Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

November 20, 2002, Page 32

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

November 1902

 

A quote from L. B. Ring, Editor: “Live one day at a time; make that day a full one.  Over half of our life is lost with getting ready to live.  The today’s are wasted preparing for the tomorrows.  We eye the future, while the past slips away.”

••••••••••

Sheriff Campbell is now being accompanied, here and there, by a black bloodhound, property of Clark County.  The dog is a fierce fellow who can smell a burglar nearby.

••••••••••

Walk Bros. store got in a carload of apples the other day in the bulk.  They were not barreled, but loose, like potatoes.  It reminds one of being in Ohio or New York, where apples are hauled that way to the cider mills.

••••••••••

George W. Trogner is building a fine piece of cabinet-work for Victor Woelffer’s drug store.  It is to be a large case of shelves, finished in quarter-sawed oak, to correspond with the interior finish of the store.

••••••••••

An occasional deer is being brought into our market.  George Frantz got a pair of them in Washburn this week.  A report from Taylor County says that Hank Brown killed a fine big deer the other day.  But there’s one grand thing about this deer hunting business, it isn’t like fishing – the returning nimrods don’t dare brag how many they killed.

••••••••••

The Marshfield post office has moved into its new quarters in J. C. Marsh’s fine stone and brick block.  Marshfield will have free city delivery of mails after March 1st, 1903, with three carriers.

••••••••••

W. Wagner, a farmer living three or four miles southeast of Neillsville, was run over by his team of horses and wagon.  The accident happened at the Neillsville stockyards last Saturday with Wagner getting three broken ribs.  After the accident, he was taken to his son’s home in Ketel Hollow to be cared for.  His broken ribs were given surgical attention and later he was taken to his home.  Wagner was unloading livestock at the time the accident occurred.

••••••••••

Frank E. Darling, of Kenosha and Miss Jennie Burnett went to Merrillan a week ago Monday.  There, they were married by the Methodist parson in that quiet village, returning to Neillsville looking innocent-like.  They kept that important marriage information so close that not until a week later did the public discover the true situation. By that time, the groom had returned to Kenosha.

 

The bride has been the leading dressmaker here for some years and has spent most of her life here.  She has the respect of the community, as a hard-working business woman.

 

November 1952

 

Ten boys in the Granton Future Farmer Chapter have now completed their Wisconsin Hybrid corn yield contest. Results show that Stanley Vobora won the Granton contest with a high yield of 109.21 bushels per acre.

 

Second place went to Bill Nickel with 105.01 bushels per acre.

 

Gary Kuechenmeister was in third place with 98.87 bushels.

 

The low yield in the contest was 64.32 bushels per acre.

 

The contest was sponsored by the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Association, of Madison.  There were 115 schools in the state that participated, with 1,513 contestants entered.  The corn was an 85-day maturity and variety No. 275.  Each of the boys participating learned a great deal about corn culture, is the statement of Francis Steiner, their leader.

••••••••••

Mrs. B. H. Peterson tells of a new experience on Halloween night.  She had been besieged by trick-or-treaters.  So she told a little six-year-old girl, who came in a costume and mask to the Peterson door, that she didn’t have much treats to give.  The little girl thought this over and then offered Mrs. Peterson whatever she wanted out of her bag of treats, already collected.

 

Mrs. Peterson was taken aback at this change-about and declined, but the little girl insisted on doing the treating.

 

Mrs. Peterson says that the more she thinks about it; the more amazed she is at this unusual occurrence.

••••••••••

A drought of major proportions afflicts Clark County.  The county has experienced no appreciable rainfall since August 4.  That means that there has been virtually no moisture for growing things in 100 days.

 

The record of rainfall is being kept by the Elmer Meyer family at the farm of the Indian school, on Neillsville’s west side.  They arrived here October 4.  Since that date, they have had no occasion to mark any precipitation whatever.  They have the records from their predecessors, including a record kept by Miss Gretchen Hauser after the Vornholts left the farm and before the Meyers arrived.  The most recent rainfall record, kept by Miss Hauser, was 1.46 inches on August 4.

