Tag Archives: Fremont canon

Early history and newspaper accounts of the Fremont Cannon

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There have been several early historical and newspaper accounts that have mentioned the Fremont Cannon. When these are set out in a logical order, they seem to confirm my contention that the cannon barrel being displayed by the Nevada State Museum is indeed the Fremont Cannon. This has been the topic of debate among historians for many years.

Relatively recently, the iron wheel rims and original carriage hardware have been discovered and identified as having been from the Fremont Cannon. Since these components could have been used only with a M1835 Cyrus Alger mountain howitzer, it is now even more likely that the M1835 Cyrus Alger mountain howitzer possessed by the museum is the Fremont Cannon. The iron parts were found in Deep Creek Canyon, just east of the West Walker River where Fremont’s records showed the howitzer was abandoned in 1844. No bronze cannon barrel was found where the iron parts were discovered, so it can be assumed it was picked up by someone else.

A newspaper in San Andreas, California reported on November 25, 1859 that a local man had returned from Carson Valley with a report that two miners enroute from the Walker River to Genoa had discovered a small United States howitzer just before crossing the spur of mountain that forms the southwestern boundary of Carson Valley. Its presence in that secluded quarter can be accounted for upon the presumption that it is the gun mentioned in Lieutenant Fremont’s narrative as having been abandoned by him in that neighborhood.

Big Bonanza author, Dan De Quille, claimed to have been with two prospectors when they found the cannon barrel, but it was unclear if they recovered it.

According to the Second Biennial Report of the Nevada Historical Society of 1911, old settlers on the Walker River reported the cannon was found and taken by an emigrant party. They later had to abandon the heavy cannon along with some of their own wagons in order to make the crossing of the Sierras.

The Daily Alta California published at San Francisco, California, July 6, 186l reported an article from the Virginia City Enterprise: A man named Sheldon brought a brass howitzer, which he found on the east fork of Walker’s river to Carson City one day last week, and offered to sell it for $200. Failing to find a purchaser there he brought it up to Gold Hill. Some of the citizens, (of Virginia City) hearing of its arrival, went down there with purchase money and nipped it before Gold Hill folks were aware of it.

The Woodland Democrat of Woodland California, reported an article in 1864 on the use of the cannon after it arrived in Virginia City: A twelve pound cannon was discovered in an unfrequented locality near Walker’s river by a party of men and it was ascertained that it was a gun abandoned by John C. Fremont on one of his famous pathfinding expeditions when he ascended Walker’s river into California to find a way across the Sierra Nevadas. It was brought to Virginia City and has ever since been in the possession of Young American Engine Company No. 2, who have furnished it with a new gun carriage at a considerable expense. It was used only on rare occasions as firing salutes at daybreak on the Fourth of July, celebrating Federal victories, etc. The Provost Guard took it in charge yesterday and it is now in their quarters at the lower end of Union Street.

There are reports that General John C. Fremont visited Virginia City in 1875 and was told that the cannon he had abandoned in 1844 was in that City. It is said he then saw the cannon and said it was the one he had abandoned in Deep Creek Canyon. I have not yet been able to confirm this or determine if this was just another of Dan De Quille’s “whoppers.”

Sometime in the 1860s or 1870s, Captain Augustus W. Pray took possession of the cannon and took it with him to Glenbrook on the east shore of Lake Tahoe. He removed the carriage wheels that had been installed by the Young American Engine Company, and mounted the cannon on a large wooden block with short wheels. A photograph of this cannon taken on July 4, 1896 confirms this barrel is the same barrel now in possession of the Nevada State Museum.

At Glenbrook, the cannon was used to commemorate special events such as Fourth of July Celebrations and the launching of the steamer, SS Tahoe. The cannon was eventually taken by steamer to Tahoe City where it ended up being stored away until it was taken by William Bliss, who donated it to the Nevada State Museum. The museum, in cooperation with the Deschutes County Museum in Bend Oregon, are producing a program called “Finding Fremont: Pathfinder in the Great Basin.” The cannon will be on display for Nevada’s Sesquicentennial celebration.

