Happy Saturday, Nancy! I am always embarrassed when you choose US history and I don't know the answer. I am heading outside now, but will think about this as I dig out all the wild onions and other weeds in our front yard. Of course, if I get ALL the weeds, there will be nothing but dirt left, I am afraid. Sigh.

I will check back in a while for clues.

Cynthia

lol Cynthia - don't be embarrassed - you have so much history!!

Since the years immediately preceding the Panic of 1857 were prosperous, many banks, merchants, and farmers had seized the opportunity to take risks with their investments and as soon as market prices began to fall, they quickly began to experience the effects of financial panic. You know, it wasn't until after the American Civil that the New York banks completely recovered!! Even so, they had standards back then.

Nancy.

Ah, a clue, me thinks.

Cynthia

Yes, ;-) - 2 so far. But I am looking for an event, mean girl that I am.

Nancy.

Playing along but have no answer yet. Will check back later for more clues.

Gorgeous sunny day here, btw. I have laundry on the line for the second time this year!! A stark contrast to yesterday, when we had wild winds blowing in, no doubt leftovers from the Tornadoes near Detroit. It would have been wild on Lake Erie, in a boat.

Nancy.

I am not sure if I'm on the right track yet but I will keep thinking about it. In the meantime, I'm off to take my niece and nephew to Disneyland for a few hours this afternoon. They have their favorite rides, my nephew's is Space Mountain and my niece's is Splash Mountain. It's always a struggle, but I try to make them ride my favorite ride at lease one time, the Pirates of the Caribbean. I know it's not the most wild ride, but I just love the decorations of all the scenery inside. Until later...

Oh, I used to love the Pirates of the Caribbean ride!! Don't get wet!!

Nancy.

Event...still thinking. Pre-Civil War. Hmmm...feeling stupid and also realizing that I should probably start thinking about hiring someone to do the weeds in the yard. Digging/pulling them up is just getting more and more difficult. Lugging bags of mulch is just as bad. Sigh.

I, too am a fan of the Pirates ride, although it has been many many years!

Cynthia

The only thing I can think of pre-Civil War that might apply is a political bill that affected newly settled states.

I am missing the early St. Louis springs but glad not to be in the tornado storms this week. Today I have been out and about with the rest of the weather weary MInnesotans enjoying the bright sunny day. Great to shed grey skies and light jackets. Another nice day tomorrow with evening showers expected so will have time to put out some winter sown jugs.

Many, many years ago we visited Disneyland while on a cross country driving trip with our 14 year old foster daughter. Can't remember much about it. Probably before the Pirates ride. Seems there was a small world ride.

There was and is a Small World Ride. I'd imagine it is much the same now as it was when you visited; doesn't seem to have changed much in many years. We are back from our afternoon at The Happiest Place on Earth. Indeed, I was able to convince my niece and nephew to ride the Pirates. It brought back memories, the earliest I remember was when I went to Disneyland for the first time at age 5. I remember thinking back then how fun it would be to become a treasure hunter when I grew up, finding all of the lost riches under the sea. Then, many years later, those same desires stirred when the movie Titanic was released. Too bad I became a simple office worker, haha. Can you imagine what still lies undiscovered out there?

While watching the news I was reminded of your weather clue, Nancy. Storms and ships..I remember that there was a ship that was lost during a hurricane carrying a load of gold which greatly affected the banking community but don't remember if that was during this time period or during the war.

The Dredd Scott case was adjudicated in St. Louis and that and the Missouri Compromise slowed the settlement of the western states which would have been a negative for the railroad and building and farming businesses. This was what I was referring to but that doesn't fit the weather clue.

Glad you had a fun time at Disneyland and enjoyed your ride and the memories, AtomicJay007. Though I didn't live out my childhood dreams of an exciting career I have had a good life with different exciting adventures.

Atomic Jay and Bobbie - you are on to something. All will be revealed in the morning!!

Nancy.

Hmmmm, just chimed in, I have no idea of what the answer is other then it might be a ship sinking from the clues above.
We spent the day yesterday tearing down our front porch, DS2 is building a new one for us, the way he builds things it's going to outlast the house. After breakfast it's going to be busy around here.
Annette

Atomic Jay, that was a great and subtle clue! :-)

Not sure of the incident, but it appears that there must have been a ship that went down somewhere. I, too, was initially thinking of Dred Scott, Bobbie, but couldn't connect it to the Panic of 1957 (which I never heard of before Nancy asked this). Nancy, your clue made me realize how wrong I was!

Will wait for the answer. Alas, no stars for me.

