Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

August 13, 2008, Page 12

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled and contributed by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

August 1908

 

A new hardware company has been organized and incorporated during the past week known as the Cash Hardware Company. ‘The incorporators are A. G. Foss of Eau Claire, Orin Lord and J. L. Moody of Ellsworth, Chas H. Decker of St. Paul and J. D. Murphy of Neillsville.  They will do business in the Lloyd building in this city where Mr. Murphy’s stock will be transferred.  A large line of hardware will be added to the Murphy stock, with a tin shop in charge of an experienced tinsmith of Milwaukee who will also be added to the business.  The capital stock is $10,000.

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The H. B. J. Andrus Creamery closed its doors Tuesday morning and all patrons were notified that no more business would be done at present.  It is understood that the competition has been so great that Mr. Andrus has paid more for the milk than he could afford to pay and has been losing money steadily.

 

The property will probably go through bankruptcy but there is some talk of reorganizing the company to continue the business, the new company to give bonds for the payment of all claims.  The Andrus butter has become deservedly famous and it is to be hoped that the creamery may continue in business.

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Good house with half-an-acre of land, near the Catholic Church. It’s for sale cheap if taken right away.  Inquire at the newspaper office.

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Last Friday, Charles Cornelius received a new 30-horsepower Cadillac automobile.  It certainly is a beautiful machine and once Charles learns all the kinks of a gasoline engine, he will be able to spin along with the best of them.

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Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Listeman of Boston accompanied by their two sons, Paul and Franz, are visiting their son Kurt Listeman and wife.  The father and sons are eminent musicians, the father having a wide reputation as a teacher and the sons are connected with noted orchestras.

•••••••••

You can get a good dining chair for 60’ to 70’ at Tragsdorf, Zimmerman Co.’s Store.  Also there are nice four-ply quartered oak diners’ chairs in round or crown seats from $1.50 to $2.00 each.

•••••••••

A meeting of farmers was held Saturday night at the town hall in Pine Valley to talk up a farmers’ cooperative creamery.  Three proposed sites west of the city were discussed; one at Sidney, or one where Mr. Andrus’ Creamery formerly stood across the Black River, or the other, the present Andrus Creamery site.  A committee was appointed to look up freight conditions and other details on the three locations and report at the meeting to be held at 2 o’clock next Saturday afternoon at the Andrus Creamery building in Neillsville.

•••••••••

Card of Thanks: I wish to express my appreciation of the compliment I got as Road Commissioner.

 

While the road from Hutchings Corners, in Southern Pine Valley, west for some distance may not be a beauty as a road, it is a fine thing as an old relic.  It was laid out the year Abraham Lincoln was first nominated for President and the next year made passable for foot passengers.  Since the Civil War, Sam Hutchings has been road overseer and hasn’t done anything on that piece of road, but carefully saves it as a relic of the good old days.  Sam knows a good thing when he sees it too.

 

R. B. French, Jr.

 

(The French farm was along the Black River, southwest of Neillsville, in the Town of Levis. DZ)

••••••••

Elmer Selves has the cement blocks completed for Will Kurth’s new silo.  It is to be 14 feet, inside diameter, and 30 feet high.  The cement blocks are so made as to give two dead-air spaces.

•••••••••

On Tuesday, August 25, 1908, a most interesting double wedding took place at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in this city.  Mr. Peter Wingenter was united in marriage with Miss Caroline Aumann and Mr. William P. Gaden with Miss Mary Aumann.  The witnesses for the first named couple were Angelina Wingenter and Gottlieb Aumann and for the other couple the witnesses were Clara Gaden and Joseph Wingenter.  The officiating priest was Rev. Father Aumann of Madison, a brother of the two brides.  This was certainly a most happy and interesting incident of the event.  Their parents are Mr. and Mrs. John Aumann who live on their farm in Pine Valley, two miles north of the city.

