132-Year-Old Winchester Rifle Found Propped Against a Tree

wayoflife

wayoflife

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Just read this article which was published in the Washington Post and apparently, a couple of archaeologists doing a routine survey in the Great Basin National Park came across an old Winchester rifle laying up against a Juniper tree. Turn out it was made back in 1882 and had pretty much just been sitting there for the last 132 years! In so many ways, I think this is what I love most about Northern Nevada - it's still the old west as far as time is concerned and very little has changed. Check it out...

The mystery of the 132-year-old Winchester rifle found propped against a national park tree
By Elahe Izadi

Archaeologists conducting surveys in Nevada’s Great Basin National Park came upon a gun frozen in time: a .44-40 Winchester rifle manufactured in 1882. It was propped up against a juniper tree.

“They just happened to notice the rifle under the tree,” said Nichole Andler, Basin National Park’s chief of interpretation. The public will get a chance to view the rifle over the weekend.

Although staff have no idea how the rifle ended up there, “it looked like someone propped it up there, sat down to have their lunch and got up to walk off without it,” Andler said.

It’s remarkable that anyone was able to spot the gun back in November, as it had blended in so well with its surroundings. The unloaded gun appears to have been left undisturbed for more than 100 years; its wooden base had turned gray and was partially buried, and the barrel had rusted.

Read the whole article here:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...e-found-propped-against-a-national-park-tree/
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Here are some photos...

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That is incredible. I will say this though, 132 years ago it is somewhat unlikely that someone would have accidentally left their rifle against a tree. Having a firearm was rather important. (My great grandfather lived in Nevada back then, and it was still very much the Wild West in many ways.)

It makes me wonder what really happened to make the owner leave without the gun.
 
Sharkey said:
That is incredible. I will say this though, 132 years ago it is somewhat unlikely that someone would have accidentally left their rifle against a tree. Having a firearm was rather important. (My great grandfather lived in Nevada back then, and it was still very much the Wild West in many ways.)

It makes me wonder what really happened to make the owner leave without the gun.
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It really does make the imagination run wild doesn't it :crazyeyes:

piginajeep said:
It's odd the tree or something else didn't grow around it.
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The Great Basin National Forest is still in the desert and the trees grow very slowly here. In fact, it is the location of some of the oldest trees in the world and they're kind of like glorified Banzai Trees.
 
What a find!!! Looks really weathered, but still hard to believe it has been siting that long. Still amazing though!
 
That really is a priceless find amazing how good the rifle still looks after 132 years with no maintenance or care. Nature took real good care of that piece of history :thumb:
 
Sharkey said:
That is incredible. I will say this though, 132 years ago it is somewhat unlikely that someone would have accidentally left their rifle against a tree. Having a firearm was rather important. (My great grandfather lived in Nevada back then, and it was still very much the Wild West in many ways.)

It makes me wonder what really happened to make the owner leave without the gun.
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I agree. I'd be Interested to see if the components still function AT ALL. Great find and thanks for sharing guys!
 
I agree I love the west. Getting to do a few months of work in the old Calico mining district really brings into perspective just how hard it was to live. The old mines and remnants of things that are over a century old are amazing. I can't get enough of the "Wild West" history. I found a cool old purple bottle (was most likely originally clear and over 100 years old) while I was there. Of course I just left it in place and GPS'd it's location to take back to the office....;)
 
Awesome find I read that post earlier today. I would be excited to find something like that just the history aspect of it is cool! 👍
 
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