Anyone into Gossip?

Keepin_Jeepin

New member
I was working at a Machine / Welding Fab shop last year and my boss got a call about some Machines in my home town of Chelan. I forget all what they were, but there was a big drill press, a gigantic turret lathe, various shapers and etc.

We get there, to this tiny, small OLD house on the lake that we live at. Talk to the owner and he walks us to this concrete shop in the side of a hill under a highway.

He opens the small garage door and exposes the small shop (only about a 12'x20' area) with all the machines. Then he opens another door in the back that puts you almost under the highway we are right next too. There is a long tunnel perpendicular to the highway, looks to be a little over 100 yards with a pully system at the top. Its a shooting range.

The owner had just inherited the house and property due to a death in the family. He tells us that the property was originally (you guys will hate me but I completely forget) It was either originally Sam Colts or his son or something like that. And when that person died it was gifted to his personal gunsmith. And it was the retirement location of a gunsmith closely tied to the Colts and we were standing at his Machine shop and looking at his tools for building guns.

No cool finds or anything but I thought it was an interesting story. I was wondering if anyone knew if it had any merit? Best I can tell is its all hearsay through the grapevine.
 
You could always check with your county auditor or recorder. The former would have tax records, the latter would have ownership history.

All you should need is the Parcel # or address
 
Sam Colt lived in a mansion on a hill in Hartford, Connecticut, overlooking the original factory complex. The mansion is still there, but it hasn't been in the Colt family for a long time.

Sam Colt died suddenly and unexpectedly, and since he owned a gun factory I would surmise it's highly unlikely that he either had a personal gunsmith (he had several hundred of them working for him) or needed a secret firing range.
 
Chelan is in Washington state. I thought the story was a little far fetched. However the garage and range is definitely that of a gunsmith.

Maybe just the person is wrong? Different guy?

Its fun to think about. I may just have to look up the records some day.
 
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