Still plenty of room at John C. Fremont Symposium, July 25-26

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There’s still room to sign up for the John C. Fremont Symposium, July 25-26. My team and I will be cooking a delicious Dutch-oven lunch of smoked chicken breasts, buffalo chili, salad, roasted vegetables, cornbread and fruit cobbler. This should an amazing and educational event, and definitely lots of fun.

Signup information is below, as well as links to media stories with further details. Be sure to help spread the word!

Call Deborah Stevenson, Curator of Education, at 775-687-4810, ext. 237.

Sign up for the John C. Fremont Symposium, July 25-26

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2014 is the Sesquicentennial year of Nevada Statehood. I can still remember celebrating the Centennial year in 1964 when I grew my one and only beard in celebration of the event. Now, it is the 150th birthday of Nevada, and I will celebrate it by growing a set of gray sideburns and cooking a dutch oven lunch for 80 people at Mills Park in Carson City on July 25th. To celebrate the event, the Nevada State Museum where I am a volunteer tour guide and part-time cook, is presenting a John C. Fremont Symposium.

One of the many events of this two-day extravaganza is a lunch like western explorer John C. Fremont may have had along the trail in 1844 when he entered our own area here in the Great Basin. I would really like to meet all those of you who read my History of the Comstock column and serve you a delicious Dutch oven lunch of smoked chicken breasts, buffalo chili, salad, roasted vegetables, cornbread and fruit cobbler.

My team and I have seasoned up about 20 Dutch ovens and are raring to serve you the greatest frontier grub this side of the Oregon Trail. Fremont’s crew used Dutch ovens for cooking on their 1843-1844 expedition through western Nevada where he discovered Pyramid Lake, Truckee River, Carson River, Lake Tahoe and disproved the myth of the legendary Buenaventura River thought to drain the Great Basin to the Pacific Ocean.

For those of you who may not know, the elusive Fremont Cannon that he abandoned along a deep creek near the West Walker River has been found. The Fremont Cannon Recovery Team found three of the cannon carriage iron wheels and the cannon mounting hardware from one side of the cannon carriage after an exhaustive search lasting several years.

It also appears the bronze 1835 Cyrus Alger cannon barrel long in possession of the Nevada State Museum is likely the same one that had been abandoned in the canyon, and was re-discovered in the mid-1800’s. It was then possibly sold where it made the rounds of several locations in western Nevada including Virginia City and Glenbrook at Lake Tahoe. Everywhere it traveled, it was referred to as the Fremont Cannon. When John C. Fremont visited Virginia City in the 1870s, he was shown the bronze barrel and identified it as the one he had abandoned in the winter of 1844.

The John C. Fremont Symposium to be held July 25th and 26th is a gathering of top Fremont scholars, archaeologists and authors from around the world, offering two days of lectures and panel discussions at the museum. You will be able to meet and talk to the members of the Fremont Howitzer Recovery Team and cannon experts who will tell about the amazing discovery of these artifacts.

Two special galleries have been set up at the Museum to contain the many artifacts and photographs from the Fremont Expedition. These include Fremont’s presidential campaign flag, maps drawn by cartographer, Charles Preuss, The original cannon carriage parts discovered near the Walker River, and a replica vintage cannon carriage with the bronze Fremont cannon mounted on it. Many of the original surveying instruments and equipment used on the expedition are shown, including the remains of a Dutch oven found at one of Fremont’s camp sites in Oregon.

Breakfast of coffee, tea and pastries will be served each day. The Dutch oven lunch that I will be serving at Mills Park will be at noon on the 25th. We are trying to arrange for a surprise presentation of some cannons firing blanks following lunch. On the 26th, the festivities extend into the evening hours with a theatrical presentation by actor Alastair Jaques in the Nevada Room at the Governor’s Mansion. This will be followed by a catered dinner at the mansion and songs of Nevada and Cowboy Poetry by Richard Elloyan, singer and songwriter, raised in Virginia City.

And now, what will all this cost? When you consider all the meals, outstanding speakers, and a chance to meet your favorite historian, (Me), the Symposium is a bargain at just $100 per person. For $40 you can attend just the dinner and entertainment at the Governor’s Mansion on the 26th. Call soon to make your reservations, since there is a limit of just 80 participants. Call Deborah Stevenson, Curator of Education, at 775-687-4810, ext. 237.

See you there.