Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

January 4, 2012, Page 5

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

January 4, 2012, Page 5

Transcribed by

 

 

The Good Old Days

 

Compiled and Contributed by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

January 1907

 

For the past week or more a large number of the young people of the city have gathered at Hewett’s hill and coasted down the slope across Black River Bridge and far on the other side; then climbing the slope by Andrus’ Creamery, turned and coasted back again. Sunday night while thus engaged; two “bobsled” loads collided near the bottom of the western hill. The sleigh coming from the east had nearly stopped but all the coasters were still upon it when the load from the west came dashing down the hill, striking them somewhat on a-slant, piling up the two crowds promiscuously.

 

Joe Zimmerman sustained a bad fracture of both bones of one leg below the knee and Will Gwinn, a high school boy who lives with Mr. and Mrs. Gus Krause, had a similar fracture.  Hazel Crandall received a bad cut on the knee, Fay Marsh was quite badly bruised and Arthur Flynn had one of his ankles sprained. Others in the party were more or less shaken up.

 

Altogether, it was the worst sled coasting accident that has occurred here in years.

•••••••••

Gov. Davidson has appointed Ex-Attorney, Gen. L. M. Sturdevant, Home Agent to look after Wisconsin’s interests at Washington, D. C.  During the winter Mr. Sturdevant will probably remain in Madison to give special assistance to the governor, to whom he will be a most valuable man during the session of the legislature.

•••••••••

Last Saturday when Archie Garvin returned from the cheese factory, near York Center, he stopped at the store to do some shopping and left his team of horses unattended. So, unobserved, the team started for home leaving Archie at the store.  A few minutes later he received a telephone message from Mrs. Davis informing him of the fact, so he got good exercise walking after his team.                                                                     

•••••••••

Say! Farmers! Tragsdorf & Zimmerman Co., have XXXX blue oak ax handles that you can bend like a rainbow and not break, 25¢ each.  They also have No. 1 Hickory axes for 10¢ each.

•••••••••

For Sale – a nice house and lot on Main Street, centrally located with water and sewer; also good well water with pump.  Priced at $850; inquire at news office.                                                           

•••••••••

A type of the forest monarchs that made Clark County famous and La Crosse rich was cut last week on Martin Lastofka’s land in York. Monday two logs scaling nearly 1,000 feet each were landed at the Johnson Mg. Co. Mill. The entire tree will scale over 5,000 feet.  The load of logs brought in Monday was photographed by De Lane in front of the O’Neill House, and the scene attracted quite a crowd.  Among the onlookers were many old loggers, who viewed “the remains” as if at the funeral of an old friend.  Among the “mourners” with bowed heads and hat in hand, stood Tom Kerns and Dan Kennedy.  H. O. More of Sherwood made the closest off-hand guess on what the logs would scale out at.

•••••••••

L. N. Christensen’s teams arrived in Chili on Sunday, leaving again Tuesday morning, taking some machinery and other stuff up to the sawmill.  Clarence Clark and Loren Webster were the teamsters.

•••••••••

Business Opportunity: – A good oil route in Milwaukee; that will invoice $18,000 in horse, tank wagons, tanks and cans. I will trade for a farm worth $15,000.  This is a good paying proposition and easy to operate. It has been established since 1885. 

 

For Sale – My house and eight lots on the North Side, opposite the Catholic Church, will sell cheap if taken at once. For terms call at my residence, Mrs. Allie F. Burge                                   

•••••••••

Leason and Son have completed the new drinking water supply system in the South Side School buildings, the water being taken from the well and forced by windmill into a tank in the upper part of the new high school building, whence it is supplied by pipes to both buildings, the well has been cleaned, a cement curb and new platform put on top and all put into hygienic condition.                                                                                    

•••••••••

Auction Sale – Thursday, Jan. 24, sale begins 10 o’clock sharp!  Five miles North of Neillsville and one mile west of brick schoolhouse on Greenwood Road, in the Town of Weston; There will be sold: 7 fresh milk cows with calves by their side; 11 Springer cows; 8 heifers; 19 calves, 7 to 11 mos. Old; 1 Durham bull.  Terms: $10 and under, cash; on sums over $10, three months’ time at 7 per cent; 2 per cent discount for cash on all sums over $10.  There will be plenty to eat, drink and smoke.  G. J. Haven, Proprietor, a. H. Halverson, Auctioneer              

