Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

April 7, 2010, Page 17

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

April 1915

 

All over the state there were many contests this year on the license question.  Neillsville was the closest to going dry in its history after a most energetic campaign carried on by an organization of young men.

 

The Town of Grant (along with Granton Village) went dry by 4 votes.

 

Abbotsford was a tie.

 

The Town of Fremont (with Chili Village) went dry by 7 votes.

 

Fairchild went dry.

 

Black River Falls went dry by 87 votes.

 

Withee went wet.

 

(Votes were cast to issue or not issue liquor licenses in towns or villages. D .Z.)

••••••••••

At the Tuesday election the chief interest outside of the license question was centered in the contest for Mayor.  It was a straight out race between Fred Seif, the present incumbent and J. L. Kleckner, with Kleckner winning by a majority of 69 votes.  Mr. Seif’s total vote was 215 and Mr. Kleckner’s 284.

••••••••••

Mr. John C. Pribnow of the city of Colby and Miss Meta Maier of Thorp were married at the courthouse March 31st with Judge O. W. Schoengarth officiating.

••••••••••

The Dells Dam correspondent reports that the ice jam took out the iron bridge over Black River last Thursday.  The jam was about a mile long, overflowing the riverbanks and Mr. Schultz’s field was covered with ice chunks eight to ten feet high.  Nearly all the cottages had water in them but no serious damage was done.

 

It is reported that Mrs. Meyers had to move out of her house on account of the high water.

••••••••••

Motion pictures are to be taken of Neillsville, for the first time in its history.

 

Every man, woman and child in Neillsville and surrounding country are requested to be in Neillsville and get in the picture. The pictures will be shown later at the Badger Theater.

 

An expert cameraman will be in Neillsville all day Monday and Tuesday, April 17 and 18, taking moving pictures that will include all public buildings, residential sections, business locks and all places of interest in and around Neillsville.

 

Don’t forget we want you in the picture. We want a big crowd on the business streets as everybody in Neillsville on that day can have their picture taken and have a chance to see themselves in moving pictures on the curtain at the Badger Theater.

 

(Where are those films taken way back then?  Wouldn’t that be interesting to view? D. Z.)

••••••••••

Emery Bruley spent a few days in Neillsville the first of the week.  He is meeting with good success in placing orders for the new wrecking tool he recently patented.

••••••••••

August Hillert, Jr., only son of Mr. and Mrs. David Hillert, and Miss Anna Miller, who makes her home with her sister, Mrs. Chas. Albrecht of Fremont, were married at the Fremont Lutheran Church yesterday afternoon.  Rev. Viergutz officiated at the ceremony.

••••••••••

The Luethe Co. will deliver, for cash: dry Popple wood $1.60 per cord; dry mixed wood at $2.10 per cord; half dry maple wood and iron wood, uneven lengths, $2.25.

••••••••••

The canning factory is canning the sauerkraut, which has been aging in the vats since last fall.

••••••••••

The Brown Bros. are getting stock arranged in their new jewelry store.  In their window is a new marine chronometer, which they will use for securing accurate time instead of a regulator.

••••••••••

Krasin Brothers have received the contract for the erection of the $17,500 high school in Humbird.  It will be a two-story brick building with four classrooms, three recitation rooms, an assembly room with a stage and gymnasium.  Work will start as soon as the frost is out of the ground.

••••••••••

Herman Carl did a good job of dragging the roads in North Pine Valley, which puts them in good shape.

••••••••••

Miss Minnie Lindquist will give a Leap Year basket social at the Meinholdt School in the Janesville Settlement Saturday evening, April 15th.  Everybody is invited and gentlemen are to buy the baskets.

••••••••••

It’s April and the frogs are beginning to sing their songs in Sherwood.

••••••••••

Mrs. Rosa Frasier of Loyal has 160 acres for sale, known as the B. F. Frasier farm in the Town of Beaver.  For particulars inquire of P. O. Box 134, Loyal, Wis.

••••••••••

John LaStofka, Vet Pease, A. P. Fulwiler, E.G. Rowe, John VandeBerg, Horace VandeBerg, Abe Turner and Walter Rowe, all of the Town of York, had wood sawyers at their places this past week.

••••••••••

Last Wednesday evening, some of our residents saw a large ball of fire drop from the sky.  It was to the northwest.

 

April 1945

 

Aside from the published notices, there were two ways to know that Tuesday was Election Day.  One was to watch the snowfall and the other was to see Oluf Olson take down the storm house in the front of the main entrance to the courthouse.

