January 1929

A deal, which has been in process for some time was practically closed Tuesday by which the plant of the Bruley Elevator in Neillsville was sold to S.H. Van Gorden. The Van Gorden family, including the grandfather, three sons and three grandsons carry on a chain of elevators and feed stores and have been highly successful in this line of business, having plants at Black River Falls, Taylor, Hixton and Alma Center. Archie Van Gorden, a grandson, will manage the plant in Neillsville.  He is a young married man with three children and will make his home in Neillsville.

Fred Bruley, who has been the active manager of the Bruley Elevator Co., began work some 30 years ago for A.B. Marsh in the elevator. He continued as manager of the Farmers Elevator Co., which brought our Mr. Marsh here in 1914. In 1917, Mr. Bruley went into business for himself, building the present plant. Later the business was incorporated. The Company now has a large plant and stock in Eau Claire and also a branch at Chippewa Falls and one at Menomonie, which will be carried on as before.

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Last week, the Sollberger brothers completed the pens for their foxes at the farm of John Sollberger, Jr., near Columbia, and bought two pairs of select stock of the Silver Black foxes from the fox ranch of Robert Quinnell in Pine Valley. The Sollbergers begin the fox business after careful study of fox breeding and feeding and are likely to make a success of it. They start with the absolute best stock possible. Mr. Quinnell has a very choice lot, and out of his entire bunch picked out twenty of the less desirable, “pelted” them and sold the furs on the market at a good price. The Sollberger brothers had the pick of the rest, and, of course, start with two fine pairs. Mr. Quinnell has twenty pairs to carry over for the coming year’s breeding.

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Wisconsin once again is taking its place among the foremost fur trading centers in the country. There are 1,191 licensed fur farms registered at the offices of the state conservation commission. Of these farms, 500 raise raccoons, 300 raise muskrats and 25 raise beaver. The remaining farms are divided between raising skunk, mink, otter, fisher and marten. Fox farms, of which there are many, require no license. Each time there is an application for a license for a fur farm, the state conservation commission sends out an inspector to advise the prospective farmer. If conditions are favorable, the license is granted.

(When a young teenager, living on the family farm, I remember a weasel invading the chicken coop during the winter. As I opened the coop door one morning to feed and water the flock, I saw a white short-tailed weasel scurry in front of me, also noticing two dead chickens on the floor. My dd had to find where the weasel had gotten into the coop, before making repairs. It doesn’t take much of an opening for a weasel to squeeze through. The weasel had a snow-white fur. That weasel species changes to brown fur in the summer. They look much like a mink, only smaller. DZ)                                                    

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Mrs. Louis Lindow, who lives at Chili, came to Neillsville tending to business between trains on Monday.

(She came on the morning train traveling west, returning home on the late afternoon train traveling eastward thru Chili. DZ)                                                                                                                                 

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Real talking and singing pictures will be shown at Trags Theatre on Sunday, February 3rd. As it was impossible at this time to have them for more than one day, there will be a matinee at 2 o’clock Sunday afternoon in order to take care of the crowds, which will or should avail themselves of the opportunity to see and hear the present day marvel of the motion pictures.

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The heavy snow and blockaded roads in our opinion may not be an unmitigated evil, but rather a blessing in disguise, for it will give some czars a needed rest. The owner will really be ahead in money saved, spent for gas and repairs and save the wear and tear on the machines. An auto is not intended to be a winter vehicle, and one winter’s use is harder on it than a half-dozen summers. The proper place for an automobile is in the garage, jacked up and put away for the season. Even as it is, the automobiles have put a terrific financial strain and drain on the whole country, and millions of dollars are spent for gas that should be expended for foodstuffs and fuel. If the automobiles were given a rest in the wintertime some people might be able to pay their grocery and other bills.                                                                                       

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Last week the New Dells Lumber Co. started hauling logs from its skid-ways in the Town of Levis and on the O’Brien Farm in South Pine Valley. Five teams of horses are hauling from the skid-ways back of R.B. French farm in Levis and four teams from the O’Brien land, all local teams from the farms in the neighborhood. The teams get onto the Black River at the mouth of French’s Creek, go up the river to the Yndogliato farm, and from there a road is made, cutting across to the turnpike near Silver Crest School, thence north to Sydney where the logs are landed.

On Monday, teams started hauling from the northern camps in Pine Valley and Weston. When this gets into full swing, 25 sleighs will be used, each with a four-horse team. This will make quite an imposing procession. Their road comes down the river for some distance above Neillsville and the logs are landed at a special sidetrack west of the depot. The first three loads were landed Monday afternoon. The big snowstorm Tuesday showed up work some, but it is planned to keep the roads open under all circumstances.

(French’s Creek ran through R.B. French’s farmland in Section 4, Town of Levis, the creek’s water emptying into the Black River. DZ)           

January 1954

The Chili Community Welcomes the Second Century of Clark County’s History!

By the Following Chili Businesses & A Happy New Year!

Herbert’s Café – (Perry & Juanita); -Otto Rusch – Your Garage Man..

Central State Bank – Our Chili Office,

E. C. Haselow Hardware – Offers TV Admiral & Zenith –

Speed Queen – Maytag, Washers  & Radios, Hardware-Paint-Oils,

Chili Community Store – General Merchandise & Foods.

