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The local museum in Bozeman has built a display around Walter Cooper and some of his contributions to the founding and building of Bozeman, Montana Territory. The museum graciously designed the display with some of the items I have collected over the years, significant to Bozeman and it's earlier years. In the lobby area, in front of the display is the cannon that has seen lots of action throughout the state of Montana, eventually being brought back to Bozeman by Cooper, from the field where it had been left abandoned near Fort Smith.
I have a few original Sharps rifles that were used in the 1870's to kill buffalo in Montana. They were all shipped to Walter Cooper in Bozeman, Montana Territory in the 1870s. They all have Montana Provenance and one even has double that. The top rifle was shipped to Walter Cooper through J.G. Dow, then ended up in Miles City and was converted to 40-90 Bottleneck and stamped by A. D. McAusland, another frontier gunsmith in Montana Territory.
The 2 lower guns were actually shipped from Sharps rifle Manufacturing in the same shipment in August 1877. Although they aren't consecutive serial numbers, they are logged into the ledger consecutively. Together again after 141 years...
Kirk, you are lucky to have a fine local museum, and the museum is lucky to have you as a patron. It's sure nice to see those Sharps bottleneck cartridges with appropriate paper-patched bullets.
I have had rolling blocks in .40-70 Sharps Straight, and one in .40-70 SBN built for me by John King, but always, always wanted a Sharps in .40-90 SBN.
Wouldn't mind having a Mountain Howitzer either!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us, and you have a wonderful Christmas at your house.
Bill
Bill in Oregon wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 9:43 am
Kirk, you are lucky to have a fine local museum, and the museum is lucky to have you as a patron. It's sure nice to see those Sharps bottleneck cartridges with appropriate paper-patched bullets.
I have had rolling blocks in .40-70 Sharps Straight, and one in .40-70 SBN built for me by John King, but always, always wanted a Sharps in .40-90 SBN.
Wouldn't mind having a Mountain Howitzer either!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share this with us, and you have a wonderful Christmas at your house.
Bill
Thank you for the kind words. I have always thought it is a shame to have historic guns such as these and not share them. I still use them too...
Very nice display! And wonderful historic Sharps rifles! Was Walter Cooper a gun dealer, gunsmith, or what was his business in Bozeman area?
I do monthly displays at our collector gun show here, and it's a lot of work, but fun to talk with people and explain these old single shot rifles, and their history in 1800's America. Our collector club has a theme each month for the show, and guys do displays based on what the monthly theme is, and their interests.
marlinman93 wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 10:17 am
Very nice display! And wonderful historic Sharps rifles! Was Walter Cooper a gun dealer, gunsmith, or what was his business in Bozeman area?
I do monthly displays at our collector gun show here, and it's a lot of work, but fun to talk with people and explain these old single shot rifles, and their history in 1800's America. Our collector club has a theme each month for the show, and guys do displays based on what the monthly theme is, and their interests.
Walter Cooper was more than a gun dealer, gunsmith and shop owner, he was an influential man in Montana becoming a state and many other worthy exploits throughout his life. Many people here in Bozeman have never even heard of him, so this is one of the reasons for putting up this display...