The Dubuque Shot Tower is the only one of its kind in the United States, west of the Mississippi River. Constructed in 1856, its main function was to create uniformly sized lead shot. It used the physical properties of molten lead to create perfectly round shot pellets when passed through a copper metal screen at the top of the tower. As the pellets fell, surface tension on the molten lead created the round sphere that cooled into a solid. The pellets landed in a water pool at the base of the tower. They were gathered, sorted for size and any rejected pellets were re-melted and run through the sieve again. Several sizes of shot were produced, but there was a limitation; larger shot size required a greater drop distance in order to cool properly.
The construction should have created a business that thrived in the 1860's (during the Civil War). Unfortunately, the Dubuque Shot Tower created a competitive stress between their business and another shot producer in St. Louis, Missouri. Chadbourne and Foster responded to the Dubuque interference by selling their shot below cost. Unable to compete, the Dubuque Shot Tower ceased operations in 1859.
The tower had several different owners after that. One such owner was the Standard Lumber Company. They purchased the tower for $600 on June 24, 1881 and used it as a fire watch tower. Ironically, a series of disastrous fires of the tower itself set by arsonists in 1911 ruined the company and destroyed the inner wooden framework of the tower.
The Shot Tower remained largely untouched and unmaintained until the mid-2000's when it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Federal grant money was obtained to rehabiliate the aging structure. Estimated costs to complete the project came in at just under $1/2 million. Today, this Dubuque icon is an enduring part of the landscape.
IN ORDER TO CLAIM THIS CACHE:
Please post a photo with both you AND the Shot Tower visible
(If you're a bit camera shy, then post a photo of something that will identify you in the picture, like your geocaching name on a card or a signature item of yours). You can be right next to it, or farther away. I just need to be able to be see both you and the tower in the picture. Any pose will do. Have phoon with it! You don't have to send it directly to me either. Just post the photo when you log the find!
Enjoy your visit to the Dubuque Shot Tower!
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.