SHOT

SHOT. Polished LEAD spheres used in firearms before the invention of bullets. Manufactured in Dubuque at the SHOT TOWER, lead shot proved to be one of Dubuque's earliest and most controversial products. Molten lead combined with arsenic was poured through a sieve, a piece of sheet iron with holes punched into it at regular intervals. The size of the holes determined the size of the shot being manufactured. The lead continued to fall through as many as nine sieves which formed the shot into its proper size. The spheres finally fell into a tank of cold water at the bottom of the tower and were collected. The rough spheres were polished in a rotating cask before being packaged in bags for sale. Imperfect shot were separated out and remelted.

Chadburne and Forster, the St. Louis competitor of Dubuque's shot tower, manufactured 1,000 sacks daily. When Dubuque's shot tower was closed, inventive manufacturers like Julius K. GRAVES in Dubuque produced shot using deep vertical mine shafts. Chadburne and Forster's unsuccessful suit to stop this practice resulted in their move from Dubuque.

As a bicentennial project, Joseph PICKETT returned to the shot tower to make shot. His plans called for him to pour enough lead to provide the DUBUQUE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY with one thousand bottles of shot for sale. The first bottle, auctioned off by Mayor Al LUNDH, sold for thirty-five dollars.