•••••••••

Judge Schoengarth united in marriage Saturday, Jan. 5, Wm. Ehlers and Miss Mary Punka of Winona, Minn.  The groom is a brother of John Ehlers, of Levis.                                                                  

•••••••••

Friday was the twenty-fifth wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. John Wolff’s wedding and a number of their friends surprised them by dropping in and helping them to celebrate the event in a quiet way.

•••••••••

Klein’s Store has these specials – Potatoes, to sell at 35¢ a bushel; first class hand picked Navy Beans, $1.50 per bushel.  Phone 87                                                                                                      

•••••••••

The Republican and Press Editor thanks A. G. Garvin for the splendid calendar issued by the Stokes Milling Co., Watertown, S. D. for whom he is bookkeeper.                                            

•••••••••

Miss Woodward, the city librarian, states that the last of this week several new German books will be added to the circulating library.      

 

January 1942

 

A board of three members to administer tire and tube rationing in Clark County was appointed at a meeting of the County Civilian Defense committee in Owen Thursday night; and organization of the board is proceeding toward operation by January 5, when the freezing order concerning the sale of new tires and tubes terminates.

 

Members of the local tire rationing board are: Leo W. Foster of Neillsville, chairman, J. W. Mahoney of Owen, and Gordon Vorland of Colby.

 

The appointment of 16 inspectors, located in each community of the county with a post office, was proceeding Friday.  Inspectors will certify applications for new tires and tubes under the rationing regulations. All men will donate their services without remuneration.

 

Meanwhile, a move was on foot to bring the county board of supervisors together in a special session late this month to consider measures necessary for carrying on civilian defense work in Clark County. Recent developments on the defense front indicated the need of office space and an appropriation for supplies and other incidentals, as well as other matters needing county board consideration and action.

 

As the tire rationing board was being set up the announcement was made in Washington that rationing plans were being made for automobiles and light trucks. The county defense council is awaiting instructions on this phase of defense work.

 

Tire and tube rationing is being undertaken early because, the office of production management notified the Clark County Defense Board, “the rubber shortage in this country is critical.” 

 

“Ninety-eight percent of our rubber supply comes from the Far East,” continued the OPM statement.  “The war in the pacific dashed hopes of getting further supplies from this source. We shall have to rely upon our rubber stocks now in our country to take care of our needs until the situation changes radically in the Pacific.”

 

“There is at the present time in this country the biggest supply of cruse rubber stock in our history, but almost all of this material will be needed for the war program. That means an extremely small supply available for civilian use.

•••••••••

 

The American Stores Dairy Company was a “booming” business in 1942, as it then had been contracted to fill government defense orders for evaporated canned milk.  With our country involved in World War II, canned milk was needed as a staple food item in the military camps.  The Condensery building was located along the south side of O’Neill Creek and west side of Hewett Street, facing Eighth Street where the farm wagons and trucks drove up daily to unload milk cans on the factory’s intake belt.

  

The Neillsville Condensery of the American Stores Dairy Company has been working wholly on defense production throughout the months of November and December 1941.

 

Thus it happens that farmers of this region who are patrons of the American Stores have been helping the defense production even more than they knew.

 

This is believed to be the first definite statement of the extent to which local milk has been flowing into national defense under the Lend-Lease act.

 

The American Stores Dairy Company was in a fortunate position when the demand came from the government. The local plant had been modernized. The building had been enlarged; old equipment had been thrown out; new equipment had been installed.  Thus the local Condensery was in the best position of its history to render the desired service.

 

During the latter part of 1941 the company has brought into Neillsville considerable quantities of milk produced outside of Clark County and diverted from its accustomed channels by the demands of defense. This has resulted in a substantial increase in local production.

