Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

November 11, 2015, Page 9

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

November 1880

 

The Colby brass band, which was organized during the present year, has made most wonderful progress.  Though some of the boys on the start had never blown a horn, all appear at present to be perfectly proficient and make music that would delight anyone.                                                                                     

•••••••••

There is a piece of road in the Town of Beaver, between Darton’s and Unity that is a disgrace to the town and its authorities.  It is in the disguise of a turnpike and is let open to lure people into trouble.  A common concern for the welfare of the traveling public would lead the authorities to fence up this dangerous mire hole, or else plank or corduroy it as it will have to be before it will ever be passable.  There is a safe road around it, but it looks so fair on its face that many teams with wagons have been fooled into it during the past month.                

•••••••••

A special from Madison to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Oct. 30th, says articles of association of the Marshfield & Neillsville railroad were filed in the office of the Secretary of State today.  The road will run from Marshfield in Wood County to Neillsville, Clark County.  The capital stock is $500,000.  The incorporators are A. L. Smith, J. P. Beach, H. C. Sloan, Appleton; A. J. Webster, Neenah; A. Syme, Menasha; Philetus Sawyer, Oshkosh; Wm. H. Upham, Marshfield; Dr. Syme, Minneapolis; S. L. Nason, Lincoln, and B. UJ. Stevens, Madison.  It is expected that the road will be constructed at once.

•••••••••

The objection justly urged against the new county jail, that persons confined therein were liable to be roasted at anytime by the burning of the jailor’s residence in connection therewith, is to be obviated by the building of a firewall between the two.                                                                                                              

•••••••••

The merciful man is merciful to the dumb beasts within his care, and shelters them from the storms of winter.

•••••••••

The old sawmill, which had been an ornament to the place and which has been an eye-sore since the flood last June that stood it partly on end, has been partially demolished during the past week, the timbers having been taken for use in repairing the dam, which is being replaced.                       

 

In 1845, James O’Neill, a brother Henry, three friends and a few laborers arrived in what is now Neillsville.  Upon arrival, they felled some trees and built a cabin along the shore of O’Neill Creek.  After its completion they built a saw mill nearby, constructed of logs in the bed of the creek, which contained one upright saw.  Upstream, white pine trees were cut, trimmed and floated down the creek to the saw mill to be cut into lumber.  The photo shows the saw mill on the north side of O’Neill Creek, second building to the right.

•••••••••

The cold weather the first of the week caused a general rush for the woods, and men have been flocking in that direction during the past week.

 

Two hundred and three persons, many of them being men on their way to work in the lumbering camps on the upper river, registered at the O’Neill House during the past week.

 

The “thirty-day” advance of winter, on the ordinary time, caught quite a number of the lumbermen unprepared for anything of the kind, and many of them are having a cold job in building their shanties.

•••••••••

A portion of the steel cells for the new jail has been received and the prospects are that we will soon be prepared to furnish the lawless members of the community with safe as well as comfortable quarters.

•••••••••

Frank Immell, one of the old, old Black River boys, passed through town the first of the week on his way to the woods, for a deer hunt.  In an early day, Frank was one of the mighty hunters in these parts and as he expressed it, he had “a hankering to kill a deer once more and he was going to, no matter what it cost or how long it took.”

•••••••••

James Furlong has opened up with a complete stock of family groceries in his building on the north side of O’Neill Creek, where he formerly has stocked a furniture store.  Mr. Furlong’s stock is new and fresh.  His known reputation as an upright dealer, together with the convenience it affords people living on that side, insures him a good trade, to which he is justly entitled.                                                                                                      

•••••••••

Wanted - two hundred men to work on construction of the Black River Railroad between Neillsville and Merrillan, to whom good wages will be paid.  Apply to James Hewett or F. D. Lindsay, Neillsville, or to W. H.H. Cash, Merrillan.

