Good Old Days

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

Clark County News

April 1878

The Friendship Fire Company will have a private dance at their hall this evening.

A matter worthy of record is a log put into the Black River last winter, by Ed Tolford, from James Houston’s camp, located in Section 28.  The log is 16 feet in length and scaled 2,168 feet.  Tolford clams that it is the largest ever put into the Black River.

“Just to fool the boys,” on the 1^st of April, the proprietor of the Rossman House had a box of tobacco set on the counter with enough powder in it to make a graceful puff when the unwary smoker sought to light his pipe.  Knowingly, the boys decided to fool the proprietor with his own invention.  They asked William an employee, to explode the whole box at once which he did very gracefully with a cigar stub.  Jake, the proprietor thought it could be no April fool when he saw the smoke rolling out of his office door and heard the boys crying “fire.”

A revolution in the method of logging seems to be seriously considered in all the lumbering districts of the northwest, especially since the absence of snow last winter.  The utility of railroads or tramways is coming to be quite generally believed in.  If they do not prove a success it will not be because they have not received sufficient trial.  A St. Croix firm, the Star and Times, tells us, are constructing four cars to be used in hauling logs from skid ways in the woods.  Each car will have eight wheels, about 18 inches in diameter.  The cars are constructed so they can be let out to any length desired.  They are run on oak rails, four inches across by three in depth.  The cars will cost about $150 each, and the track cost is about $500 per mile.  Hewn timber will be laid down as the base with rails spiked to the timbers.

The Jefferson & Jacobs firm’s intention will be to log all summer.  This new septum of railroading logs to the streams, if it is found practicable at all, will be a great advantage for lumbering firms.

The Christie House has been purchased by James O’Neill, Sr., its builder and original proprietor.  The name of the house will be changed back to the O’Neill House, by which it is still generally known.  It will be conducted by Mrs. O’Neill who, since taking charge of it a few months ago, has kept an excellent house.

Robert Schofield has decided to move from Weston’s Rapids to Greenwood, where he will make his home.  Due to the move, Mrs. Schofield has concluded to postpone her concert which was scheduled to be here, indefinitely.

F. D. Lindsay’s camp on Wedge’s Creek, with an outfit for forty men, was destroyed by fire the other day.

Peter Johnson has commenced his plans to put up a building on the corner west of Hewett & Woods Store, opposite Lynch’s, to be used for his furniture business.

One of the heaviest rains ever known in this section fell last Sunday night.  By daylight the smaller streams were trying hard to get out of their banks so that before noon on Monday the river at that point had assumed a good driving stage.  There was hurrying to and fro among the lumbermen, and soon an army of bristling with pike-poles was on the war path.  Several large log jams formed during the day but were speedily broken, and for a short time the logs ran briskly.  But, the rain seems to have been a local one, Rock Creek being the first tributary north which received much water.  Above the mouth of the Popple River the rise in the main portion was very trifling and not enough to start the logs downstream.  It is estimated 75,000,000 logs went down stream even though the drive wasn’t a clean one.

The Episcopal Society has recently fitted up the south room in the High School building, on the same floor with the Chapel. Services will be held in the room starting next Sunday, at 10:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m.  All are cordially invited to attend.

April 1908

A. E. Kump, who for sometime had been proprietor of the Thomas House in Marshfield, has leased the O’Neill House for one year.  He will take possession on April 1.  Sunday dinners will remain 50 cents to one and all alike.  Jim Paulus retains charge of the saloon in the hotel.

Monday night a meeting of about fifty stockholders of the new Shortville Creamery Association met at the town hall.  The following officers were elected: Andrew Short, Pres., Paul Kuhn, Sec.; J. A. Short, Treas.  A new churn has been ordered and business will begin about the middle of April.

Fred Reitz has moved his tailor shop over A. Unger’s Shoe Store.  You will find Reitz ready to take your measurements and order for a $4.00 pair of trousers to wear with a fine dress suit and he will guarantee you a perfect fit with fine workmanship.  He is also ready to clean, press and repair your clothing, make them look like new again.

Frank Greeler left at this office, papers from Harvard, Ill., giving the prices fixed for summer milk at the condensaries there.  For milk from April 1 to October 1, the average price will be $1.16 2/3 per hundred.

Cash will be paid for: Hides, dry and green, highest market price; old foot rubbers, 1 1/2¢; old iron 20¢ per cwt. – H. Svirnoff, 3^rd house southwest of Zimmerman’s & Tragsdorf Store.

Herman Dahl has bought E. S. Lamson’s farm half a mile south of Levis Town hall.  He paid $3,800 for the 80 acre farm with all the personal property.  It can be made a very fine place and Dahl is the man to do it.

George Rupprecht, formerly postmaster at Globe, has purchased the P. Marx place from R. Schlueter.  It is located across the Black River from the Grand Avenue Bridge.

Good things are coming to William Naedler, lately. On April 3, a son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Naedler and on Tuesday Naedler was elected chairman of the Town of Pine Valley.  (Naedler’s son, Hilbert, celebrated his 90^th birthday this month. D. Z.)

