MOMENTS IN TIME

The History Channel

• On Aug. 16, 1896, George Carmack spots nuggets of gold in a creek bed near the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory. His lucky discovery sparks the last great gold rush in the American West. Over the next two years, as many as 50,000 would-be miners arrived in the region.

• On Aug. 17, 1915, Charles F. Kettering is issued a patent for his “engine-starting device” — the first electric ignition for automobiles. In the early years, drivers used hand cranks to start the internal combustion process that powered car engines.

• On Aug. 14, 1935, President Franklin D. Roose...