Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

February 18, 2009, Page 12

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Family Gathers for sleigh ride

By Cheryl Anderegg

Doris (l) and Ed Gehweiler were the oldest attendees when the Gehweiler and Tibbetts families gathered for a Neillsville sleigh ride Saturday, Feb. 14. (Photos by Cheryl Anderegg/Clark County Press)

88 members of the Tibbett and Gehweiler families gathering

A total of 88 members of the Tibbett family gathered for a sleigh ride south of Neillsville, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009.

Using a sleigh originally used to harvest ice for the cold storage facility in town, the over 100-year-old sleigh is now used to transport family members on a memorable excursion through the countryside.

Taking a family sleigh ride in the Klondike sleigh

The family originally scheduled the ride on a branch of O’Neill Creek; unfortunately, warm weather caused the breakup of ice.  The Klondike sleigh was a familiar part of the Neillsville scene during the 1930s.  George Tibbett and his brother, Jack Tibbett, established the Ice and Fuel Company.  As the business grew, George Tibbett purchased the bob-sled-style sleigh from his grandfather, Jacob Gehweiler, of Chippewa Falls in 1932.

The sleigh was originally one of two built by Felber and Misfeldt of Chippewa Falls in 1890.  Ordered by the Meuli Livery, the sleigh was used for hire to take parties of people to social gatherings or work sites throughout the Chippewa Falls area.

Pleasant memories of the sleigh ride rig as a teenager prompted George Tibbett to purchase the sleigh in 1932.  Henry Ghent of Neillsville rebuilt the sled dashboard and made other minor repairs.  Price Snyder repainted the sleigh when he spent a summer painting Tibbetts’ fleet of ice and coal delivery wagons and sleighs.  At that time, the sled was renamed the Klondike.

Ice was harvested on the Black River from O’Neill Creek during the winter months and was sold during the summer to customers.

George Tibbett’s sons, Richard and Bruce, and daughter, Pat Mrotek, along with their families and the Gehweiler family gathered together for an old-fashioned sleigh ride on the Klondike.  Family members arrived from all over the United States; including Florida, Idaho, Illinois and Minnesota.