The Bell
This bell’s origins dates back to 453 B.C in ancient Greece. Hermes was on his way to deliver this bell to Zeus at MT Olympus, when he dropped it from the sky onto a farmer’s land. The farmer believed that this bell brought luck, due to his crops growing twice its normal size the following morning. The bell made its way to Iceland where an explorer known as Leif Erikson received it from his father which he believed in its power of luck. In 999 AD, Erikson set sailed with his crew of thirty-five men and was blown of course to an area of costal North America. Not only did Leif Erikson find new land that he called Vinland also known as present day Canada. But found it 500 years prior to Christopher Columbus. Erikson was eager to go back to Iceland and make his news public that he forgot to bring back the bell which Erikson believed helped him find this new land. The bell was then founded by a group of travelers that made its way down to present day California. In 1654, a group of Spanish Explorers robbed a Native American tribe and acquired the bell and used it as one of the bells for their mission known as, “Mission San Jose”. This bell stayed there until the earthquake of October 21, 1868 which destroyed much of the mission. With the mission being destroyed they decided to auction of the bell, and in 1881 George W. Minns purchased the bell for his newly found school known as San Jose State University.