Whether you like it or not guns have been an integral part of country living for centuries. Children were brought up around them, young men and women taught to handle them and adults conditioned to use them when the need arose. For most of these people, the aura of mystery or the cloud of malevolence that surrounds guns today simply did not exist. After all, you wouldn’t consider a hammer evil or a shovel menacing — a gun was the same, simply another tool. Certainly they could, and occasionally were, misused by some, with the frequent case of armed robbery and murder evidence of that fact. Furthermore, even a lifetime of exposure to and education about the deadly effect of a gun was not always proof against the occasional accident. In one known case from the late 19th century in Lake County, a teenager from Lower Lake accidently shot and killed his friend when an old cap and ball pistol he was holding suddenly went off. The minutes from the ensuing court case are now located in the Historic Courthouse Museum and are sad testimonies to an all-too familiar tragedy.
Yes indeed, for better or worse, life in rural America was an armed one. Of course, not all uses of a gun were necessarily utilitarian and even in this realm of rural life good ol’ American competition soon forced its way in. In reality, it probably took only five minutes after the first gun in history was fired for the man next to the shooter to say “pfft, bet I can do better than that!”
So was born the sport of competitive shooting.
The American West gave rise to some of the most famous tales of marksmanship in the world and trick shooters like Annie Oakley and her ilk made a name for themselves that we still recognize to this day. Of course, you didn’t have to be an award-winning marksman to want to own an award-winning gun. Like in all sports, there were men and women who thought their ability to perform depended entirely on the quality — and price — of their equipment. In this case, it was guns and there were plenty of skilled (and not-so skilled) gunsmiths who were more than happy to service these not-so discerning customers.
Here in Lake County we not only had a skilled gunsmith, but a nationally-recognized one to boot. Charles Slotterbeck opened his gunsmith shop on Main Street in Lakeport in 1872, after falling in love with the area and buying a ranch outside of town. Slotterbeck was born 1831 in Württemberg, Germany to a family of gunsmiths — a profession for which he apprenticed at the age of 12. Eventually moving to America, he and his brothers (also apprentice gunsmiths) worked for various gun makers in Philadelphia. By 1852, Charles had landed a job with none other than Henry Derringer, the famous gunsmith and inventor of the diminutive pistol to which he gave his name. At first only working on the stocks of the pistols, Charles eventually made his way to managing the entire shop. In this capacity he worked from 1854 until 1858 when he decided to strike out west. When he told Mr. Derringer of his intention to travel to California and find work in that promise land of wealth and opportunity, the famous gunsmith insisted on writing a letter of recommendation for the young man. The April 17, 1858 letter, preserved in California Gunsmiths: 1846-1900 by Lawrence Shelton, reads:
“To all it may concern:
This is to certify that Charles Slotterbek [sic] has wrought for me several years. I can recommend him as a general workman in the gun, rifle or pistol making and that he is an industrious, honest and sober man. I understand he is going to California; I wish him luck and prosperity in all his undertakings.”
Arriving in San Francisco later that year, Charles Slotterbeck found employment with a series of gunsmiths in the area. Beggars cannot be choosers, as the saying goes, and apparently a rookie gunsmith had to find a way into the market by any means necessary. For Charles these means included going so far as to help a certain A.J. Plate make fake Derringer pistols, complete with a Derringer stamp. These pistols naturally resulted in a copyright infringement lawsuit in 1863 for which Charles was a chief witness. While working for Plate, Charles was also able to contract his own services out to a number of famous sportsmen including Dr. Downs, Dr. Pardee, Warren Loud, Philo Jacoby and many others. The guns he made on his own won him an award at the 1865 Mechanic’s Fair in San Francisco. Joining forces with another gunsmith, Jacob Villegia, Charles started the Villegia & Slotterbeck Company, which in its short-lived existence won an additional award from the 1871 Mechanic’s Fair.
When he opened his shop in Lakeport in 1872, Charles fashioned for the front of his establishment an absurdly large wood sign in the shape of a rifle. Jutting out over Main Street, this sign became a standard feature of the downtown and it remains useful to this day as a way of getting one’s bearings when looking at a historic photo of Main Street Lakeport (following the big wood rifle!). For a decade Charles made guns for local sportsmen and became quite an expert at telescopic firearms. In an advertisement that ran in the Lake County Bee between 1873 and 1877 under the large letters of “CHARLES SLOTTERBECK, Practical GUNSMITH,” Charles was not at all self-conscious about his quality and declared: “In the manufacture of these rifles he challenges competition.” There weren’t many takers.
Charles returned to work in San Francisco for a short time in 1882 before once more moving to Lake County in 1884 where he continued to work as a gunsmith until he died shortly thereafter. Not altogether surprising, Charles died of a gunshot wound. While working in his shop on September 10, 1886, a loaded shell exploded while he was attempting to de-prime it and the flying base of the shell hit him in the head and cracked his skull. He was on his way to healing from this wound when he suddenly relapsed and died. To this day, Charles Slotterbeck is recognized as one of the best gunsmiths to ply the trade in early California and Lake County might have been put on the map if it weren’t for that errant bullet shell.
Tony Pierucci is Curator of Lake County Museums
