Local legend passed away

[brock ratcliff]

Roger Dillard was a local guy that came into our shop often. He was a very well know blade smith and built some amazing muzzle loaders. He hiked the Appalachia trail with nothing but a knife. He was a different breed. If it weren’t for my late FIL, I’d have never believed the stories Roger told me. He invited me to his home numerous times to learn to throw tomahawks. I never did. Yet another regret. Anyway, here is an old video featuring the last mountain man.

 

[Fletch]

Looks like quite the guy, May He Rest In Peace... God Bless...

 

[RedCloud]

Hate to hear this man. Keep the memories rolling and remember their stories.

 

[Jackalope]

Roger Dillard was a local guy that came into our shop often. He was a very well know blade smith and built some amazing muzzle loaders. He hiked the Appalachia trail with nothing but a knife. He was a different breed. If it weren’t for my late FIL, I’d have never believed the stories Roger told me. He invited me to his home numerous times to learn to throw tomahawks. I never did. Yet another regret. Anyway, here is an old video featuring the last mountain man.

A different breed indeed. Talk about living to the fullest. That video was pretty cool.

 

[CJD3]

Looks like quite a man.
You are fortunate to have known him.

My condolences to his family and friends.

 

[finelyshedded]

Thanks for sharing Brock. May he RIP.

 

[hickslawns]

Sorry to hear about this.

 

[brock ratcliff]

He’s also the uncle of the man that has the muzzleloader Giles eyeballed sitting in a fellas basement. At the time Giles wanted to know what would be a fair offer would be to buy that gun so I showed the pic to Roger. I remember he laughed and said, “That’s Jeff’s gun. It’s worth 35,000.00”. Lol. He knew and worked with Harry Rife too. Harry was a widely respected gunsmith that built amazing guns, often from authentic period materials. My FIL helped Harry back in the 70s with some guns and he had a gun Harry had given him. The stock dates to the late 1700s. Roger knew that gun as soon as I showed it to him. He said to a knowledgeable buyer, there was no price. The gun is not for sale, of course. It’s a 40 cal. When my FIL hunted with it, he loaded it with two balls…. Devastating. Illegal, yeah. Effective, yeah.

 

[finelyshedded]

He’s also the uncle of the man that has the muzzleloader Giles eyeballed sitting in a fellas basement. At the time Giles wanted to know what would be a fair offer would be to buy that gun so I showed the pic to Roger. I remember he laughed and said, “That’s Jeff’s gun. It’s worth 35,000.00”. Lol. He knew and worked with Harry Rife too. Harry was a widely respected gunsmith that built amazing guns, often from authentic period materials. My FIL helped Harry back in the 70s with some guns and he had a gun Harry had given him. The stock dates to the late 1700s. Roger knew that gun as soon as I showed it to him. He said to a knowledgeable buyer, there was no price. The gun is not for sale, of course. It’s a 40 cal. When my FIL hunted with it, he loaded it with two balls…. Devastating. Illegal, yeah. Effective, yeah.

This is so cool and interesting! It’s crazy how much muzzleloader history there was in the state of Ohio. I wonder if Harry or Roger had any history or interaction with a local legends of ours in Washington county back in the day? Most notably was Cecil Brooks but an acquaintance of his by the name of Elmer Templeton made some beautiful muzzleloaders of his own but he just didn’t have the notoriety as Cecil in rifle making. Cecil lived in Lowell and Elmer lived near Belpre and both were amazing men in their craft and left quite the legacy. Here is a link I found of Cecil. I remember folks saying the waiting list to having a Brooks rifle made was in the 3-4 year waiting list back in the 1970’s. He did bring along an apprentice that made the Marietta Times in an article around Cecil’s death in 2006.

An Official Journal Of The NRA | The Rifles Of Cecil Brooks

From the archives of American Rifleman, read about legendary gunmaker, Cecil Brooks, who will forever be revered for his humble nature, exquisite skill and devotion to American freedoms. As Charlton Heston said upon receiving a Brooks rifle in 1989: "From my cold dead hands!"

www.americanrifleman.org

I apologize to Brock and Roger for any sidetracking of this thread. I just wondered if either might have knew about or met other local legends in Ohio that shared the same talent.