 

It will take about two weeks longer to complete the grading on the Black River Railway and a few days longer to finish the bridging and ironing and then travel on that line will be in order.       

•••••••••

So far, Mr. Evans, the agent having charge of the poor farm for this county, has had very poor success in gathering in the once poor of the several towns, as instructed to do by the county board, most of them refusing to serve as paupers if they are to be compelled to go to a “poor house.”  Heretofore they have been willing to allow the public to contribute their support, a condescension they are still willing to make if allowed to remain s they were, but if they must go to the quarters provided by the county under the new system, most of them have expressed a determination to go back on the whole thing and earn their own living.  It was these same spirits which lead to the American independence, and the indignation manifested at the adoption of this county poor system by those who were to have benefited thereby, may possibly result in making them self-supporting.

 

Up to the first of the week, though Evans had gone for several parties who had been reported to him as subjects for his charge, no one had been to the poor farm, all having expressed a determination to work for living rather than go to the “poor house.”

 

Of course there are some deserving poor in the county who are unable to provide for themselves, and such will be glad to avail themselves of the good accommodations furnished by the county.  From present appearances, however, the number of paupers in the county will be materially lessened by the adoption of this, to them, obnoxious county system.

 

November 1945

 

The Central Wisconsin Cheese and Buttermakers’ Association held a convention in Neillsville last week.  At the convention the following officers were elected: John Wuethrich of Greenwood, vice president; W. W. Marten of Spencer, president; M. H. Parsons of Dorchester, secretary-treasurer; John Boehlein of Auburndale, R. F. Gotter of Loyal and Ludwig Johnson as trustees.

 

At the meeting was presented a Citation of the Soldiers of the Vat:

 

The cheesemakers and buttermakers of Central Wisconsin merit this citation and public acknowledgement.  They have rendered a vial public service and have rendered it modestly, with little public understanding or acclaim.

 

When the war came on, the leaders responsible for its conduct understood the part, which cheese and butter would play in its successful conduct.  They knew that these dairy products would provide health-giving nourishment in concentrated form.  They therefore approached the members of the industry with great urgency, setting forth their opportunity and duty to help win the war.

 

The members of the industry responded with a will.  They set out to beat all records of production.  Soon the plants of Central Wisconsin were pouring forth these products in aggregate quantity beyond anything previously known.

 

This accomplishment was made in the face of immense and growing difficulties.  From the first the selective service began to draw the younger and stronger men from the industry and this loss gained in intensity until, toward the end, few men were left who were not mature or physically disqualified.  To the duties of the older men in charge was added the requirement of many intricate reports, which must be made to the government, and these were largely produced in the hours of darkness.

 

The war is over, and its record is made.  We can now see clearly what was accomplished.  We know that the men in the dairy plants kept pace with the growing tide of milk; that never a drop was wasted for lack of plant service.  We know that all of the milk was worked up and made available as food.  We know that it played its appointed part in the winning of the war.

 

To the soldiers of the Vat, therefore, civilians too little understood and honored, we extend our congratulations and our inadequate praise.  You did your duty in the best traditions of Democracy.  To you all honor today!

 

Honor to the Women of the Vat:

 

Let not the Women of the Vat go unsung in the hour of victory.

 

They toiled as did the wives of the pioneers.  With plants stripped of help, they added to their labors, aiding husbands, fathers and sons in the make-room.  For them no work was too difficult; no day too long.  They did the morning dishes and rushed to the milk-intake, while Father manned the truck and brought in the milk.  They worked the curd, and kept an eye on Junior as they worked.  They got the noonday meal, washed the dishes, put the baby to sleep and hurried back to help with the clean-up.

 

They worked too hard, these Women of the Vat; harder by far than their men would have wished.  But they showed the stuff, which makes American women what they are, the true helpmates of their men.  And so, while honors are being passed, we say, “Hats off to the Women of the Vat.”                           

