Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

February 8, 2012, Page 9

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

February 1907

 

Christian Moh, one of the old residents of Clark County died Jan. 20, 1907 at the home of his son, L. E. Moh, near Granton.  Deceased was born Sept. 7, 1824, in Silesia, Germany.  He married there in 1848, and immigrated to Milwaukee in 1855. As a soldier in the Civil War he made a most remarkable record, enlisting first in 1861 in the First Wis. Vol., re-enlisted in Ninth Wis. Vol. for three years, and again re-enlisted in 9th U. S. Vet Volt Infantry seeing in all 4 years and 7 months of service.  He came to Clark County in 1866, settling on the farm where he continued to live until his death.  He was the father of nine children, only two of them survive, Louis E. Moh and Mrs. Fernando Johnson.  His wife died six years ago, aged 73 years.  Mr. Moh was a man who had done his full share for his country, not only in fighting its battles, but also in the triumphs of peace, won by hard work in clearing and developing a new farm in a wilderness. The funeral was held last week with Rev. Wilson Mallory officiating.                                                                                                     

••••••••••

Walk’s Store Specials – American Cream Cheese, lb. 18¢; Imported Swiss Cheese, lb. 20¢; Finest Brick Cheese, lb. 20¢; Unser Fritz Limburger Cheese, lb. 20¢; Edam Cheese, 2 ½ lb. ball $1; Spiced Herring, lb. 10¢; Smoked Bloaters 3 for 10¢; Boneless Cod Fish, lb. 15¢; Holland Herring, keg 75¢.                    

••••••••••

F. W. Shrimpton, who is manager of the Greenwood roller mills, was here attending the School Board Convention. He stated to parties here that it is quite probable that the mill will soon install an electric motor and run with power from the dam.                                                                                                      

••••••••••

Among those who have started raising Holstein cattle are: Dan Sack, Paul Junghans, D. Kies, August Meiske, Wm. Swann, George F. Ward, Joseph Herian, A. Dahl, Ellsworth Maxwell, Ed West, I. F. Smith, Claude and others who are preparing to start as soon as possible.                                                                    

••••••••••

Homer Downer who lives north of Granton is one of the most expert maple syrup and sugar makers in that neck of the woods.  He has a fine setup, which he is planning to make more complete by a new gathering tank.

••••••••••

Monday afternoon Martin Lastofka got the Press editor on board his cutter sleigh and together they made a tour of the silos nearby. The first one visited was on the Youmans farm; it is of the Buff Jersey type, made of two-by-four scantling.  It has the merit of being cheap to construct. George Swann has a fine silo, the lower part of stone, and upper part of brick. Similar in construction is that of George Wilding, also that of M. C. Ring on his big stock farm, although much larger and more elaborate than any of the others visited.

 

(Youmans’ farm was 1½ mile east and the G. Swann farm 2½ miles east on Hwy 10; M. C. Ring farm 1½ mile east on Ridge Road. D. Z.)                                                                                

••••••••••

Viola Sturdevant entertained a number of her girl friends Tuesday night at a ‘ghost party.’  The house was dimly lighted with candles and the girls threw themselves into delightful fits with the weirdest and most hair-raising ghost stories that ever came to Neillsville. They ate toasted marshmallows and had a good old time.

••••••••••

W. J. Marsh, this week, became the owner of the H. H. Heath residence, one of the most elegant homes in Neillsville.  It is a house of beautiful proportions and design and planned to perfections on the interior.  The deal, which also involved the disposal of Mr. Marsh’s present residence, was carried out through the real estate office of Jas. Phillips.

 

Dr. J. H. Brooks has purchased W. J. Marsh’s house on Clay Street.  It has recently been rebuilt and modernized in every way and with its pretty location on one of the finest streets in the city it makes an elegant home. Dr. Brooks has wisely laid the foundation for a permanent home here by giving his profession constant and studious attention, building up a good practice and equipping his office equal to any of the offices in the largest cities.

 

(The former H. H. Heath house is located at 209 E. 4th Street.  W. J. Marsh sold his previous home at 206 Clay St. to Dr. J. H. Brooks.)

••••••••••

The home of Mrs. Mary Blackman of Pleasant Ridge was the scene of a very pretty wedding, Wednesday, Feb. 27, when her daughter, Miss Evelyn was united in marriage to Mr. Milo Woodford.