 

The drought is an immediate hazard in the woods, especially in the Clark County forest.  All vegetation there is tinder dry.  Thus far there has been escape from any considerable fires, except one in the Town of Unity.  In that respect, Clark County has had a better experience than Marathon, Wood and Portage counties.  To fight one forest fire alone in that area, 150 men were needed.

••••••••••

A special deal is available on a new Ford tractor at Svetlik Motor Company in Neillsville.  You may save $350 when you buy a new Ford tractor, as they must reduce their stock.  The regular price was $1,570 and is now only $1,220.  Probably never again will you see such a low price.  The supply is limited to stock on hand.

••••••••••

The 40th anniversary of the Holy Family Church, at Willard, will be observed next Sunday.  The celebration marks the completion of the first church edifice, which was built by the early settlers.  Of these pioneers, few now remain.  The observance will be marked by a supper, served at the West Side Hall, followed by a dance.

 

The first regular pastor of this church was the Rev. J. J. Novak, who remained for 30 years.  Other early priests of brief tenure were the Rev. Pollak, Rev. Kastigar and the Reg. (Rev.) Boeckman.

••••••••••

William Creed, of Unity, has announced his unalterable decision to retire from the Clark County Board.  His departure marks the end of a service of remarkable length and of great local importance.

 

Creed has been a member of the county board for 48 consecutive years.  He is the only member whom the village of Unity has ever had upon the board.  He has never had during the 48 years, any opposition that was worthy of the name.  He tried to retire a little time ago and announced that purpose.  But his neighbors did not see it that way and Creed returned.  That record was already impressive over the whole state of Wisconsin.  No one else in Wisconsin has reached such a milestone of having a county board record even approaching the length of that of Creed.

 

Creed first came to the county board in 1904.  That was the year in which Unity was incorporated.  A supervisor was needed and Creed did not run for the place.  But other plans failed to work out and the village board picked Creed for the post.  That started his unusual career.

 

When Creed came to the county board, he was mixed up in the ownership of the kind of farms common in those early years, with merchandising being his chief affair.  He had a strong interest in farming, however, and landed upon the agriculture committee when a farm agent was first employed in the county.  That was back in 1914 and Creed had continued to serve upon that committee ever since, setting up another state record.  

 

He has watched the development of agriculture in Clark County and is happy to have had a considerable hand in it.  When he came to the county in 1872, he was two years of age and didn’t know much about farming.  He didn’t even wear over-alls. But others did not seem to know much about farming at that time either.  The men were mostly interested in logging.  Then and for decades thereafter, the growing of crops was sketchy and the cattle were scrubs.

 

At the age of 82, Creed has a keen recollection of farming affairs.  He recalls that early efforts were directed to the growing of squaw corn, white flint and yellow flint.  This early corn had small ears and didn’t amount to much.  He recalls that an ambitious farmer had grown 250 bushels of a cross between Wisconsin 8 and a Minnesota corn.  Those 250 bushels was bought for seed by Clark County in 1907 and was distributed among farmers at the rate of 15 ears to a farmer, enough for one acre.  For this seed, six farmers were selected in each township.  That gave a start for the first dent corn in the county, with a definitely heavier yield.  (Squaw corn today is known as Indian corn that is grown with various colored kernels. DZ)

 

Creed has witnessed and helped with development of the farm extension service from the very first.  He recalls that the acceptance of this service was very dubious in the beginning and also that a qualified farm agent was not easy to find.  The first farm (agent) in Clark County was R. V. Brown, who began in 1914.  He was succeeded after two years by H. M. Knipfel, who had been the Ag teacher in the Neillsville High School.  Knipfel had a highly successful experience and contributed to the permanence of the extension service.  Then, Wallace Landry, with a service of 12 years, followed by William Marquardt, Earl Wright and Stanley Ihlenfeldt.  As the years have passed, Creed has seen the development of the 4-H and the Homemakers, along with enlargement of the personnel of the extension department to lead them.

 

In line with his service on the Ag committee, Creed has served 27 years as a county fair director and has held the offices of president and vice-president.

