The Shot tower located in Wythe County, Virginia, is one of only a handful remaining in the United States. The shot tower was built by Thomas Jackson shortly after the Revolutionary War, and was completed in 1807 after around 7 years of construction. This shot tower is unique because of its construction and ___location.
Purpose
The purpose of the shot tower was to produce lead shot to be used in firearms. Firewood and lead were taken to the top of the tower, where a furnace was fired to melt the lead. The molten lead was then poured through a sieve, which would form individual drops of lead of a specific size. Different sieves were used to produce shot of varying size. The molten drops would then free-fall 150 feet, during which they would become spherical in shape, and cool enough to become rigid. A large kettle full of water at the bottom would finish the cooling process, and provide a soft enough landing to keep the shot from deforming.
The finished shot was then sold to hunters, traders and merchants.
Design
The Wythe County Shot Tower is unique for several reasons. Unlike most other shot towers, which were constructed of brick, this shot tower was built of limestone with walls 2.5 feet thick. The thick, solid stone walls not only made the Shot Tower an extremely strong structure, but kept its interior temperature cool and consistent, improving the quality of the shot it produced. Since the shot needed to free-fall around 150 feet to form proper shaped shot, the designers decided to use the natural terrain to reduce the height of the tower they had to construct. They decided to build the tower on the edge of a cliff, and dig a vertical tunnel 75 feet deep, which reduced the height required of the actual tower to 75 feet. At the bottom of the vertical tunnel was a horizontal access tunnel that opened up near the shore of the New River, whose erosion had formed the cliff over millions of years.