Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

October 5, 2016, Page 9

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

October 1881

 

The flood of last Thursday was a most disastrous one.  The rainfall of that day was three and seven-tenths inches at this place, and this, it will be borne in mind, was at the end of a fortnight of rainy weather.  The result was that ditches swelled to creeks, creeks to rivers, rivers to torrents.  Darkness was upon the waters at its highest stage, so that its worst phases were not generally seen, though in particular cases they were felt, as in the home of Fred Reitz, where the water rose much higher than the first floor, and was only made less than disastrous to Reitz by a hasty and well-timed flight of himself with his family and household goods.  Friday morning the flood was still raging, and enough was seen to convince all hands that a fearful destruction of property had taken place.  Bridges, culverts, etc., were generally swept away.  The western span, one-third, of the iron and wood bridge over the Black River at this place was floated down stream; the railroad bridge over Wedges Creek was carried away; the Dells Dam was broken in two places and for several hours was entirely beneath the surface of the flood; roads we rendered impassable in nearly every direction; the Yellow River Bridge on the eastern stage route lost itself in the muddy flood; and for two or more days’ travel was almost entirely stopped.  The creek bridge here stood like a rock, as also did the phenomenon that spans the Black River at Weston’s Rapids.  A ferry boat, dug-out canoe, does the transferring at the Black River Bridge here, and the depot is reached only after a voyage in a boat, with Ed Tolford for Charon.  Friday, Alex Holverson carried the mail to the Junction, going afoot and returned Saturday with letters.  The regular train came through Monday morning, however, which shows commendable promptness on the part of the railroad people.

 

(Now, years later, we have experienced a flood that resulted in much damage due to very high rain-water runoff. DZ)

•••••••••

Only the part of Rock Creek Bridge, which was built this summer is washed out.  The part built last year by Rossman stands, although the water ran over the top of the bridge more than a foot deep.

•••••••••

George Maynard has a farm on Black River flats two and a-half miles west of Longwood.  The flood drove him and his family out.  He says they will not go back again there to live, too much water.

•••••••••            

The O’Neill-Gates building has had a second story added the past week and it is now enclosed, and will soon be ready for occupants.  The carpenters have the credit of doing their work with notable quickness.

                                                                                            •••••••••

The rains of the past few months have proved almost destructive to the potato crop, and have seriously damaged corn, hay, and grain in stacks.  Straw stacks, figuratively speaking, have been melted into compost heaps, by the continued moisture.

•••••••••

A harmless shooting affray occurred at the Brewery dance, here, last Friday night.  The shooter shot to scare everyone, and it appears that he shot successfully.                                                                                

•••••••••

The post office at Hewettville has been discontinued, and hereafter patrons of that office must come to Neillsville for their mail.                                                                                               

•••••••••

The hunting story of the season is the one the boys tell on Sol Jaseph, the Corner Grocery man, of this place.  From the report, it appears that Sol went out last Monday to devote one day, as he has done for years past, in laying in a supply of venison for the year.  The occasional showers that have been sent this way during the past few months having made the traveling rather soft in the woods, Sol kept to the beaten path until he reached the farm of Peter McGinnis, in the Town of Sherwood Forest.  There he struck for a windfall, where he soon found three deer, quietly browsing.  Just at his time, Joe Manes, who had been out looking over some timber came along, armed as woodmen usually are with a hatchet, probably not for purpose of blazing a track to enable himself to find his way out of the woods, as Hank Myers insists, but for purely legitimate purposes not generally understood by the uninitiated.  But be as it may, Sol noticed his presence and beckoned him to come and witness the annihilation of the herd of deer he had discovered.  As Joe approached, Sol, standing high and dry on a log above, and a few rods removed from the coveted game, turned loose upon them with his Winchester and after firing fourteen shots without even frightening those usually scary animals, turned to Joe, asking him if he hadn’t better make use of the charges remaining in the gun.  Stepping back and flourishing his uplifted hatchet like an Indian on the warpath, Joe exclaimed: “Give them what’s left Sol, and if they go for you then I’ll protect you to the last with this hatchet.”  The deer still live, and Sol will appoint another day to devote to securing the needed supply of venison, having failed to kill or scare McGinnis’ pets, as they prove to have been on that hunt.

 

October 1941

 

Dr. R. R. Rath, physician at Granton, observed the 35th anniversary of his arrival there to set up a practice.  He came from Cataract and his equipment was brought by his father, in a lumber wagon.  The then young doctor did not have but a few hours after arrival, when he was called on to treat the late Rice Davis for a head injury.  Mr. Davis had been struck over the head as an argument with his rival liveryman, the late Hank Lapp, reached a climax.  Mr Lapp, a cripple, had used a cane, which ordinarily was put a more prosaic purpose.                                           

•••••••••

Women of America!

