Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

June 30, 2010, Page 11

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

June 1875

 

We have often noticed a number of little boys playing on the logs and boom, above and below the bridge near Austin & Co.’s mill and the wonder has been that some of those little fellows have not been drowned. Dr. Lacey’s little son would have furnished an item under that heading, the first of the week, had he not been rescued by someone who happened to be passing just in time to take him from the hole he made in the pond, by falling from the boom.  It is not a safe place for children to while away the tedious hours when they are not in school.

•••••••••

The foundation for the Presbyterian Church is well under way and will soon be completed.  Work on the building is also being pushed ahead with unusual energy and it will not be long before the framing will be done.  The building when finished will be one of the finest in town.  Rev. W. T. Hendren, through his untiring energy, has been principally instrumental in bringing about the result and is deserving of great credit.

 

The Presbyterian Church has the assurance of a gift of $800, at least, as that amount will be sufficient to remove all indebtedness with the church building when completed.  It is earnestly hoped that the people of this village will see to it that they may be prepared for the speedy drawing of this aid from the Presbyterian Board at New York.

•••••••••

The sleep of the innocent was broken last Wednesday morning by a prolonged blast of the whistle at Austin & Co.’s mills.  Breakfast before 8 o’clock that morning was the consequence.

•••••••••

Capt. J. W. Tolford, Chief of the Fire department, and his assistants have ascertained the height of the principal buildings in town, and are having a set of ladders manufactured for the use of the Hook and Ladder Company.

•••••••••

O’Neill House’s opening dance last Friday evening, put on by Mr. and Mrs. Jas H. Reddan, was one of the best parties ever given at that house.  About fifty couples were in attendance and a general good time was the result.  The music and the supper was all that could be asked for and dancing was kept up until after daylight.  All who participated expressed themselves highly pleased with the entertainment.

•••••••••

Last Monday the building committee let the contract for building the Court House to Mr. C. B. Bradshaw of this village.  We have not been able to learn the amount to be paid for the work but it is said to bring the cost of the building within the appropriation made at the meeting of the county board.  Work on the building is to commence immediately and to be completed by July 4, 1876.

 

Notwithstanding the unfavorable weather of the past few weeks, King and Vine have succeeded in molding over two hundred thousand brick.  Most of that number will be placed in the kiln the first of the week, at which time they expect to commence burning.  The brick for the new Court House will be ready by the time the foundation is completed.

•••••••••

Will Waterman, an ex-Confederate soldier residing in this county, who had the misfortune to lose an arm in the bad cause, recently took a contract to build seventy rods of road.  The road is through a district heavily timbered and is to be cut out 4 rods wide.  He commenced working on the project a little over a week ago, and without assistance, has already finished about 20 rods of the job.  For a single-handed chopper, we think Waterman excels.  If he manifested the same pluck in the army as he has since he came to this county, he must have done good service as a soldier. Waterman’s efforts to make an honorable living entitle him to respect of the community.                   

•••••••••

Last Friday morning Dr. Wolcott, of Milwaukee, removed a finger from the left hand of Mr. Cullen Ayer, of Unity, a former lumber business partner of W. W. Crosby, La Crosse.  The finger had become badly diseased from the effect of a felon, making it impossible to save it.

•••••••••

Niri Hanson, who has just built a carding mill on Squaw Creek, two miles southwest of Black River Falls, would like to inform the farmers of Clark County that wool will be manufactured into rolls on short notice, in the best shape and at low rates, for cash. All work is warranted to give satisfaction.  One of the best wool-carders in the country is employed at that mill.  Send your wool today.                                                                             

•••••••••

Messrs. Wheeler, Sturdevant and Ring have been called upon to orate on July Fourth.  Wheeler will tell the people of York what our heroic ancestors endured; Sturdevant will recount the  terrible incidents of revolutionary times to those in Levis, and Ring will astonish the natives at the Huntley Settlement, with the early history of Grant’s domain.

 

June 1930

 

The spirit of the pioneer farmer, which many in this part of the country believe extinct, may be found flourishing as strongly as ever in the country northwest of Neillsville where a number of men and their wives are carving out farms from the cut-over lands that have lain idle since the loggers stripped the timber from them years ago.