 

Oluf has been around the courthouse for 30 years and his recollection is that he has taken down the storm house on Election Day at least 25 times out of the 30.  To him it made no difference that on this Election Day the snow was falling.  He worked right along in the snow, confident that the return to winter would be of short duration.  To him it was Election Day, and the time to take the storm house down.

••••••••••

The Ray Strebings have bought the property on East Division Street where they reside and conduct their grocery business. They have been renting and have now purchased the property from H. H. Van Gorden of Merrillan.

 

(The property was at 111 East Division St. D.Z.)

••••••••••

Neillsville Golden Link Camp No. 78 of the Royal Neighbors of America held their 50th Anniversary celebration on April 4, at the W. R. C. Hall.  This was in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the organization’s chartering.

••••••••••

One Town of Beaver resident has lived with his wife since 1912.  They have had six children, of whom only one is still a minor.  They have managed for 33 years, but the husband now alleges in Circuit Court that he just can’t take it any longer.  He says his wife has nagged and abused him until his powers of resistance are completely exhausted.  So he has asked to the court to give him a divorce.

••••••••••

Marriage Licenses:

 

Arlene Etta, Town of Mead, and Frank Thomas, Town of Warner; Martha Erpenbach, Town of Pine Valley and John Ronald Bergemann, Town of York; Lorene McIlquham, Harland, Ky., and Frank W. Hull, Town of Hoard.

••••••••••

Liquidating Sale: Special discounts to close out 100 horse collars and harnesses, house, barn and implement paints, milking machines, manure carrier, poultry equipment, gas engines, and electric fence batteries; Wood wheel farm wagons $76, now $35. Full line of IHC tractor and implement repairs. Hundreds of items and some new and used machinery; also 16 good home raised farm horses will be sold at greatly reduced prices, located across the street from the former Implement Store.

Fred Lakosky, Loyal, Wis.

••••••••••

Spring Sale at H. H. Van Gorden & Sons: Robin Hood Flour, 50 lbs. for $2.20.

 

Timothy Seed, cwt. $9; Clover Seed, Just Arrived – Alsyke – Medium, Red-Mammoth; One carload Soy Bean Meal, 100 lbs. $2.90 for quick sale

••••••••••

Ernie Pyle, war correspondent who built a world reputation by writing about the common soldier and commonplace experiences and incidents, has been killed in action on Okinawa.        

••••••••••

Capt. Alex Zake, once of Thorp, writes his sister, Mrs. Francis Neiman.  He is stationed in India, and is flying over the Hump into China.  Excerpts from his letter: -- “The missions are very long and tiring.  Sometimes I don’t get to sleep for 30 to 40 hours in a stretch.  My Christmas holidays were very unhappy.  My buddy was killed in China.  My crew and I spent Christmas Eve in a Bomb shelter in China during a Japanese air raid.  I just landed my ship a few minutes before the raid stated. – Seems like all we do is fly and sleep, with little time off to eat.  I had to take two days off to rest last week. – I have the job of training the new boys that come here from the States.  I get accustomed to all the routes we fly.  The weather on these routes gives us a lot of trouble. We almost had to leave our ship about two weeks ago during a bad storm.

 

T/3 Earl A. Williams has been awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious achievement in direct support of combat operations from January 22 to May 26, 1944, in Italy.  At a critical time, a severe shortage of motor vehicular radiators developed which dead-lined many vehicles.  He remedied the crisis by an adroit process of removing damaged tubes, soldering in new tubes and straightening distorted frame structure.  He acquired necessary material by an exhaustive search of all available salvage yards.  As a direct consequence of his efforts, many vehicles were restored to their functions in the division.  His ingenuity and persevering efforts contributed materially to the success of the operations.

 

He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Melford Williams, Granton, Rt. 1.

 

Corp. Allen L. Luber of Loyal, Rt. 1, son of Mr. and Mrs. august Luber is a member of a unit to Europe, which has been commended by Lieut. Gen. James H. Doolittle. This unit is the only repair depot maintained on the continent by the Eighth Air Force.  In that unit Corp. Luber is an operator of automotive equipment in the transportation division.

 

Mrs. Fern Schultz of the Loyal community has received the Certificate of Merit awarded her husband, Sgt. Alfred A. Schultz. The citation reads: -- “Although under heavy enemy fire, Sgt. Schultz helped in laying a hasty mine field and setting up a strong defensive position.  His courageous action helped make possible orderly withdrawal of an armored task force from an untenable sector.”

 

Major Milo Lindow, son of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Lindow of Chili, is serving with the U. S. Army and is now in Paris, France.  He is a graduate of Ripon College had has been in service since 1941, 31 months of this time being spent overseas.

