Random Rumor: California's State Flag

http://www.wikipedia.org/

Rooney fans beware: the California State Flag design was based on a minor miscommunication.

When American settlers rebelled against ruling Mexico and declared California an independent republic, they wanted to display a distinctly Californian new flag over Sonoma Plaza.  Based on the future state's agricultural prowess, the men chose a pear to be the central figure on the flag.

Hastily composing a note with those instructions, the men sent the banner and more cloth materials to a nearby artist asking him to paint the pear in the center of the flag.  The artist (a nephew of Mary Todd Lincoln) misread the scrawled note and painted a bear instead.

The men hung the flag anyway, intending to change it as soon as possible.  This never happened, because the independent California was shortly captured by American troops and declared part of the United States.

The state adopted a new version of this first flag in 1911 to honor that short-lived republic.

http://www.snopes.com/