Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

November 19, 2008, Page 28

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled and contributed by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 November 1868

 

Lost: a bag of goose feathers weighing about ten pounds was lost one day last week, somewhere between Arch Day’s place and Black River Falls. A suitable reward will be given to the finder if the bag is left where the owner Mr. Daniel Gates can pick it up.

•••••••••

There will be a shooting match for turkeys at Staffordville on November 25, the day before Thanksgiving.  El Blanchard manages the affair and will have a large number of turkeys on hand.

•••••••••

The water in Jack’s Creek came up to a fir log-driving stage Monday night and Tuesday morning.  B. F. French succeeded in getting a few of his logs down the stream, but none passed through at the mouth into the Black River.

•••••••••

The amount of building done in this place during the past summer has exceeded that of any previous three years.  Though the figures appear small it is nevertheless large for Neillsville.  The past summer may virtually be considered the first season of our growth.  It must also be remembered that all was done with no immediate prospects of any railroad, not even as near as Black River Falls.  The number of residences erected since last spring is seventeen, the number of barns, five in all, making a total of 22 new buildings.  This includes only those buildings, erected in the immediate vicinity of our village.  Besides this there has been a great many new additions built on to old buildings and other extensive and desirable changes.  We predict that in one year from now more than twice this number of buildings will be put up in town.

•••••••••

Owen Cain, an Irishman, dangerously stabbed Andrew Rear, a Norwegian on Thursday of last week.  Whisky and politics were at the bottom of the altercation.  Cain has gone to jail.

•••••••••

There 550 votes cast in Clark County at the last election and estimating the number of inhabitants at four to each voter, we have a population of 2,200.  This, we may regard as very nearly correct.  The county has increased very much in population within the past year and by November 1869 we will have a population of either 3,000 or 4,000.  We would not be at all surprised if these figures would be beaten, as we cannot now safely estimate the benefit we shall derive from the West Wisconsin railroad to Black River Falls and our own good prospects of a railroad through the county.

•••••••••

Mr. J. S. Carr has returned to our village and is now permanently located here in the practice of law.  A co-partnership has been formed between Mr. Carr and B. F. French.

•••••••••

Forty acres of unimproved hardwood land, situated about nine miles east of Neillsville, was sold last Saturday for $7 per acre.  That’s a big price.

•••••••••

The subject of United States Senator in this state is receiving a great deal of attention by the press.  The names of several able and worthy men have been mentioned and their respective merits and claims upon the office have been brought out in the most favorable light.  We believe the distinguished honor will fall upon one of three men, Matt H. Carpenter, C. C. Washburn or Horace Rublee.  No matter which may be the one chosen we shall rest easy in the belief that Doolittle’s successor will be a man of ability and integrity.  Of course everybody will have his own preferences and we in this matter are decidedly in favor of Mr. Washburn.

 

Mr. Carpenter has not trained long enough in the ranks of the party to receive now one of the highest favors it can bestow, more especially when others equally competent can be found who have helped to build up the party.

 

Mr. Rublee, it is everywhere acknowledged, is a man of great worth and intelligence, and if elected would be untiring in his efforts to faithfully represent his constituents and matter relating to the whole country.

 

However of all the candidates, we believe General C. C. Washburn the most entitled to the office of United States Senator.  His patriotism, proved statesmanship and long standing in the party, give many reasons for it.  When the rebellion broke out he was one of the first to take up sword in defense of the Union, and after the rebellious armies surrendered, he as the Representative of the glorious Sixth District, labored as faithfully in Congress to restore peace and tranquility to our distracted country.  As a member of Congress he has worked hard in exposing outrageous frauds upon the Treasury, or more earnestly for strict financial economy.  He is firm in his convictions of what is right.

 

(C. C. Washburn was an early lumberman in southeastern Clark County with the Town of Washburn being named after him. D. Z.)

 

November 1948

 

The Zion Reformed and Congregational churches of Neillsville will be merged.  This is the decision of the two congregations, each voting separately.  The Zion congregation voted Sunday, the merger carrying approximately three to one.  The Congregational people had voted previously, the decision there being nearly unanimous.

