Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

February 5, 2020  Page 9 

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled and Contributed by Dee Zimmerman

February 1880

 

Carelessness is too often the stepping stone to dishonesty.                          

•••••••••

The ice-packers, who failed to lay in their summer’s supply last week, understand but too well what a day may bring now when seeing this thaw.                                                   

•••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. M.C. Ring and Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Youmans attended the leap-year party at Merrillan last Friday evening.                                                                                          

•••••••••

Icy-sidewalks, when inclined, are dangerous, but can be made comparatively safe, on a thawing day, by the judicious use of a shovel or two of ashes.                                     

•••••••••

A new road path on the west side of the river has been having the Hatfield travel for the past few days, the sleighing on the east road, having been badly worn out.               

•••••••••

We are requested to announce that Lenten Services will be held in St. Luke’s Chapel in the High School building, this (Friday) evening at 7 o’clock. A cordial invitation to be present is extended to all.

•••••••••

Loggers are still piling up logs on the landings, and a fair winter’s work has already been accomplished. With a few weeks more of good hauling, lumbermen will be so well fixed that there will be no living with them.

•••••••••

Blacksmiths have had another harvest during the past two weeks. A sharp-shod horse can keep his footing on these icy-roads.

 

(The iron horseshoes were nailed onto the hooves of each horse to ensure a better grip, to prevent slipping on the icy roads. The area blacksmiths were busy shoeing the horses during the icy season. Once a year, my dad would shoe the horses on our farm, by first trimming the hooves before re-nailing on the shoe. I worried about the horses feeling pain in the process, Dad would assure me that he knew the process well and that there would be no pain to the horse. DZ)                                                 

•••••••••

The annual county division bill was virtually killed in the Senate last Friday, having been reported upon, at that time, adversely by the committee to which it was referred, and notwithstanding the feeble argument urged in factor of the measure in last week’s True Republican newspaper, Clark County will not soon be shorn of its boundaries.                                                                                       

•••••••••          

The street going east from the O’Neill House to the brewery, presents a striking display, consisting of wood-piles, wagons, sleighs and the odd ends of everything.                                      

•••••••••

Now is the time to have your carriage painting done before spring arrives. George Isham is prepared to do the work cheaply and well, warranting satisfaction in quality and price.

•••••••••

The climate in this part of Wisconsin for the past week has been, so to speak, variegated, the thermometer having bobbed up and down at various times from a dozen below to forty-five above zero, making the last descent on Tuesday night when it registered two below.         

•••••••••

Last Friday evening was witnessed a scene on the streets of Neillsville that has become very uncommon of late. The absence of the sheriff, and officers of the law, at that time, saved several able-bodied citizens of the county from spending a night in the luxurious  but airy quarters east of the courthouse. We are now inclined to speculate upon what might have been or what may be, but it may not be out of the way to suggest that it would hardly be safe, at all times, to repeat the disgraceful performances of that evening.

•••••••••                                

A “thaw,” amounting almost to an ice “break-up” on the river, in this instance, appeared in the order of things the first of this week.                                                                                    

•••••••••

A man named Louis Hanson got his nose broken by a falling limb, in one of F.D. Lindsay’s logging camps, on Wedge’s Creek, last Wednesday. Hansen brought it to town and Dr. Mosely was able to put it into shape.

•••••••••

Quite a number of our fellow citizens, and a few outsiders from the logging camps, were on the war-path last Saturday night.                                                                                                              

•••••••••

Mr. O.A.J. Hollister, who was the victim of a very serious accident in the well he was sinking on Blakeslee’s farm west of the river, reports having stuck a bountiful supply of water sixty-two feet below the surface. This is the third attempt made do sink a well on that farm, the others having been given up on, because of the thickness of the rock through which it was attempted to drill, the first attempt being of about twenty-two feet.

••••••••• 

Neillsville has a saloonkeeper who is entirely too moral for his business, having recently had several men arrested for being drunk and disorderly.

 

February 1930

 

Although it has seemed each winter for many years that the last logs had been landed in Neillsville, the supply still appears not to be exhausted. Many loads of excellent red oak, elm, basswood and Pine are being landed at the depot for shipment.

 

Work has started on loading the logs onto railcars at the depot, with many being brought in from the country.

 

Good prices are being paid.

 

(The log-driving era on the Black River had ended. Only pine logs float, thus pine logs were floated down the Black River to La Crosse and sawmill markets in the late 1800s. DZ)    

•••••••••                  

The Ladies Aid Society of St. John’s Church meets at the home of Mrs. Wm. Foemmel on Thursday afternoon. Ladies desiring to attend will then assemble at the school house at one o’clock. Teams of horses have been engaged for pulling the sleighs. Come help us make the sleighing party an enjoyable one.             

•••••••••

The Adler Theatre announces that beginning this week there will be two “Old Time Price Nights.” That is, every Tuesday and Wednesday all seats will be 10 cents. The big mid-week feature will begin on Thursday, showing 3 days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The Sunday and Monday policy remains unchanged.

•••••••••

The Ladies Aid of the Evangelical Church of Chili will serve an oyster supper at the church parlors Friday evening, February 14.

 

Serving will begin at 6 o’clock and will be continued until all are served. After supper, there will be a valentine party. Everybody welcome. Oyster stew, 15’; plate lunch 15’.  

•••••••••

Many people are coming to the Post Office late with mail not knowing that the trains are running on a different schedule. Arrange to have your mail to the Post office at least half an hour before train time, so as to give the clerks time to make up and tie the mail. For the information of the public the time of arrival of the different trains is as follows: 7:23 a.m.; 11:13 a.m.; 1:26 p.m. and 5:02 p.m. 

