Dubuque Shot Tower (Dubuque, Iowa)
USA /
Illinois /
East Dubuque /
Dubuque, Iowa
World
/ USA
/ Illinois
/ East Dubuque
World / United States / Iowa
interesting place, 1850s construction, shot tower
www.cityofdubuque.org/712/Shot-Tower
The tower was built in 1856 to provide lead shot for the military. The concept of a shot tower solved the problem of how to produce many cheap, nearly perfect lead spheres of the right size to fit in a musket. To make lead shot, molten lead was poured into the top of the tower, where it passed through a grate. The droplets that fell from the grate were of relatively uniform size, and the fall provided enough time for the liquid-metal droplet to form into a sphere before landing in the water below. The water cooled the lead to its solid state, retaining the spherical shape.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
The tower was built in 1856 to provide lead shot for the military. The concept of a shot tower solved the problem of how to produce many cheap, nearly perfect lead spheres of the right size to fit in a musket. To make lead shot, molten lead was poured into the top of the tower, where it passed through a grate. The droplets that fell from the grate were of relatively uniform size, and the fall provided enough time for the liquid-metal droplet to form into a sphere before landing in the water below. The water cooled the lead to its solid state, retaining the spherical shape.
Listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_Tower_(Dubuque)
Nearby cities:
Coordinates: 42°30'0"N 90°39'14"W
- Jackson Ferry Shot Tower 1045 km
- Phoenix Shot Tower 1233 km
- Shot Tower 1318 km
- Guns, fishing, and other stuff 2680 km
- Cheese Lane Shot Tower 6351 km
- The Shot Tower by the River Crane 6485 km
- Historic Shot Tower 15358 km
- Melbourne Central Shot Tower 15361 km
- Port Of Dubuque 1.7 km
- Key West (unincorportated town) 2.6 km
- Eagle Point District 3.3 km
- College Grandview District 3.4 km
- South End District 3.9 km
- Mines of Spain State Recreation Area 5.4 km
- Nine Mile Island 10 km
- Dubuque Regional Airport (DBQ/KDBQ) 12 km
- The Galena Territory 30 km
- Jo Daviess County, Illinois 34 km