Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

December 10, 2008, Page 10

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled and contributed by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 

December 1928

 

At the recent meeting of the Clark County Board, a committee consisting of Staples, Calway, Nehs, Drew and Miller, was appointed to look into the matter of reforestation and the delinquent drainage matters.  Such matters will be given their undivided attention.  As soon as they can they will hold meetings at Neillsville and Merrillan to get data on the latter project.  Some of the committee will meet at Wisconsin Rapids next week.  Regarding the water drainage matter we are informed that the company was incorporated in 1918 and bonded for $170,000, covering 78,000 acres of land in Clark and Jackson counties. From 1918 to 1923 they paid interest on the bonds and from 1923 to 1925 they were cut down to $156,000.  After 1925 they began to get delinquent until now the indebtedness has gone up to $160,000 and is going up all the time.

•••••••••

Mr. Ewald Schwarze and Miss Sarah Olson were married at Greenwood, Wednesday evening, November 28, Rev. Pfeiffer of the Reformed Church of Greenwood officiating, the ceremony took place in the parsonage.  Albert Holt and Fern Olson, the bride’s sister, attended them.

 

The groom is the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Schwarze of the Town of Warner.  He is an industrious young farmer and has a good reputation in every way.

 

The bride is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Oluf Olson of Neillsville.  She passed through the grade schools here and graduated from Neillsville High School.  She attended the State Normal School at Stevens Point for a time, later becoming a successful teacher in the rural schools of the county.  At present she is teaching in the West Eaton School in the Town of Eaton, where she will continue to teach during the year.

 

The young couple intends to rent a farm in that community in the spring.

 

A host of friends offer them wishes for the best of good fortune.

•••••••••

A party of old lumber-jacks is getting up a sleigh load to visit the logging camps of the Dells Lumber Co. near Globe.  The company has a camp in full operation logging a fine tract of hardwood timber and the old-timers are anxious to swing an axe and drag a saw for a few minutes.  They will find everything the same about the camp as it was in the older times, except for the old-fashioned grey-back.  That lousy pest is said to have disappeared with the cutting of the pine or, perhaps the camps are more sanitary than they were fifty years ago.

 

(The reference to the grey-back is the bed bugs, which were prevalent in the old logging camp shacks. D.Z.)

•••••••••

There were probably more hunting licenses issued this year than ever before in the history of the state, and the North woods fairly swarmed with hunters.  County Clerk John J. Irvine issued nearly 3,000 licenses; he issued 1,800 deer tags, 400 trappers’ licenses and 6,700 trapping tags.

•••••••••

The action of the city council in keeping the ice on the O’Neill Creek pond clean this winter has given the young people of the locality a great spot for the enjoyment of winter sports.  The ice has been in fine shape this winter and the Northern States Power Co., through its local agent, Guy Hill, has generously lighted the pond with three large floodlights.  The result is that the ice is crowded every evening by skaters and the young people are making the best of this healthful winter exercise.

 

Some of the older people are also joining the skaters and seem to enjoy the sport as much as the youngsters.

•••••••••

The new Masonic Temple is approaching completion and Saturday night committees from the Blue Lodge and Eastern Star met with the building committee and formulated plans for the dedication of the temple.  It was decided to hold the dedication ceremony Jan. 1st, this being a holiday and of more convenience to members of the local lodges and to visiting Masons.

 

The formal dedication ceremony will take place at 2:30 in the afternoon and it is planned to have this work done by officers of the various grand lodges.  The tentative program, which follows, includes a theatre party at Trags, a banquet at six o’clock, an entertainment by ladies of the Marshfield Eastern Star Lodge, an address by a member of the grand lodge and all to be followed in the evening by a dancing party in the dining room of the new building.

 

The dedication ceremonies will be for Masons and their wives only at this time, as it is expected that there will be a large number of visiting brethren from nearby cities, and if the roads are open, the capacity of the temple will no doubt be taxed to the limit.