 

The brides are charming young ladies and well fitted in every way for the duties of life in their new homes.  Mr. Peter Wingenter is the son of Val Wingenter, proprietor of the Neillsville Hotel.  He is an industrious young man and has a steady position in the Neillsville Furniture Factory.  He and his bride will begin housekeeping in rooms over the John Wasserburger building next to the hotel.  Mr. William P. Gaden is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Peter Gaden of Lynn and also has a position at the furniture factory.  He is a young man who is highly thought of by all who know him.  He has arranged for a home on the North Side.

 

August 1938

 

 Walter Hagen, the famous golf player and his son, Walter Jr., stopped in Neillsville for lunch and car service while on their way to the St. Paul open golf tournament last week.  The son is quite and (an) expert player.

•••••••••

The McCain-Johnson Co. of Marshfield has leased the Thayer building, formerly occupied by the Woodward Store.  The company has a large store at Marshfield, featuring ladies’ ready-to-wear.  Arthur Kunze and his crew of carpenters are making alterations so the interior will look modernistic.  P. M. Warlum is doing the plumbing.

 

M. A. Cochrane has rented the Mrs. Rose Eberhardt building recently vacated by the Shedden Variety Store and plans to move to the new location about Sept. 1.

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Ernie Snyder and Oscar Gluch were among those from Clark County at Madison, Friday to attend a hearing on the proposed Snyder Dam by the Wisconsin Public Service Commission. They reported that sentiment at the meeting, which was very favorable toward the construction of the new dam.

 

The construction of the new dam would be done as a WPA project and will cost around $3,000.  Clark County appropriated $500 toward the cost of the project a year ago.

 

The Kiwanis Club and the Junior Chamber of Commerce in Neillsville both adopted resolutions asking the county board to pass favorably on the matter, which the board did on May 2, 1938, by a vote of 40 to 12.  The project is now practically assured of going through, especially with the government aiding employment projects of this character.

 

The new dam would be about 11 feet high and would result in creating a beautiful lake about a mile and a half long on Wedges Creek, which is one of the finest pure water streams in Clark County.  WPA labor would also be employed to make a beach by filling in sand, helping to make a fine bathing beach. 

 

A large number of cottages would likely be built by private owners along the proposed lake, which is easily accessible to Neillsville because of bordering on Highway 10.

 

Fifty years ago the thriving village of Hewettville was located on the site of the Snyder Dam and during the early logging days, was an important center.  It was destroyed in a large forest fire about 40 years ago.  If a new town springs up, it may be called Snyderville.

•••••••••

A bond issue of $18,000 to erect a new school building at Colby has been approved by Attorney General Orland S. Loomis.  The village and two nearby townships are in the school district.

•••••••••

A fire, early Thursday morning destroyed the Fleischman Wheel and Rim Co. Plant at Klondike Corners with a loss estimated at over $10,000.  The Marshfield fire department was unable to save the building.  One machine, ruined, cost $3,000.  Ruby Hartnett, a nearby neighbor, discovered the fire.  The owner’s son, an orchestra player, was in the building a few hours before the fire and everything was all right.  The building was built about 35 years ago by Louis Reese.  Fleischman plans to rebuild.

 

(Klondike Corners is located about four miles south of Marshfield city limits, along the junction of Highway 13 and Highway 10, going west. D.Z.)

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Charles E. Hawkes, a national figure in the printing industry of the country for some years and who started his life’s work as a printer in Neillsville when he took a printer’s job on the old Neillsville Republican and Press July 1, 1878, stopped in Neillsville Thursday to call on a few remaining old friends here and visited the former family home near Shortville. 

 

Horace and Everett Hoffman were the publishers of the Republican and Press when Mr. Hawkes started work here and the following year he went to work for L. B. Ring, who started the True Republican in 1879.

 

After leaving Neillsville, Mr. Hawkes went to River Falls Normal School and won the appointment to the naval academy at Annapolis, where he spent two years.  He then worked 15 years on Pacific Coast newspapers.  Returning to Chicago and then New York, he helped organize the Printers League of America and served as national secretary of the New York local.  This later became a part of the United Typothetae of America.  He was active in helping organize both union workers as well as employers.  In recent years he has served as mayor of Lakewood, N. J., where he now lives and also is a bank officer.

 

The Hawkes family came to Neillsville in a covered wagon from Mason City, Iowa, in 1872.  Mr. Hawkes recalled terrific forest fires were burning all through here and they nearly choked from smoke before getting to Neillsville.  Large pines, while burning, fell across the road in places.

 

The family lived in Neillsville for a time and also on a farm near Shortville.  His mother taught school near Shortville and at Loyal among other places.  Mr. Hawkes, with his brother and stepfather, worked in logging camps all up through the county and even above Withee before there were any railroads or highways, having only trails to travel on.  He said he would like to have followed the old trail from Merrillan to Neillsville but was told it had been largely obliterated in the past 66 years.

•••••••••

The eastbound midnight passenger train on the Omaha railroad, running through here, was wrecked near the siding at Sydney, 2 ½ miles west of Neillsville at 12:30 a.m., Tuesday.  During the heavy rainstorm and flood some boards and planks from a nearby bridge washed against a culvert, which resulted in a washout.  Hundreds of people drove out there in cars to view the wreck.

 

Engineer Joe Burkhart of Altoona had slowed up for a curve and saw some water, and just after crossing the washout the rails broke and spread.  The three coaches, including the sleeper, remained on the track, one at a dangerous angle, but the engine fell over on its side.

 

Cuts on the head and arm were suffered by Engineer Burkhart.  John Lurman of Edgar, one of the passengers, suffered a thumb injury, and John Daniels of Minneapolis received cuts on the head and an arm, which were treated by Dr. Housley.

 

A special train from Marshfield went to the scene of the wreck and picked up the passengers and mail going to the east and another train carried passengers and mail going to the west.  The wrecker from Altoona got the three coaches out of the way and built a new section of track Tuesday, but crews were still working today to get the heavy engine upright and back onto the rails.

 

An unusually heavy downpour of rain Monday night damaged farm buildings, telephone and power lines in this section and washed out streets and highways.  The Peter Mrotek barn, near Klondike Corners, was struck by lightning and burned down.  Other buildings around here also were struck.

•••••••••

Free Dances every Wednesday and Saturday evening at the Silver Dome Ballroom, near Neillsville.  There will be a Free Wedding Dance on Friday, August 26th, in Honor of Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Liebzeit.

•••••••••

Dance at Hake’s Barn Saturday, August 27th; Joe Baumel and His National Orchestra from WIBU radio station will be providing the music.

•••••••••

The Sherwood Community Club will hold its annual Chicken Pie Supper in the basement of the Sherwood Community Chapel on Thursday, September 1.  The menu is the same as usual. Serving will begin at 5:30 p.m. and continue until all are served.  Cost for Adults 40’, Children, 25’.

•••••••••

A&P Foods Annual August Harvest Sale – Cold Stream Salmon, 16 oz. can 10’; Lakeside Peas, 20 oz can 10’; Sunnyfield Flour, 49 lb. bag, $1.25; Home-grown, green, solid heads Cabbage, lb. 2’; Iona Tomatoes, 4-19 oz cans 25’; Cigarettes, Chesterfield, Old Gold, Camel, Lucky Strike, Raleigh, Spuds or Kentucky winner, 10 pkgs in a carton, or assorted, $1.13.

•••••••••

A group of 70 gypsies was quarantined in the village park in Cadott after a young boy came down with scarlet fever.  The village will be charged with the expense and then will try to collect from the county.  The best way, is to never let gypsies stop in any town or county, but keep them on the move.

•••••••••

CCC crews have improved the fishing possibilities of 132 northern lakes by the introduction of 45,656 fish propagation structures, a conservation report shows.  The structures include brush refuges, sapling tangles, bass spawning boxes and forage minnow spawning forms.  The work was carried on under the direction of Sid. W. Gordon, aquatic biologist.

•••••••••

 

The above photo was taken of the train wreck near the Sydney siding, west of Neillsville, in the early morning of August 23, 1938.  A heavy rain created a washout, which caused the engine to topple over on the side of the track. The coaches remained on the ties, with only the Engineer Joe Burkhardt of Altoona and two passengers receiving minor injuries.  The photo of the wreck, shown above, was taken by Erwin Marden of Neillsville.

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