 

One has but to visit the farm of Gerald Davis in the Town of Seif to see what hard work and the will to win can do against great odds.  Not quite two years ago Mr. and Mrs. Davis, who are still young, left Chili to settle on the edge of 120 acres of wild land.  It was not a promising outlook, but they were determined to have a place of their own; something they had created as their ancestors had done when they cleared away the timber lands that later became fertile, valuable farms.

 

With their own hands they built their home a neat farm house, not large to be sure, but so constructed that later it can become the wing of a larger home.  It cost them $300, which goes to prove that a home need not be expensive if gone at in the right way.  As an example of the thriftiness of the couple it might be said that they rigged up a small saw to a gasoline engine and cut the lath for the house from the pine trees they fell near the home.  Making one lath at a time is a slow process, but the two worked at the task until it was done and then nailed them to the walls and covered them with plaster.

 

Then came the barn, made from logs, which neighbors helped haul in, notch and lay.

 

Last year, Mr. and Mrs. Davis cleared 11 ½ acres of land and got it ready for the plow.  Those who have swung an axe and tore out roots of old stumps and new trees know that clearing that much land is no child’s play.  Yet they still look out across more than 100 acres of the same kind of land, which they must clear before they will have reached the goal they have set.

 

“Farmers wouldn’t have time to complain about the low price of milk or anything else if they were tackling this kind of a job,” said Davis in discussing his work.  “There is a lot of satisfaction in seeing a farm grow from the ground up. We are not worrying about low prices. We are making a living and creating a heritage for our children, Irene, Vivian, and Eleanore, which we could obtain in no other way.  But it’s a lot of hard work,” and Davis lifted up one of his hands which is gnarled and twisted from hard work.

 

The Davis’ now have seven cows and two horses and a number of chickens.

 

In a few years there will be added another big farm to the list that has made Clark County famous because two persons had the courage to fight the wilderness that others have scorned for less strenuous lives.

•••••••••

Neville Brothers have moved their sawmill to Wedges and are sawing out the New Dells Lumber Co. logs there.  The lumber is being trucked directly to Eau Claire.

•••••••••

The second class of children of the season will be confirmed at Zion’s Lutheran Church, Granton next Sunday at 10 o’clock.  The class confirmed on Palm Sunday numbered 14 and the present class numbers nine.  They are Irene Bartz, LaVerne Gotter, Lawrence Drescher, Leonard Drescher, Alma Vogel, Marcella Boehning, Dorothy Boehning, and Lenora Lichte.

•••••••••

The Lex Construction Company began work last week grading on Highway 10 near Wedges Creek.  All of their machinery thus far was transported on trucks.

•••••••••

The dancing party held at the C. E. Schultz home at Sidney, Saturday evening in honor of relatives visiting from Chicago, was a very pleasant affair.  There was good music burnished by the Dux brothers; and a nice lunch was served at midnight.  Everyone returned home hoping that more good times would be given.

•••••••••

The first hydroplane ever seen on Lake Arbutus visited the lake Sunday and many visitors at the summer resort took rides in the craft.

•••••••••

Friday of this week will be the fifty-second wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Huntley who have been residents of North La Crosse for the past forty-four years.  Mr. and Mrs. Huntley were married in Neillsville, June 13, 1878 and lived in Clark County until 1886 when they moved there.

 

Mr. Huntley is a native of Wisconsin.  He was born in 1854 in Washington County.  His wife, nee Frances Bahr, was born in 1859 in Germany, coming to this country in 1872.  Mr. Huntley, his sisters and brothers, father and mother, were real pioneers of Clark County, arriving here in 1869 with two yoke of oxen and two cows.  Horses were a rarity in those days, says Mr. Huntley.  They cleared a farm and worked it for many years.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Huntley have three children, Mrs. L. J. Shadbolt of Yakima, Wash.; Mrs. H. W. Maxwell of San Francisco and A. C. Huntley of Minneapolis. They have but one grandchild, Julia Jane Shadbolt, Student at the University of Washington in Seattle.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Huntley were very good friends of Judge James O’Neill of Neillsville after whose uncle the city was named.  The judge’s wife taught her first term of school near his farm home, says Mr. Huntley and she made her home with the Huntley family.

