The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-10-18
OLD DOGS OF VAR FROM PERU.
Quaint Guns Cast In l678-O3 Ornament the
Parade Ground or Fort Mason.
From the San Francisco Call.

from N San fTGncNcO Cat.
Within the area of Fort Mason, a military
reservation in San Francisco. and distributed as
mere ornaments over its grass plats. there arc
at present eight cannon whose singular pattern,
foreign origin. and great age make them tho
most remarkable relics within the State of Cali
fornia, as they arc believed to be the Oldest guns
in the United States.
OF these guns, six are large fortihcation
pieces and two are small. for field uses. The
years of the casting of the larger ones are in
raised letters upon the breeches. and these show
that their manufacture belongs to the seven
teenth century. the oldest gun having been cast
in 1873, the V ungest in 1893.
Tradition about the fort has it that these
pieces of ordnance were made in old Spain.
fortify the Presidio of San Francisco in behalf
Yankee invaded the region and began to shape
affairs in a fashion which led to the merging Of
east las Of the Rockies. III That they are r. Spanish srsIi iha pros
ductions, no better evidence of such identity
tssir s ssr assissd M !hfe The 1 aiIefta Has T in s..s HsGR
might find lasting entertainment in locating the
houses to whom belong the armorial. bearings
which form so conspicuous a feature of the elab-
crate ornamentation with which each Of the
weapons is adorned.
officers longest at the fort know nothing Of
when we came" and that is ali. Records, data
of their past, there appears to be none: and .
museum in Washington has been given a set
hack back because the department refuses to admit
ing them has been secured.
How this is to be attained there is no telling:
To identify the arms upon the guns, to effect
translation or seemingly mystical words in old
Spanish. to read through musty archives tell
ing q the arrival of this gun or that. to follow
they perhaps into Mexico or Peru. would re-
gull p appropriation larger than a Congress
pied to economy would DO willing to make.
clouded by the ohscurity concerning thor past,
which. however dense. we know to he as strange
as as the curious relief which is embossed upon
The six largo guns are of bronze; they average
and a;Spf thr pounds y 5. i in wSiE Sn1i haze TEo a 6,inch bore:
bore. for the rotary or rife bore was not intro
dnced until after 1888. and they could send a
rnur times as far AS could a smooth-hore musket.
They are from ten to twelve feet long. their
great elongation of muZzlc being due 10 the
erroneous idea then prevalent among gun
founders thai, the throwing power OF the piece
was increased by the length OF The bore.
That these cannon We're regarded as objects Of
Importance and distinction amounting almost
to ytneratiGn may he told not alone from the
TO mouth nor to the coats OF arms mentioned.
but from the fact that they each bear the name
We can fancy the casting of these guns under the
offices Of the Church. their mounting beneath
Grated as instruments tremendous in the
defence OF his most Catholic Majesty and of the
holy Church. Among these names the Sans
predominant. There is the SIM Francisco
which now is mounted upon an old naval car
rthgc. looking from n distance as ominons as a
krunp gun. its mouth omen toward the bay
which bears its name. There is tho San Pedro.
the San Domingo. the San Martin, while only
two arc given tho presumably non.ecclesiastical
names OF L.ahirGrnd Barhanedaa and Poder.
There nre two roats Of arms upon each Of tho
that of the rciGning family OF Sinai" in the wear
he gun WIS cast. TO wit: Philip III. or Philip
~. the other hose of the maker OF tho gun.
Both the brcocllo4 and the barrels are trimmed
win numerous raised bands. constituting n
marked variation from tho n~crfcctlv smooth
surfaces of the ordnance Of modern makes CIR.
cling the end of the mu2Zlcs are letters believed
70 spell ,henamcs OF the man,ifactnrcrs to whom
belong the adjacent arms. Those letters are OF.
ten as remarkable as the names. hcinp INTER
twincd IN diheront fashion,; nor is the smelling
OF the Same. word. or even name, uniform on ali
me guns. inc maker OF thr, san Francisco has
his name spelled, around TINT gnn c has mo
fccit; upon the obirCend BarbancSn II is snelleS
tuhns nc fest. The maker of the San Domingo
the longest or the guns. WINS ~ x"da. Alcxod. and
the lettering which smells the name of tho maker
Of the san Martin, whose production belongs to
1854, while the LabirGend was made in 1899.
The meta used in these guns is an unknown
composition.
As to when these gums reached California, only
conjecture Is possible. There were four presidios
under me old spanish rfgime--thosc of San
francisco. Monterey, Santa Barbra. and San
itary when California WINS under that rule.
IL known that wnen the adobe faced fort,
called San Joaquin, of the San Francisco forti.
ticat!ons was rcnnircd in 1904 il had three "a
affairs was then in what IL now The State. 1t IA
known that until Gen. Mcdowell gathered them
together in lSS2 they were scattered hither and
[on up and down the coast. and one WAS not
lection Of them has hccn made they have hesn
mounted in Fort Mason.