Clark County Press, Neillsville, WI

September 12, 2001, Page 20

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

September 1901

 

Tom Lowe has had sewer connections put into his fine residence on Grand Avenue this week.  Also a new sidewalk has been laid on the entire length of the Dewhurst property on Grand Avenue.

 

Before any street is paved the city council should insist upon every city sewer and water connection being laid.

 

Drs. Conroy & Conroy have added an X-ray machine to their office equipment.  They can see right through you with this apparatus.

 

Fiske of New York, the great metallic worker, is manufacturing the bronzed fountain with a ground basin that is to be placed in the little park at the Omaha depot. It will be shipped as soon as possible.

 

The streets of Neillsville are very full of teams of horses and pedestrians on Saturdays.  It has become a custom among the busy shoppers, who live in town; to hustle around on Friday to do their shopping in order to get waited upon   Saturday’s trade is a literal blockade.

 

Last Thursday, at 3 p.m., as A. B. Marsh’s delivery rig was going around the P. L. Dudley corner, headed north, the left front wheel flew off.  The wheel rolled onto the Sam Boardman lawn. As Ernest McIntire, riding the rig, felt his under-pinning give way he gave one of those leaps like he used to make and which made him famous when reaching for high flies on the baseball field, cleared the wreck and landed on his feet. The horse, with a swift plunge, took charge of affairs, smashed into Sammy Johnston’s team of horses and buggy, giving them all the mix-up they needed and more. The terrified beast whizzed around the Schroeder saloon corner, overturning the tricycle vehicle. When it was stopped, the fills were twisted off and the horse stood, short of breath, in front of the business place of Alexander H. Holverson.

 

A large sewing needle was swallowed on June 17 by Miss Hazel Heath. She experienced no pain or inconvenience from the incident.  Last Wednesday evening, a pricking sensation appeared on the lower part of her chest.  Investigating, she found the needle’s pushing at the inside of the skin.  She did the rest, by getting a hold of it and pulling it out.  Needless to say, she is glad to recover the property and to be excused from acting any longer as an involuntary pin cushion.

 

One of the busiest and most prosperous institutions in Neillsville is Wm. Volkman’s factory.  There, pop, birch beer and other light drinks are made.  It is an interesting place to visit, where things are under high pressure.  If a plug or cork should go wrong, the operator would take a rude shot through the roof, perhaps.

 

Bids are wanted to build a new school house in Dist. NO 4 in the Town of Washburn.  All bids must be received on or before Sept. 29, 1901.

 

It will be the matter of but a few weeks now until a new coin will be in circulation, different from all rules in American coinage.  Middle-aged readers remember what a nuisance the old three-cent piece was – just the size of a dime and hardly could be told from a dime.  It has, illogically become of a rage again after it disappeared from circulation. The need of a three-cent piece has continued present, however and the government met the occasion by the adoption of the Chinese idea making a coin with a hole in the center.  It has already been nicknamed “the doughnut” and will doubtless be known by that name as it continues in circulation.

 

Coffee, sandwiches, ice cream and cake will be served at the A.O.U.W. lodge dance tomorrow evening; Coffee and sandwiches, 15c, ice cream and cake, 10c.  It will be served by the Unitarian Ladies.

 

Mrs. D. R. Freeman has resigned her position as landlady of the Methodist hotel in Greenwood.  She has retired to private life and will take a much needed rest.  Her resignation went into effect Sunday, at which time there was a great scrambling for boarding places.

 

Andrew Emerson’s farm in Loyal Township has been sold for $17,000 to parties from Southern Wisconsin.  It is the biggest farm sale on record in Clark County, we believe.

 

September 1941

 

Flood waters in Central Wisconsin were receding today, leaving in the wake hundreds of thousands of dollars damage.

 

Areas on either side of the headwaters of the flashy Black River were inundated following torrential rains over Labor Day weekend.  A total of 15 inches fell in 36 hours in Hayward.

 

Hundreds of persons from Neillsville and surrounding countryside traveled to Eau Claire Sunday and Monday to see the disruption caused in the downtown areas by flood waters of the rampaging Eau Claire and Chippewa rivers.

 

And on the other side of Black River’s northern headwaters, the downtown streets of Merrill were under four feet of water at the crest of the flood.

 

For some fortunate reason, however, Black River was not as greatly affected.  The flashy Black River rose only a little more than eight feet as a result of the rains.

 

Teachers were a headache for Louis E. Slock last week.

 

Understand, now, Slock ordinarily has a warm spot in his heart for teachers; for he is one – and was one before becoming Clark County School Superintendent.

 

But there has been a lack of teachers this year – the first actual shortage since away back in the golden days of World War I.  Teachers have been getting releases from signed contracts faster, in larger numbers, than they could be replaced.  That is what has been happening all over the country.

 

So, working hard to solve the situation for Clark County rural school districts, Slock has been at work trying to replace those teachers who “bailed out.”  One day he went out into the country and by dint of hard work and persuasion he succeeded in filling two vacancies.

 

Tired, but happy, he returned home late in the evening…to find that two more teachers had phoned in their resignations.

 

The Turner Construction crew has started work on the relocation of Highway 73 between the Hiawatha School in Pine Valley and Shortville.  The new road will cut off all the short curves, which have been something of a hazard for drivers and it will shorten the road about a mile.

 

The new highway will be a great improvement.  It will be 100 feet wide, from ditch to ditch.  It is hoped that its construction will be such that the mud of last spring which caused the road to be impassable for some time, will be eliminated.

