Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

March 6, 2002, Page 28

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

 

 

Clark County News

 

March 1917

 

The annual meeting or (of) the Neillsville Canning Co. was held Monday evening.  Robert Kurth was re-elected president; Gus Krause, vice president; L. Williamson, secretary and George Ure, treasurer.  The affairs of the company were found to be in a very flourishing condition and a 6 per cent dividend was declared.  Arrangements were also made for the building of a new warehouse and kraut vat shed.

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C. D. Dresden has purchased the Frank Lynch Livery and Feed Barn. Combining it with the Auto Livery, they will be able to furnish good conveyances with horse or auto that will be accompanied by careful drivers with the price right.  They have enclosed cars such as sedan cabs and touring cars, making a specialty of funerals, weddings or pleasure parties.  Night runs can be made on request.  Phone 37 when ever you need livery service

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Adolph W. Rich, the millionaire Milwaukee shoe dealer, died in the city this week, from heart failure.  Rich was a man past 70 years of age and was a pioneer of Milwaukee.  He is the man who established the Jewish colony at Arpin a number of years ago.  At that time he bought a large tract of land in that area and arranged so that fellow countrymen could secure a farm in that tract.  Even though they had no money to pay for it at the time, they could pay as they were able.  A number of people took advantage of Rich’s philanthropy with some of them making good, but more of them fell by the wayside.

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Neverman & Geeslin have made a splendid addition to their barbershop equipment in the purchase of three new barber chairs. The chairs arrived last week and were installed at once. They are enameled white with green leather trimmings, both tasty in appearance and comfortable to the customer.  Another addition was in the shape of a sterilizer for all barber tools, which guarantees strict sanitation.  Neverman & Geeslin are now running a very modern shop with three master barbers at all times so that they avoid the long tiresome wait for the call of “next.”  Their shop is now one of the best in Neillsville and they are making every effort to serve the public quickly, comfortably and satisfactorily.

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The Farmers Cooperative Lumber Yard can build a new barn for your needs.

 

The 30’ by 40’ conveniently arranged barn has night stalls for cattle, the open stalls and one box stall for a team of horses.  In addition, it has a grain room on the first floor.  The second floor provides hay storage.  A large driveway extends across the entire barn.  As well as being a very convenient and compact barn, it also possesses very artistic lines in design.

 

If you are planning on building a new barn this summer, come in now and let them show you these plans.  The probably cost of this style barn, including all material and labor, is $1,000.

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The Globe area roads have been so bad that Mr. Forman, their mail carrier, was obliged to walk and carry the heavy mail bags last Monday.  Foreman has the longest route out of Neillsville, which is over 26 miles.  Let’s all turn out and open the roads so he will be able to drive his team of horses on his route without having to walk.

 

Bill Kalsow said he hasn’t had to worry about the snow-covered roads as he has still been able to haul milk to the factory.  To our great surprise, he hitched himself to a hand sleigh and walked cross lots, pulling the sleigh loaded with milk cans to the creamery on Saturday.

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A 32’x60’ frame building, substantially built, is for sale in the village of Withee.  It is especially fitted for garage or factory purposes and is entirely new, never having been used.  The building is reasonably priced and located one-half block from the Yellowstone Trail.

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One of the finest herds of cattle ever shipped into Loyal was brought through here last week by Wm. Mills of Viroqua.  Mills has moved onto the Harry Kauffman farm, three miles west of Loyal.  His herd consists of 18 head of purebred and high grade Red Polls.  One of the cows took first money at the Chicago International Stock Show in 1913.  The sire of the herd took second money in 1916.

••••••••••

Dr. Ross, the Granton physician, has sold his practice to Dr. G. F. Murphy of Junction City. Dr. Murphy has already moved to Granton. Dr. Ross and his family will move to their farm in the Town of York, where they will spend the summer and in the fall he will take a post-graduate course in surgery.

••••••••••

The Frauenverein of the Neillsville Lutheran Church will hold their Schiertzenverkauf, apron sale, on April 4th.  The sale will be held in the afternoon and evening, at the schoolhouse of the congregation.  Supper will be served also.  The friends of the church are cordially invited to attend the apron sale and supper.

 

March 1937

 

Professor Don Peters put on the program at the Kiwanis club on Monday evening.  Peters distributed questionnaires to club members.  The questions covered a large field of knowledge in driving automobiles, traffic laws and actions to be taken in various driving emergencies.

 

These tests are being given to high school students for the purpose of bringing to the attention of young people ways and means of promoting safety in driving.

 

None of the Kiwanians scored 100 in the examination.

••••••••••

The first written account available on any logging operations within the present boundaries of Clark County was found in the journal of George Miller.  Miller was a Mormon elder who wrote a detailed account of the logging operations of the Mormons on the Black River and in what is now Clark County, from 1841 to 1844.  He mentioned the trading of the saw mill they owned south of Black River Falls, to Jacob Spaulding for a mill he owned at the Falls.

 

Jacob Spaulding came to Black River Falls in 1833 and began logging prior to 1842.

 

At that time, 1838, all of the territory now comprising Clark County was held by the Indians, the Winnebagos, Chippewas, Sioux and Menomonies, all claiming territory along the Black River within the present boundaries of Clark County.

 

The Winnebagos claimed territory east of Black River and north as far as the present line between townships 25 and 26.

 

The Chippewas claimed land west of Black River, the southern boundary of their claim extending westward from the Black River along a line roughly corresponding to the southern boundary of township 26.

 

The Menomonies claimed the territory extending west of the Black River, thus overlapping and extending north of Winnebago territory.

 

The Sioux claimed all the territory from the mouth of Black River on its western border to a point half-a-day’s march south of the Chippewa’s falls.  This left a part of western Clark County neutral territory not specifically claimed by any tribe, but hunted and trapped by all of them.

