In 1947, Harold Hansen, Norman Berg, Carl Milton, Harold Milton, Jamie Arnot, and Dave Morton bought a manual hand thrower.
They would go out to the Troy city dump and have fun. The targets were bought through "Jensen-Byrd" from Spokane.
In 1948, those same people got organized with some people from Deary and started a gun club.
On March 19, 1948, acting chairman Ed Solberg opened the meeting and introduced Tom Felton who gave a talk on club organization and recommended incorporation along with the carrying of
liability insurance.
On April 12, 1948, the club was incorporated and had liability insurance. The directors were elected as follows: Bill Sumner - President; Archie Johnson - Vice President; Dave Morton -
Secretary/Treasurer; Jerry Lawrence - Director; James Arnot - Director. Membership dues were ten dollars.
After discussion of a suitable site for the club, they settled on leasing the ground on Dry Creek from Ray Johnson for 10 years with an option.
A name for the club was needed and the proposals were: Deary-Troy Gun Club; Dry Creek Gun Club; Hit and Miss Gun Club; and Troy-Deary Gun Club. Troy-Deary Gun Club was selected after a motion
retracting the name Deary-Troy Gun Club.
The club hired a man to pour concrete and build a trap.
Dan and Darlene McKenzie moved to Troy in 1952 and began shooting at the Troy-Deary Gun Club. (Dan was a charter member of the Culdesac Gun Club). At the time, the clubhouse at Troy-Deary Gun
Club was a small building that was approximate ten feet long and eight feet wide. It had a wood stove and a card table inside. Boards were used for walkways.
Al Galloway of Bovill was the best shooter of the time. He was boss at the Joslin Pole yard. He came to the area from Montana where he had won the Montana State Doubles championship.
At the first Turkey Shoot Darlene remembers, they set up a 12' - 15' tent in six to eight inches of snow. Edith Archibald and Darlene cooked inside the tent on a wood stove. Everyone crowded
inside the tent to stay warm and they ran out of food.
The present club house was moved in 1960. It originally was a Potlatch logging camp bunkhouse on Camp 43 at Weitas Creek south of Elk River, Idaho. The members of the club - farmers, loggers, and
business men - used farm trucks with dollies and hauled it in sections. Some of the members who helped were Archie Johnson, Dan McKenzie, Jim Arnot, Ruben Johnson, Dave Morton, Jerry Lawrence,
and Norm Lewis.
After the new clubhouse was set up, the club began having crab feeds in February of each year with good turn outs.
The Troy-Deary Gun Club was one of the original members of the Camas Prairie Trapshooting association even though they weren't allowed to vote for some time. Dan McKenzie shot the first Camas
Prairie Shoot in 1954? and Darlene shot the second. Darlene has only missed three since that time but Dan has missed more.
"Trapshooting has been real good for us as the whole family shoots. Can't believe Dan became President of the A.T.A. - anything can happen" - Darlene McKenzie.
*All of the information above about the history of the Troy-Deary Gun Club was submitted by club
member Darlene McKenzie*
Allen Hokanson