1882 Winchester Rifle Found Leaning on Tree in Park

Officials at Nevada’s Great Basin National Park are working to solve the mystery of an 132-year-old Winchester rifle found leaning against a tree in the park.

Great Basin archaeologists found the rifle in November, which appeared to have been long exposed to sun, wind, snow and rain.

“The cracked wood stock, weathered to grey, and the brown rusted barrel blended into the colors of the old juniper tree in a remote rocky outcrop, keeping the rifle hidden for many years,” the park said.

The finding left the park employees wondering. Who left the rifle? When and why it was leaned on the tree? And, why was it never retrieved?

“Right now there are more questions than answers,” Nichole Andler, chief of Interpretation at Great Basin, told Discovery News.

“What we do know is the ‘Model 1873′ distinctively engraved on the mechanism identify the rifle as the Winchester Model 1873 repeating rifle,” she added.

She noted that the serial number on the lower tang corresponds with manufacture and shipping records dating to 1882.

“Currently, the detailed history of this rifle is unknown. Winchester records do not indicate who purchased the rifle from the warehouse or where it was shipped,” Andler said.

Referred to as “the gun that won the West,” Winchester manufactured 720,610 of the rifles between 1873 and 1916, when production ended. In 1882 alone, more than 25,000 were made.

Indeed, in 1882 it was sold as “everyman’s rifle” for about $25.

Read more at Discovery News