Portland Gun Club

History

The Portland Gun Club was organized in January 1907 under stockholders. In order to be a member, it was necessary to own a share of stock. The club was located on old Irvington Racetrack 15th, 16th, and Morris Streets, behind the race horse barns. We had only one trap.

The following was the membership in 1907:

Tom Honeyman Bill Bristol Dave Honeyman Jim Morris Jim Reed Pete Holahan Charley Preston Bob Stevens Bob Phillips Sam Wagner Arch Parrott J.D. Hudson Pete Rexford Harry Ott Pete Whitney Henry Wilhon Ben Trenkman Tom Word Bill Poop Harris Mert Comer Julius Meyer Ensign Rexford J.R. Jackson Jim Honeyman Henry Everding Bub Piches Les Reed Bert Farrel Jack Cullison Abe Meier

 

The club shot at this location from 1907 to 1910, and then moved to the site of West Vanport, back of Swift & Co. We shot there in 1911, 1912, and part of 1913. We acquired the property where we are now located in 1912, and established shooting in the latter part of 1913. The property consisted of twenty acres and we later bought an additional ten acres.In the winter time, up until 1918, it was almost impossible to reach the Gun Club by auto. The members usually took the Gresham Inter-Urban and got off at Jenne Station. To reach the Gun Club at Irvington, we used the old Irvington or Woodlawn car. To reach teh Gun Club from West Vanport, we used the old Kenton or Vancouver car.T.D. or Tom Honeyman was the first Executive Secretary and Treasurer of the organization in 1907; J.D. Hudson in 1908; Julius Meier in 1909; Sam Wagner in 1910; and Jim Honeyman in 1911. Jim Morris was appointed Executive Secretary and Treasurer in 1912, when it was turned over to club membership. He in turn hired Attorney Carter to draw up by-laws to be used by the Board of Directors in the first part of 1913. In 1913, the President was J.E. Cullison; in 1914, Ensign Rexford was elected President, but died in March of that year. Tom Honeyman acted as President until an election ws held and Henry Metzger became president.

1915 Hy Everding, Jr. 1916 A.W. Strowger 1917 John C. Clemson 1918 A.K. Downs 1919 Felix Friedlander 1920 Herb B. Newland 1921 Charles B. Preston 1922 Jim Morris 1923 Jim Morris 1924 E.L. Jagger 1925 W.L. Crowe 1926 E.L. Jagger 1927 W.T. Lambert 1928 A.I Moulton 1929 A.I Moulton 1930 A.I Moulton 1931 Harry Spicer 1932 Harry Spicer 1933 Dr. Ireland 1934 A.I Moulton 1935 George Fick 1936 George Fick 1937 George Fick 1938 George Fick 1939 C.B. Stetson 1940 C.B. Stetson 1941 C.B. Stetson 1942 Rance Niles 1943 W. Newson 1944 W. Newson 1945 George Fick 1946 George Fick 1947 Ed Deering 1948 Frank Sandberg 1949 Dr. Geroge Henton 1950 Del McIrvin 1951 Del McIrvin 1952 Bill Blake 1953 John Simpson 1954 Bob Bailey 1955 Bob Bailey 1956 Otto Moritz 1957 Otto Moritz 1958-1965 Harry Patton 1966 Ted Asbar

 

Some of the present members used to play around the Gun Club when it was located at Irvington: Namely, Dave Wallace and Norm Stemler. We used some of these fellows to set trap. We had no tops on our trap houses, just a backstop. M.L. Stoddard, a member at the present time, shot on the Irvington trap in 1908. The year J.D. Hudson was Executive Secretary and Treasurer.NOTE: This history was compiled by Peter Rexford. The only living member of the original members of 1907.

 

Harry Abernathy (center) Late fifties/early sixties Harry Abernathy, Arnold Reiger & Ted Asbar in April, 1988