Subdeacon Joe Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 The curious story of the Night Herder gun In 1901, Carbon County sheepherder Jim Weed was probably getting tired of losing sleep to prevent his flock from being attacked by coyotes. “At that time, common practice in our area was for the herder to get up periodically during the night and fire a few shots into the air,” former Rawlins resident and historian Rans Baker said. The ingenious sheepherder came up with a solution: an automatic gun that would fire rounds at regular intervals throughout the night to scare predators away from his sheep camp. The device was triggered by the hand of an attached clock and would fire .44 caliber blanks every hour for up to 12 hours unattended. In the fall of 1901, Weed came to Rawlins looking for financial backing for his invention. Local photographer A. A. Brown purchased an interest in the gun with Weed and they immediately began preparing to manufacture the device. They named it the “Night Herder,” or the “Weed Automatic Gun.” “With one of these guns a herder may lay down to sleep with the assurance that coyotes will not bother his sheep, because the frequent discharge of the gun will keep them at a safe distance,” the Carbon County Journal printed on Oct. 26, 1901. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bama Red Posted May 28, 2013 Share Posted May 28, 2013 Looks like ya got to sign in to read the story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdeacon Joe Posted May 28, 2013 Author Share Posted May 28, 2013 Looks like ya got to sign in to read the story. I'm checking this at work and it came right up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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