 

Preliminaries looking toward the details of union and operation were discussed Monday evening at a joint meeting of the governing boards of the two congregations. Decision on all of the important points will be left to the united congregation.  An immediate interim decision was reached with reference to music; Mark Vornholt was made director, with Mrs. Jess Scott and Mrs. Al Covell as instrumentalists and Ole Aspen and Harry Hauge as members of the music committee.

 

The united congregation will be in possession of the Zion Church building and parsonage, the Congregational building and the parsonage on South Hewett.  For the present the services will take place in alternate months in each edifice, being held in November in the Congregational Church.  The use of disposition of these various properties has been discussed but is as yet unsettled.

 

Prior to the voting on the merger the properties had been appraised by a committee of three disinterested businessmen, who reported a total value of the Zion properties at $20,500, including cash on hand, with no indebtedness, and a total for the Congregational properties of $30,559, with indebtedness of $8,548, making a net of $21,975.

 

Procedure with reference to the merger will be discussed Friday evening at a meeting of the two congregations, to be held at Zion Church at 8 p.m.  Present at this meeting will be the Rev. Jess Norenberg, state superintendent of Congregational churches.  He will give information about the approach to unification and will answer questions.

•••••••••

The first building in Neillsville to install the new-type “radiant heat” in the floors is the farm implement building of the Svetlik Motor Company.  This building is known as the old Leason building and is located just east of the Svetlik garage property.  It formerly was occupied by the Neillsville Production Credit Association business.

 

A program of remodeling and enlarging is now nearing the end.  The front has been extended 12 feet, so it comes flush with the sidewalk.  The floor space thus gained amounts of 360 square feet.  The show windows, which cover the entire length of the front contains 336 square feet of glass.

 

The Svetlik’s expect to have the remodeling job completed within a few days and have scheduled an open house in the enlarged and remodeled building on Tuesday, November 16, throughout the day and evening.  Features of the open house will include motion pictures of modern farming, from 8 to 9 p.m.  A Dutch lunch will be served after the movies.

•••••••••

Harry “Boney” Frantz, the traffic officer, got a deer Saturday night, a little before the season opened, it’s true, but entirely legal-like.  You see, “Boney” struck it with his car.

 

The officer explained he was patrolling highway 10 a short distance west of the Stables night club and in the heart of the deer country.

 

Four deer crossed the road ahead, and he slowed the pace of his car as he approached the crossing.  Amongst the four deer, which crossed the road, was a big buck with a rack of horns, he said, like an elk.

 

As he continued on, a straggling fifth deer popped out and tired to jump the road.  It didn’t quite clear the front end of the traffic officer’s car.  So Officer Frantz had his own accident to report.

 

The deer was a yearling doe weighing 65 pounds. The damage it did to the officer’s car included a smashed front fender and headlight.

 

But Officer Frantz is having some sweet revenge; he bought a half of the doe, legally through the game warden.

•••••••••

The American Legion’s annual Turkey Dance will be held tonight in the new Legion Hall, near the O’Neill Creek Bridge.  This will be the first public function of the organization to be held in the new building.  Work on the unfinished portion of the hall has been pushed this week to have it in readiness for the dance.  Admission will be 50¢

•••••••••

Tom Flynn his taken over his new duties Monday morning, which will be as unit Ambassador Assistant of the Service Company, 128th Infantry.

 

In order to accept the position, Flynn resigned his commission as Second Lieutenant and was given a Master Sergeant rating.  He becomes the second full-time non-commissioned officer assigned to the local National Guard Company, the other being M/Sgt. Claude Ayers.

 

M/Sgt. Flynn’s duties will include the keeping of company records and assisting with the paper work under the company commander.  Flynn, a veteran of service in the Southwest and Central Pacific areas during World War II, had been employed for the past two years by the Larson Lumber Company.

•••••••••

There were plenty of close calls reported in the woods this year.  Perhaps the closest one, which didn’t turn into a stretcher case, was that of a relative of “Rock” Hart.  He walked into the Stables nightclub Sunday evening appearing white as a ghost.