•••••••••

Dick Riedel, who is regarded as one of the best army cooks in the state, enlisted last week in the Service Co., and will have charge of feeding the boys while they are at Camp Douglas.  He cooked for old Co. A. and with the 32nd Division in France during World War I.

•••••••••

Leo Meyers of Loyal was in Neillsville Thursday in the interest of the Fourth of July celebration to be held at Loyal, being sponsored by the Loyal American Legion Post.                                     

•••••••••

A local Press subscriber recently brought in a copy of the Republican and Press, which was dated March 30, 1882.

 

The paper recorded the plans for building the Merchants Hotel by George Huntzicker, to be built on the north side of O’Neill Creek with the main building to be 42 by 50 feet and a wing 24 by 32 feet.  A few years later the building was moved across the creek to its present site.  C. B. Bradshaw constructed the building for $6,000.  The building has since been greatly enlarged.

 

(The Merchants Hotel was built on the northwest corner of Hewett and 10th Streets intersection, being moved across O’Neill Creek to its present location in 1887. D. Z.)

•••••••••

The Kiwanis club at its luncheon Monday voted to adopt a resolution supporting the Vancouver Club in its fight against the International organization raising its dues 50 cents.  Dr. M. C. Rosekrans gave a report of the party given last week at Chippewa Falls by the Kiwanis Club of that city for clubs of the surrounding territory.

•••••••••

Four young Neillsville men and two girls were arrested Sunday afternoon on charges of disorderly conduct and drunkenness after Sheriff Bradford had trailed their staggering car for several blocks.  Monday police Justice Arthur E. Dudley fined the driver of the car, which was unlicensed $50 and costs, two others $10 and costs and one $5 and costs.  One of the girls was assessed $3 and costs and one released.  The party attributed it’s whoopee condition to some beer purchased northwest of the city, which turned out to have a much greater “kick” than they had anticipated.

•••••••••

O. W. Lewerenz has bought a site for a new auto service station in Eau Claire and will begin building in a short time.  It will be located on the Chippewa Falls road just above the Omaha railroad station and is very favorably situated for traffic.  Mr. Lewerenz is fitting up a truck as a self-dumper to haul the sand and gravel.

•••••••••

Morris Svirnoff was injured and his new car wrecked in front of R. M. Horswill’s residence Sunday when he turned out to pass a coupe driven by Hank Brewer.  The cars collided in some manner, with the Svirnoff machine hurtling across a deep ditch and striking a tree while the coupe was badly disabled.  It is said that Brewer’s car, which bore no license plate, but had a forged police permit on the windshield, contained three persons beside the driver.  The machine was recently purchased from a local dealer for $50 with an initial payment of $7.  Morris was laid up for a day in bed but is able to be out again.

•••••••••

Area entertainment –

There will be 2 Big Dances at Dorn’s at Loyal; Tuesday, July 1, Music by “Johnny Lahman & His Vagabond Kings,” Holiday Dance Friday, July 4th with music by the “Pennsylvanians,” a peppy dance band of Stevens Point.

 

The “Harmony Kings” from Eau Claire will be coming to play music for the old and young at Herb’s Silver Popple Pavilion, Wednesday, July 2, six miles northwest of Neillsville on County Trunk G.

 

The “Goldsmith Orchestra” will play for a dance at the Riverside Pavilion, southwest of Neillsville, Friday night, June 27.

 

Barton’s Barn, dance June 26 to music by “Dixie Dandies” & a Married Folks dance, June 28 with “Reil’s Orchestra.”

 

Hake’s Barn southeast of Neillsville, dance every Saturday night.

 

 

 

O. W. Lewerenz obtained property on the southeast corner of Hewett and 5th Streets in 1928 where he operated a Standard Service Station and Pontiac dealership, later obtaining an adjoining building where he made ice cream in addition to a sweet shop.  The businesses were sold in the early 1950’s.  Notice flags place in the sidewalk along the curb, one in front of each business place.

 

¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤

 

 


© 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