132 Yr Old Winchester Found Leaning Against Tree in NV

Boy would I love to have found this! A Winchester model 1873 was found leaning against a tree in the Nv desert by Park Rangers. Still intact and believed to be manufactured in 1882, it will be on display at a local museum in 2016. Sorry about the lack of pics as my phone isn't very post-friendly, but here's the cnn link
www.cnn.com...
The other reason for this post, is upon showing it to my father, he stated without hesitation that it could be a marker of sorts. I recall in a couple western novels I read as a kid of rifles used as headstones/grave markers when one died "on the trail". Or could it mark buried treasure? Anyone on ATS know anything of these traditions? Be it a misplaced rifle or not, I'd LOVE to scout that area with my metal detector.
This is my very first post so please moderate and suggest as necessary and thanks again ATS. I hope you enjoy the story as much as I did.

Wow...

I would have loved to hold that in my hands..

How cool is that, the stories that rifle could tell.
I use to love hiking the hills near Bullhead City AZ, found old rifle casings, old coyote traps.Once I came across a pile of rocks which contained a old cigar tin with a gold claim from 1923.

Here is the picture for you




They do not mention any growth around the rifle from leaning against the tree, even in a desert the tree would grow. I think someone just put it there in the past few years and forgot it. I believe to assume it has been there so long just because that is when it was made would be like me finding a 60 year old penny on my table and wondering how the table got under it

Still a great story, it would be neat to find a relic like that.

a reply to: TopCat1



Picture from the article. Looks a bit rusty. Still very cool, but would only be good as a wall hanger.

a reply to: TopCat1

imediate questions :

is the tree alive or dead , and has the tree been dated ?

as living trees tend to react to objects in contact with them

For it's age, it does not look like it's in that bad of shape. It could be a grave marker for the owner.

Thanks for the pics! I agree it would be difficult to really tell how long its been there. My brother found an old Winchester single shot 12 guage against a tree near yosemite. It was buried to the trigger in duff and pine needles. Turns out it was Identified by his friends grandfather who lost it on the property some 40 years earlier. The condition of the wood is amazing though the barrel was very pitted. The action even functions (though it took some coaxing). Considering the wear on the 1873 and the fact that here in Nv we have mesquite trees that are hundreds of years old and still not taller than 6-12 ft with no surrounding brush aside from tumbleweeds, I think its definitely plausible it could have been there 100 years or more imo.

a reply to: ignorant_ape
Good questions. Its hard to tell from the pics. Looks to be mequite and dead. The ancient mequite here grow so slowly it may be hard to notice any reaction to contact. But I can tell you after years of residential tree work in the redwoods, that any conifer would have long consumed the rifle. Its amazing what you can find high up and inside redwood trees
Not so great when you find it with a chainsaw while tied in 120' up though! lol

originally posted by: ignorant_ape
a reply to: TopCat1

imediate questions :

is the tree alive or dead , and has the tree been dated ?

as living trees tend to react to objects in contact with them

Actual trees that grow in the desert grow, very, very slowly.
My initial thought was, it must has been placed there recently.
It still rains, wind still blows, etc. the butt end of the gun would most certainly been covered a little more than it is right now.
But there is always the exception right, so who knows, it might be the needle in the hay stack.

Wonder whether it was loaded?

The raised grain of the hardwood stock would require decades of exposure to the elements to become so weathered.

As far as grave markers go, never has a weapon leaning on a tree been used to signify that purpose.

Treasure marker? Uhrm, I think not.

a reply to: TopCat1

That does not look like a mesquite. It gives every evidence of looking like a cedar. Dead cedars make about the most indestructible fence post you can have. I have such on my property. They last almost forever even if left standing.

I love these old relics, but this one is an amazing find. It brings to mind that I know of a Texas rancher that found a case of buried rifles on his property a couple of decades ago.

I'll bet it's a movie prop left from filming some old western. I doubt if it would be in the same position after 100 years.

There has been a lot of stuff left in the desert over the expansion to the west.

Trouble is finding them.

Quite a lot remains.

originally posted by: Volund
Here is the picture for you

They do not mention any growth around the rifle from leaning against the tree, even in a desert the tree would grow. I think someone just put it there in the past few years and forgot it. I believe to assume it has been there so long just because that is when it was made would be like me finding a 60 year old penny on my table and wondering how the table got under it

Still a great story, it would be neat to find a relic like that.

Umm, no.

Why in the world would you think the tree has to grow AROUND something, trees do not feel something leaning on them and magically decide to engulf it within itself.

Awesome find. I believe that this was left there back in the old West days. The poor owner probably laid it against the tree, and most likely died of thirst. There must be a lot of things out there, this Country is so huge, and most of it is not populated. ~$heopleNation

maybe they can get an ID of the ammunition in it and help date it more conclusively... if it was loaded.
cool find.

originally posted by: ParasuvO

originally posted by: Volund
Here is the picture for you

..snip... it would be neat to find a relic like that.

Umm, no.

Why in the world would you think the tree has to grow AROUND something, trees do not feel something leaning on them and magically decide to engulf it within itself.

Really? Thanks for the laugh.

originally posted by: ParasuvO

originally posted by: Volund
Here is the picture for you

They do not mention any growth around the rifle from leaning against the tree, even in a desert the tree would grow. I think someone just put it there in the past few years and forgot it. I believe to assume it has been there so long just because that is when it was made would be like me finding a 60 year old penny on my table and wondering how the table got under it

Still a great story, it would be neat to find a relic like that.

Umm, no.

Why in the world would you think the tree has to grow AROUND something, trees do not feel something leaning on them and magically decide to engulf it within itself.

Greetings:

It's not magic.

Actually, trees do exactly that.

As a 'tree person' for all my life (green chain at the Weyerhauser mill at 16 and logging professionally for over 4 decades), I have found metal objects embedded over two feet in the middle of many types of trees… 1/2 inch rebar 4 ft in a Ficus after Hurricane Floyd…lit up my 48" Stihl and destroyed a $50 skip-tooth chain.

I even take pieces of trunks with nails embedded 10" in the wood to display at art shows along with our tables, etc..

Will look for a pic or two.

Look forward to it ending up on Pawn Stars.