Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

March 4, 2009 Page 18

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

March 1909

 

J. P. Thiex of Wausau has purchased Ira Wolff’s carriage painting business and took possession yesterday.  Mr. Thiex is an all-around painter, a fine sign writer and will make a specialty of sign writing and window lettering.

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Ira Wolff is visiting at Thorp and will leave from there for Montana to go onto his ranch. Ed Wolff will leave shortly also for Montana.

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Marriage was a failure in this case says Mrs. Louis Struvnez, formerly Miss Frances Livingston, who two months ago chose Struvnez from over 1,000 applicants for her hand and married him Jan. 10.  She has left her husband at Dorchester and returned to her farm near Boyd.

 

After discarding her new husband, Louis Struvnez, she appears now in the role of an author.  Miss Livingston, during her matrimonial quest received over 1,000 proposals of marriage from all parts of the United States, Canada and England. Now she plans to publish in book form, her correspondence and proposals with the names and addresses of the parties who submitted such.

•••••••••

Monday afternoon the roof on one of the ice houses caved in and caught three men beneath it, James Schummel, Ben Wagner and Henry Marg.  Schummel was pretty badly injured, his head being caught between two timbers and he was extricated with considerable difficulty.  Wagner and Marg were also injured, but not as badly as Schummel, who will be laid up for a while.

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Brameld’s store has 100-piece dinner sets of fine semi-porcelain china, white or gold patterns at $9.50 and $20 per set.

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The train leaving Loyal on Wednesday morning did not arrive in Marshfield until 4 p.m. leaving Marshfield at 6 p.m. to arrive back at Loyal after 10 p.m. they reported snow banks being something fierce.  The section crews on that line were called out when the train stalled at Spokeville.  They accompanied the train to Marshfield and on its return, being called upon several times to shovel through the snowdrifts.  Judging from the looks of the section crewmembers, the engine and coach, they must have had a difficult time of it.

 

Snow fell Monday and Tuesday, leaving us 20 inches in all.

 

Work has commenced on John Gerdes’ store in Spokeville.  The building is being rushed to completion.  Mr. Gerdes will handle a line of general merchandise in the store.

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Neillsville Bock Beer is brewed from the finest hops and malt that money can buy.  Stored for six-months in ice-cold cellars and now bottled, the Bock beer is available, 24 bottles for $1.25, delivered.  Call number 42

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A representative from Libby, McNeal & Libby Company met with the pickle growers at Columbia wanting to secure a sufficient number of acres to run a pickle station there.

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Mr. and Mrs. Gus Schoengarth wish to express thanks to those who came so promptly to their assistance when their home was destroyed by fire last Tuesday evening.  Also thanks to all of those who have so kindly given assistance.  Mrs. Wm. Schoengarth gave a party Thursday to assist Mrs. Gus Schoengarth in making quilts. There was plenty of work done by the ladies who attended.

 

The family has rooms at the home of his father, Fred Schoengarth, Sr., where they will reside until they can rebuild a house on their farm.

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The Water Power Company has put up 350 tons of ice at Dells Dam and about the same amount of ice at Hatfield.

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Frank Osgood is getting ready for the maple syrup season. He bought a 22-barrel sap tank at Tourigny’s hardware store last week.

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The Northwestern cutters are the best made.  They are easy riding, durable and the price is reasonable when purchased at Howard & Seif’s.

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Ed Kellicut, L. H. Bender, P. Kauth and Ernest Thomas all of Shortville went to Black River Falls, Sunday where they took their tobacco crop. Each man had nearly a ton of tobacco to sell.

•••••••••

Louis Zipfel, of Kurth Corners Community, had a rock-hauling bee Monday.  He plans to build a house in the spring.

 

 

March 1939

 

Friends of Mr. and Mrs. George Shaw, about 125 in number, gave them a surprise dancing party at Moose Hall Sunday evening in observance of their Silver Wedding Anniversary.  Lunch was served at midnight with a beautiful four layer wedding cake gracing the table. The bride and groom were presented with a collection of silver coins.  One of the entertaining features of the evening was a waltz by Mr. and Mrs. Shaw, their sons, Clarence, Robert and George, Jr., and daughter Edna, joined in comprising the orchestra, playing, “A Bicycle Built for Two,” Edna and Robert singing the chorus.  Their son, Louis of Milwaukee was unable to be present.

