jimhallam
Pilgrim
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2018
- Messages
- 329
- Reaction score
- 367
Shock, shock, HORROR !!!!!! A whole thread about "unmentionables" ! ;-)))
Here is a photo of my grandfather’s oil drilling team in 1902 Kansas. My grandpa is the guy with the rolled up sleeves and dark suspenders. Directly above him is the [fully loaded] gunbelt and adjacent to that on the right is what appears to me to be a single action army colt revolver. You can barely make out the Colt logo near the top of the grip panel. Can anyone identify the exact model of the revolver?
Given the looks of the crew, I assure you that this not an outlaw gang. The next photo is some of their handiwork.
View attachment 192637
Red, I suspect that grandpa bought the gun himself but he died in 1957 so he’s not here to ask. He was born in 1880 in Oil City, PA the son of a CW and SpanAm war vet (my gr. Grandpa Jesse). He went with the inventor Harley Braymer to drill oil in Peru, Kansas in 1902 and that was the photo we have been discussing. On an additional note, while I lived in Wichita, I went to explore the area and learned from the geological records that the oil field in question lasted only 18 months. And that explains why grandpa went back home to Oil City and married grandma in 1905. His friend Harley Braymer possibly went south to the northern OK oil fields and continued to drill but he died in KS some time later and is buried in Wichita. Here’s the photo that I had taken down a few days ago.The ejector rod ends under the front sight so 5 1/2" even though-upside down it looks like a longer barrel. The rounds in the belt seems large so 45 Colt or 44/40- hard to tell. It looks the there is a screw to hold the grips but I'm not sure when the screws started being used.
Off hand, folks were rough on their gear years ago so if the photo is 1902 the revolver may well date 1892 to 1902. Just a guess. Do you have any other information? Any idea where he bought the gun? The Colt historian might be able to run it down that way.
I have wondered that myself Jim, I don’t think it was grandpa, but I’m really not sure.Great picture! I wonder who was the fiddle player.
Enter your email address to join: