The birth of a wine industry and the discovery of gold – this week in history certainly was a busy one.

Jan. 23, 1862

Hides and tallow – a greasy fat used in making cheap candles – is what California was good for under the Spanish and then Mexican government. Hundreds of thousands of cattle once wandered the hills, the valleys and the creek beds of our state. California was the original Longhorn State.

We can all give thanks to a single Hungarian nobleman for changing that fate and setting us on a path of a more sweetly-smelling future.

Count Agoston Haraszthy is known today as the “Father of the California Wine Industry.”

Born in Hungary in 1812 to a noble family, his early life is shrouded in a mist he himself created. Later in life, he claimed that as a teenager he served as a bodyguard to Marie Antoinette’s nephew, Francis I.

What is certain is that Haraszthy was the sort of man who fit more into a single year than most of us are able to in an entire lifetime.

Tiring of Europe, he traveled to the United States, wrote a book about his experience, took the proceeds from the sales of the book and invested in a new life in America.

He lived for a time in Wisconsin and then San Diego before finally making it to Sonoma County.

Everywhere he laid his hat he set himself to work: he was a farmer, store-owner, mill-operator and owner of a steamship service while in Wisconsin. In San Diego he was a sheriff, a city marshal and a state assemblyman.

When the count first made his way to California in the 1850s vineyards had already been planted in the coastal ranges of California. In fact, as early as 1812, Russian colonists had planted grapes at their outpost of Fort Bragg on the Mendocino coast.

Haraszthy arrived and took what up to then had been a crop grown for private consumption and made it into a profitable business.

Or, almost.

The count set up the Buena Vista Winery in Sonoma County in the late 1850s. On this day in 1862, Haraszthy received a load of 100,000 vines representing 1,400 European grape varieties. He was ready to begin testing to see what grew best in his new home.

Unfortunately, his very industriousness in importing European varietals sealed his fate. A few years after planting, his vines began to weaken and die – North America was in the grips of an outbreak of phylloxera. A kind of aphid native to North America, these little pests destroyed vineyards across the country. Only native grapes were partially resistant to the plague.

Haraszthy’s European vines didn’t stand a chance. Partially blamed for the devastation caused by the outbreak, Haraszthy was pushed out as president of the California Agricultural Society.

Always one to land on his feet, “The Father of the California Wine Industry” set out for South America, where he tried his hand at plantation life. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a chance to become the “Father of the Nicaraguan Sugar Industry.”

His death is as spectacular as his life. In 1869, after returning from San Francisco with machinery for his sugar plantation, Haraszthy disappeared in a river near his property and – so the assumption remains to this day – was eaten by alligators.

Jan. 24, 1848

“I have found it!”

At least that is what we like to imagine James Marshall said on this day in 1848. That is certainly what he imagined he said.

Marshall and a team of Mormons had recently been sent into the foothills outside of what would become Sacramento. Their employer was John Sutter. Their task was to build a sawmill. They would exceed all expectations, but struggle to build the mill.

Based out of an adobe fort near the confluence to two rivers, John Sutter had made this partnership with Marshall out of sheer desperation.

Marshall was no millwright, but then again Sutter was no military captain – a title he would try to claim more than once.

His settlement of New Helvetia was relatively prosperous, as far as frontier settlements were concerned.

As part of his prospects for expanding his area of interest beyond the confines of the fort, Sutter needed to construct a sawmill farther up the American River. The cut planks of pine would be used to further expand his settlement and what he didn’t use would be floated down the river to the coastal town of Yerba Buena, or San Francisco, for sale to that growing community. A wonderful business plan.

But Sutter needed a man to lead a team upriver to construct the mill, and in frontier North America men had to make do with what lay around them. With no actual millwrights in sight, he chose the carpenter James Wilson Marshall as his man.

The work at the mill had been taking longer than expected, with Marshall making occasional appearances back at New Helvetia for supplies or to explain delays to the impatient Sutter.

On this day in 1848, at half past seven in the morning, Marshall was walking the excavated ditch his crew had been digging along the river when a sparkle caught his attention.

