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Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin
April 4, 2012
Page 12 Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press" Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon. Index of "Oldies" Articles
Compiled by Dee Zimmerman
Clark County News |
April
1937
History of
Logging in Clark County
By Fred Draper
Continuing Chapter VIII
A greater part of the logs were
made into lumber at La Crosse, but not all, as there were mills located at
Clinton, Davenport, Rock Island, Burlington and other cities as far south as
Quincy and logs were hauled in rafts by tugs down the Mississippi to the mills
located in these cities.
In an article written by Geo. L.
Jacques, for a prospectus of Clark County published in 1890 by Satterlee, Tift
and Marsh on the timber resources of Clark County, I found this statement: “The
cut of the pine on Black River and its tributaries for the last ten years has
been nearly 200,000,000 feet annually and of this probably 140,000,000 feet
annually has been cut in Clark County, the cut per annum during this same period
has been 20,000,000 and on the Yellow River 50,000,000 per annum.”
In addition to these figures saw
mills during this period, 1880 – 1890, were operated in many parts of the
country and much pine as well as the hardwood was being manufactured and shipped
by railroad to market.
Chapter IX
The History of the logging industry
can hardly be written without giving more than a passing glance at the men who
made the industry possible.
As has been stated in former
chapters the woodsmen were naturally divided into about three classes: (a) The
professional lumberjack who followed the woods and the drive year after year,
spending his life from youth to old age in the woods.
(b) The men who came here to either homestead or buy a small tract of
land, 40, 80 or at most 160 acres of land for the purpose of establishing a
home, and worked in the woods for a few winters and perhaps on the drive in the
spring, for the purpose of obtaining ready money to aid in clearing his land and
for the support of his family. (c) Immigrants from Northern Europe who came here
for the purpose of working in the woods, many of whom in a few years bought a
tract of cut over land from their employers, with their savings and established
a home of their own.
The genuine lumberjack would work
all winter at the hardest kind of manual labor and accumulate perhaps from $125
to $150 before the spring drive was over and then – “Hot Money” was the cry and
“Jack” straight-way made tracks for the nearest town or city to spend his hard
earned money.
In droves they made way to the
towns or cities and plunged into the wildest kinds of dissipation, the saloons
were full, gambling houses did a rushing business, and naturally when a man is
looking for a chance to spend money there is a crew of “sharpers” on hand to
find out who gets it, and in a few weeks Jack was broke and ready to go back
into the woods to make another stake to repeat the performance.
However, there was another side to
his character. Let an accident happen to one of his fellow workers so there was
a doctor bill to pay, or if he was killed and funeral expenses had to be met or
a family was left without a husband and father, no class of people in the world
responded more quickly to a call for aid than the lumberjack did, a subscription
paper was started to which they all gave liberally of their hard earnings.
After their days work was done
there was always something going on for amusement, usually there was some one in
camp who had a fiddle or an accordion and aside from listening to the music they
would often have a ‘stag dance’ to whittle away the time.
Checkers and ‘nine men Morise’ were
also popular among the men and many games were played on a homemade board.
Then there were lively games such
as “shuffle the brogan” and “hot back” that occupied their attention at times
especially if there were some new men in camp.
In most camps there were usually
some good singers who could sing the popular songs of the day as well as the
regular camp songs such as “Breaking the Jam at Gerry’s Rock” and another that
was popular in camps, which begins as follows:
“I am a jolly shanty boy, as you
will discover, to all the dodges I fly; a hustling pinewoods rover,” of which
there were eight or ten verses.
There were other songs, the names of which as well as the words I have
forgotten.
I have often wondered while
listening to the Cowboy songs over the radio, why some broadcaster didn‘t get
some lumberjack with a good voice to sing a group of camp songs, it would at
least be a change.
Then there were the story tellers
in every camp and I suspect that was the way that the story of Paul Bunyan
originated together with such mythical animals as the hodag, the snow snake, and
the rac-a-re-bob to catch the unwary tenderfoot.
