The gun was manufactured in 1882, but nothing is known of its abandonment. The bottom of its stock was buried in 4–5 inches (10–13 cm) of accumulated soil and vegetation, and a round of ammunition stored in its buttstock dated between 1887 and 1911, indicating that it had been resting there for many years. A post about the rifle on the park's Facebook page went viral, prompting speculation about the rifle's origin.[1][2] The rifle has become an icon of the American West.[3]
Discovery
Prior to the rifle's discovery, the National Park Service had started a $280,000 fuels reduction project around Strawberry Creek Campground to prevent campfires from sparking wildfires in the surrounding forest. As part of the project, the Park Service sent staff from their cultural resources office to search the project area for artifacts, and archaeologist Eva Jensen found the rifle leaning against a tree above the campground. Less than two years later, the Strawberry Fire swept through the area and consumed the juniper tree the rifle had been leaning against.[4][5]
The rifle is a Winchester Repeating Arms Company Model 1873, chambered in .44-40 Winchester. This model is sometimes known as "the gun that won the West." The rifle's serial number indicates that it was one of 25,000 manufactured in 1882.[6]
The park service sent the gun to the Firearms Museum at the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming for analysis and conservation. A team of researchers took the firearm to a local hospital to be X-rayed under the patient name "Rifle". While the chamber and tube magazine were not loaded, the X-rays revealed a live .44-Winchester centerfire caliber cartridge in a compartment inside the buttstock. This cartridge was manufactured by the Union Metallic Cartridge Company sometime between 1887 and 1911. The X-ray also showed that a crack in the stock had been repaired with metal pins. The conservators used hydroxypropyl cellulose to preserve the wooden gunstock and prevent it from further deterioration.
The rifle is on permanent display in the Baker Visitor Center of Great Basin National Park,[1][7] along with the cartridge found in it.[8]