 

An Air Medal has been won by Sgt. Gordon E. Vine, 21, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Vine of Granton R 3. The award was made to him for his work as an aerial gunner on a Liberator.  The outfit of which he is a member has flown more than 200 long-range bombing missions to spike German oil production and transport facilities.  Gordon Vine, recently promoted to sergeant, graduated from Neillsville High School in 1941.  He was a student in River Falls Teachers’ college when he entered the air corps in 1942.

 

Corp. Edward J. Frei of Neillsville R 1 recently had a part in an exploit, which has been made a matter of record by the Army publicity men.  He was a member of a repair crew, which put back in commission two tanks bogged down in No Man’s Land.  These tanks had been in action in the forward area in the European theater and had been put out of commission.  They were well forward of the American front line.  The job of repairing the tanks and getting them back into the lines was given to a 13-man crew, of which Corp. Frei was a member. The crew went out under the covering fire of other tanks and small arms.  For 24 hours they braved the extreme cold and heavy fire of the enemy and finally got the two tanks in condition to run.  Then they drove them across exposed areas to the American lines.

••••••••••

A roadside park will be established by the Rotary Club of Neillsville on high land at the intersection of Globe Road and Highway 10.  This park will command the best obtainable view of the mounds.

 

The park will be established and operated in cooperation with the conservation commission of Wisconsin, which proposes to erect a fire tower on the site.  Such a tower is already available.  It will be erected within a few weeks and will be in operation this summer.

 

The action taken by the Rotary Club brings to a head indefinite discussion, which has proceeded in the Neillsville community for years.  The site of the proposed park is the southeast corner of the Eric Schoenherr property.  It is the one spot from which an uninterrupted view may be obtained of the picturesque mound are to the south and west.  From this site the grade falls away rapidly to the west, providing an unbroken view.

 

The project has been worked out by a Rotary committee headed by Al Covell, county forester, who has been working with the state authorities. Advised of the state’s desire to locate a fire tower in that approximate vicinity, Mr. Covell approached Mr. Schoenherr and advised him of the opportunity to create a community asset of importance.  Mr. Covell reported back to the club that he found Mr. Schoenherr very cooperative and willing to release a sizable plot, despite the fact that he would thus give up a substantial part of his tillable land.

 

Accordingly, Mr. Covell was commissioned by action of the club’s direction to complete a transaction with Mr. Schoenherr, and Mr. Covell went out Wednesday to survey the proposed site and to determine exactly the boundaries.  The purpose was to secure sufficient land so that cars could be driven around the western margin of the hill, making a circuit around the fire tower. This will call for some road building, planting of trees and the provision of picnic accommodations.

 

The entrance to the roadside park will be from Highway 10, which runs along the east side of the proposed park area.

 

(The park area no longer has a fire tower.  It is located east of The Highground, along what is now Ridge Road. D.Z.)

 

 

 

The Dells Dam Store was owned by August Schlender, who operated the store for three years during the time the dam was being  built on the Black River and was located east of the Hwy. 95 bridge.  The above photo was taken in 1909, as Schlender’s step-son, Erwin Simonds operated the store.  Simonds is wearing a white shirt, first man seated on the left near the door.  Notice the arm bands, a style of that era.  (Photo appears in “Recollections of Columbia, Wisconsin,” book)

 

Recollections

 

DELLS DAM STORE

 

In Dells Dam Dad Schlender had a third store during the three years the dam was being built there. My half brother, Erwin Simonds, operated the store. A load of goods had to be taken down from the main store daily.

On June 26, 1913 was Dad and Mother Schlender’s silver wedding anniversary. On that morning their daughter, Mabel; Emma Moser who was clerking in the store; and Anna Larson Moser, who was helping in the home, decided they should have a surprise celebration that evening.

 

In haste, the girls solicited the help of the mail man so he could tell his patrons close to town. The teacher sent notes home with school children. The girls baked cakes all after noon. They evened phoned for flowers from the Marshfield nursery. Frank Varney took the one o’clock train to Neillsville. He bought a gift of silver crumb tray - - from the neighbors. It was initialed and dated 1888-1913.

 

By the end of the afternoon the girls rushed everything upstairs, plus the flowers which came in on the five o’clock train. The folks returned 5:30 P.M. Mother discovered the last cake baking and remarked about it. Anna said, ‘Oh, it’s your anniversary, I thought I’d bake a cake. After supper I will frost it and we can have it later in the evening." Several other things had to be lied about fast!  Mabel (Sally) Schlender Jonkel

 

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