 

But, for each improvement, it seems, there must be some sacrifice.  In this case, the old T. M. Winters house, a landmark in this vicinity, is being razed to make way for the new roadbed.  The house was built by Fay Dresden about 50 years ago.  It was the oldest log structure left in that vicinity.

 

Another and older landmark must go to make way for the new road.  It is a large pine tree, the age of which is not now known – but probably will be revealed when it is cut. The tree has been partially dead during the past few years; no doubt bearing scars of droughts of summers over several years in the recent past.  It is one of the few first growth pine trees that still stand in an area which 60 years ago was covered with great pines and tamaracks.

 

Members of the Kiwanis Club of Neillsville voted in favor of immediate action on zoning. The report referred to the pending project to enact legislation immediately which would have the effect of protecting the Neillsville residential areas until zoning can be fully provided for.  It was explained to the club that the details are being worked out by the City Council and the City Attorney.  The favorable action of the club was unanimous.

 

Verlyn Rossow Town of York lost himself in the dead of night on a little hill in Granton.  He found himself when he and his automobile tried to climb the side member of the bridge of O’Neill Creek. The light coupe, with Rossow in it, dented the heavy steel member of the bridge, climbed momentarily and then catapulted to the bottom of the stream.  By the time the couple had landed heavily in three feet of water, Rossow was frantically awake.  He pounded with his knuckles upon the imprisoning glass, broke his way to freedom and waded out of the stream.  He walked, dripping blood all the way, up to the center of Granton’s business district.  There, he was helped to find the Granton Clinic, where Dr. Slater dressed the hand.  The injury, though gory, was not at all serious.  A little cleaning and a dressing were necessary but no stitches.

 

All this happened a little before 2 o’clock Thursday morning. Rossow had been to a dance and was evidently sleepy by the time he struck Granton on his way home.

 

The coupe was rather smashed up in front, but was righted in the edge of the stream on Thursday.  It then gave the appearance of still having in it the capacity for more miles and more efforts to climb the side member of a steel bridge.

This steel bridge, placed on rock and mortar abutments, spanned O’Neill Creek on Granton’s north side for many years.  That style of bridge was commonly seen extending across other creeks and streams through out Clark County in the 1940s.  (Photo courtesy of the Webster Family Collection)

 

The major job of transforming the old Neillsville Brewery building into housing for a modern bowling alley has been nearly completed. Factory workmen are here, installing six new alleys this week.

 

As the work of placing the building and new alleys in shape for the first crash of ball against pins nears the final stages, Ted Schmidt, who will operate the recreation center, has called meetings of bowlers and those interested in bowling.  A meeting for the purpose of forming a women’s league will be held in the Kiwanis clubrooms in the basement of the Neillsville Bank at 8 p.m. tonight.  A similar meeting for men interested in bowling, are invited to attend a meeting on Friday night at 8 p.m. at the Kiwanis clubrooms.

 

Drastic things have been done to the old brewery building. Although its appearance on the outside is the same as ever – with the exception that it is being spruced up and repaired – it would not be recognized in the interior.

 

The inside has been finished in two-tone wall board paneling of modernistic design. The six new alleys will be in the east wing of the building, with the runways extending out into the lobby.  The ceiling of the alleyways has been stepped down and at the end where the pin setting machines will be installed is an arch to serve as a noise trap.  The alleys will be illuminated by hidden fluorescent lights, which also will furnish the illumination for the rest of the building.

 

In the ample lobby will have a dairy bar and locker space in addition to spectators’ seats.  A ladies’ lounge is being provided off the lobby, as are the rest rooms.

 

The old brewery well in the basement of the building, - probably one of the best know(n) wells in this section, will provide a constant supply of drinking water.  It is a dug well, 12 feet deep and four feet in diameter.  It had been curbed up; but while they were doing things to the old brewery building, they also did things to the old brewery well.  A cement wall was built inside of the old curbing.  The space between the old and new walls has been filled with washed and chlorinated gravel.  A cover also has been put over the well and an electric pump is being installed.

 

An air conditioning system and a hot air plant are being installed in the basement. The outlets for the heating system are in the ceiling of the lobby and alleyways. This will aid in keeping the air fresh and the building at a proper temperature. 

 

This week’s Loyal area news includes the disastrous fire which took place at Veefkind’s lumber yard on Monday night about midnight.  This time it was the mill that went up in smoke with no insurance.  It is only two months since $10,000 worth of heading burned in the mill yard.  Veefkind is indeed in hard luck this year.  Geo. Albright has rented his farm near Spokeville and will be a resident of the village in the future.  He has moved into the rooms over Justice Barker’s office. The household goods of John White came from Dodge County on Saturday.  He has rented the A. K. Prior farm and purchased the 80 acres adjoining it on the north.  Lulu Welsh has had a hard time trying to pronounce the German words “not”, “eight” and “I”, but she finally succeeded.

 

The forest fires south of us have been doing a lot of damage during the past week.  The James Payne farm in Levis was in the path of the fire and the house burned, also many tons of hay in stacks on the big marshes has been burned.   Farmer Hohenstein’s house was burned and the settlers south of Carlisle have been fighting fire day and night.  To the west in the Hewett area, much damage has been done.  In Jackson County, the losses range into the thousands of dollars.  There has been a great deal of gross carelessness in the matter of setting fires by those who are clearing the land.  On Friday, large black clouds of smoke hung over Neillsville.  A stiff southern breeze blew burned leaves and cinders into our streets.  Joe Green, mail carrier on route 1, reported the smoke so stifling near his farm that teams and men, sent south to assist settlers; had to turn back fearing suffocation.

 

The plentiful rains, early this week, were the medicine that nature needed.  The fires are a thing of the past and fall plowing is under way.

 

 


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