One Of A Kind

Black powder was still a fresh memory when Townsend Whelen was born in Philadelphia on March 6, 1877. A child of privilege, "Townie" grew up shy. At age thirteen he got a Remington Rolling Block .22 from his father. The gift changed his life. He practiced diligently with that rimfire and in 1892 won his first rifle match. Three years later, he saw an "exhibition of strength" by body-builder Eugene Sandow. Drawing on the discipline that had sharpened his shooting eye, young Whelen went to work on his physique, adding thirty hard pounds in a year. Then he joined the Pennsylvania National Guard.

An unlikely path for a blue-blood, the enlistment agreed with Townie. Within three years he'd made sergeant. The Spanish-American War boosted him to the rank of sergeant major. Keen to pursue a military career, he applied for a commission in the Army. Rather than await papers at home, he planned a hunting trip to the wilds of British Columbia. With two Winchester rifles (a .40/72 and a .30-30), he packed ammunition and an eight-by-eleven tarp, which he made himself. To that he added two Army blankets and a poncho, a set of nested camp kettles and not much else.

He made his way north to Ashcroft, British Columbia, where he "bought a saddle horse for $25, two pack horses for $15 each, a stock saddle for $25, two sawbuck saddles for $5 and $25 worth of grub." An old prospector showed him how to pack a saddle, and the next morning Whelen headed out on an arterial of the day, the Telegraph Trail. In Lilloet he met another prospector, Bones Andrews, who advised him to get a Free Miner's Certificate, which permitted him to kill game without limit.

Several months later, the young man returned to Philadelphia. He had traveled far, with only life's essentials. He had slept under a blanket and a lean-to, cooked in a pot held over a fire by a stick, found his way in trackless places.

Whelen's father was no doubt impressed by his resourceful, ambitious son. To help him procure that coveted commission, the elder Whelen got him an interview with President Theodore Roosevelt. TR's background--wealth, early ill health, pilgrimage to the wilderness, ambitions with rifles--was remarkably similar to Townie Whelen's. Surely, it influenced his decision. Whelen finished second in the class.

In 1915 Townsend Whelen journeyed to the Panama Canal, then nearing completion. His job with the 29th Infantry was to assess the suitability of the Canal Zone for jungle survival training. With rucksack and rifle, he explored jungle so thick that when mapping, he updated his sketch "every 200 yards."

Two years later, when U.S. troops went to Europe, Whelen was assigned to the Army General Staff. Later, as commanding officer at Frankfort Arsenal and director of research at Springfield Armory, he consulted with armorers and civilian gunmakers. He helped develop several cartridges, from the .22 Hornet to much more powerful rounds. He began writing for Field & Stream, Sports Afield, Outdoor Life, The American Rifleman and Guns & Ammo.