StanFoster
Active Member
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2003
- Messages
- 17,139
- Location
- Paxton, Il
- Aircraft
- Helicycle N360SF
- Total Flight Time
- 1250
I want to say thank-you very loudly with this cannon to the veterans that keep this country free. I never was in the military, but always have regretted not having the experience. I built this 6 pounder civil war cannon carriage 30 years ago. The city of Paxton is the county seat of the last county in Illinois formed back in 1859. The U.S government gave Paxton this 6 pound civil war cannon barrel because of this. BTW...that means it shoots a 6 pound iron ball....the barrel weighs 925 pounds. They ran an ad wanting someone to build a rough carriage to get the barrel off the ground.
I volunteered to restore it and was given the job. The barrels touch hole was welded shut back in 1903 when a person celebrating at the 4th of July blew his arm off loading it...not knowing what he was doing...I told them that if I were going to the expense of building that carriage...that mother was going to fire again. Long story short...after it was first fired on the family farm...they gave me the honor of saluting the dead at each years Memorial Day service. Today was the 30th anniversary that I have fired this cannon.
The first year I fired it... I actually loaded a 4 pound can of concrete in it and shot it out into the wide open countryside. It was found 3/4 of a mile away! This was being televised...and the cameraman was out in the 45 degree blast zone in front of the muzzle. He dropped his bulky tv camera because of the ear piercing blast that shook the place.
Since then I load a pound of flour on top of the powder.....its a little more gentle on the crowd that gathers.
The duct tape that you can see on the breech end was to keep my powder dry in the touch hole. It was raining lightly and I wanted to make sure it fired. There were at least 500 people behind honoring this special day.
Thank-you veterans for defending this great way of life I feel priviledged to live!
Stan
I volunteered to restore it and was given the job. The barrels touch hole was welded shut back in 1903 when a person celebrating at the 4th of July blew his arm off loading it...not knowing what he was doing...I told them that if I were going to the expense of building that carriage...that mother was going to fire again. Long story short...after it was first fired on the family farm...they gave me the honor of saluting the dead at each years Memorial Day service. Today was the 30th anniversary that I have fired this cannon.
The first year I fired it... I actually loaded a 4 pound can of concrete in it and shot it out into the wide open countryside. It was found 3/4 of a mile away! This was being televised...and the cameraman was out in the 45 degree blast zone in front of the muzzle. He dropped his bulky tv camera because of the ear piercing blast that shook the place.
Since then I load a pound of flour on top of the powder.....its a little more gentle on the crowd that gathers.
The duct tape that you can see on the breech end was to keep my powder dry in the touch hole. It was raining lightly and I wanted to make sure it fired. There were at least 500 people behind honoring this special day.
Thank-you veterans for defending this great way of life I feel priviledged to live!
Stan