Breaking the thin rime of ice that covered the water, he picked up several pieces of what he initially thought were shiny quartz.

After taking a sample and smashing it between two rocks, he discovered that the specimen didn’t break, but instead formed into a flattened lump.

Even as a mere carpenter, Marshall knew of only one substance that did that. Gold.

Marshall’s discovery that cold winter morning 169 years ago set into motion the largest migration of people in the history of the world.

Over the next several years, every available hand from as far away as Australia and New Zealand to France and Italy would be drawn to the golden land in search of wealth. Few would find wealth of any lasting nature, but many would try.

The world has never been the same since.

Antone Pierucci is curator of the Lake County Museums in Lake County, Calif.

LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – If this trusty old typewriter could talk, what would it say?

The Smith Premier No. 2 typewriter was manufactured from 1899 to 1940 by the Smith-Premier Typewriter Co. in Syracuse, New York.

The company was formed by several brothers named Wilbert, Monroe, Lyman Cornelius and Hurlburt Smith.

Their advertisements touted the fact that it was an extremely functional and versatile machine in which every character had its own key.

The Smith-Premier company's factory produced guns before their first typewriters were manufactured. The brother named Wilbert Smith laid down the capital for their typewriter endeavor, after an employee of their gun factor named Alexander T. Brown invented their model typewriter.

It wasn't long before writing machines won out over weapons, and they discontinued manufacturing shotguns altogether in 1888.

In 1893 the Smiths united with the Union Typewriter Co. who had several rivals, such as Densmore, Yost and Remington. These machines were also known as blindwriters, since you could not view what you were typing.

The Smiths and their cartel of typewriter manufacturers were able to hold their places as tops in sales, until the company called Underwood invented a typewriter in which you could see what you were typing. What a concept!

Early on, typewriters were touted for their efficiency in offices, and typing services were provided – for a cost – at their headquarters.

A name change for the company came about in the early 1900s, to now be called the Standard Typewriter Co.

In 1914 the Corona model was a successful model, so the company changed their moniker once again, to the Corona Typewriter Co.

The name Smith-Corona was used starting in 1926 when the production of portable typewriters began.

The Smith-Premier Co. produced both standard and portable typewriters up until 1940.

Kathleen Scavone, M.A., is a retired educator, potter, writer and author of “Anderson Marsh State Historic Park: A Walking History, Prehistory, Flora, and Fauna Tour of a California State Park” and “Native Americans of Lake County.” She was selected “Lake County Teacher of the Year, 1998-99” by the Lake County Office of Education, and chosen as one of 10 state finalists the same year by the California Department of Education.

California Department of Public Health (CDPH) State Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Smith reported that the state is experiencing widespread influenza activity that is more severe than last year.

CDPH also has received the first report of a death associated with influenza in a child younger than 18 years of age. The death occurred in Riverside County.

“This is a tragic reminder that the flu is a serious illness for people of all ages and kills thousands of Americans each year,” said Dr. Smith. “If you haven’t been immunized yet this season, getting flu shots for you and your family now can still help protect you this winter.”

CDPH disease monitoring indicates widespread flu activity across the state that is more severe than last year.

Since the beginning of the influenza season, CDPH has received reports of 14 influenza-associated deaths, including the child in Riverside.

This count represents a fraction of the total flu deaths statewide because only deaths in people younger than 65 are reported to the state and not all influenza-related deaths are easily attributable to influenza.

Hospitals statewide have been impacted by a surge in influenza patients, and hospitalizations for pneumonia and influenza at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California during the week ending Jan. 7 reached 10.2 percent, the highest level recorded in 10 years.

CDPH also has received reports of 83 influenza outbreaks, mostly in long-term care facilities, more than twice the reports received in recent years.

“We are closely monitoring the impact of influenza on health care facilities,” said Dr. Smith. “Some acute care hospitals in California are full and have diverted patients to other facilities.”

For anyone who has not yet received a flu shot this season, it is not too late. Influenza activity usually continues for several months, and it is still early in the season.

