On Aug. 11, 1860, the nation’s first successful silver mill began operation near Virginia City, Nev.
In 1919 industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie died in Lenox, Mass.; he was 84.
In 1921 writer Alex Haley, who chronicled the African-American experience with works such as “The Autobiography of Malcolm X” and “Roots,” was born in Ithaca, N.Y.
In 1934 the first federal prisoners arrived at the island prison Alcatraz in San Francisco Bay.
In 1956 abstract painter Jackson Pollock died in an automobile crash in East Hampton, N.Y.; he was 44.
In 1965 rioting and looting broke out in the predominantly black Watts section of Los Angeles; ultimately, 34 people were killed in the violence.
In 1978 foreign dignitaries arrived in Vatican City for the funeral of Pope Paul VI.
In 1984 President Ronald Reagan joked during a voice test for a paid political radio address that he had “signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.”
In 1992 the Mall of America, the biggest U.S. shopping mall, opened in Bloomington, Minn.
In 1994 a federal jury awarded $286.8 million to 10,000 commercial fishermen across Alaska for losses as a result of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
In 1995 President Bill Clinton banned all U.S. nuclear tests, calling his decision “the right step as we continue pulling back from the nuclear precipice.”
In 1999 a rare tornado hit downtown Salt Lake City, killing one person.
In 2002 US Airways filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
In 2003 Herb Brooks, who coached the U.S. Olympic hockey team to the “Miracle on Ice” victory over the Soviet Union in 1980, died in a car crash near Minneapolis; he was 66.
In 2004 Britain granted its first license for human cloning for the purpose of stem cell research.
