Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

April 6, 2016, Page 9

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

April 1881

 

There is still an abundance of snow in the woods and by the use of shovels Bright & Withee were enabled to do good hauling in one of their up-river camps, as late as last Monday.  A few of the camps having bank chances are still at work.

•••••••••

Last week ended lumbering operations on the river, with the exception of a few camps having riverbank chances, and notwithstanding the extreme cold and excessive snow, a fair winter’s work is reported.

 

“Riverbank chances” probably meant the possibility of still being able to roll the stacks of logs piled up along the riverbanks, ready to put in with the snow-melt runoff, or early rains that would provide high water levels, to carry logs downstream to the sawmills. DZ)                                                               

•••••••••

The Hammel Bros., of Appleton, closed out the last of five carloads of horses, an order of ninety horses in all, which have been sold here in the past few months.  They have furnished some very fine horses, and will continue to supply the demand in that line.                                                                                             

•••••••••

Two young men who were serving a thirty-day term in the county jail, made their escape last Satruday by running away from the janitor, who also acts a jailer, while helping him carry in some wood.  Henry gave them a lively chase, and they are still at large.  Their whereabouts are known, and it is also likely to stay away any great length of time and on their return they will be given a chance to serve the state at Waupun for the additional offence of breaking jail.

•••••••••

At the meeting of the Clark County Farmers’ Club, at Maple Works, last Thursday evening, it was decided to buy the necessary machinery for manufacturing the Amber Sugar Cane into syrup, and the members of the club and others will, the coming season, plant that variety of cane in sufficient quantities to thoroughly test this branch of agricultural industry in Clark County.

 

The machinery is to be portable, so it can be moved from one neighborhood or town to another.

 

Arrangements are being made so all who wish can get a supply of seed.

•••••••••

An unpleasantness at a dance in the portion of our village styled the “New Jerusalem” last Saturday night led to the arrest of several parties on Monday.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

•••••••••

The ice is now out of the flood-dams, and the first logs from the upper river passed this point last Tuesday morning running at a brisk rate for about five hours.  There is hardly enough water for a good driving stage, but with the assistance of the flood-dams, all the logs that can be gotten into the main river will reach the boom at the mouth, regardless of that fact.

 

The drive at Wedge’s Creek also promises success.  Hewett Bros. had succeeded in breaking about half of their landing above the flood-dam, eight miles above Hewettville, on Tuesday, and by the assistance of the flood-dam these logs were brought to the Hewettville Dam, where they were held by ice, which had not yet broken up.

•••••••••

News report two weeks later:

 

The scarcity of water has rendered the log drive, so far, a comparative failure, and without rain but a small percent of logs can be gotten to the saw mills.                                                                                                          

•••••••••

Johnny Bellinger, whose quaint sayings and hearty laugh used to resound on these streets, is settled on a fine farm of his own near Burton, Dakota, where he reports himself doing splendidly.  Johnny has a large heart, and many friends here will be glad to learn of his prospects.  We hope he is indulging in nothing stronger than lemonade.

•••••••••

The voters of the Town of Weston have voted to bond that town for $3,500 to procure funds for the building of a bridge across Black River, near Robert Christie’s.  The bridge, which has long been needed, will be built during the coming summer.                                                                                                    

•••••••••

The work of re-platting the Village of Neillsville has proved to be more of a job than expected, but will soon be accomplished.  The monuments to be used as landmarks in establishing the survey are to be made of one and one-fourth inch gas-pipe.                                                                                             

•••••••••

Since the frost commenced to leave the ground, many of the fences here have manifested a disposition to leave with it, and some of them now present a crazy appearance, being entirely too far above ground for beauty or use.

•••••••••

“Elijah the Prophet” put in another appearance here last Satruday.  He still predicts that the day-of-judgment is near at hand and warns sinners to turn from the error of their way.  An attempt to obtain from him the exact date at which the world is to be destroyed by parties pretending to be interested in a business way in knowing the time, led him to liken of one of our citizens to the devil, after which he took his departure.

