July 14 1962: The borehole for the 7.2-mile long Mont Blanc tunnel between France and Italy was finished. The tunnel was opened to traffic in July, 1965. Pictured is the French side of the tunnel.
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July 14, 1850: The first public demonstration of ice made via refrigeration was made by Florida physician John Gorrie.
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July 14, 1864: Gold was discovered in Helena, Montana.
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A silver bull breakout! Spot silver jumped 3.67% in one day, to close at $38.67 per Troy ounce on Friday. (July 11, 2025.) It was up again this morning (after Asian trading) to $38.90 per Troy ounce. That is a 14-year high for silver, in U.S. Dollar terms. The short sellers may give it one last try, but I expect them to soon capitulate. $1,000 face value bag of pre-1965 circulated (“junk”) silver now sells for around $28,830. So I’ve correspondingly raised my pre-1965 divisor to an unprecedented 28.8 times face value at Elk Creek Company. If you want to parlay a portion of your silver holdings into antique guns, then this is a very advantageous time to do so.
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Today’s feature article was written by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.