Obscure U.S History #3 Quiz | History

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. Which west coast city was known as the "Shanghai Capital" of America in the nineteenth century?

Answer: Portland, Oregon

As many as fifteen hundred people a year passed through the Portland "underground" or "shanghai tunnels". They were kidnapped, drugged and passed through a trap door in many of the city's bars, brothels, and casinos. The victims would end up in a cell under the streets waiting for a captain to buy them. It was in effect a form of slavery. Normally it would take two years before they would return to Portland.
http://www.members.tripod.com/cgs-mthood/shanghai_tunnels_FAQ.htm

2. On September 1, 1920, an American submarine sank off the coast of Delaware. For the next thirty-six hours the crew was trapped underwater but eventually they all survived. Which ship was it?

Answer: USS S5

Someone forgot to close a valve when they dived and water spewed into the forward compartments. The crew was able to stop the leak but the amount of water she took on was too heavy for the ballast to work properly. The Captain reasoned that the ship was two hundred and ten feet long and they were in one hundred and ninety feet of water so he ordered that the ballast be jettisoned.

The result was that the submarine went into an upright position with the aft end sticking out of the water. The crew then cut a hole in the aft above the waterline and waited for a passing ship to help them.

At the time of the accident she was on tour trying to recruit sailors for the submarine fleet. http://www.csp.navy.mil/othboats/s-5.htm

3. The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Area bridge was completed in 1937. However, someone else had the idea and "ordered" its construction in 1872. Who was this man?

Answer: Joshua Norton I

Joshua Norton I, "Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico". He tried to corner the rice market and lost everything, blaming the federal government for his demise. One of his decrees was building the bridge. He also declared the United States government illegal and ordered the abolition of the Republican and Democratic parties, among many other things.
http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist1/norton.html

4. Which United States President took office two months after his son was killed in a train wreck?

Answer: Franklin Pierce

He also served in the Mexican-American war.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/fp14.html

5. The New York City subway opened in 1904 was the first subway system in the city.

Answer: False

Ely Beach applied for funding a subway system in 1870 but it was refused by New York city Mayor Tweed. Tweed was more in favor of an overhead rail for the city, so Beach snuck a proposal for a pressurized air tube mail delivery system and secretly began work on his subway.

When he opened the tunnel to the public he had 400,000 visitors in the first year. He applied to the state for more funding to extend coverage but was refused after Mayor Tweed intervened. Two years later Tweed was out of office and the State of New York granted Beach his funding with local investor support.

A stockmarket crash shortly after that saw investors pulling their money out and Beach's dream dead. The tunnel was closed and forgotten until a subway crew, excavating a new branch in 1912, discovered Beach's tunnel intact. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/technology/nyunderground/secret.html

6. On June 15, 1904 the General Slocum caught fire in the New York harbor while on an excursion cruise. Over one thousand people died, most of them children. According to the inquiry's findings, what was the main reason for the very high death toll?

Answer: Lifeboats were wired to the ship

The corks in the life vests were so old they crumbled, the fire hoses had holes(!) from poor maintenance, and the lifeboats were wired to the ship for reasons that have never been discovered.

7. What is so special about a duck called Gertie that the city of Milwaukee had a statue erected to her in 1999?

Answer: It had been a symbol of hope in World War II

Gertie the Duck made headlines across the country when she nested under a bridge in downtown Milwaukee, unlike most ducks. Readers found it refreshing to read about something other than the war as the media followed her, even tending her eggs. She attracted large crowds that wanted to watch and she even had her own bodyguard to keep people away. She was treated like a queen, even getting a lift atop a fire truck at one point.
http://www.youth.net/memories/1999/0120.html

8. How many people were arrested and hanged over the Haymarket Square riot?

Answer: Eight arrested and four hanged

Four were hanged, three were sentenced to prison, and one supposedly committed suicide while in jail. Only one, August Spies, was at Haymarket Square. In 1893 Governor Altgeld of Illinois pardoned the remaining three, touching off a political controversy.
http://www.execpc.com/~blake/haymar~1.html

9. In terms of overall losses (Percentage of troops) to manpower, what is considered the worst defeat in the history of the US Army?

Answer: Battle of the Wabash

It took place in Ohio in 1791. After the battle the U.S. Army had only 300 regulars out of 2,000 at the start of the battle. General Arthur St. Clair, who led the campaign, was forced to resign.
http://earlyamerica.com/review/summer/battle.html
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/ohc/history/h_indian/people/stclaira.shtml

10. Who said this about television: "There's nothing on it worthwhile, and we're not going to watch it in this household, and I don't want it in your intellectual diet"?

Answer: Philo Farnsworth

Farnsworth is credited with inventing television himself, at least in the United States. Newton Minnow echoed his view with the words "Television is a vast wasteland" in 1961, as Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.
http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blfarnsworth.htm

Source: Author blakey

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor bloomsby before going online.
Any errors found in FunTrivia content are routinely corrected through our feedback system.

Obscure U.S History #3 Trivia Quiz

Yet more obscure facts from America's past.

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