 

April 1941

 

The new United Lutheran Church parsonage, Greenwood, was consecrated by the Rev. Dr. Martin Anderson of Chicago, district president Sunday afternoon. 

 

Consecrating the parsonage at afternoon exercises, Dr. Anderson spoke on “The Home,” placing special emphasis on the Christian home and its contribution, not only on to the congregation, but also to the community.  He then read an impressive consecration service, following, which Rev. and Mrs. Norson spoke in appreciation of the fine home, made for them by the parsonage.

 

A guest book, the gift to the parsonage of the L.D.R., was presented by Miss Verna Caliebe, president of the organization, and a sum of money from members of the congregation assembled for the consecration was presented to the Norsons by Edwin Hegenbarth, a member of the board of trustees.                       

•••••••••

An open house will be held at Camp Perkinstown in which several Clark County boys are located, in celebration of the eighth anniversary of the Civilian Conservation Corps, April 6.  The program will start at 1 p.m. with demonstrations of activities of the enrollees in camp and at work.  Camp facilities and project equipment will be demonstrated and refreshments will be served, according to the announcement of Ralph C. Bangsberg, camp superintendent.

•••••••••

A hearing on an application by Clark County to construct a recreational dam on the Black River at the Greenwood Tourist Park will be held before the public service commission in Madison at 10:30 a.m. April 18.

 

The hearing will be the first hurdle of a series, which must be taken before actual construction of the dam can be started.  Army engineers will have to approve it, and then the project will have to go through WPA channels; for the construction is expected to be done with WPA help.

 

The county has appropriated $2,500 for the construction.

 

Notices of the hearing before the public service commission have been sent to 11 owners of property to be affected by the dam, according to County Clerk Calvin Mills.  If there is any objection to the proposed dam, the hearing will provide an opportunity for them to be heard.

 

The proposed dam would be built on the site of the old Black River Dam, north of Greenwood.  It would rise approximately 14 feet above above the stream-bed, and the normal operating head would be approximately seven feet.

•••••••••

Proclamation for Good Friday - On April 11 we, with the entire Christian world, commemorate the crucifixion of Christ.

 

For proper observance of the occasion I ask that all business be suspended from noon until 3 o’clock.

 

H. J. Naedler, Mayor                                                                                     

•••••••••

Martin Kapusta and sic other men of the South Lynn Corner community made up a sawing party, which on Thursday of last week, sawed into a skunk.  Mr. Kapusta was strapped to the rigging, in the ordinary course of his employment, and while the rest of the crew scattered as best they might, Mr. Kapusta had to stay and take it.

 

Mr. Kapusta got rather more than his share; most of the others got some.  The animal was injured when the saw went through the hollow log, but the injury was not immediately fatal.  The skunk was soon dispatched by Otto Yankee.  Mr. Yankee did not have to tell his wife where he had been.  Neither did Tony Zabora or Ed Schier or Steve Rosandich or Louis Hebert.

 

The story goes that some kinds of perfume are rather dangerous, when they are on a man and smelled by the womenfolk.  But there was no embarrassment to these men of Lynn. They told their wives the story, and their wives, sniffing the honest evidence, believed them. 

 

The skunk was in a hollow log, which had been brought this spring to the Mike Rosandich yard, put near the house and the crew was sawing the logs right there, when the big smell broke loose.

•••••••••

The winter’s leavings, 54½ yard of them, were hauled away this week as the downtown streets received their first brushing of the spring.  Emil Mattson, city street commissioner, reported that the work was done at a total cost of $122.72, or slightly more than $2.25 a yard.  The “leavings” were made up largely of sand scattered over icy spots in the road during the winter.                                                                                              

•••••••••

The lightning struck a big pine tree about a mile from the Hugo Kobs cheese factory in Fremont Sunday morning, and made such a fuss about it that almost everybody in the vicinity thought the lightning had struck him.  The same notion struck two teams of horse at the Kobs factory, and they stared to do something about it.

