Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

February 18, 1998, Page 28

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

Good Old Days

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

February 1883

 

Last week, Sunday morning the temperature hit 42 below at Shortville and didn’t reach over 40 below every morning of the week.

 

Canon Bros. are engaged in cutting a road down to G. B. W. & St. Paul road, some nine miles south of their place.  They want to haul shingles for shipment over the road.  (Canon Bros. lived east of Shortville in the community named after them – Cannonville Corners. D.Z.)

 

The public always like to hear of new enterprises, and especially at Neillsville.  It is therefore with great pleasure that we announce M. E. Hamlin and Sanford Coggins have formed a co-partnership for the purpose of opening and carrying on a furniture and cabinet making business.  They have rented the brick store on Third Street owned by Ring & Youmans.  In a short time, they will put in a stock of best line goods for this market.

 

The welcome toot of the train locomotive sounded today at 1:30, after two days blockade due to the last snow storm.

 

George Prentiss and Ed Smith walked into Longwood from lumber camp Saturday, a distance of 14 miles.  They are both short men so they found the deep snow a wearisome hindrance before they reached their destination.

 

Letter to the Editor:

 

Why is it that the Fireman’s Hall, paid for by our citizens to shelter our fire engine and fire hose is used for every stray show or theatrical company, instead of its proper purpose?

 

Our fire engine today is not worth one-fourth of what it cost.  It has been neglected, exposed to the weather, frozen, and burst, cracked by the summer’s heat and the wood work rotted by rains.  At the O’Neill House fire it was useless, and it took fully an hour to thaw out the frozen hose.  Let the citizens see that our fire engine, hose, etc, is stored in its proper place.

 

News Report

 

Monday forenoon, between 9 and 10 o’clock the alarm of fire was given from the O’Neill House.  An excited crowd was on the spot instantly.  The hook and ladder fire company was there immediately.  The weather was intensely cold, with a brisk wind blowing, with the burning building hideous to contemplate.

 

The fire was caused by a defective flue at the eastern end of the hotel next to the woodshed, over a sample room.  There was not appearance of fire on the outside of the building, only some smoke and steam.  Water was carried from the stable pump in pails and the pails were handed up to men who applied the water to best advantage and within five minutes all danger was past.

 

Landlord Carhart is congratulated upon his escape from a destructive fire, an escape he owes to the time of the day the fire started.

 

And now Neillsville will look up the fire escape business.  The hose attached to the fire engine was in bad shape for an emergency.  It was fortunate the fire was extinguished without using the fire hose, as it was frozen into what appeared to be unmanageable coils.  It seems necessary to have the fire engine in a heated engine house.

 

A traveler, Riedel, brought his zither with him last week and stayed over Sunday.  He entertained everyone at the Reddan House with a charming manner.  (A zither was a musical stringed instrument, similar to a guitar. D.Z.)

 

Dramatic entertainment is soon to be given at Maple Works hall featuring local talent.  Every young man who has a girl friend should embrace the opportunity, if his purse can pay for the horse and rig pay-out, and attend the show.

 

A ghost made its appearance in Evansville the other night and ran against a bulldog.  A citizen and unprejudiced observer say that who knows which of the two was the most scared.

 

John Bruley, foreman of one of Hewett’s camps on Wedges Creek had in 1,500,000 feet of logs a week ago Saturday.  He states that if he had the timber to work with, he could tally 3,000,000 for the winter.  His crew, including boss, cook and taffler, numbers 22 men. 

 

The consolidation of firms of C. M. Upham & Bros., the Marshfield Furniture Co., and the Marshfield Veneer Co., under the incorporated title of the Upham Manufactured Co., is now accomplished.  A full set of officers elected is as follows: Directors – C. M. Upham, W. H. Upham and M. H. Wheeler, Pres., W. H. Upham, Secretary, M. H. Wheeler, Treasurer, W. B. Baker.

 

Kit Durham’s saw mill in Weston has been sold to Tom Miller and Charley Kayhart.  The logs there will be sold under the hammer on March 5.

 

A week ago Sunday, Potter’s Saw Mill at Colby burned.  The loss is estimated at $7,000 and no insurance.

 

Jonas Fessenden has resumed putting in logs from the Levis-Pine Valley area.

 

Ben Fresher brought logs into Neillsville to be sawed into lumber.

 

February 1938

 

Fire burned the interior and roof of the two-story Lawson building in Granton Thursday afternoon.  Two firemen were injured while fighting the blaze. Chief Louis Spry suffered painful injuries to both legs and bruises when he fell ten feet from a building.  Carl Bladl was overcome by smoke after entering the St. Dennis flat to recover some jewelry that belonged to Mrs. St. Dennis.  But he did manage to make his way out of the building.

 

The Neillsville Fire Department responded to a call to help fight the fire, which was one of the biggest in years at Granton.  The Granton and Neillsville firemen got most of the water for fighting the fire out of the historic big spring.  The big spring near the Omaha Railroad tracks resulted in the first depot being located there when the railway looked for their water source.

