
Helena Shot Tower - Spring Green, Wisconsin
Posted by:
BruceS
N 43° 09.008 W 090° 02.702
15T E 740274 N 4781726
Historic shot tower located along the Wisconsin River in Tower Hill State Park.
Waymark Code: WM1Q2Y
Location: Wisconsin, United States
Date Posted: 06/20/2007
Views: 139
The Helena Shot Tower was constructed in 1831 by Daniel Whitney of Green Bay. Most of the tower is actually a shaft dug through the sand stone by Thomas B Shauce. The tower itself is 60-foot tall with a shaft through the sandstone bluff adding an additional 120 feet for a total height of 180 feet. The shaft is connected to a 90-foot tunnel at the bottom which leads out to the Wisconsin River. The tower used a crew of 6 men and up to 5000 lbs of lead was dropped in the tower a day. Of this, only about 600 - 800 lbs of the shot was usable shot. The rest was hauled back to the top, remelted and dropped again. The tower remained in operation until 1860 when the tower became unprofitable due to a poor economy.
The tower is now in a Wisconsin State Park. The wood part of tower was reconstructed along with the smelter house.