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Pattie and Dickie Tibbett entertained 25 of their little friends and schoolmates Saturday afternoon by taking them for a sleigh-ride in the “Klondike,” returning to the Tibbett home for games and lunch.  Miss Stella Davis and Mrs. Richard Becker were chaperones of the group.  The birthdays of Pat and Dick, occurring only a few weeks apart, thus were jointly observed.

•••••••••

Wisconsin’s largest incomes are found in families having the largest number of dependents.  This is the conclusion reached by the state tax commission, after a careful study of returns for the year 1936.

 

In Clark County the average incomes of families making a report and having one dependent was $1,913; two dependents, $2,098; four dependents, $2,560.  In Clark County there is an apparent variation the case of families having three dependents, for in that case the average income was $1,871.  This is a decided exception, for in practically all the rural parts of the state the income went up quite uniformly as the number of dependents increased.

•••••••••

Last week’s 10-inch snowfall cost the city $273.97, according to the records of Emil Mattson, street commissioner.

 

It was by all odds the heaviest and most costly of the winter to date; but at the same time, it was a mere snow flake in a blizzard as compared with the storm of February 20 and 21, 1937.

 

That was the worst storm in recent years, according to Mr. Matson’s records. Seventeen inches of snow fell over the two days and the city spent $734.25 to remove it from the main streets and to clear other streets and sidewalks. A few of the streets had to be cleared by hand, while the snow was so deep on others it was necessary to push the plow with two trucks, Mr. Matson recalled.

•••••••••

In the spring of 1938 several of the Village of Granton ladies conceived the idea of transforming the basements of several buildings on Main Street, which had been destroyed by fire several years ago, into sunken gardens.  Although the idea was scoffed and sneered at by several, the ladies kept diligently at their self-imposed task, and in a few weeks had wrought wonders in the appearance of this unsightly corner.  This year the ladies are again making plans to carry on the project and will further the efficiency of their labors with an organization known as the Garden Club.  Meeting at the Coffee Shoppe Monday night, the following officers were selected: president, Mrs. Marion Schroeder, and secretary -Mrs. Paul Spaete.

•••••••••

Funeral services were held Monday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Greenwood Reformed Church for Fred Braun, who passed away at his home Thursday morning, March 9, after a lingering illness. The Rev. E.G. Pfeiffer officiated, and burial was made in the Braun Settlement Cemetery.

 

Mr. Braun was born August 7, 1857, in Riesenkirch, West Prussia, German.  He came to the United States in 1883, settling in Sheboygan County, where he was married to Maria Wilck on June 3, 1886.  One year later, they came to Clark County where they settled on a farm 10 miles northwest of Greenwood.  He was a charter member of the Braun Settlement Reformed Church, which was organized September 10, 1893.  In 1919 they retired from their farm and since made their home in the city of Greenwood.  Upon moving to town he joined the Reformed Chruch there and served as elder at different times.  In 1936 Mr. and Mrs. Braun celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

 

He is survived by his wife, two sons, George and Theodore and two daughters, Mrs. Albert (Clara) Liebzeit and Mrs. Emil (Marionne) Noah, all of Greenwood. Three children: Harry, Adela and Ernest, died in infancy.  He is also survived by 21 grandchildren, two great-grandchildren; one brother, William and two sisters, Mrs. Louisa Horn and Mrs. Christina Horn, all of Greenwood.

•••••••••

One day last week, Mr. Spry’s car caught on the railroad tracks at Kurth Station, located along Pleasant Ridge, and was quite badly demolished by a freight train.  Mr. Spry signaled the train, but the train did not stop, or could not stop in time to avoid the collision.  Recently William Kurth and another car stalled in the same place but were able to get off the track before the train arrived.