 

He showed a stocking cap of red, which had been topped off by a white tassel.  The tassel and about an inch of the top of the cap had been shot off.  The material showed markings of the bullet, which had hit it, Alvin Ziegler reported.

 

The young man had a red hood, which he had forgotten to cover the cap with.

 

A manhunt by upward of 20 hunters which was conducted in the East Fork area, just over the Clark County line in Jackson County, Sunday turned out well.  George Fischer, an uncle of Irving Fischer, Greenwood mail carrier, was lost for a time.  For about four hours the hunters combed the woods.  Fischer was found, unharmed, just before Clark County’s Undersheriff, Frank Dobes, arrived to help with the hunt.

 

Lloyd Meyers was a very disgruntled young man Saturday morning.  While all his friends went off in quest of the whitetails, he had to take care of his milk route.  It was so bad that he could hardly digest his food that noon. With the thought that the hunting would be useless later in the day, he started out with a zero spirit.  But soon it all changed.  He was in the right place at the right time.  Result: a nice 6-point buck within 20 minutes after getting into the woods.

 

Rented rooms were at a premium here last weekend, as out-of-town hunters flocked into Clark County to hunt. Every spare room in the city was filled; and many of the farmhouses adjacent to the deer areas were crowded.  Reports were that room-and-board prices were as much as $7 per day.

 

The “bullet wound” over the eye of a local hunter, it appears, wasn’t a bullet wound after all.  Sheriff Ray Kutsche said there was a scuffle, and he had to have some story to cover it up with.

 

Just how alive the woods were, (was) indicated by the report of Millard F. Cole, who made an ambulance call into the Tioga country Sunday morning.  “There must have been 500 cars parked along the road between Tioga and the Abbott ranch,” he said.

•••••••••

A family of nine persons is starting out the winter in Neillsville in a shack measuring about 10 x 24 feet.  There are a mother and eight children. Three of the children are below school age and five are in school.  They are all in one room and that room, the property of the county, was once used as a storage place.  The walls are without lining; are one board thick; no plaster; no insulation.

 

The welfare department of the county has been trying to find a suitable house for this family, but has thus far been unsuccessful.  It is not a question of money; there will be sufficient money to pay proper rent.  It might even be possible to make a purchase, if there were an opportunity to buy advantageously.  The difficulty is to find the place.

 

The mother is credited as being a good housekeeper, and is making currently an honest effort to care for the children.  She is without the help of the father; he has disappeared.

 

This publicity is given the need, with the thought that there may be some modest house, in Neillsville or its environs, which could be secured.  Information should be given Mr. Trewartha at the county welfare department.

•••••••••

Grand Opening at Mac’s Bar will be Thursday Night, Nov. 18, with free entertainment.  It is located near Hagie’s Garage on Highway 95.

•••••••••

There will be a special Thanksgiving Dinner serving turkey, chicken, steaks or seafood at Violet and Joe Vieau’s place at Hatfield.  Deer hunters are welcome to come and eat their meals by the fireplace.

•••••••••

Hinshaw Shoe Co., formerly Unger’s, is having a sale on B. F. Goodrich Stadium Boots, warm fleece lined, Priced at $4.98 and $5.95.  Earl Schmidt, Manager

•••••••••

 

 

In was 1881 when the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad track from Merrillan Junction was completed to the west side of the Black River.  A story makes reference to Sidney coming into being as the staging point for the railroad as Neillsville’s end of the line before it crossed the river.  It was easier for the train to stop at Sidney due to the large, flat area of terrain to unload or load passengers and freight.  Grading was completed for the trestle and bridge crossing the Black River into Neillsville, continuing railway connection to Marshfield in 1890.

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

 

 


© Every submission is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

 

Show your appreciation of this freely provided information by not copying it to any other site without our permission.

 

Become a Clark County History Buff

 

Report Broken Links

A site created and maintained by the Clark County History Buffs
and supported by your generous donations.

 

Webmasters: Leon Konieczny, Tanya Paschke,

Janet & Stan Schwarze, James W. Sternitzky,

Crystal Wendt & Al Wessel

 

CLARK CO. WI HISTORY HOME PAGE