Recent Sightings Recent sightings: Loose cannon

Tom Virnig, standing left, a motor vehicle operator at UW–Madison, helps Dennis Benson, who is with the University’s machine shop, to remove a Civil War-era cannon from in front of the Camp Randall Sports Center, Wednesday, May 7.

In the background is Percy Gyland, a retired UW–Madison carpenter who in 1987 built the wooden carriage and one of the wheels using metal from an earlier carriage. The weather has been unkind to Gyland's work and the wood must now be replaced.

The cannon is stamped “Ames Chicopee Mass” and “U.S.,” indicating that the tube was manufactured under federal contract by the Ames Manufacturing Company founded in 1835. Workers replaced this cannon with another one from a different part of the park.

Photo: Aaron Mayes