 

Creed is tired and thinks he has had enough.  He intends to sell his 8-room house in Unity and thus divest himself of a burden.  With Mrs. Creed gone, he rattles around in the big lonesome house.  His present plan is to live this winter with a daughter in Iowa.

••••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Ganther entertained about 125 guests at a house-warming Saturday night.  The Ganthers have just completed a new home on the farm they now occupy.  The Ganther farm was cleared from virgin forestland by Mrs. Ganther’s father Henry Pietenpol, who bought the tract of land in 1883.

 

The new home consists of a large living room, three bedrooms, bath, kitchen and dinette, with several closets, a full basement with automatic heat, laundry, fruit and vegetable storage.

 

The evening was spent by guests dancing in the basement with Ross Downer furnishing the music, while others played cards in the main floor rooms. (The Ganther house was located one and one-half miles north of Granton, on Romadka Road)

••••••••••

Wearing a swallow-tail coat, tails flapping in the breeze, green plaid under-shorts in full view and his young son’s chartreuse hat held tightly to the top of his head by a chin strap, Peter Beck paid his election debt in Neillsville on Friday afternoon.

 

A large crowd of spectators lined the two and one-half blocks of Neillsville’s Main Street to watch Beck’s eventful bicycle ride. The weatherman cooperated beautifully for the briefly attired former Neillsville bookkeeper.

 

Beck, in a moment of despair, back in August, had rashly stated that: “If Gen. Eisenhower is elected president I’ll ride down the main street on a bicycle in my shorts.”

 

He did, and Beck did on Friday. The turnout of people proved once again that the American people dearly love a good gag.

 

The Neillsville High School “pep” band turned out to give musical punctuation to the event.  Under the direction of their instructor, Scott Hunsberger, the band played a 10-minute pre-ride concert.

 

But that was the only serious moment of the entire event. After taken at the starting line, Beck was sent on his way with the pop of a popgun pistol, held by Tom Flynn, the official starter.

 

Despite the sunshine, the weather was not quite as balmy as spring and Beck peddled the ancient bicycle, provided by Claire Carlson, a little faster than promised.  The group of school children who followed him en route had to step lively to keep up.

 

At the head of West Sixth Street, in the vacant lot, a mourners’ bench had been provided by Chuck Jordahl.  Frosty Kurth, going along with the gag like a good sport, sat alone on the bench.  Beck stopped there, shook Kurth’s hand and offered him a few pieces of paper toweling; so the crying towel was just a colorful piece of superfluity.

 

After this brief pause, Beck headed full tilt aboard the bicycle for the finish line at the Merchants Hotel corner.  There he was greeted by Beverly Lavey, who handed him a half-pint of warm milk which H. H. Quicker had thoughtfully provided.  “Boy! That milk tasted good,” Beck commented later.  And that ended the election debt pay-off of Peter Beck.

••••••••••

George F. Brenner and his wife, Olga, have bought from Walter Drake and his wife, Sarah, 40 acres of land in Section 25, Town of Beaver.  The sale price was $3,000.  Not included in the transaction was the parcel of land on which are situated the house, garage, a well and a gasoline storage house.

••••••••••

Edward Frei, of Loyal, who is widely known locally as a former Neillsville resident, has purchased the building and garage equipment of the Thompson K-F Service.  He is now engaged in the automobile repair and service station business on that location.

 

Purchase of the building and ground was made from owners who live in Milwaukee.  The prices were not announced, but it was understood to be in the neighborhood of $11,000.  The garage equipment was owned by Alvin Thompson, who operated on the location for the last two or three years.

••••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. Joe Zvolena and their three children, of Milladore, who have purchased the Edgar Vick farm, south of Loyal, are now settled in their new home.

€€€€€€€€€

 

Esther Jackson Parry and Marie Woelffer Covell were dressed in style with cloche hats and fur coats, the “flapper days” attire of the 1920s, when this photo was taken.  The ladies were both long-time residents of Neillsville.  (Photo courtesy of the Woelffer-Covell Family Collection)

 

 


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