 

December 1958

 

At the meeting of the Haugen-Richmond Post No. 73, American Legion, Monday night, Commander Jim Jordahl announced that $2,400 has been raised in 1958 and applied to the indebtedness, leaving a $1,800 mortgage obligation.  The Legion Auxiliary held is annual Christmas party Monday evening at the Legion Hall.

•••••••••

Hugh Severson and his sister, Mrs. Lester Schuette and Mrs. Ernest Molle of Unity, spent Saturday at Woodruff at the Lakeland hospital with their brother, Claude Severson of Woodruff.  He was taken there following a heart attack suffered while hunting near Woodruff Thursday morning.  Two hunting companions found Mr. Severson, after being exposed to the cold weather for 1 ½ hours.  He will be hospitalized for some time.

•••••••••

Public cutting of Christmas trees will be permitted on two spruce swamps of the Clark County forest area Sunday, December 14, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., County Treasurer Donald H. Braatz announced this week.

 

The swamps where cutting will permitted are: Carter’s Lake swamp, located four miles east of the Junction of Highways 10 and 12; or 11 miles west of Neillsville on Highway 10 to pole 78, then north; and on the Big Soldier swamp, three and one-half miles west of Tioga on country (County) Trunk I, then west on the fire lane.

 

Mr. Braatz said that a charge of 50 cents will be made for spruce or Norway pine trees, which will be available at the county nursery, at the junction of Highway 10 and County Trunk B, six miles west of Neillsville on the same day.

•••••••••

Half-frozen and exhausted, two young Neillsville skaters were carried the last quarter mile into the city last Saturday night on their attempted round-trip by skates to Granton.

 

One of the youths Bobby Krultz, 11, son of Postmaster and Mrs. Mike Krultz, Jr., suffered a badly frozen ear.  Sunday the left ear was swollen about three times (its) normal size and was badly blistered.

 

Larry Keller, 12, his companion, escaped serious frostbite, but still couldn’t get his shoes on swollen and tender feet Monday.

 

Both youths walked the railroad tracks on their return from about a mile west of Granton nearly into Neillsville in their stocking feet.  They carried their skates tied together and draped over their shoulders.

 

Nearing exhaustion, the boys were found about 6 p.m. by Jon Swenson, winner of last year’s “outstanding athlete award,” and Larry’s brother, Kenneth.  They had but started their search along O’Neill Creek for the boys when Bobby and Larry saw their flashlight from the railroad tracks.

 

The shouts of the two youngsters brought Swenson and Keller to their aid. They carried the youngsters that last mile into town and took them directly home.

 

For two hours afterward, according to Mrs. Krultz, Bobby “shook like a leaf” in a bed piled high with warm blankets and wearing insulated underwear in lieu of pajamas.

 

It was probably about the time his son and Larry were being picked up by the other two young men that Postmaster Krultz started on his search.  He knew the boys had started out toward Granton on the O’Neill Creek ice and knew that Swenson and Keller had a few minutes start on him.

 

He traveled alone upstream, following the skate marks of the youths as they skated over portions and walked through brush and over stones around the open rapids.  He said that a freight train, heading east out of Neillsville apparently kept him from hearing the group as the two boys were being carried back into the city.

 

Krultz followed the tracks nearly to Granton and said that he found several places where the boys had broken through, but these places were all in shallow water.  Finding the place, about a mile west of Granton, where the boys had turned around, he traced their steps over the railroad track.  He was picked up half way back by Sheriff Ray Kutsche. 

 

He found one place where Larry had lain down to rest.

 

At that point, Bobby related later, he urged Larry to get up and keep moving in spite of this tiredness and chill.  Bobby said he remembered his dad telling him a long time ago that, in the extreme cold, “If you sit down to rest, it will be for the last time.”

 

The temperature was hovering around, or below, the zero mark Saturday afternoon and a west wind made it seem even colder.

 

Bobby said that he and another young friend, Mike Rychnovsky, had gone up the creek a ways from the O’Neill Creek skating pond in the central part of the city.  They left about 2 p.m. and met Larry and some other boys a little way out of town.  The others returned to the O’Neill pond; but Bobby and Larry decided on the adventure of the Granton trip.