Cynthia

Well, according to Wikipedia, 'In the early 1850s, there was much economic prosperity in the United States. In the beginning of 1857, the European market for goods from western America began to decline, which caused western bankers and investors to become wary. Eastern banks became cautious with their loans to the west and some even refused to accept western bank-issued paper currencies. Prior to 1857, the railroad industry was booming due to large migrations of people to the west, especially in Kansas. With the large influx of people, the railroads became a profitable industry and the banks seized the opportunity and began to provide railroad companies with large loans. However, by the late summer of 1857, the value of western land fell and migration drastically slowed, causing railroad securities to fall in value. By the spring, "commercial credit had dried up, forcing already debt-ridden merchants of the West to curtail new purchases of inventory." As a result of limited purchasing in the west, merchants around the country began to see decreases in sales and profits. The railroads "had created an interdependent national economy, and now an economic downturn in the West threatened …[an] economic crisis." Since many banks had financed the railroads and land purchases, they began to feel the pressures of the falling value of railroad securities. The Illinois Central; Erie; Pittsburgh, Fort Wayne and Chicago; and Reading Railroad lines were all forced to shut down owing to the financial downturn. The Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad and the Fond du Lac Railroad companies were forced to declare bankruptcy. The Boston and Worcester Railroad Company also experienced heavy financial difficulties. The employees were informed, in a memo written in late October 1857, "the receipts from Passengers and Freight have fallen off during [the] last month (as compared with the corresponding month of last year), over twenty thousand dollars, with very little prospect of any improvement during the coming winter." The company also announced that their workers would receive a "reduction in … pay of ten percent." In addition to the decreasing value of railroad securities, farmers began to default on payments on their mortgaged lands in the west, which put more financial pressure on banks.

The Dred Scot ruling (as Bobbie surmised) also made the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, and it was clear that the decision would have a significant impact on the further development of western territories. Soon after the ruling, "the political struggle between 'free soil' and slavery in the territories" began. The western territories were now opened to the possibility that slavery might expand into them, and it was quickly evident that this would have drastic financial and political effects.

In Britain, the Palmerston government circumvented the requirements of the Peel Banking Act of 1844, which required gold and silver reserves to back up the amount of money in circulation. Surfacing news of this circumvention set off the Panic in Britain. '

For the New York banks, the solution was an infusion of Californian gold. SS Central America, known as the Ship of Gold, was a 280-foot (85 m) sidewheel steamer that operated between Central America and the eastern coast of the United States during the 1850s. She was originally named the SS George Law, after Mr. George Law of New York. On 9 September 1857, the ship was caught up in a Category 2 hurricane while off the coast of the Carolinas. By 11 September, the 105 mph (165 km/h) winds and heavy seas had shredded its sails, she was taking on water, and her boiler was threatening to go out. A leak in one of the seals between the paddle wheel shafts and the ship's sides sealed its fate, and, at noon that day, her boiler could no longer maintain fire. Steam pressure dropped, shutting down both the pumps that had been keeping the water at bay and the paddle wheels that kept her pointed into the wind as the ship settled by the stern. The passengers and crew flew the ship's flag upside down (a sign of distress in the United States) to try to signal a passing ship. No one came. The ship sank in a hurricane in September 1857, along with more than 550 passengers and crew and 30,000 pounds (14,000 kg) of gold.

And there she sat, till 1988, when she was discovered by a young marine expert named Thomas Thompson. He secured investors and put together an operation to recover all that gold - the stuff of which legends are made! They recovered about 2 tons of gold, worth about $76 million in today's money. Then, like a Hollywood movie, he went on the run over a controversy over 500 gold coins. They are worth about $26,500 each. His partners never received their share of the loot. The antecedents of those who lost the treasure in the first place, including an order of Catholic monks, a Texas oil millionaire, a university and over a dozen insurance companies that paid out the claim over a century ago made claims.

The legalities have now been untangled. Odyssey Marine Exploration has been hired to bring up the remaining treasure. Last year they did their first robotic dive and brought up about $1.2 million dollars in in gold bars and artifacts. No word on Thomas Thompson.

So, there you have it - you know I love long complicated stories and boy this one sure is that! So, because the sun is shining, and I don't get the chance to do this to often, Stars for everyone!

OK, still have not figured out how to post multiples of the same pics and my animated stars are history - oh well. Thanks for playing. See you all in the pages.

Nancy.

Glad you joined in our little game. Drop on by any time - we don't play as often as we used to, but still get the odd game in!

Nancy.

Thanks for the history lesson, Nancy!

AtomicJay, I will be posting a trivia question next weekend, so I hope you will pop in for that, too. Of course, I had an idea a couple of weeks ago, but now have no idea what it was, but I know it was just marvelous. Sigh. I will come up with something.

Cynthia

Marvelous, Darling, marvelous! Looking forward to that question, Cynthia.

Thanks for the question and informative answer, Nancy. Raising my son in St. Louis we took in many museums multiple times over the years. The Louisiana Purchase Exposition (1904 World's Fair) and St. Louis' role as gateway to the west, Charles Lindbergh, and Dredd Scott were well covered. Mn covers both Lindbergh and Scott as they both lived here during parts of their lives.

I was clutching at straws with this one, if it wasn't for the clues.......Thanks for the interesting little piece of history. Quite a story.

Annette