When the Fox River land in the Town
of York was being logged some of the old camp men got to telling, in camp one
evening, about seeing the tracks of a rac-a-re-bob when they came from work that
night and as they hoped, one of the boys “bit” and of course the rest of the
crew filled him full of what a terrible animal it was and according to their
story it was something of a combination of a panther, Grizzly bear and timber
wolf, having the worst qualities of all three animals.
Bill, as we will call the young man because that wasn’t his name, was
thoroughly frightened and plainly showed that he was, so the next morning one of
the men started ahead of the others going to work, taking with him a fur coat,
with Bill and his friends coming down the logging road a little later.
As they were passing the brush heap
near the logging road, there was a crashing of brush behind the heap followed by
the most unearthly screams, growls, shrieks and moans, then out from behind the
bush heap in the semi-darkness of early morning came hopping out an animal that
looked to Bill about twice as large as a rhinoceros and ten times as savage, and
away the men all went down the road,
Bill well in the lead and of course as soon as he got in the lead the
rest of the men stopped and waited for their comrade in the fur coat to catch up
with them, but Bill kept running until he met the tote teamster coming with
supplies from Spokeville. Of course
the teamster stopped and asked Bill what the trouble was as he was covered with
sweat and out of breath. On being
told what had happened he tried to persuade Bill to return to camp with him,
putting up a little job on him.
Bill said, “Oh, no”, telling him what the boys had just said. Bill said, “If you
had seen what I’ve heard and seen, you would be scared too.” So that ended
Bill’s experience in logging camp.
Another favorite gag on the part of
the men was to send one of their numbers to another camp or mill after some
mythical tool, such as a cross all, a straight hook or a lumber-stretcher
trusting the boys where he was sent to load him down with something or send him
to another camp.
I remember the boys working in a
mill near where I was teaching school, sending one of their men after the mill
shut down at night, over to another mill about two miles away for a straight
hook and the son of the owner of the other mill loading the man down with an old
mill shaft weighing about 150 pounds.
Poor Julius soon got tired out and set his straight hook against a tree
and came in about 9 p.m. and reported that the straight hook was so heavy he
could not carry it back.
April 1942
The Clark County Maple Syrup
producers met at the Clark County Courthouse last Thursday afternoon for their
annual meeting. After much discussion, it was decided that the price of maple
syrup would be $2.00 per gallon this year.
Although there isn’t much syrup so far this year, some producers still
hope that weather conditions may give an additional run.
(The price of $2 for a gallon of maple syrup isn’t
much for all the work that went into making it. But at that time the price of
gasoline was under 20 cents per gallon too. D. Z.)
•••••••••
This year’s March snowstorm brought
back memories of another March 29th snowstorm, 52 years ago, to R. B.
French, pioneer Levis resident.
Mr. French recalled that on March
29, 1891, he and Mrs. French drove to Merrillan with horses and sleigh and
brought home a ton of feed in addition to flour and other supplies for a mill
crew.
The sleighing was good, he said,
except on the Black River Bridge and its approaches.
At that time the bridge went over Dells Dam and was owned by the Black
River Improvement Company.
•••••••••
Next Tuesday night at 7:45 p.m. and
not one minute before – We will have Open House when our Prom Formals will
arrive! Come in and see the New
Prom Frocks at McCain’s in Neillsville.
No sandwiches served.
A small deposit will reserve your selection!
Prices are Reasonable!
•••••••••
Tornadoes are most peculiar things!
That was proven once more in the
Town of Worden last Saturday, April 4, when a sudden twister leveled 15 barns in
that area of Clark County, damaged three houses and numerous out-buildings and
killed several head of livestock.
The Charles Anderson, Albert
Sandvig and G. W. Dodge houses were damaged considerably, the storm passed very
close to a score of others without so much as scratching their paint.
The black funnel of the twister
first dipped down in the Town of Edson, Chippewa County, at a point a few miles
from the Clark County line. That was at approximately 4:30 p.m.
It traveled east northeast, cutting a swathe about 100 feet wide and six
miles long. As a mater of fact, the last real damage it caused before lifting
was at the Frank Schmid farm, just over the town line road in the Town of
Reseburg.