•••••••••

Clark County Treasurer James H. Fradette, who has played a major role in setting up Clark County’s large county forest, urged Wood County sportsmen last week to provide a large county forest there, out of worthless land rather than let the land become a “tennis ball to be batted back and forth by speculators” at the expense of taxing units.

 

Speaking before a meeting of the Central Wisconsin Sportsmen’s club in Vesper, Mr. Fradette declared that these lands are similar to those encompassed in Clark County’s extensive county forest system and are worthless.  Should the lands become the object of speculator’s activities it will result in misery to innocent buyers and they ultimately will become burdens upon the county’s purse.

 

Mr. Fradette poked shrewd fun at the idea of doing anything with the Central Wisconsin sandy marshlands outside of forestry and cited many examples of what has happened to such lands in Clark County since this section of the state was settled.

 

He produced an abstract on a single 80-acre tract, which recently was taken over by Clark County.  It showed 44 entries of title transfer including nine tax deeds and 23 quitclaim deeds.

 

“People get such land because they don’t know what it is all about.  The land is simply no good and the more of it you own, the poorer you are,” he declared.

 

“Back in the 1850s,” Mr. Fradette continues, “governmental surveyors reported even at that time there was notable evidence for the extreme poverty of the soil and scarcity of timber excepting along watercourses.”

 

“We shouldn’t toss that land back and forth any more,” he said.  “We went all through that stage once.  Let’s not do it again.  Keep it in the hands of the public and out of the hands of the speculators.”

 

One example of the manner in which a taxing unit may be hoodwinked out of money through this poor land, Mr. Fradette said, was given in the case of a parcel in Clark County.  A purchaser bid on an 80-acre tract at a foreclosure sale for three dollars; he promptly asked that the school, long since closed, be reopened for his children.

 

In another case, a man bought up 40 acres for about $25 in tax certificates, built a log shack three-quarters of a mile from the highway, and then requested that the town build a road to the log shack.  The road, it was estimated, would cost $1,800.  So the town and the school district, with aid from the forest fund, bought the man out for $700.  He made a neat profit of $675!

 

“Such are the samples of what happens to the public purse when the land goes back to private ownership,” Mr. Fradette declared.  “The process goes on continually unless such land is placed beyond the reach of spectators’ hands.”

•••••••••

Being as the country roads are so bad in the York Center area, people are back to enjoying good old buggy rides.

 

Mr. Fischer, mail carrier on Greenwood, route one, had the misfortune of his car breaking down when attempting to get through a bad mud hole near the Leo Kronberger farm, Friday afternoon.  Leo took him the rest of the way on his mail route, and a wrecker from Greenwood came out to get Fischer’s car.

•••••••••

The people of Jack Creek Square gave a farewell party in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Bergen Smith and family at their home Saturday night.  The evening was spent dancing and pushing, pulling cars out of the mud.  Never the less, everyone had an enjoyable evening and is very sorry to see the Smith family leave the community.  Everyone hopes they won’t forget their friends and pay them many visits in the future.

•••••••••

The Cannonville ladies will have a Chili Supper and bazaar Saturday evening, March 25, at the Washburn Town hall; starting at 6:30 p.m. and until all are served.  Chili will be 10’ a bowl.  There will be candy and popcorn also.

•••••••••

A miscellaneous shower was given for the Bemis family, sponsored by the Legion Auxiliary of Humbird. The Bemis family had the misfortune of their home and personal belongings being destroyed by fire some weeks ago.  Earl Bemis recently bought the Howard Bigelow house and they will soon move into their new home.

•••••••••

Clayton Converse and Vic Krecji are busy with preparations for the coming maple Syruping season. Also the Elmhorst brothers, Walter and Carl, are busy down at the Marvin Eide bush, as they are taking that job this spring.  Now we are all hoping for a good maple sap run.

 

 

Dells Dam played an important role in controlling the current of Black River waters while moving harvested logs from the Clark County pineries to market in La Crosse and points beyond along the Mississippi River during the late 1800s.  (Photo courtesy of Sontag Collection)

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