By Dan Whitcomb
(Reuters) - Archaeologists conducting a survey in
Great Basin National Park in eastern Nevada have
stumbled upon a 132-year-old Winchester rifle
propped against a tree, possibly having been left
there more than a century ago.
The rifle, which records show was manufactured
and shipped by the gun maker in 1882, had been
leaning against the Juniper tree for so long that
the wood of its stock was cracked and
deteriorated from the desert sun, its barrel
rusted.
"It really is a mystery," said Nichole Andler, a
public information officer for Great Basin National
Park. "We know it has been out there awhile
because the stock was buried in dirt. But we do
not know for how exactly how long."
Andler said more than 700,000 Winchester Model
1783 rifles were manufactured by the company
between 1873 and 1916, becoming known as the
"gun that won the West" because of its popularity.
The remote, rugged area now encompassed by the
park, in the high desert of eastern Nevada near
the Utah border, was used primarily for mining
and ranching at the time the rifle was sold.
Great Basin National Park was established there in
1986, known for its 5,000-year-old pine trees and
other desert flora and fauna.
So far experts have not been able to establish who
purchased the gun or where it has been in the 132
years since.
It was first spotted in November by a member of a
park archaeology team surveying the area and
Andler said it might have been overlooked in the
past because the gray stock of the wood blended
in with the tree.
Andler said the rifle would be conserved by
experts to keep it from deteriorating any further
but not be restored to newer-looking condition
before it is put on display at the park.
Source:[url]https://m.yahoo.com/w/legobpengine/frontpage/news/archaeologists-1882-rifle-leaning-against-nevada-desert-tree-230226150.html?.b=%2Findex&.intl=us&.lang=en[/url]