•••••••••
A permanent home has been purchased
for the Clark County Press. The building is known locally as the new Zbinden
building, located on the southwest corner of Seventh Street and Grand Avenue.
The building is really not new, but it bears that designation in contrast with
the “old” Zbinden building, which was on that corner and which has been wrecked.
The new Zbinden building, though
intended as a milk plant, is well suited to the needs of a county newspaper. It
is of brick, with a concrete floor and is of a single story.
The building will be used with very
few changes, but considerable reconditioning was necessary, and is now going on.
A new roof is being put on, along with new ceilings. A furnace will be
installed, for hot air heat. The business office will be entered from Seventh
Street.
The purchase, which was made by The
Press from the American Stores Dairy Co., included the vacant site upon which
the old Zbinden building once stood. This site still had upon it the basement
walls, considerable concrete work and the old boiler room. These are being
wrecked, with the debris thrown into the old basement. The purpose is to make a
fill and eventually to landscape the land to the east of The Press building.
(The Clark County Press business was located at that
site for about 40 years. D. Z.)
•••••••••
Sixth and eighth grade tests have
been tentatively scheduled for April 16-18, inclusive, in a number of centers
throughout the county, according to Clark County School Superintendent Louis E.
Slock. Approximately 460 children are expected to take the eighth grade tests
and about 550 children will take the sixth grade tests.
•••••••••
The Neillsville Milk Products
Cooperative has purchased property to the west of its present location, and is
about to develop a cheese factory of importance.
The purchase includes the tile building formerly occupied by the Degener
hardware, with its site measuring 25 x 96 feet, running from Seventh Street to
the alley. The Cooperative has also completed its parcel by the purchase from
Harry Roehrborn, of a strip in the back measuring 10 x 56 feet.
The purpose is to construct a new
building, to the rear of the present structure, which will be of one story and
will measure about 32 x 54 feet. This will be a cheese making room, which will
be connected with the older building to the front. The older building will be
used for curing and storage.
The construction of the new
building and its equipment will put the Neillsville Milk Products Cooperative
among the top cheese producers in this section of Wisconsin. The cooperative
already has three vats and is securing a fourth, having a capacity of 14,000
pounds of milk. The total capacity of the four vats will be 46,000 pounds of
milk, which will give the cooperative a cheese capacity averaging upwards of two
tons of a single shift. The
prospect is that the production will be at least of that size, which will mean
about 1,500,000 pounds of cheese per year.
This is substantially ahead of any cheese factory heretofore operating in
Clark County; approximately double the production of any known to The Press.
(At that time there were two large diary plants
within the city, Neillsville Milk Products and American Stores Dairy, both later
ceased operating. D. Z.)
•••••••••
A Free Movie, “Food for Freedom”
will be presented by your Massey-Harris Dealer, Ray Paulson on Monday, April 13,
8 p.m. at the Moose hall in Neillsville.
See Art Dixon’s Band and Esmereldy!
Mr. Farmer: “Can we raise the Food to Make America Secure?”
•••••••••
Silver Dome Dances:
Saturday, Apr. 11 – Free Wedding
Dance in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Volovsek; Tuesday, Apr. 14 – Free Wedding
Dance in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Buddinger; Wednesday, April 15 – Free
Wedding Dance – Mr. and Mrs. Leonard Drescher; Saturday, Apr. 25 – Free Wedding
Dance in honor of Mr. and Mrs. Virgil Denk
•••••••••
In patriotic surroundings
exemplifying the colors of their class and their nation, 75 members of the 1942
senior class of the Neillsville High School will be graduating in commencement
exercises next Tuesday, May 5, starting – 8 p.m. in the Armory.
One diploma will be presented in
absentia. It will go to Darwin Graves, former high school athlete who enlisted
in the United States Navy in mid-winter.
•••••••••
Under war production order there
will be a ban of cuffs on trousers. We never did see the need of cuffs, but how
far will the government go in this matter of rationing.
In mid-summer, after the high water of spring thaw had subsided in the
Black River, remnants of the spring logging drive could be seen here and
there along the riverbanks. The above photo was taken near the former
railroad trestle, one-fourth mile north of what is now County Road B on
Neillsville’s west side.
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