Because it takes about two weeks after vaccination for antibodies that protect against influenza, it is best to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

CDPH recommends all Californians aged six month and older, including pregnant women, should get the annual flu vaccine.

The flu virus circulating this season closely matches the vaccine, suggesting that the vaccine will provide protection against influenza and reduce the risk of severe disease.

The flu vaccine prevents disease due to the most serious wintertime virus, but other viruses are also circulating now.

Along with getting immunized, officials suggest taking these common-sense precautions against wintertime viruses:

· Stay home when you are sick.
· Cover your cough and sneezes with a tissue or your sleeve.
· Wash your hands often and thoroughly with soap and warm water or clean them with alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
· Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth.

For more information about influenza visit the CDPH influenza Web page. To learn where to receive flu vaccine at a location near you, visit the HealthMap Vaccine Finder.

Earth’s 2016 surface temperatures were the warmest since modern recordkeeping began in 1880, according to independent analyses by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.

Globally-averaged temperatures in 2016 were 1.78 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the mid-20th century mean. This makes 2016 the third year in a row to set a new record for global average surface temperatures.

The planet’s long-term warming trend is seen in this chart of every year’s annual temperature cycle from 1880 to the present, compared to the average temperature from 1880 to 2015. Record warm years are listed in the column on the right.

The 2016 temperatures continue a long-term warming trend, according to analyses by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. NOAA scientists concur with the finding that 2016 was the warmest year on record based on separate, independent analyses of the data.

Because weather station locations and measurement practices change over time, there are uncertainties in the interpretation of specific year-to-year global mean temperature differences. However, even taking this into account, NASA estimates 2016 was the warmest year with greater than 95 percent certainty.

Said GISS Director Gavin Schmidt, “2016 is remarkably the third record year in a row in this series. We don’t expect record years every year, but the ongoing long-term warming trend is clear.”

The planet’s average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere.

Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 16 of the 17 warmest years on record occurring since 2001.

Not only was 2016 the warmest year on record, but eight of the 12 months that make up the year – from January through September, with the exception of June – were the warmest on record for those respective months.

October, November, and December of 2016 were the second warmest of those months on record – in all three cases, behind records set in 2015.

Phenomena such as El Niño or La Niña, which warm or cool the upper tropical Pacific Ocean and cause corresponding variations in global wind and weather patterns, contribute to short-term variations in global average temperature.

A warming El Niño event was in effect for most of 2015 and the first third of 2016. Researchers estimate the direct impact of the natural El Niño warming in the tropical Pacific increased the annual global temperature anomaly for 2016 by 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.12 degrees Celsius). 

Weather dynamics often affect regional temperatures, so not every region on Earth experienced record average temperatures last year.

For example, both NASA and NOAA found the 2016 annual mean temperature for the contiguous 48 United States was the second warmest on record. In contrast, the Arctic experienced its warmest year ever, consistent with record low sea ice found in that region for most of the year.

NASA’s analyses incorporate surface temperature measurements from 6,300 weather stations, ship- and buoy-based observations of sea surface temperatures, and temperature measurements from Antarctic research stations.

These raw measurements are analyzed using an algorithm that considers the varied spacing of temperature stations around the globe and urban heating effects that could skew the conclusions. The result of these calculations is an estimate of the global average temperature difference from a baseline period of 1951 to 1980.

NOAA scientists used much of the same raw temperature data, but with a different baseline period, and different methods to analyze Earth’s polar regions and global temperatures.

GISS is a laboratory within the Earth Sciences Division of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The laboratory is affiliated with Columbia University’s Earth Institute and School of Engineering and Applied Science in New York.

NASA monitors Earth's vital signs from land, air and space with a fleet of satellites, as well as airborne and ground-based observation campaigns.

The agency develops new ways to observe and study Earth's interconnected natural systems with long-term data records and computer analysis tools to better see how our planet is changing.

NASA shares this unique knowledge with the global community and works with institutions in the United States and around the world that contribute to understanding and protecting our home planet.