 

At twelve o’clock the bridal couple took their place before the officiating clergyman, Rev. W. P. Burrows and the beautiful and solemn ceremony was performed. After the ceremony a sumptuous dinner was served.

 

It was a quiet home wedding with only the immediate relatives and friends of the young couple being present.

 

The bride is an attractive and capable young lady and a favorite among the young people.  The bridegroom is manager of the Blackman farm and has many friends.

 

They took the 5 o’clock train to Black River Falls; the former home of Mr. Woodford, where they expect to visit and on returning, will reside on the farm at Pleasant Ridge.

••••••••••

Henry Lindsley and Kid Brown of Superior will wrestle at  Wasserberger’s Hall, Friday night, March 1, the best three out of five. Side bet of $100.  Admission will be 25 and 50 cents.  Last Saturday night he met Ted Welsh at Loyal winning the first fall in 6 minutes and the second in one and one-half minutes.

 

February 1937

 

A History of Logging in Clark County – by Fred Draper of Loyal

Chapter I

 

The first written account that I have been able to find of any logging operations within the present boundaries of Clark County is in the journal of George Miller, a Mormon elder who wrote a detailed account of the logging operations of the Mormons on Black River in what is now Clark County from 1841 to 1844 in which he mentions the trading of their saw mill they owned south of Black River Falls to Jacob Spaulding for one he owned at the Falls.

 

In the Biographical History of Clark and Jackson counties published in 1891, I find that Jacob Spaulding came to Black River Falls in 1838, and evidently from Elder Miller’s journal began logging prior to 1842.

 

At this time, 1838, all of the territory now comprising Clark County was held by the Indians, the Winnebagos, Chippewas, Sioux and Menomonies, all four tribes claiming territory along the Black River within the present boundaries of Clark County.

 

The Winnebago tribe claimed territory east of the Black River and north as far as the present line between townships 25 and 26.

 

The Chippewa’s claimed land west of the Black River, the southern boundary of their claim extending westward from Black River along a line roughly corresponding to the southern boundary of township 26.

 

The Menomonies claimed the territory extending west of the Wisconsin River to Black River, thus overlapping and extending North of Winnebago territory.

 

The Sioux claimed all that territory from the mouth of Black River on its western borders to a point half a day’s march, south of the falls of the Chippewas.

 

This left a portion of western Clark County neutral territory not specifically claimed by any tribe, but hunted and trapped by all of them.

 

The Indians were hostile to any settlement or logging operations upon their territory and kept the whites out previous to 1837.  In 1837 treaties were made with the Sioux, the Chippewas and the Winnebagos by which they ceded all of their territory in Wisconsin to the United States.

 

These treaties however left the Menomonie claim unsettled but as their agency was on the Wisconsin River they only visited the Black River Valley for the purpose of hunting and trapping until the winter of 1843-44 when Chief Oshkosh and some other members of the tribe came to Black River Falls and forbade further logging upon the Black River.

 

The Mormons having a large stock of logs and lumber cut; sent two of their number, Messrs. Miller and Daniels, in January 1844 through the wilderness, with snow 18 inches deep to the Indian agency on the Wisconsin River to get permission to move their logs and lumber already cut and to buy additional timber from the Indians. The Indians were willing to sell timber but the agent refused to allow them to cut any timber unless the agreement was ratified by the federal government of Washington but finally agreed to let them move their logs and lumber already cut and issued an order that all trespassing by cutting pine upon Black River must cease, so up to this time all lumber cut in what is now Clark County was cut upon Indian lands either with or without the consent of the owners.

 

This continued until 1847 when the Menomonies released their claim to this territory and the government survey was commenced.

 

During the year 1847, the present towns of Loyal, York, Eaton, Weston, and Warner were surveyed. The survey was continued until 1855 when the four last townships, Sherman, Unity, Colby and Mayville were surveyed.

 

The first government entry in Clark County was made by Isaac S. Mason in Section 35, in the Town of Weston, on Sept. 1st, 1848.

 

From this time on for nearly fifty years the records of deeds in the Register of Deeds office were filed with the names as grantee of loggers in Clark County.

 

Prominent among these names we find those of W. T. Price, Samuel F. Weston, Cyrus Woodman, C. C. Washburn, William W. Crosby, Moses Clark, Lincoln Clark, Wm. T. Foster, Andrew Shepperd, Robert Ross, N. B. Holway, Abner Gile, Amos Elliott, James Hathway, Levi Withee, Geo. L. Lloyd, Abner Coburn, Jacob Spaulding, James Hewett, Root and Thompson and many others.

