STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 93 



the display attracted more general attention than anything entered 

 in said department. 



Yours, most respectfully, 



W. G. WILLIAMS. 



Sacramento, October, 1875. 



To the Honorable Members of the Gold Medal Committee, State Agricult- 

 ural Society : 



Gentlemen : My reasons for claiming the gold medal in the 

 fourth department, at the State Fair of eighteen hundred and sev- 

 enty-five, are, that I believe I had the best and most meritorious dis- 

 play in said department of home or domestic manufacture, added to 

 my goods partly or wholly manufactured abroad ; and such would 

 seem to have been the opinion of your examining committee, who 

 kindly awarded me four substantial evidences of their appreciation 

 of my desire to add to the attractiveness of the exhibition at the 

 pavilion, and of my skill as a practical gunsmith. 



At the State Fair of eighteen hundred and seventy-five I had on 

 exhibition, besides the large and fine display of imported rifles, guns, 

 and pistols, a rifle of my own manufacture and a cartridge case,- 

 which is a California invention and a valuable one, and which was 

 also made by myself. The rifle referred to is my own handiwork. 

 It is a muzzle-loading target rifle, and worth, if labor be properly 

 remunerated, two hundred and fifty dollars. Its barrel is of the fin- 

 est silver steel, while the stock is of California black walnut, obtained 

 at Walnut Grove, in the County of Sacramento. For such purpose 

 this wood is very superior, and on account of its scarcity the more 

 valuable. It is firm, hard, and durable, of beautiful grain, and sus- 

 ceptible of a brilliant polish. I think I can hardly be charged with 

 undue vanity when I say that this rifle, in point of finish, etc., is 

 quite equal to any imported weapon of the kind. As to the car- 

 tridge case, its compactness, completeness, and consequent value are 

 apparent to every hunter and military man. 



Never before at a State Fair in California, or in a District Fair, has 

 there been exhibited a rifle made in the Eureka State. At a State 

 Fair, some years ago, a San Franciscan exhibited a shot-gun of his 

 own manufacture ; and I also, at previous State Fairs, have made 

 exhibitions of imported arms, but never before a rifle of strictly Cal- 

 ifornia manufacture. 



California being a frontier State, the use of the rifle becomes a 

 necessity to her citizens, and reliable weapons of that description 

 should be within easy reach of all her sons. 



I have hope that I will be awarded the gold medal in the fourth 

 department, for the business in which I am engaged is an industry 

 which, if properly fostered and encouraged, will grow to be of great 

 extent, and will keep in the State money which would otherwise of 

 necessity go out of it. With the increase of our population will 

 increase the demand for the rifle, so let California artisans be en- 

 couraged to prepare to supply that demand. 

 Respectfully yours, etc., 



ANDREW FLOHR. 



