businessmen and leaders …

On May 9, 1950, L. Ron — or Lafayette Ronald, if you prefer — published "Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health". This book became the basis of the highly popular religion called Scientology. When he wrote Dianetics, Hubbard was already a published author. In the 1930s, he wrote fantasy and science fiction. In 1949, after finishing a stint in the U.S. Navy, which included service during World War II, Hubbard began publishing articles in "Astounding Science Fiction", a magazine that published works by Isaac Asimov and Jack Williamson. From these grew "Dianetics: The Modern Science of …

Today in 1886 the first Coca-Cola was sold to the public at the soda fountain of Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta. The drink had been invented by John Pemberton, an Atlanta pharmacist. He came up with the formula in a three legged brass kettle in his backyard. Bookkeeper Frank Robinson suggested the name and wrote “Coca Cola” in the flowing script that has become the product’s logo. Initial sales were slow. Only about nine servings of the soft drink were sold each day, which meant only about $50 worth was sold the first year. Until 1905, the soft drink was marketed as a tonic. Indeed, it was, …

Eight years ago on May 7, 1994, authorities found Norway's most famous painting, Edvard Munch’s "The Scream," undamaged at a hotel in Asgardstrand, about 40 miles south of Oslo, police said. According to The History Channel, the 1893 painting of a screaming waif on a bridge had been stolen a few months before from an Oslo museum. It had been snatched during a February break-in on the opening day of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. In January 1996, four men were sentenced in connection with the theft, including Paal Enger, who had been convicted in 1988 of stealing Munch's "The Vampire…