 

In the 1850s the largest owners of land in Clark County were Cyrus Woodman and Samuel F. Weston. Woodman was by far the largest land owner of any one who ever owned land in the county, having taken land in nearly every one of Clark County’s 34 townships. As many as 12 sections in the Town of Seif, 5 sections in Hendren, 4 sections in Loyal, 7 sections in Weston, 15 in the Town of Eaton and 10 in the Town of Washburn. These figures are taken at random from the records and lesser holdings in every town in the county but two.

 

Weston was also the owner of numerous tracts scattered all over the Clark County.

 

The lumbering industry in the county covers two distinct periods, the pine roughly speaking from 1850 to1900 and the hardwood industry from 1880 to 1915.

 

What now comprises the towns of Sherwood, Washburn, Levis, Dewhurst, Hewett, Mentor, Foster and Butler was in a great part covered with a heavy growl of medium sized pine interspersed with some hardwood ridges.

 

In the other 26 towns the pine extended from the streams on each side back from one-fourth to one-half mile, this was true of the smaller streams as well as the larger streams, besides this nearly every hardwood forty in the county had more or less pine on it and most of this pine was very large and of a better quality than the majority of the pine upon the lowlands.

 

The pine was mostly cut before the hardwood for several reasons, chiefly among these reasons was the lack of transportation for the hardwood. A pine log or raft of pine lumber would float upon the water while a hardwood log would go to the bottom of the river in a short time. Another reason was the settlement of the prairie states from 1950 to about 1890, which required a large amount of pine lumber and the building of the large cities in the entire North Central states together with the rebuilding of Chicago after the disastrous fire of 1871.

 

The men who were at the head of the logging of the pine had little or nothing to do with cutting of the hardwood, almost an entire new group of men were the leaders in the hardwood industry.

 

(History of Logging in Clark County will be continued in coming weeks. D. Z.)

••••••••••

As a part of the training for those attending the Teacher Training course each year is a short unit presented by the home Economics Department on “hot lunches.”

 

This year the girls are receiving their training by serving hot lunches to those desiring it in the Neillsville High School.  Two girls prepare and serve each day a hot dish, dessert and milk.  The preparation includes besides the cooking, the planning and purchasing of the food.

 

The patronage of this lunch has steadily increased during the past week.  The students need not purchase an entire lunch but sign for the food they wish. Five cents is charged for the hot dish, four cents or a dessert and three cents for a small bottle of milk.

 

The project has proved so successful that the freshman and sophomore classes in Home Economics will continue the work when the Teacher Training students have finished their work.           

••••••••••

The law demanding that all gold coins be turned in to the federal government caused many to part with keepsakes, especially those who were honest enough to report their holdings.  Erwin Moldenhauer has a two and one-half dollar gold-piece that was given to his mother, Christina Wachtmann, when she was 14 years of age as part payment for raking, by hand, a large field of grain on the farm of her father, near Cedarburg, Wis., shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War.  After her marriage, her husband offered the coin as security to Wm. Lachman of the Town of Grant for chicken feed for which there was no ready cash, marking the coin with the letter “M” to distinguish it from similar coins.  It was not accepted, however, the friend stating that no security was necessary.  At the request of his mother the coin came into the possession of Erwin Moldenhauer after her death and he has naturally been very reluctant to part with it.  He reported it at the time gold coins were called in, asking the privilege to retain it.  Until Monday morning he thought his request was granted, a letter that morning notifying him that no exemption was provided for coins as keepsakes.

••••••••••

Chapman’s Cafe Valentine’s Day Special; Sunday Dinner, Spare Ribs & Sauer Kraut!

 

 

The January 4, 2012 Press issue’s “The Good Old Days” page included an article in reference to two logs sawed from virgin white pine trees on Martin Lastofka’s land, in the Town of York, a few of the last such remaining big timber within Clark County.  The two logs scaled out at nearly 1,000 feet each and were landed at the Johnson Mfg. Co. mill.  The load of logs was photographed by De Lane, within the O’Neill House in the background, along East 6th Street, now site of Neillsville Post Office.  Also visible in the background are two old loggers admiring the logs and reminiscing of their “heydays” in Clark County’s timberland. (Photo courtesy of Robert Karl’s family collection)

 

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