In response to my recent post about the Bolsa Chica Gun Club in Huntington Beach, my archaeologist pal, Doug McIntosh wrote that in late 1994 "we did a job at the gun club site. Documented several of the hunting blinds and the pumping system which supplied fresh water into the marsh. The wooden hunting blind features were littered with old brass shot gun shells and broken Perrier-style mineral water bottles. It was a real treat to see these features...".
Doug provided all of today's photos, including the culvert (with gate) shown above, and the old flume seen below.
Doug writes, "The features are of milled redwood and dated to the gun club period of operation... The salts in the ground aided in preserving many of wooden blinds and flume system which supplied fresh water..."
The image above shows a Byron Jackson centrifugal pump (post-1909). The image below shows a wooden culvert. Note the oil well and bluffs in the background.
Doug also writes that, coincidentally, "In the early 1930s our family, which supplied the Alpha Beta grocery store chain with beef, leased some of this area to graze cattle."
The photo above shows the pump, wooden culvert, and Doug's shadow. (Dontcha hate it when that happens?) Another closeup of the pump and its platform are shown below.
Personally, I remember seeing even more bits of the old Gun Club still standing when I used to haunt this area as a kid. I wouldn't be surprised if things went missing between the late 1980s and the mid-1990s. I took some photos back then, but I have to find them before I can share them here.