 

One team belonged to Carl Bartsch, who had unloaded his milk and had put the empty cans back on the wagon.  Mr. Bartsch had his young son, Robert, about 9, with him.  Those horses, known to be factious, started for an uncertain destination.  The team ran for two miles to the almost complete ruin of the wagon and the milk cans, but fortunately without much damage to the members of the Bartsch family.

 

The other team belonged to Fred Sternitzky, who had not yet unloaded.  He had about 275 pounds of milk in his wagon when the lightning struck, and about 10 percent of that when his horses quit jumping.  Except for the loss of milk, his experience was mild compared to that of Mr. Bartsch and his boy.

 

(Carl Bartsch’s farm was one mile east of Pine lane Ave. on Fremont Rd.  Fred Sternitzky lived on the southwest corner of Pine Creek Rd. and Pine Lane Ave. DZ)

 

   

The above photo, taken in 1941, is of a couple of area dairy farmers sitting on their horse-drawn wagons, waiting in line by a cheese factory.  Each morning they would haul a 24-hour collection of milk, in 10-gallon cans, to a nearby factory.  At that point in time, there were over 60 cheese and butter factories in Clark County, one every few miles, often located on an intersection corner with a schoolhouse on the opposite corner.  School-age children would conveniently have a wagon ride to school.

 

•••••••••

Art Opelt of the West Levis community is willing to give his testimony about bad roads, if you can catch him.  He knows what he is talking about.  Being a generous soul, he hooked his truck to the Holub truck, which was stuck at the foot of the Mike Johnson hill on Hwy. 95. His truck was on good footing, and the other truck was stuck.  But the power of mud was greater than the power of the axle of the Opelt truck, and the axle broke.  The mud was still there and going strong after the axle gave out.

 

Thereafter Mr. Opelt was obliged to resort to his tractor for milk hauling.  That seemed a tolerable answer until Mr. Opelt hit the famous mud hole on the east and west road in Levis, which runs from the old Powell farm, occupied by Herbert Filitz, to the old Lowery farm, now occupied by the William Wright family.  There the tractor went down and down, stopping this side of China.  Mr. Opelt tried diving for it, but no good.  So he got himself a fence post and another piece of timber.  He fastened one to one drive wheel and the second to the other drive wheel.  Then he put on the power and the tractor finally emerged.

 

(Before side roads in the area were graded up, then well-covered with gravel or black-top, spring thaw turned roads into “mud,” making several of them impassable.  DZ)                               

•••••••••

B. J. Haas, city mail carrier, was bitten severely on the calf of his right leg while delivering mail on his route Wednesday morning.  He attempted to continue his deliveries, but soon was forced to retire because of the pain.  He was advised by a physician to remain off the leg for a time.  Romuald Schmidt, substitute clerk-carrier, finished mail deliveries on the route.

•••••••••

As Nero is alleged to have fiddled while Rome burned so John Wuethrich is definitely known to have fiddled while the chimney burned.

 

The chimney belonged to Irene O’Connell, and it burned Thursday evening, about 8:30.  In common with the other firemen, 14 or 15 in number, Mr. Wuethrich turned out to save whatever needed saving.  In quest of the thing to save, he crawled up into the garret, and there found, not the blaze but an old violin, equipped with two strings.  So while the chimney burned out, Mr. Wuethrich tried fiddling.

 

Except for the fiddling, not much happened at the fire.  As for the violin, it is said to be about 100 years old, but whether it is a Stradivarius, the record does not yet afford evidence.                              

•••••••••

The American Red Cross has appealed for 1,000 young American doctors to go to England and care for civilians injured in air raids and for soldiers wounded in repelling attacks by air or sea.   

•••••••••

Attention Golfers!  The Neillsville Country Club is Now Open for Play, as of May 1st!

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