 

[Boarhead]

That a pretty cool read Ric @finelyshedded

 

[brock ratcliff]

I would be surprised if they did not know each other. The muzzleloader gathering at Friendship Indiana was something to see. I went one time with my FIL. We only spent the day. I’m his younger and wilder says they would camp in teepees, drink moonshine and do all kinds of crazy mountain man stuff. One year two of those maniacs started fighting and wound up having a duel! I think it resulted in a misfire and a miss. Those people were nuts from the stories I’ve heard from my FIL. By the time I went with him it was a much more mild and family friendly thing. I’ve got another rifle my FIL had built for me by another gunsmith that worked under Harry for years. His name was Howard Kelly. It’s a side lock percussion gun, also in .40. But unlike most side lock rifles, it was built for precision accuracy. It has a huge bull barrel, shoots a really long projectile and is topped with a Redfield scope. As I recall, the gunsmith guaranteed it would hit a golf ball at 200 yards! This was before inlines were a popular thing so it was really impressive at the time. Still a beautiful gun. I only shot one deer with it and that was a doe at about 40 yards.

 

[finelyshedded]

I met Elmer once. Thanked my dad for taking me to his home while Tammy and I were visiting them. Thanked my dad as I was truly amazed on our 3-4 hour visit. I actually hated to leave as Elmer had many stories to share. Elmer had several Brooks rifles(5-6 I think) and Cecil had some of his as both men traded and built rifles for each other. Dad told me the story after Elmer had passed how he and Cecil met for the first time. Story goes, they both happened upon each other while deer hunting during muzzle loader season. I think the area was at Wolf Run State Park if I’m not mistaken. I guess Cecil saw this guy dressed up like Jeremiah Johnson and both took a liking to each other and became great friends from there. Not sure what year that happened though.

 

[giles]

He’s also the uncle of the man that has the muzzleloader Giles eyeballed sitting in a fellas basement. At the time Giles wanted to know what would be a fair offer would be to buy that gun so I showed the pic to Roger. I remember he laughed and said, “That’s Jeff’s gun. It’s worth 35,000.00”. Lol. He knew and worked with Harry Rife too. Harry was a widely respected gunsmith that built amazing guns, often from authentic period materials. My FIL helped Harry back in the 70s with some guns and he had a gun Harry had given him. The stock dates to the late 1700s. Roger knew that gun as soon as I showed it to him. He said to a knowledgeable buyer, there was no price. The gun is not for sale, of course. It’s a 40 cal. When my FIL hunted with it, he loaded it with two balls…. Devastating. Illegal, yeah. Effective, yeah.

Hopefully they match the two together now. From what I remember, Roger had the brother of Jeff's.

 

[finelyshedded]

I saw he was preceded in death by his wife and oldest son. Glad they had a lot of children to carry along both of their legacies. She seemed just as special as he did in an interview I saw in that YouTube clip.

 

[Left field]

Condolences Brock , sounds like he lived life to the fullest made a positive impact to those that knew him

 

[offthegroud]

I would be surprised if they did not know each other. The muzzleloader gathering at Friendship Indiana was something to see. I went one time with my FIL. We only spent the day. I’m his younger and wilder says they would camp in teepees, drink moonshine and do all kinds of crazy mountain man stuff. One year two of those maniacs started fighting and wound up having a duel! I think it resulted in a misfire and a miss. Those people were nuts from the stories I’ve heard from my FIL. By the time I went with him it was a much more mild and family friendly thing. I’ve got another rifle my FIL had built for me by another gunsmith that worked under Harry for years. His name was Howard Kelly. It’s a side lock percussion gun, also in .40. But unlike most side lock rifles, it was built for precision accuracy. It has a huge bull barrel, shoots a really long projectile and is topped with a Redfield scope. As I recall, the gunsmith guaranteed it would hit a golf ball at 200 yards! This was before inlines were a popular thing so it was really impressive at the time. Still a beautiful gun. I only shot one deer with it and that was a doe at about 40

 

[offthegroud]

Wow, I worked with Howard Kelly! He was a tool & die maker. Seen a couple of the guns he made. He made his own gun drill for maching barrels.

 

[brock ratcliff]

Wow, I worked with Howard Kelly! He was a tool & die maker. Seen a couple of the guns he made. He made his own gun drill for maching barrels.

Small world! So you are close to Lynchburg?

 

[offthegroud]

Small world! So you are close to Lynchburg?

No, but I think Howard drove from there to Senco back in the 80's! He had a couple of guns for sale he had made for $3000 to $5000 back then. If you only knew then what you would have now.

 

[brock ratcliff]

No doubt. He built some really nice rifles. I was at his house just one time. There was a bunch of guys shooting guns and having a big time. He had a lot of unfinished wood stocks laying around. I think my FIL had him build two guns. He sold one and gave one to me.