Original 1873 Winchester found in mountains yesterday

My guess is a Grizz chewed on the hunter, when the hunter woke up he crawled to the tree and leaned his empty rifle against it. He then died and was drug away by various varmints. Has the makins of a good saturday afternoon flick anyways *snickers*
 
Here is an article about that rifle:

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.co...er-rifle-found-great-basin-national-park26150

Engraved on the rifle is “Model 1873,” identifying it distinctly as a Winchester Model 1873 repeating rifle. The serial number on the lower tang corresponds in Winchester records held at the Center for the West at the Cody Firearms Museum in Cody, Wyoming, with a manufacture and shipping date of 1882. But the detailed history of this rifle is as yet unknown. Winchester records do not indicate who purchased the rifle from the warehouse or where it was shipped.
Click to expand...
 
Such a great find! I see that some here try to judge how long it's been in the weather by the condition of the wood. That is not a good indicator. Think of how many 100+ year-old fences and barnwood still survives in dry climates. In a humid climate, the entire rifle might not have survived.
 
Interesting read. If there's enough moisture there for a Juniper tree... That ain't exactly barren desert. Interesting regardless of how long its been there. I'm thinking its more like a few decades than a century. It's surprising it didn't grow around it.

Very cool that it was standing. Hell, I've seen guys that can't stand em up for a few minutes without em falling.
 

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Bishop Creek,

News reports say the rifle was empty.

Has anyone swept the area for empty cartridge cases?
 
"If there's enough moisture there for a Juniper tree... That ain't exactly barren desert."

Doesn't mean that the water's coming from the sky, though. The tree could have rooted into a weep or a shallow spring.
 
This is in the Great Basin, known as the "Great American Desert" on 19th Century maps. That Juniper tree is about 200 years old, very young compared to the nearby Bristlecone Pines, some over 4,500 years old and grows very slowly. Actually it is a desert, very high, over 9,000 feet, and very dry with average humidity around 5% which is why the trees, though old, are stunted. There are 150 year old wooden tombstones on pioneer graves in the Great Basin area that look just like the wood on that rifle.
 
Any clarification on when and where it was found? I'd really like to get an old Winchester, got my first deer with a Model 92 44-40 which was later stolen.
 
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