The New Forgotten Winchester Rifle Exhibit

 In November 2014, Cultural Resources Program Manager Eva Jensen was doing a survey in Great Basin National Park. She happened to spot an old rifle leaning against a tree. The rifle was a Winchester Model 1873 Lever Action Rifle  The story went around the world, as I reported in this blog post. Who had left it? Why had it been left behind?

No one knew the answers. Trying to find out more, the park sent the rifle to the Buffalo Bill Center of the West in Cody, Wyoming. They learned it had been made in 1882. They x-rayed it and found a bullet in it. They also stabilized it so that it would last longer.

Then it was put on display prominently in the Lehman Caves Visitor Center (LCVC).

This winter, the LCVC will have new cave and astronomy exhibits installed, so it was time to find a new home for the rifle. The Great Basin National Park Foundation and The Fund for People in Parks helped fund a new exhibit space in the Great Basin Visitor Center. The day came when it was time to move the rifle to its new exhibit space.

Cultural resources staff carefully took it out of its display case and put it into a travel case.

Exhibit specialists had spent days getting the new spot ready. Here's Eva, ready to put the rifle in its new display case.


This display case is really cool, with a photo of the juniper tree in the background, and then the rifle slightly forward of that. Lighting in the case makes it stand out better than the photo shows.

 The exhibit also includes information about the rifle and its place in the American West.

My favorite part, though, is the model Winchester. You can actually work the lever and understand better how the gun works. This made me look even closer at the Forgotten Winchester. 

It's a great new display! The Great Basin Visitor Center is in Baker, Nevada, just north of the main part of town. It's open 8 to 4:30 every day in summer. Check out this cool exhibit and step back in time!