The included order form copies with this rifle record it as having been sold to Gifford Pinchot in late 1896. Pinchot was a Republican and later Progressive politician and forester who served as the first Chief of the U.S. Forest Service and as Governor of Pennsylvania. He is credited with coining the term "conservation ethic" and was a proponent of regulated forestry, land, and water use as opposed to the strict preservation of his other contemporaries such as John Muir. After his firing by Taft, Pinchot became one of the leaders of the Progressive Party after split of the Republican Party prior to the 1912 election. The included affidavit indicates that Pinchot used this rifle for target shooting and that it remained in the family until the present. It and five other Pinchot family firearms are offered to collectors in this auction whereas the remainder of the Pinchot collection remains with the family or in the U.S. Forestry Service Museum. The barrels are fitted with adjustable, folding, combination Beach and bead sights (the front sight is damaged on the current barrel) with unfilled taps on the barrel for scope mounting and there is an adjustable Lyman peep sight mounted on the upper tang (added later as the patent date is July 25, 1905). It has a blued barrel and casehardened frame and lever and is fitted with a smooth walnut forearm and straight wrist stock (forearm on secondary barrel is fancy checkered) with a Stevens checkered hard rubber buttplate. The additional round barrel is for a 32-40 cartridge (necessary additional extractor absent) whereas the installed barrel and extractor are for the 25-21 Stevens cartridge. Both barrels are Stevens-Popes with the installed barrel marked "STEVENS-POPE/J.STEVENS ARMS & TOOL Co CHICOPEE FALLS MASS USA" on top and "P/974 and 18/141" on the underside. The spare/second barrel is simply marked "STEVENS-POPE" on top with "16/0 and 700" on the underside. The Stevens factory form/sales receipt lists the rifle as "#44 26/25-25". The barrel was likely changed to the 25-21 Stevens because the 25-25 Stevens was obsolete and the 25-21 offered nearly the same ballistics in a smaller package. The back of the forearms are marked "294" and the faint serial number "1294" is marked on the lower tang. The frame is completely unmarked.