The vote on the liquor license question in the Town of Weston on Election Day carried 80 to 50 for no license.  The voting result will close the saloon at Christie.  In the Town of Warner the no license vote carried 80 to 36.

It is reported that the saloon keepers in our city have entered into the voluntary agreement amongst themselves to strictly enforce all laws and ordinances.  They will remove curtains and screens on Sunday so the interiors may be viewed from end to end.  An earnest effort will be made to comply with the law in all respects.

J. D. Murphy, proprietor of Cash Hardware Store has built an aquarium in his north front window.  It is attracting much attention.  The water tank with live fish in it also has moss and stones about the interior, like a touch of nature’s hands.  The display of fishing tackle nearby gets much notice from the boys.

The Cash Hardware Store of Neillsville held a variety of merchandise in stock including kitchen ranges and bicycles.  (Photos courtesy of Clark County Historical Jail Museum)

The County Poor Farm, northeast of town has obtained a span of brood mares, weighing 2,800 lbs.  There is a difference of only five pounds in the weight of the top grade Percheron.

The Ross teams went down river Tuesday with loads of materials for new cottages on the banks of Lake Hatfield.  The cottages will be built by A. H. Holvorson and Ed Holvorson.

It is reported that a car load of young bass, pike and muskellunge is to be planted in Hatfield pond.  A large amount of wild rice is to be sown in the sloughs and bayous to encourage the ducks to stay in the pond area.

The Scherer Bros. new laundry will be in the Dwyer and Wolff building next to the Blue Font. 

Pat Loy is feeling happy since the last Town of Weston meeting. Loy has been working on building a turnpike road in his neighborhood, doing much of the work himself.  On town meeting day, the Town of Weston voters voted $150 to be spent of completing the road.

Three cases of diphtheria have recently occurred among pupils of the two lower rooms of the North Side School.  The decision was made to close the school for a short time to see if any new cases break out amongst exposed pupils. The school rooms have been disinfected and cleaned, hoping there will be no new cases.

Farmers – if you need seed corn that is warranted to grow and of the earliest varieties, see Tragsdorf & Zimmerman & Co. who will supply your needs.  Corn is only $2 per bu. 

April 1948

The City of Neillsville received orders from the state board of health to have a sewage disposal plant plus a storm sewer system.  The state’s requirements are: “1. That the extensions are approved on the conditional basics that plans and specifications are prepared immediately leading toward installation of complete sewage treatment.”  “2. That all clear water including that from roof leader dischargers, cistern overflows, and other bodies of clear water be excluded from the sanitary sewer system.”

Both Loyal and Thorp blossom out as cities this year and celebrate with the prospects of an election.  A grand race will be held for the many city posts.  In Loyal, Jesse Raab, current village president, is opposed for mayor by L. A. Davel and Ed Bertz.  For city treasurer: Earl L. Theisen, current village treasurer, to be opposed by George Weyhmiller.  For seven of eight council seats, there are contests. 

Thorp celebrates its entry into city ranks with a three-ring contest for mayor.  The incumbent president, A. E. Bauer, is opposed by Frank Broeren and George Becker.  Leon Bogumill, village Clerk, is opposed for city clerk by Daniel Stookey.

For treasurer, Robert Blazel and John Slota are the contenders.

Dance at the Granton Village Hall on Saturday evening to music by Howie Sturtz and his Wing Kings.  Sponsored by the Granton Rotary Club

Bruce F. Beilfuss was elected as Circuit Judge of the 17^th judicial court.

The Clark County Board will be the sixth largest of the county boards in Wisconsin.  The Clark County Board, with six members added in 1948, now numbers 58 members.

The enlargement of the Clark County Board is due to the new city status of Loyal and Thorp.  Now, each city elects four members at the spring election.

The highest building in Clark County was razed to the ground by a fire.  The 87-foot high Colby elevator vanished last Thursday evening when the fire lighted up the skies to be seen for 20 miles areo8un.  The Clark Mills, Inc.’s main elevator came to disaster carrying 15,000 bushels of grain and a lot of valuable equipment.

Pursued with problems, for the past year or more, the industry was first hit by bankruptcy.  It had employed upward of 100 men and operated three shifts per day.

The city’s largest business lost to the fire will effect (affect) many people.

Razing of the American Legion Hall on Hewett Street at O’Neill Creek will start soon to make way for a new Legion building on the same location. 

The new building will be of tile and will be erected on the concrete foundation of the present structure.  Joe Cardarelle, chairman of the building committee, estimates the new building will accommodate approximately 300 people.  Other members of the building committee are: H. J. Naedler, Arthur Kunze, Herman Moen and Gordon Campbell.  The present building was built by the late J. L. Kleckner as a feed elevator about the time World War I started.  Previous to that Kleckner operated his feed business in a portion of the Condensary building.  He sold that building to the Oatman Company, which started and operated the Condensary on that site.  Following the sale of eh property, Kleckner constructed the building that is now the Legion Hall.

An over-head truss bridge carried Hewett Street traffic over O’Neill Creek for many years replaced in the mid-1900s.