 

The present outlook is that more than 50 percent of the condensery’s production of 1942 will be needed for national defense.                                                                                                   

•••••••••

Miss Lorraine Hubing of Milwaukee, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry Hubing, 165 East Second Street, Neillsville, was united in marriage to George Mellon of West Allis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Mellon, also of that city.  The Reverend G. W. Longenecker performed the double-ring ceremony at Sunset Point at 4 p.m. on Christmas day, December 25, 1941.

 

Red and green decorations, conforming to the holiday season, were used to beautify the Hubing Home where forty of the immediate relatives assembled for a reception. Other relatives came in the evening to give the newlyweds a shower.

 

The bride’s sister, Mrs. Marvin Westphal was maid of honor. Mr. Westphal acted as bestman.

 

The bride was graduated from Neillsville High School in 1940 and has been employed as a saleslady in Milwaukee. Her husband is state secretary of the Order of DeMolay. The couple will reside in Milwaukee.

•••••••••

The county highway offices were moved Saturday afternoon from the courthouse into the office space in the highway commission’s new $30,000 storage garage at the corner of Ninth and South Clay Streets.

•••••••••

Kiwanis is starting its 22nd year in Neillsville and many of the charter members are still in the club.  It is remarkable that the first three presidents of the club, Victor Nehs, George Zimmerman, and Al Devos, are still active members.

 

(That indicates that the Kiwanis club, which is still active in Neillsville, now begins its 90th years as a service group. D. Z.)

•••••••••

Working in Trinidad may sound romantic and adventuresome; but take it from Roy Turner, a former local resident; it’s not exactly as much of a tropical paradise as one might picture it.

 

For instance, at this time of the year it rains. As a matter of fact, it rains incessantly, Roy writes – it rains so much that water even pours down when the sun is shining.

 

Mr. Turner recently arrived in Trinidad, off the north coast of South America, where he is engaged in United States defense construction work.  His son, Eugene, left January 2, to join his father in the defense project there. Another son, Bob, was inducted into the army January 2.                                                           

•••••••••

Young men of the Neillsville area between 17 and 31, inclusive, desiring to enlist in the United States Marines can do so January 12 and 13 when Sgt. V. Williams, will be in Marshfield.  He will interview enlistment applicants from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.                                                                                                             

•••••••••

As a precaution, the lobby of the local post office, which has been kept open during the supper hour in the past, will be closed and locked hereafter from 6 until 6:45 p.m.                               

•••••••••

Ernest Bieneck, city garbage collector, asks the Press to state that he could use more garbage right now, and that he will be glad to call for it anywhere in the city limits.

 

Mr. Bieneck takes this view of it; Aside from the fact that he is the official collector, with a definite responsibility under the garbage ordinance, the fact is also that he is converting food wastes into animal feed that would other wise be wasted. At this time when the emphasis is on food for defense, and when all persons are being urged to waste nothing, he considers that it is an opportunity for local persons to cooperate with the collector.  Mr. Bieneck states that he will appreciate the help of all, and will render prompt service upon notices given to him.           

•••••••••

It was a strange series of coincidences, which caused a fire in the blacksmith shop of Alfred Spiegel during the frigid spell last week.  And it all goes back to the unusual weather.

 

Like a good many others in this section, Mr. Spiegel had trouble starting his car.  For one thing, it was necessary to drain the oil from the crankcase of his car and heat it to make it flow smoothly.

 

Mr. Spiegel put the oil in a container and started to thaw it out on the stove in his blacksmith shop. A little oil was spilled on the stove and soon it was in flames.  Then the oil in the container was ignited.

 

Mr. Spiegel attempted to remove the flaming container from the building; but the container was too hot.  He dropped it on the floor.  The flames spread rapidly.

 

Fortunately, Mr. Spiegel’s sons, Bruce, Alfred, Jr., and Robert were nearby.  So was a scoop shovel and snow outside the door. They quickly scooped and threw snow onto the fire.

 

Mrs. Spiegel, working in the house nearby, saw the flames in the shop and grabbed a pail full of water, and went to do her part.  It wasn’t long then, before the flames were extinguished.

 

Fortunately, but little damage was done to the building and the only “casualties” were Mr. Spiegel’s eyebrows, which were singed off.

 

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