Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

July 26, 2000, Page 18

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

The Good Old Days

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

July 1875

 

Ira McIntyre’s new house is now completed and has become the dwelling place of its fortunate owner.  It is a fine building, pleasantly situated and will make an attractive home.  The work throughout is the very best.  The plastering, done by A. L. Lindley, a brother of the present editor of the Republican, is the best plastering we have every seen.  He is a master work-man.  (The McIntyre house still stands on the lot where it was built, 113 Court Street.  The home’s ownership remained in the McIntyre family for 114 years.  Fred McIntyre, the last family member to live there, passed away in 1980.  Some local residents will remember Pat McIntyre, who gave accordion lessons, while he lived at that address and later had a band, playing dance jobs for many years.  Emil and Marjorie Hauri lived in a house on the south side of the McIntyre home.  Marjorie had been a McIntyre.)

 

The Presbyterian Church is now enclosed and ready for the veneering of brick it is to receive.  It is a fine looking building and adds to the appearance of our town. A little over five weeks ago the ground was broken for the foundation of the church.  It is the intention of the Presbyterian Society to be able to complete the building before cold weather.  We hope such maybe the case. A small donation from each individual who is interested in the growth and posterity of our village will enable them to finish the edifice by fall.  That would be a paying investment for every property holder here who may donate funds for the accomplishment of that.

 

The Chapel Hall in the Neillsville school building has been seated, during the past week.  Patent folding settees are similar in use throughout the building, with the exception of being longer and without desks.  The seats are very nice and are sufficient to accommodate about 350 persons.  A raised platform has been built across the east end of the room which will afford ample stage room for school exercises.  It is now the finest hall in town. Through some mistake, the seats for the school house were sent to Black River Falls instead of the Black River Station, as was ordered.  It was necessary to send teams and wagons to Black River Falls to get the seats, occasioning considerable delay and some expense.  The fault was wholly on the part of the shippers.  (The Black River Station was located west of the Black River and a short distance north of the old Hwy. 10, now Cty Road B the first railroad station to serve Neillsville.)

 

The population of the Town of Pine Valley is 1525 according to the census taken by Rev. W. T. Hendren.  That figure makes it the most populous township in Clark County. The Town of Grant ranks second in population and Mentor is third.

 

O. P. Wells will give a dance in Neillsville on Monday, July 6, for the benefit of those who do not wish to go out of town to attend a celebration. The dance will be at Eyerly’s Hall and a supper at the Rossman House.  The music will be furnished by Hutchins string band.  A general invitation is extended to all. Every effort will be made to make the occasion one of enjoyment to all who attend.  Tickets to the dance are $1.00, supper $1.00 extra

 

Wm. Facry, Ira Benedict and Walker Page, of Grant, have purchased a Vibrator thresher.  They propose to thresh small grains for the farmers in Clark County during the coming harvest season.

 

Work on the foundation walls of the Clark County Courthouse is progressing rapidly.  The stone layers keep after Dave Wood, insisting he must have the supply of stones there, ready to be used as they are working.  Wood says they shall have the stones as fast as they need them, even if it takes all the teams and wagons in Clark County to do it.

 

Someone is digging a well at the courthouse grounds.  An abundance of water was found 50 feet below the surface, which is much better than was expected.  The well is six and one-half feet in diameter and will possess sufficient capacity even for drowning all the cats in town.

 

The first or opening horse races, will come off; on August seventh, of which due notice will be given.  It will be confined to horses owned in Clark County.  A purse of $100 will be given by the Agriculture Society to the winning horses in the various races.  The track which is one of the best in the state has been refitted and is now in the best possible condition.  The Neillsville Brass Band will be in attendance.  It is the aim of the association to make these exhibitions interesting to all who may attend.  It is not the intent of the Society to make this a medium of speculative gambling on the speed of the horses, as we have heard some state.  Their only wish and expectation is to encourage a better strain of horses in the racing classes.

 

Mrs. Crossett has opened a bakery in connection with her ice cream saloon.  She will keep cakes, pies and everything in that line of sweets. She also manufactures choice candies, as good as can be made here or elsewhere.  These possess an advantage over candies bought from other markets by being fresher and purer.

 

Gates & Head have an abundance of fresh lake trout and whitefish at their store for those who like eating fish.

 

July 1935

 

For the first time in the history of the local National Guard unit trucks were used to transport guard members to camp Williams for 19 days of training.  The guard units had used the rail road to travel to camp in the past.  The Service Company comprised of 38 guardsmen and four officers, under the command of Ben Brown, was transported by the Abbotsford motorized artillery company.  Major Leo Jackson will go into camp on Saturday.

 

A 4.7-inch United States army field gun and carriage was recently obtained from the Rock Island, Ill., arsenal by the Otto A. Haugen post of the American Legion. Through the efforts of Representative Merlin Hull and F. W. Brown, service officer, the gun arrived this week.  It was unloaded at the courthouse where a suitable base will be built.  The gun is in excellent condition and will form a lasting memorial to the World War I Veterans. 

 

Completing 1,200 miles of its coast-to-coast fuel economy run, the Auburn car powered with a Cummins Diesel engine, arrived in Neillsville today averaging 38.09 miles per gallon of fuel oil for the distance.  Cost of fuel for the 1,200 miles was $2.21.  Tax on the fuel amounted to $1.26, making a total cost of $3.47 for 1,200 miles of travel.

 

The owner of the Auburn car, C. L. Cummins, is president of the Cummins Engine Company of Columbus, Ind.  He left New York City last week, driving the Auburn car.  He is accompanied by Fred Dusenburg, nephew of the famous auto-motive engineer.

