Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

January 13, 1999, Page 24

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

               Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

January 1869

 

A notice to farmers of Clark County – Farmers have a home market for everything they can produce, and farming is a success here.  Farmers can only clear about six or eight acres a year.  Once the land is cleared, they take pains to till it well.  They plant and take one crop of grain off of the land, and if wheat, will be 30 or 35 bushels to the acre.  If corn is planted, it will yield 60 to 100 bushels per acre.  When potatoes are planted and harvested, they are measured by the wagon load while the first crop of wheat is growing, grass seed should be sowed, and the land left in grass until the tree stumps are nearly rotted out.  Farmers can get from two or two and a half tons of tame hay, per an acre from their land.  The tame hay can be sold for $20 per ton.

 

A farmer can easily cut maple, or oak or butternut timber from his land which will nearly pay for the clearing.

 

Another fine feature for farmers is – the land is cheap.  This is owing to the fact that the moneyed men and late speculators turn their attention to mill lands for lumbering purpose; for at present that is the most lucrative business.  The pine lumbering is easily obtained, growing as it does along the streams, unlike other pine lands, where it stands over the whole country.

 

There are many splendid farms lying in the woods yet unentered, on which there are from five to ten, and sometimes 15 acres of meadow.  The land is without a stump or a stone, which the cunning and ingenious beaver cleared off before Wisconsin was known to man.  On these meadows, wild grass and blue jointly grow in great abundance.

 

Clark County, as to its soil, is naturally a grass growing country, and resembles the lands of the New England states.  All that is now needed is good, industrious and economical minded men to come and settle upon these wild lands to make it into model farms.

 

Caught at last – an elderly bachelor, of three score years and ten, living near our town, after having escaped nearly three quarters of a century, has at last been caught – by the measles.

 

Shop at C. E. Adams Store for a variety of merchandise; Adams has 2,000 lbs of choice butter, blasting powder and safety fuses, trunks and valises, and a superior quality of two-ply ingrain carpeting.

 

About 25 wagon loads of flour, feed and grain came into town this morning form the prairies.

 

There is a new saw mill in the Town of Mentor, six miles from Houghtonburg.  The owner, G. W. King, announces they have on hand a large quantity of lumber in nearly every description.  There is clear stuff in a variety of widths; flooring, 1 and ¼ inches; siding in three qualities; joists in lengths every two feet from 12 to 30 feet; scantling, every two feet from 12 to 24 feet in length; plank, 12, 14, 16 and 18 feet; Common boards; 9, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 feet in length; fencing, 6, 8, 10 and 12 inches; timbers, 6x6, 6x8 and 8x8 and every 4 feet up to 8x32 feet; girts, 4x5 and 5x6 up to 5x20 feet; batten boards 3/4x4, 3/4x3, 1x4 and 1x3.

 

Special lumber orders will be promptly filled.

 

Lumbermen’s Hotel is one mile north of Neillsville.  L. R. Stafford is the proprietor and offers good accommodations to man and beast.  There will be sober and attentive assistants at all times.  Meals are served at all hours, on reasonable terms.

 

Richard carpenter has opened the Pioneer Harness Shop at Staffordville and is prepared with the best materials.  He is ready to manufacture every article in his line at reasonable terms.  Repairing is done with neatness and promptness.

 

January 1899

 

Purchase two weekly newspaper subscriptions for $1.40 this year, the Milwaukee Weekly Sentinel and the Republican Press, both for this special price.

 

The Anderegg Brothers of La Crosse, who have located in Heintown, will operate a saw mill there.  They have purchased a saw mill rig from the Gaar Scott Co.  Chas. Cornelius assisted them with the deal.

 

John Hein’s household goods and stock of merchandise were loaded on rail cars this week and shipped to Tony, Wis.  Neillsville is sorry to see the Hein’s leave but we wish them well in their already large business in Tony.

 

An oyster supper will be given by the ladies of the Scandinavian Church on Friday evening, Jan. 12, 5 to 8 p.m. at the G.A.R. hall.  Supper is 25¢ for adults and 10¢ for children.

 

Editor Clarence Zook, of the Dorchester New Era, visited Neillsville this past week, getting acquainted with other printers.  We hope the people of Dorchester appreciate the good newspaper Zook is giving them.

 

Kurth & Fiebke (Friebke?), contractors and builders, have opened up a shop in the Trogner building, opposite Webster’s livery barn, corner of Grand Avenue and 6th Street.

 

Some may have notice the peculiar atmospheric conditions over O’Neill Creek last Friday.  They probably wondered at the blue streaks visible without use of spectacles or colored glass for several minutes.  Upon investigation by the editor, the phenomenon was very easily accounted for.  Otto Neverman, who had been putting up his summer’s supply of ice, had just placed the last cake of aqua pure on the sled and was congratulating himself on a job well done.

 

While the last load of ice was being hauled to the ice house, Neverman proceeded to walk across the pond.  Wanting to save a few steps, he came to a place where the snow had drifted upon the ice.  Being somewhat lazy, he started walking through the drift.  The first change in the atmosphere was when he thought he was still treading on firm ice (which wasn’t there).  He didn’t stop until he had made a big hole in the drift and was standing up to his waist in the pond’s cold water.

 

Neverman’s vocabulary, while driving regimental mules, was noted for its abundance.  Choice words, interspersed with an enormous amount of water, filled the air as he came up out of the cold water.  Every year, in the past, Neverman has been “ducked” while putting up ice.  This year, he had congratulated himself too soon.  Had he waited, maybe he would have escaped the immersion.  (Neverman had owned the Neillsville Brewery and took the ice supply for the business, from the O’Neill pond. D.Z.)