Puscheck’s Farm Service – Butler Buildings,

Bersell Agency – Complete Insurance Protection, William Happe – Your IGA Dealer,

W.J. Spry & Sons – Gateway Lumber Do. – Complete Stock of Building Materials –

Building Experts, Harry Zaleski, Manager,

Mc Naul Garage – Cities Service, Gas Oils, Accessories.

(At that time, Chili had 11 businesses. DZ)     

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Neillsville lost a downtown landmark Tuesday, but without regret.

The old railroad coach, which for so many years, housed the Al’Aboard restaurant, was jacked up, with wheels put under it and hauled out of the city. The new owner is James Milton, who is moving the building to his 80-acres near Dells Dam.

The removal of the old coach near the railroad tracks along Hewett Street provides for better vision of the railroad crossing at that point.

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Eight stars of the Silver Skates will furnish entertainment during Neillsville’s Ice Carnival on the O’Neill Creek pond Saturday afternoon.

The engaging of eight experienced performers was announced this week by John R. Bergemann, secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, and the Rev. Wm. Koehler of the carnival committee. The skaters, all semi-professional, will come here from Wausau. They have performed  before large audiences in many communities. Included will be figure skating, dancing, comedy and couples skating acts.

The featured entertainers will perform at the opening of the carnival and again at the close of the event.

The carnival will open at 1:30 p.m. with the selecting of a Carnival Queen, who will be chosen from among the skaters, 17 years or younger. Basis for the selection will be skating ability.

Skating contest have been scheduled for 10-years old and older: figure skating, couples waltzing on skates; jumping; 100-yard dashes for boys and girls.                                             

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The Rev. Frank B. Harcey will be formerly installed as pastor of the First Congregational Church at Neillsville at services in the church Sunday, February 7, it was announced this week.

The installation services will include an ecclesiastical council at 4 p.m., at which the Rev. Harcey will read a paper setting forth his theological belief. At evening services, the public installation will take place. Speaker will be Dr. Jess Norenberg of Madison, conference superintendent.

Pastors and lay delegates from more than 20 churches in the district have been invited.

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The next time you are looking for a late snack before going home, drive over to Prust’s Triangle Tavern, at the junction of Highway 10 and County Trunk K, south of Granton.

There you will find a big hamburger that has become a favorite among those who regularly stop at Prust’s and is looked upon as one of the headliners of their menu.

For those who are interested, the Triangle Tavern offers television viewing, and both reception and selection are good. Boxing, fight nights are Wednesday and Friday, which attract many fans.

Prust’s Triangle Tavern caters to dinners and private parties. The food is prepared in a spotless kitchen, over which Mrs. Prust long presides.

A favorite is “chicken-in-the-basket,” available every night, and costs $1 per plate.

Another favorite among customers is their walleyed fillets. One gets a generous serving for as little as ne dollar. Then, there are steaks that are aged “just right.” These receive careful care by Charley Prust in the cutting. They are cut thick enough to retain the succulent juices and flavor when they are prepared.

Special menus, also, are available, including the choice of turkey, capon, duck and ham.

The next time you take the little woman out for a special treat, stop at Prust’s Triangle Tavern.

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Before 6 o’clock tonight, we hope the people of Clark County will reminisce for a moment or two.

We hope they recall those tense, fearful days of the summer of 1949, when the dreaded disease polio struck in 74 homes in Clark County. Wherever two or more people got together a discussion touching on infantile paralysis was almost sure to come up. In homes where there were children, parents carried a prayer forever on their lips. That year, Clark County had the highest per capita rate of polio of any county in the United States. The dreadful effects of that endemic still are visible and will be for many years to come. The cost of that still is with us.

But today there is some reason to hope that feared polio may not again strike with the widespread and crippling effect it had in 1949. A vaccine has been developed by a University of Pittsburgh researcher. It was tried last year, on a small scale, in a southern community. The results were encouraging.

This year, according to plans of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, the vaccine will be used in a nationwide experiment on second-grade school children from 500,000 to 1 million will be vaccinated. Results of the vaccine in the prevention of polio then can be more definitely determined. In the 10 years since the Clark County chapter of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis has been established, a total of 3,000 has been contributed to the county.

In the same period, more than $92,000 has been spent for treatment and care of Clark County victims of polio. Last year, Clark County raised approximately $6,000 through the March of Dimes. Three thousand dollars of that stayed in Clark County for the treatment and care of patients. In addition, the National Foundation for Infantile paralysis poured back $25,000 into Clark County for patient care and treatment. That $25,000 represented approximately the cost for one year’s treatment and care for county polio victims.

This year, the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis faces these accustomed expenses. In addition, it faces an estimated $26 million for its nationwide vaccination program. That means far more money must be raised through the March of Dimes this year than ever before. The only way it can be raised is by far more generous contributions than ever before.

When the mothers march tonight, they will not stop at your home unless your porch light is on or there is a light placed in your window. They will march tonight between 6 and 8 o’clock. We hope your porch light is on.

In the mid-1960s a countrywide polio immunization was held in Clark County Families were notified to come to their local school on a given day, where members of each family could be immunized. Drops of an orange colored liquid were placed on a sugar cube, to be given to each person. After that day, I didn’t hear of any cases of polio being reported. DZ)

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