 

The run is being made at an average speed of 50 miles per hour for most of the trip.  Often times a speed of 75 miles per hour was maintained.  The six-cylinder engine develops 100 horsepower at 3,000 r.p.m. and the car has a top speed of 90 miles per hour. 

 

Mr. and Mrs. Carl Opelt and their eight children, of the Town of Levis, formed an interesting group Monday morning when the entire family came to Neillsville to do their shopping.  The children: Robert, Rudolph, Arnold, Bernard, Kenneth, Billie, Evelyn and baby Donald, ages 9 months to 12 years, are exceptionally healthy and were immaculately clothed. Their bright, eager faces were pleasing to look upon.  Mrs. Opelt was Miss Permilla Mack of Waupaca before her marriage which occurred in 1922.  She is but 34 years in age.  The fifth child will join his brothers when they enter the Riverside School this fall.  (There were also four more children who joined the Opelt family later: Dale, Jenny, Dorothy and Gordon (Butch).  Millie (Permilla) Opelt will be 98 years old on her next birthday in September.  She still lives in her own home, is able to maintain her household, bakes home-made bread and prepares her meals, being known as an excellent cook.)

 

Mrs. Emil Jahr, 75, who works a large garden at her home on South Court street, dug her first potatoes for Sunday dinner on June 30.  The largest potato on display at Kleckners Elevator was almost full grown and measured 8 ½ inches in circumference around the middle.  Although Mrs. Jahr is a successful gardener, she admits that she humored her early potatoes a bit, covering the vines during the early season whenever there was a danger of frost.

 

District Attorney John M. Peterson reports that complaints have come to his office stating that certain persons now on relief rolls have refused to take private employment offered them.  These complaints also have come to the attention of the Clark County Relief Department.  It is understood that William E. Roberts, Director of Relief in Clark County, will ask for prosecution of such persons who refuse employment by private parties.  District Attorney Peterson promises prosecution wherever the circumstances warrant.

 

The Neillsville Garage Co. sold an International truck to George Kuehn, a Plymouth sedan to Otto Kunkel and a Plymouth coach to Harold Prock last week.

 

The Seif & Byse Sales Co. announces the following car sales this last week: a 4-door touring sedan to Charles Seif; a new pickup truck to Yankee Bros. of Granton, a pickup truck to Wegner’s Restaurant and delivered sedan to Wm. Noll of Marshfield.

 

Eighty-one Clark County youths were accepted Friday at the court house for CCC camps.  The examinations were conducted by Capt. Chas. W. Fake, First Lieut. Edward Seaforth and Chaplain L. D. Utts.

 

To Company 2118, Camp Globe, Fairchild, 65 men were assigned.  To Company 657, Camp Elcho, Elcho, Wis., seven men were assigned and nine men were sent to Camp Sawyer, of Winter.

 

A. P. Murphy, proprietor of the Merchants Hotel and a former civil engineer, with J. A. Brown, likewise an engineer and retired district manager of the American Telephone & Telegraph Co., pooled their scientific knowledge this week to construct a beer cooling cellar beneath the hotel tavern.

 

They made a general survey of the basement and concluded excavation should commence at a point eight feet south of the north wall, thence five feet south, east, etc. to the point of beginning.  Murphy took control of the spade with Brown manning the boom and rigging.  The rapidity with which Murphy burrowed into the earth showed that he had had considerable experience in digging this type of shaft.  In no time, he was dug down to a depth of his shoulders.  At that point his spade stopped with a twang. An attempt at further digging brought forth more of the same twangs and the discovery that a huge boulder, weighting more than 1,000 pounds lay at the bottom of what was intended to be the beer cellar.

 

How to get the rock out was the question.  Blasting wouldn’t do.  Drilling and using wedges might solve the problem, so an air drill was borrowed.  Murphy hooked up his air brush equipment to the drill, but the supply of atmosphere was so weak the drill merely sighed without so much as a quiver running through its frame.

 

Abandoning this line of attack as impractical, the two engineers hit upon the idea of improvising a hoist, making a tripod out of four-by-fours and using a block and tackle.  At the latest report the rock is still in the cellar and the hoist has not been completed.  They are now considering the feasibility of moving the hole away from the rock.  Anybody with a suggestion for separating this rock from the hotel premises so the two properties can be used separately are urged to address his communications to the Engineering Department of Merchants Hotel.

 

Wednesday news on the Merchants Hotel cellar development has been updated.  P. M. Warlum and his crew were called to the Merchants Hotel.  Warlum’s powerful hoist which he uses for raising smoke stacks was brought to the site and his equipment handled the rock problem nicely.  The rock was so large that it barely slid sideways through the rear door of the hotel.

 

The aroma of wax beans floats up from the Inderrian (Inderrieden) cannery on West Eighth Street these days. As yet, the beans aren’t coming in fast, but with a total of 750 acres to be harvested, will doubtlessly increase rapidly if the weather remains favorable.

 

Buy now and save at the W. G. Woodward Co. store in Neillsville.  Silk or cotton summer dresses are half price; hats – 50c each; 3 coats left, now $4.95 each and white shoes are on sale, starting at 98c a pair.

 

On Friday, July 26, attend the cafeteria supper and ice cream social at the Pleasant Ridge Church.

 

Saturday night, July 27, dance to the music of “Dux’s Melody Kings” at Frank Hren’s barn located 3 ½ miles south of Willard, then 1 ½ miles west; or 1 ½ miles east of Tioga.

 

A 1922 Willys Knight auto, which was owned by Alfred Sherman; who lived on East fifth present site of Christensen Dry Wall.  The house was moved to the 419 Grand Avenue Lot later.  Sherman was a home decorator, painting and wall papering.  He also sold cars for Stelloh Garage.  His son, Dale, is seated behind the steering wheel also. Dale presently lives in Texas. 

 

 


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