Stuff you find

[Stan Hillis]

When I was boy tramping through all the woods, up and down streams and creeks, and traversing swamps in search of game rich country I would often find the remains of old corn liquor stills. Most were destroyed by the sheriff's deputies with pick axes, but I would occasionally happen by one in working order. One day while squirrel hunting in new territory I found three on the same branch, undamaged. I often wondered if the owners hadn't heard that Hillis kid coming and slinked off and watched me pause for a look, then pass on by. Some of them used a "shotgun" condenser, crafted of soldered copper. Those were works of art.

There's still a very few, well hidden deep in isolated stream bottoms, but it's not the big business it was when I was a boy.

[WHO]

This thread reminded me of a couple of guns my dad found in the Sierra Nevada mountains in the 1950's. The revolver was found in the wye of a tree. The tree had grown around it and the gun needed to be cut out of the tree. The muzzleloader was found still fairly complete. I refinished the wood and polished the brass. Once refinished, I noticed the notches near the butt of the gun. I have always wondered what they might represent?