 

Asked why they turned around when they were within a mile of Granton, Bobby replied that it was getting dark and they were afraid of getting home late.

 

When Jon Swenson and Kenneth Keller brought Bobby home, Mrs. Krultz said his eyes, nose and cheeks were so puffed by the cold that “I hardly recognized him.”

 

Larry’s face was protected by a hood and was not as badly affected by the cold.”

 

(Years ago, young adults or teenagers that were good skaters would occasionally ice skate over river or creek ice, going to a neighboring town for the adventure or to prove their endurance. D.Z.)

•••••••••

Shopping Specials for the Weekend:

 

IGA Foodliner – Boston Butt Style Pork Roast, 35¢ lb.; Powdered or Brown Sugar 10¢ lb; Diced Glazed Fruit 29¢ lb

 

Sale Prices at Russell’s Hardware & Furniture – Platform Rocker, $19.95; Plastic Top End Tables, $11.95 to $14.50; Bedroom Sets $179.50 with Free King Koil Coil Spring and King Koil Inner Spring Mattress.

•••••••••

Smoke and heat still were rising Tuesday from the coal pile in the ruins of the South Side Cheese Factory in Fairchild, which burned down Sunday morning at a loss estimated at upward of $35,000.

 

Included in the loss were 6,000 pounds of cheddar cheese, the factory’s sole product; and 1,200 pounds of milk, which was being held for the morning’s make. 

 

Martin Schmidt, owner, is continuing to collect milk from his patrons and is taking it to the South Alma Cheese factory, which purchased his cheese output.  While definite plans still are not complete, it was understood that he would rebuild, probably on a piece of ground near the old factory, located on Highway 12 just west of the railroad underpass.  The fire was believed to have started in the coal room.  The boiler was fed by stoker, which augered coal from the large bin directly into the boiler.  Approximately a carload of coal was in the bin at the time and it is that which is still burning, sending up heat and smoke in the northwest corner of the razed building.

•••••••••

School Programs:

 

The Uncle Sam School will hold its annual Christmas program and party Tuesday evening, December 23.  Mrs. Nina Potts, teacher, is in charge of the program and extends an invitation to the community.

 

The Christie School will hold its annual Christmas program and party at the school Friday evening, starting at 8.  Mrs. Gertrude Learman of Greenwood, teacher, is director.  She extends an invitation to parents and children.

 

Mrs. Joan Harder, teacher of the Fairview School, announces the annual Christmas program and party at the school, which will be held Monday evening, December 22, starting at 8.

 

Mrs. Ellen Palmer, teacher at the Roder School, Town of Grant, announces the annual school Christmas program for students and parents will be held Tuesday night, December 23.

•••••••••

Christmas has a double meaning for Mr. and Mrs. Hugo Klauer of Seif, for on December 25, 1919, they were married at Helenville.  The bride had come from Germany in 1912, and while attending a Labor Day celebration in September 1919, she met her future husband.

 

Following the marriage the bridal couple came to Clark County and visited the groom’s brother and sister-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Klauer.  Shortly thereafter they purchased the land directly across the road, which has been their home since then.  At present the farm is rented to their son-in-law and daughter, Mr. and Mrs. Leo Henchen, who also make their home there.

•••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. Arthur Tews and daughters, Janice and Luann, moved on Sunday from the Lastofka residence on West 7th Street into their new ranch-style home on South Forest Street at the corner of West 7th.

•••••••••

Clifton Fonstad, Greenwood principal, announces that Christmas programs and parties will be held Monday night, December 22, starting at 8 o’clock, in all rural schools of the district.  They include Benjamin, Blackberry, Braun Settlement, Christopherson, Decker, Hemlock, Rocky Run, West Easton, Eaton Center State Graded and Willard State Graded schools.

•••••••••

 

 

The Elmer Brown General Store in Christie provided that area’s families with basic food staples, clothing and hardware in the late 1800s and early 1900s.  The second floor provided room for social gatherings and a hardwood floor, which was ideal for the many dances held there during that era.

 

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