~HOW THE FIRST AMERICAN GUN WAS MADE~
Two men, a smith and his son, both named Eliphalet Remington, in
1816, were working busily one day at their forge in beautiful Ilion
Gorge, when, so tradition says, the son asked his father for money to
buy a rifle, and met with a refusal. The request was natural for the
surrounding hills were full of game. The father must have had his own
reasons for refusing, but it started the manufacture of guns in America.
Eliphalet, Jr., closed his firm jaws tightly, and began collecting
scrap iron on his own account. This he welded skillfully into a
gun-barrel, walked fifteen miles to Utica to have it rifled, and
finally had a weapon of which he might well be proud.
[Illustration: TYPES OF CARTRIDGES]
In reality, it was such a very good gun that soon the neighbors ordered
others like it, and before long the Remington forge found itself hard
at work to meet the increasing demand. Several times each week the
stalwart young manufacturer packed a load of gun-barrels upon his back,
and tramped all the way to Utica where a gunsmith rifled and finished
them. At this time there were no real gun-factories in America,
although gunsmiths were located in most of the larger towns. All
gun-barrels were imported from England or Europe.