 

The Indians were hostile to any settlement or logging operations upon their territory and kept the whites out previous to 1837.

 

In 1837, treaties were made with the Sioux, the Chippewas and the Winnebagos by which they ceded all of their territory in Wisconsin to the United States.

 

These treaties, however, left the Menomonie claim unsettled but as their agency was on the Wisconsin River, they only visited the Black River valley for the purpose of hunting and trapping.  In the winter of 1843-1844, Chief Oshkosh and some other members of the tribe came to Black River Falls and forbade further logging upon the Black River.

 

The Mormons, having a large stock of logs and lumber cut, sent two of their members, Messrs Miller and Daniels, in January 1844, through the wilderness.  The snow was 18 inches deep as they walked to the Indian agency on the Wisconsin River seeking permission to move their cut logs and lumber and to buy additional timber from the Indians.  The Indians were willing to sell timber but the agent refused to allow them to cut any timber unless the agreement was ratified by the Federal Government at Washington D.C.  But finally the Indians agreed to let the Mormons move their already-cut logs and issued an order that all trespassing for cutting pine upon the Black River must cease.  So, up to this time all lumber cut in what is now Clark County was cut upon Indian lands either with or without the consent of the owners.

 

This situation continued until 1847 when the Menomonies released their claim to the territory and the government survey was commenced.

 

The first government entry in Clark County was made by Isaac S. Mason in Section 35, in Town of Weston, on Sept. 1st, 1848.

 

From this time on for nearly 50 years, the records of deeds in the Register of Deeds office were filled with the names of grantee loggers in Clark County.

 

Prominent among these names were: W. T. Price, Samuel F. Weston, Cyrus Woodman, C. C. Washburn, William W. Crosby, Moses Clark, Lincoln Clark, Wm. T. Foster, Andrew Shepperd, Robert Ross, N. B. Holway, Abner Gile, Amos Elliott, James Hathway, Levi Withee, Geo. L. Lloyd, Abner Coburn, Jacob Spaulding, James Hewett, Root, Thompson and many others.

 

In the 1850s, the largest owners of land in Clark County were Cyrus Woodman and Samuel F. Weston.

 

Woodman was by far the largest land owner of any one who ever owned land in the county, having taken land in nearly every one of Clark County’s 34 townships, as many as 12 sections in the Town of Seif, 5 sections in Hendren, 4 sections in Loyal, 7 sections in Weston, 15 in the Town of Eaton and 10 in the Town of Washburn.  These figures were taken at random from the records and lesser holdings in every town in the county but two.

 

Weston was also the owner of numerous tracts scattered all over Clark County. 

 

The lumbering industry in the county covers two distinct periods, the pine roughly speaking from 1850 to 1900 and the hardwood industry from 1880 to 1915.

 

What now comprises the towns of Sherwood, Washburn, Levis, Dewhurst, Hewett, Mentor, Foster and Butler was in a great part covered with a heavy growth of medium sized pine interspersed with some hardwood ridges.

 

In the other 26 townships, the pine extended from the streams on each side back form one-fourth to one-half mile, this was true of the smaller streams as well as the larger streams.  Besides this, nearly every hardwood forty in the county had more or less pine on it and this pine was the mostly very large and of a better quality than most of the p0ine upon the lowlands.

 

Most of the pine was cut before the hardwood for several reasons, chiefly due to the lack of transportation for the hardwood. A pine log or raft of pine lumber would float upon the water while a hardwood log would go (to) the bottom of the river in a short time.  Another reason was the settlement of the Western prairie states from 1850 to about 1890, which required a large amount of pine lumber for building. Also the building of the large cities in the entire North Central states together with the rebuilding of Chicago after the disastrous fire of 1871 demanded lumber.

 

The men who were at the head of the logging of the pine had little or nothing to do with the cutting of the hardwood; almost an entire new group of men were the leaders in the hardwood industry.

••••••••••

The construction of a dam on Wedge’s Creek on the Ernest Snyder property under a WPA project is considered likely to happen after the Clark County Board’s recent approval of the plan.  Snyder has given the county an easement deed to the property involved.  It is proposed to make the spot a swimming and recreational center.  The project has received the endorsement of the Neillsville Junior Chamber of Commerce.

••••••••••

Monday night a group of men headed by Wm. A. Campman met to devise a means whereby Neilslville may continue to have a golf course, the Hawthorne Hills golf course.

 

It was decided to incorporate for $10,000 and sell stock in the company at $100 a share.  No more stock will be sold than is necessary to start with a clean sheet.  It is hoped that those who purchase stock will do so with the idea of helping Neillsville and not with the intention of making many money.  However, there is no reason why the golf course cannot be made to pay a profit. Interest in golf has grown by leaps and bounds the past year.  Stockholders will of course, be required to pay dues the same as playing members. This will be the same as last year - $25 for a man and all minor members of his family.

 

The Hawthorne Hills golf course is being purchased at what is said to be an unbelievable low figure, $4,000.  It is hoped all public-spirited citizens will step into the breach, whether they play golf or not, to help preserve this wonderful asset for the community.

••••••••••

Louis Zschernitz, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Zschernitz, met with a bad accident last Friday while cutting wood.  A stick flew up, struck his nose and a large sliver became embedded in the flesh with the stick breaking off.  He was taken to Dr. Housley’s office and the doctor was able to remove the sliver from the wound.

••••••••••••••

 

The German Lutheran Church was located on the northwest corner of Fifth and Oak Streets intersection. Its school was located one block north of the church and the school building presently serves as the Senior Center.  (Photo courtesy of Strebing family collection)

 

 


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