•••••••••  

Mrs. Emma Wright, aged 82, is laid up from injuries received some days ago when she was riding with her son, Glenn and the auto was struck by a section-men’s gas car at a rail crossing west of Columbia. The auto was badly damaged and one of the section men, Mr. Wood, of Merrillan, badly cut about the head. The railroad company paid the damages for the car and the injuries to Mrs. Wright.                             

•••••••••

The Phoenix restaurant operated since early last fall by Neal Burgess has closed last week when Mr. Burgess  received an attractive offer to return to his regular line of work, the electrical construction business. Mr. and Mrs. Burgess and their daughter Rosemary left by automobile Sunday for Virginia where the project he is to work on is located.                                                                                  

•••••••••

Geo. Mortimer and his mother of York Center, accompanied by Mr. and Mrs. Al Garvin of N.D, called on Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Campbell one day last week. The Garvins were old residents of York Center several years ago and are here visiting their old friends and neighbors in Neillsville and at York Center.

•••••••••

Rev. E.H. Vornholt went to Shortville Sunday to preach in the Union Church. He succeeded in getting there through the blizzard but had to stay overnight and left his car there Monday, working his way back to Neillsville as best he could, part of the way coming afoot.

 

(We tend to take for granted the quick response on snow removal our city street crews, township and county road maintenance men now do during the winter.

 

Vornholt’s blizzard experience brings back memories of a 1950s snowstorm that my uncle and I endured.

 

An uncle, brother of my mother, had recently returned to Minneapolis after being in Europe for a year and was anxious to visit my parents. He encouraged me to go along with him for the visit. I was skeptical due to it being winter and it seemed as though every weekend there had been a snowstorm, starting in early January. Finally, I agreed to make the trip.

 

We traveled on a Greyhound bus from Minneapolis to my hometown, a distance of 120 miles, for the weekend visit. The next day, snow started to fall, continuing through Sunday. That Monday morning, all roads were blocked with snowdrifts. Previous snowfalls had required the snowplows to wing-out snow accumulations that extended above the ditches, the tops coming within four to five feet from the telephone wires. However, at that time the telephone poles weren’t as high as the poles are now.

 

I had recently started a new job, so I was concerned about getting back to work. On Monday morning, I insisted on walking to town, a distance of eight miles, an idea that my uncle was against, but said, “Well, I can’t let you walk that distance alone.”

 

My dad took us by horse and sleigh up a long driveway to the main road. There, we started walking upon the snow-ridge, being able to grab onto the telephone wire if one of us lost our balance. Mid-way through the hike, we were able to stop at a country tavern for a brief rest. We arrived in town an hour before the bus was scheduled to stop, only to learn the bus had cancelled due to the snow-covered highway.

 

Seeing a traveling salesman parked by the department store, my uncle approached him, asking for a ride. The salesman, said, “Yes, I plan to wind up my Buick and hit the snowdrifts, hoping to get to Wadena 30 miles up the road where I have hotel reservations for the night, so you’re welcome to ride along.” Thanks to him we arrived safely in Wadena, a railroad center where we were able to board the seven o’clock train going to the Twin Cities. After boarding the train, I told the conductor, “Wake me up when we get into Minneapolis.” DZ) 

•••••••••

Monday morning the people of Neillsville and vicinity were somewhat surprised by the announcement that the J.G. Zimmerman Store & Company had sold their entire mercantile establishment, known locally as the “Big Store” to the Farmers Store Company, a “chain store” organization that owns 19 other stores. Wm. Larson of Eau Claire, who is general manager for the purchasers, is here to handle the transfer. The purchasers are in no way connected with the Farmers Unions now being organized in Clark County. It is reported the entire personnel of the store will remain in their places, at least for the present.

 

The Farmer’s Store Company organization, headquartered in Eau Claire, as of 1930 owned and operated 19 Stores within central Wisconsin, having a store in Neillsville and a sore that was located on the west side of Greenwood’s Main Street, which is pictured above.

 

•••••••••

Neillsville’s greatest of all basketball carnivals will be Friday at the opera House when the Neillsville High School squad meets the “speed kings” of the Granton High School, which promises to set an all-time record in attendance, and now preparations are being rushed to take care of the biggest crowd ever to be seen at a game in this city. The Neillsville School Band and the Granton Band will be in attendance to pep up their teams, special yells and songs have been learned by the students and if cheers and enthusiasm have any part in making a basketball game a success, Neillsville is certain of seeing the most stupendous sporting spectacle ever staged in the community.

 

As an extra attraction, the Neillsville Service Co.’s champion basketball team will meet the Granton city Blackhawks team in a red-hot preliminary.

 

Reports from Granton indicate that the majority of the population will make the jaunt over to take the game in. Because of the excellent rail service from Granton and return, many are expected to travel by train, and Donald E. Peters, superintendent of Neillsville Public Schools, announced that if the weather permits, the Neillsville band with a delegation of students and citizens, will be at the depot to greet the visitors and then, together, they will march through the business section to the Opera House.

 

The doors of the Opera House will open at 7 p.m. with the first game starting promptly at 7:30.

 

As a grand finale to the evening, a big dance will be given by outside interests. The Neillsville High School will have no connection with the dance. Albert Kreisch of Neillsville has rented the Opera House for the balance of the night and with an imported orchestra will put on a dance, which no doubt will be well attended.

 

(What an exciting game that must have been! The following week, an article was published about the game, stating 900 fans attended. Granton High School defeated the Neillsville High School team by a score of 23 to 17. In that era, a different game pattern was played, which resulted in low scoring. DZ)

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