 

The fire is believed to have originated from an overheated stove or pipe in the flat occupied by Ray Hoeft, who buys eggs and butter from a Manitowoc firm.  Timely work by the firemen kept the fire from spreading to the Paul Spaete Grocery & Meat Market, nearby.  “Shorty” St. Dennis who operated a tavern in the two-story part of the building moved supplies to safety.  “Shorty” moved back into the building again the next day and resumed business.

 

The annual report of the receipts and disbursements of the city of Neillsville for year ending Dec. 31, 1937, showed the amount of $125,833 handled during the year for expenditures.

 

Otto Lewerenz informed us this week that he will remodel the former Lewerenz garage and convert it into an up-to-date restaurant and ice cream store.  He also stated that his former service station will be operated hereafter as the Neillsville Standard Service of which he will look after until a new manager takes charge.  The corner building and station, he says, have been taken over by the Commercial Acceptance Co.

 

Thunder and lightning accompanied a moderate downpour of rain here Saturday evening.  The booming of thunder and lightning kept on for sometime, which was unusual for Feb. 5th.

 

Last week was marked by variations of over 50 degrees in the weather.  The week started with below zero temperatures, gradually moderating until Saturday it was 35 above zero with water running down the streets like in the spring.  Thursday was a warm day with a mixture of snow fall and light rain, but nothing like Saturday night, when a real thunderstorm blew in.

 

The sale held Feb. 9 by Harold Mattes of Reseburg was the largest consignment sale yet held and attended by the largest crowd thus far.

 

In three hours and 15 minutes, 44 horses and 80 cattle were sold.  The top team sold for $335 and the top Holstein cow for $105.  A horse was sold every minute and 20 seconds.  The sale barn has been enlarged to accommodate 200 head capacity.

 

Johnny Revolta, husband of a former Stanley girl, Irma Crane, and from who several Stanley young people took their first lessons in golf at the Chippewa Country Club, is acknowledged champion of American professional golfers.  In addition to being the best scorer, he is the best money maker having won more than $5,000 in cash prizes during the past two months.

 

Prices received for milk sold by Wisconsin farmers reached the highest level in November and December, since the winter season of 1929-30.  A sharp drop occurred last month and the average price for the state was about $1.64 per hundred-weight.

 

Word was received here in regard to the death of Mrs. Cyrus Stockwell at Eau Claire.  She was 68 years old.  Mr. Stockwell is superintendent of the Omaha Railroad and they have lived in Eau Claire for about ten years.

 

Helen Pickering came to Clark County with her parents when a small child, settling in the town of Sherwood.  As a young woman, she chose her profession as a teacher.

 

She married Cyrus Dewitt Stockwell who was then station agent at Granton.  They had two children, Cyrus George, road-master at Spooner and Bernice, Mrs. M. Selvig of Eau Claire.

 

John Moen and Major Glass have begun the manufacture of sleds at the Moen Carpenter Shop.  The gliders are fashioned after the Eskimo type of sled and sledge.  Plans are to build each type of sled and sledge.  Plans are to build each style in three sizes.  They will be built entirely by hand, light in weight and durable in construction, the raw hide lacings adding strength, beauty and flexibility.  The sled will carry four persons, three sitting and one standing or may be used as a dog sled.  The merits of the sleds have been proven a combination of toboggan, sled and skis.  (Does anyone in the area have a sled made by the Moen & Glass Shop?  It would be a great collector’s item to keep. D.Z.)

 

Fire last Saturday caused a loss at the Sherman Loos machine shop and foundry at Colby estimated at $4,000.  The interior of the building and expensive machinery were badly damaged.

 

During 1937, the Neillsville Cooperative Shipping Association showed its best year of business, according to Frank Schmidt, sec’y-treas.  The association ships weekly and made 52 shipments, totaling 98 carloads, or 7,128 head of live-stock. 

 

A number of Neillsville people attended the big ski tournament at Strum Sunday.  Among those were: Senator and Mrs. W. J. Rush, Mr. and Mrs. A. P. Murphy, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Hauge, Emer Robinson, Hiram Haugen, Art Dux, Ray Paulson, Mr. & Mrs. Robert Schiller, Mr. and Mrs. Wilber Bardell, Mr. and Mrs. Wm. Terman, Mrs. Minnie Bardell, Mr. and Mrs. Oluf Botnen, Rev. and Mrs. Wm. A. Bauman and family, Clarence De Cremer, Walter Beyer, Gladys Kraft, R. O. Larsen, Miss Lila Johnson and Attorney and Mrs. J. Spencer Pullen.

 

(We are searching for a photo of the LaFlesh house which was near Neillsville.  The large Victorian home occupied the lot now owned by Nelson Industries along East Highway 10, where the west side plant building now stands.  Sometime in the 30’s the house was destroyed by fire.  If someone has a photo, we would like to copy it and return the original photo to its owner. D.Z.) 

 

What kills a skunk is the publicity it gives itself. – Abraham Lincoln

 

A 1911 flood destroyed dams on the Black River.

  Dells Dam was one of those to be replaced.

  

Scaffoldings made of lumber and logs set the forms for the Dell’s Dam base, setup in 1911

 

 


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