By Ed Shannon, staff writer

Recent news reports about North Edgewater Park indicate this place was once a junkyard or landfill which is now being proposed for a future cleanup operation.

However, only a portion of this park located at the northwest corner of Fountain Lake was used for the disposal site. This site, plus other parcels within the present park&8217;s boundaries have been used for other activities, including a rifle and pistol range.

The original use for what eventually evolved into a landfill and later park land was as a sand and gravel quarry by the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad. A side track was used to haul out the material for use in construction and maintenance.

By the 1930s and early &8216;40s the railroad converted the open pit portion into a place where scrap metal could be salvaged from old engines and rail cars.

Another use for this grassy area gradually came about and involved a group of firearms enthusiasts.

The Albert Lea Rifle and Pistol Club was organized in 1936 by three local sportsmen and firearms enthusiasts: Clarence &8220;Butch&8221; Wilde, Olin Hamer and Chet Jones. The first range was located east of Albert Lea near the present Freeborn-Mower Cooperative Services.

Their first shooting match was held on May 1, 1938, and featured participants from gun clubs in neighboring communities.

One of the founding trio, Chet Jones, soon arranged for the range to be relocated in a city-owned gravel pit northwest of the city next to a cow pasture and salvage yard operated by the Minneapolis and St. Louis Railroad. This range was used for small bore (.22 caliber) target shooting, and the first match at the new location may have been on Sept. 17, 1939.

Jones was the city engineer before World War II, the city manager during the war years, and a rifleman with an impressive record. He was a member of the Minnesota state rifle team that went to Camp Perry, Ohio, in 1937, 1938 and 1939. He was the small bore rifle champion for both Minnesota and Iowa in 1941. In 1942 he served on the National Rifle Association&8217;s national board of directors.

In 1946 Jones decided to start his own engineering firm which later evolved into the present Jones-Haugh & Smith operations.

The club members gradually developed the rifle range on the north side of Edgewater Bay. A small shed was used as the first clubhouse and later converted into a concession stand. An old barn was torn down at the site of the city&8217;s airport and the lumber used to erect a larger clubhouse. In July 1949 the Albert Lea Rifle and Pistol Club was incorporated.

After World War II the club really expanded with the addition of men who learned part of their shooting skills in the military service.

In 1949, according to the late Ken Wangen, the club also had a pit target set up on the North Alden Road.

Wangen listed several matches which were held at the lakeside range and once said, &8220;We had the best .22 caliber range in the area and everyone liked the way we operated it.&8221; He went on to describe small bore target shooting as &8220;very precise.&8221;

The Albert Lea marksmen also traveled to ranges operated by other clubs in south Minnesota and north Iowa to participate in day-long matches.

In 1951 a grass fire swept through the club&8217;s area and destroyed the clubhouse, the concession shed and the target stands. This older rifle range location is now a part of North Edgewater Park.

For several years the club looked for a new area to be used for an expanded rifle and pistol range. A site in an old gravel pit about a mile north of Bancroft and the Good Samaritan Center was rented from a farmer an the club rebuilt its target shooting ranges. In 1982 the Albert Lea Rifle and Pistol Club purchased the property, which is used for their present activities.

In reality, very little environmental damage was ever done to North Edgewater Park by the Albert Lea Rifle and Pistol Club during the few years they had their target range at this location.

The

present environmental problems came about as a result of the quarry and gravel pit being used as a city disposal site for about 15 years starting in 1956. Then this landfill or dump ground was covered over with dredge tailings from the nearby bay and the 30-acre site became a city park in the early 1970s.