 

Chas. Youmans has opened up a blacksmith and wagon shop at Chili.  He also repairs engines and boilers which should be good news to those living in and around Chili.

 

The firm of Diskow & Jackson, barbers, has again been formed and is opening their business in the building formerly occupied by the Commercial State Bank.  When Guard Co. A was called to duty, the firm was dissolved.  Jackson’s a second lieutenant of the company and went to Porto Rico.  The firm’s present location gives them the finest quarters in the city.

 

January 1934

 

Clark County’s CWA projects have been reduced and the force of 2,971 men previously employed on CWA has been cut to 1,083 men for January 1934.

 

The “Boom Days” of the CWA projects is near the end as retrenchment policy gets under way.  More reductions in previously planned projects are expected during this year.

 

Edwin Bast and Nick Linster announced that they are taking over the Neillsville Garage and will operate the business.  Within a short time, they will take on a well known line of new cars.  The garage will continue its repair department and rental of storage space.

 

The Leonard Schultz home near Globe was rocked by an explosion four days ago.  An acetylene gas explosion in the basement of the Schultz farm home, one mile south of Globe, damaged walls, blew the kitchen door off its hinges, and burned the hair from the head of their little son, Billy.  The blast occurred when a member of the family lit a lamp in the cellar while Schultz was refilling the carbide tank.  A few pieces of the carbide are believed to have fallen into the water and generated gas which filled the basement with highly explosive fumes.

 

The family, with the exception of five-month-old Dona Lee, had gathered about the cellar door when Schultz warned them to leave the house when he smelled gas.  His wife said, “We went to the cellar door instead of going out of the house, thinking that if it was safe for my husband, it was safe for us.”  About that time, someone struck a match to light the cellar lamp.  A flash of fire filled the cellar and swept up the stairway, burning the hair off Billy’s head.  The boy also suffered slight burns about the face and hand.  The other members of the family were uninjured.  The explosion sounded like a heavy boom, Schultz said.  They didn’t feel the house shake in the blast despite the damage to walls and flooring.

 

Dona Lee was asleep in a bedroom and was not disturbed by the explosion.  No windows were broken in the room she occupied.

 

The explosion was said to have sounded louder at a distance than it did in the Schultz home.  Several neighbors reported hearing the blast.  The outside cellar door had been opened after the gas odor was detected and that is believed to have saved the building from being entirely destroyed by the explosion.

 

The Schultz family includes another son Alfred, who was also in their home at the time of the explosion. 

 

A golden wedding anniversary of unusual interest was celebrated at the I.O.O.F. Hall in honor of Mr. and Mrs. John Howard, formerly residents of this city.  Now living in St. Paul, the Howards were joined by 150 guests.  Of the group 132 were related to the bride and groom.

 

A bounteous dinner was served in the dining room of the hall which had been rented for the occasion.  The tables were bedecked with fresh-cut yellow roses and the dining area artfully trimmed with gold crepe paper. 

 

After the dinner, the bride and groom were remarried by Rev. G. W. Longenecker.  The ceremony was followed by a real old-fashioned Chivarari.  The rest of the day was spent in dancing and visiting.

 

Another feature in the group were couples of the same family who were also married 50 years or more; Mr. and Mrs. D. A. Rodman, married 53 years; and Mr. and Mrs. George Howard, married 49 years.  Mrs. Howard, Mrs. Rodman and Mr. King are sisters and brother.  Mr. and Mrs. Joe Buss of the Town of Grant have been married 53 years but were unable to be at the event. 

 

Elmer Anderson, town chairman, said a gravel pit will soon be opened somewhere near the Oriole Hill School.  Farmers in that area will then be able to work at the pit with their would-be wages going toward paying off feed loans previously taken out.

 

Mr. and Mrs. F. E. Gotter of Thorp were pleasantly surprised with a large group of relatives and friends gathered at the Granton Opera House Tuesday evening in observance of their 22nd wedding anniversary.  The evening was spent in dancing and card playing.  A lunch was served at midnight.

 

The Hewett farm, on Neillsville’s west side, has been on the tax roll for 77 years.  Being a farmer within the city limits may have had its advantages over being a farmer in the country, but it is certain that those advantages are rather expensive luxuries when considered from the viewpoint of taxes.

 

This is ably illustrated in the amount of taxes paid during the past 77 years on the Hewett farm, now occupied by Mayor and Mrs. S. F. Hewett.  The farm ownership started with James Hewett, Neillsville’s first mayor and father of the present executive, who had originally purchased the property. 

 

Recently, S. F. Hewett and his wife tallied up old tax bills through the 77 years and discovered the family has paid nearly $60,000 in taxes to the city of Neillsville.

 

It is more than likely that this amount sets a record for taxes paid on home property in the city for a similar period of time.  At one time, years ago, the opportunity presented itself, when it would have been possible for the Hewett property to be set outside of Neillsville city limits.  However Hewett’s loyalty to the city in which he had been reared, overweighed any desire he may have had to reduce his tax bill.  The economy could have been at the cost of giving up his residence in a city he esteemed as a site for his home.  (The Hewett property was located on the west [north] side of 5th Street, the present site of St. John’s Lutheran Church, extending west and south [north], bordering the Black River.  D. Z.)

 

A typical lumberjack camp, one of several which were located in Clark County area during the 1860’s thru 1890’s.  The rough lumber buildings served as shelter for the men when they lived and worked in the woods.

 

 


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