•••••••••

Clarence DeCremer of Neillsville has rejoined the staff of The Clark County Press after serving nearly three years in the army.  DeCremer, who was a sergeant at the time of his discharge, served in the first and third armies in France and Germany, and was among the gallant Americans who held out at Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge.  It was during the siege at Bastogne that Gen. McAuliffe gave his now famous reply of “Nuts!” to a German surrender demand.  DeCremer received a copy of the now-famous reply from the general as a memento of the stand.

•••••••••

It required just 13 hours for three boys, 13 to 15 years old, to get their full of “seeing the world” Monday.  The world was more than they could take.

 

The boys left the state public school at Sparta about 8:15 a.m., and gave up about 9 p.m. at the Scheffer farm, near the junction of Highways 10 and 12, 18 miles west of Neillsville.  There they asked Mr Scheffer to call the police.

 

They were cold; they were hungry; and they had “about walked our feet off,” according to the 13-year-old.”

 

In the morning when they should have been reporting to classes, the three boys struck out through the woods and across the swamps, heading in the general direction of “Canada.”  They kept off the roads until they came to a town about four miles from the school.

 

There they saw an airport, or at least watched an airplane take off and land.  The youngest boy said it was the first time he ever has seen an airplane start and complete a flight from “close-up.”

 

“I saw one take off once before,” he told Undersheriff E. H. Snyder when the boys were interviewed following a restful night in the county jail.

 

When they struck out into the world, the three counted three pennies as their total capital wealth.  One of them found a penny along the way.

 

So, when they reached Black River Falls, they converted their total capital into four cents worth of pretzels.

 

“They’re cheap,” explained the youngest boy.  “You get a whole pound for twelve cents, and that’s a big sack full.”

 

The four cents worth of pretzels and a head of cabbage, which they said “a lady” let them have from her garden at Tomah, comprised their rations for the day.  Of course, the salty pretzels called for a drink of water.

 

How they happened on Highway 12 was something the boys were at a loss to explain.

 

“We were on 16,” commented one; “then the next thing we knew we were on 12.”

 

When they reached the Scheffer farm, they had decided the world would have to get along as best it could without their personal scrutiny.  They asked Mr. Scheffer to call the police.

 

City Police Chief Ray Kutsche and two other men brought the boys back to Neillsville and lodged them in the county jail. The next morning they were ready to return to the school.

 

We’ll probably have to do a little K.P. when we get back,” one of them said.  “But that ain’t too bad.”

•••••••••

Work on the Hill Street site of Neillsville’s Veterans’ Village was started this week when shovels started digging trenches for water mains and sewers.

 

The trenches are expected to be completed later this week, and Emil Matson, in charge of the preliminary work, said that it would be possible to start erecting the 12 prefabricated houses should they be here by that time.

 

Contracts have been signed and returned to the federal housing administration, which is the government agency in charge of the houses.  The houses then have to be dismantled at Merrimac and transported to Neillsville.

 

Neillsville is getting eight so-called “two-unit” houses and four “one-unit” houses.  The two-unit house will be placed on the west side of Hill Street, which is being opened up for this purpose; while the four one-unit houses will be place on an extension of West-Fourth Street, north side, of the Hill Street corner.

 

Two fire hydrants have been placed on Hill Street, one in the middle of the block and the other at the south end.

•••••••••

The picturesque and historic Culzean Castle near Prestwick, Scotland, has been offered as a private lifetime residence to Dwight D. Eisenhower by Scotland as a token of the country’s regard for the wartime European leader.  Houses on the estate will be provided for a number of ex-servicemen to be selected by the General.

•••••••••

Lt. Lois Guest is spending a terminal leave at the home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Olson, in Neillsville.                                                              She arrived in the United States October 28, after spending 20 months in England, France, Belgium and Germany.  Lt. Guest is in the army nurse corps.                                                                 

•••••••••

Buick Parade Will Occur Saturday, Dec. 1 - 2:00 p.m. - Weather Permitting

 

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