YEARS AGO FOR OCT. 26

Today is Thursday, Oct. 26, the 299th day of 2017. There are 66 days left in the year.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

On this date in:

1825: The Erie Canal opens in upstate New York, connecting Lake Erie and the Hudson River.

1861: The legendary Pony Express officially ceases operations, giving way to the transcontinental telegraph.

1881: The “Gunfight at the O.K. Corral” takes place in Tombstone, Ariz, as Wyatt Earp, his two brothers and “Doc” Holliday confront Ike Clanton’s gang. Three members of Clanton’s gang are killed. Earp’s brothers and Holliday are wounded.

1949: President Harry S. Truman signs a measure raising the minimum wage from 40 to 75 cents an hour.

1994: Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin of Israel and Prime Minister Abdel Salam Majali of Jordan sign a peace treaty during a ceremony at the Israeli-Jordanian border attended by President Bill Clinton.

2001: President George W. Bush signs the USA Patriot Act, giving authorities unprecedented ability to search, seize, detain or eavesdrop in their pursuit of possible terrorists.

2012: After leaving nearly five dozen people dead in the Caribbean, Hurricane Sandy heads toward the eastern United States, with forecasters warning that it would merge with two winter storm systems to create a megastorm.

VINDICATOR FILES

1992: Members of the Springfield Local Classroom Teachers Association ratify a new three- year contract to end a 61/2-week strike that affected 1,400 students from kindergarten through 12th grade.

General Motors Corp. Chairman Robert Stempel resigns from the troubled automaker and John Smale, chairman of GM’s executive committee, is named interim chairman.

Barbara Armstrong, director of Stambaugh Auditorium, outlines plans for a $500,000 restoration of the 66-year-old facility.

1977: Meeting in Pittsburgh, members of the Steel Communities Coalition adopt a number of resolutions in its continuing fight for environmental understanding, import relief and an audience with President Jimmy Carter.

A pre-election forum sponsored by the League of Women Votes to explain the Mahoning County piggyback sales tax and state constitutional proposals draws only nine people at First Presbyterian Church.

The Northeast Ohio Employment and Training Consortium will receive $4.7 million for job programs in the tri-county area in 1978.

1967: “Racketeers enjoy a very special type of freedom in our fair city and that very little, if any, pressure is applied by [Mayor Anthony Flask’s] administration,” says Youngstown mayoral challenger Hugh Frost.

A Lisbon man charged with throwing wood and nails from a motor vehicle during the recent truck strike is sentenced to three months in jail.

Penney’s Toyland Sale has a “L’il Miss Fussy” doll for $12.99; a 17-inch “Baby Say ’N’ See” talking doll for $12.99; and Susy Homemaker dishwasher/sink, washer-dryer or oven for $12.88 each.

1942: Jeannette MacDonald, the movie singing star, walks down West Federal Street with two companions without getting so much as a nod from Youngstowners. She was in town for a show at Stambaugh Auditorium sponsored by the Monday Musical Club.

Coffee will be rationed at 1 pound for every five weeks for each person over 15 years old or about one cup a day.

In the presence of U.S. Sen. Harold Burton, Ohio Gov. John Bricker, U.S. Rep. Michael Kirwan, Atty. Henry Hoppe, chairman of the Mahoning Valley Water Defense Committee, and thousands of visitors, Berlin Dam is dedicated.