In These Times of National Stress –

Beauty is Your Duty,

Come to The Curl Shop!

•••••••••

The Foster Community Club was organized for the year at a meeting Friday evening in the Lone Pine School.  About 70 persons were present.

 

Officers elected for the year were: John Wampole, president, and Mrs. Art Baures, secretary and treasurer.  Club meetings will be held on the last Friday of each month.                                            

•••••••••

Politics was rampant when the old Norwegian Church was built in Neillsville.

 

When the corner stone of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, torn down this summer to make way for a new house, was opened, a copy of the old Neillsville Times for September 24, 1896, was found with a few pennies and other trinkets of the day.

 

The True Republican, established by L. B. Ring in 1879 was a forerunner of the present-day Clark County Press, an eight-page, six column paper with four of its pages “home print,” and the other four “patent print.”  But only two of the four home print pages dealt with local news.  The inner two were comprised of news stories of national land international interest.  Politics was particularly stressed, for William Jennings Bryan was about to make his historical campaign for free silver.

 

The Republican Party, meeting in St. Louis, Mo., a few days before the issue was published, had adopted a resolution “opposed to every measure calculated to debase our currency or impair the credit of our country.” 

 

At that time the Clark County Bank, now defunct, was in its 21st year of business, with C. A. Youmans as president, and W. G. Klopf as cashier.  Grow, Schuster & Co. advertised services of “law, loan, real estate, abstract, and insurance.”  George L. Jacques and the firm of O’Neill and Marsh were practicing lawyers in the city.  The Neillsville Brewery was operated by E. Eilert; C. F. Schultz & Son were engaged in “merchant tailoring,” the C. N. Foster Lumber Company operated a branch yard at Neillsville; and J. D. Standard and R. L. Meader operated the city’s leading food store.

 

Those who recall the sting with which Editor L. B. Ring could write on occasion would be interested in his paragraph: “The idiot who edits the Milwaukee Journal at $250 a column, discusses learnedly our relations with Spain.”

 

The Republican ticket for the approaching November 3rd election was conspicuously printed on the front page of the Times, but the Democratic ticket was not in evidence in any part of the paper.  On the county slate, the Republicans were running: J. C. Marsh for member of assembly, J. W. Page for sheriff, C.M. Bradford for county clerk, E. P. Houghton for county treasurer, C. S. Stockwell for register of deeds, George B. Parkhill for district attorney, Emergences Walters for superintendent of schools, L. L. Ayers for county surveyor, and Luke McGuire for coroner.

 

But nowhere in the paper could be found mention of the building of the Norwegian Lutheran Church, in the corner stone of which the issue was preserved.

 

(In the late 1800s, there were two Neillsville newspapers, besides the Deutscher-Americana, a German language newspaper.  The history of the two papers becomes rather confusing with the various changes of the names.  In early 1872, a battle ensued between the “Journal” and the “Republican.”  With one being a supporter for the Democratic party and the other for the Republican party, they fought hot and heavy and threw sarcastic barbs all over the place.

 

Later, there were more mergers and changes in ownerships of the newspapers, until in 1937, a final merger resulted there being one newspaper, “The Clark County Press,” with its new owner, Wells F. Harvey.)

•••••••••

The local Masons are planning to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of that order in Neillsville with a 6:30 banquet and program on November seventh.  Grand Master G.J. Leicht of Wausau, and several other Grand officers will be present for the occasion.                                                                         

•••••••••

The nation will look to Clark County in 1942 for increased production in milk, eggs and hogs even outstripping the record estimates for the county’s farms this year.

 

Quotas for production, recently set up for the national agricultural defense boards of Wisconsin counties, give Clark County quotas of:

 

Milk production calls for 459,950,000 pounds; Spring pig crop of 38,080 pounds; Egg production of 42,767,600 eggs.

 

A meeting at which the county quota and problems of increasing production will be discussed was planned by the county defense committee for October 14, 1:30 p.m.  At Greenwood, has been announced by board chairman, Axel Sorenson.

•••••••••

The Kiwanis “bull project of 1942” was given an impetus Monday evening with the appointment of the committee, which will have the responsibility. The committee, named by Frank Hepburn, the president of the club, consist of O.E. Wang, Wm. R. Marquart, John Perkins, Herbert Brown, Kenneth Van Gorden, and Wells F. Harvey.

 

Mr. Musil gave an outline of the program for the Bull Sale next Saturday, expressing gratification at the splendid lineup of animals and their wonderful condition.  He told of the purpose to follow the same general plans as were instituted in 1940.

•••••••••

Ten-dollar bills were as scarce as the proverbial hen’s teeth in Neillsville last Saturday.  Know that there weren’t as many $10 greenbacks, or as much money, around the country.  There was, and more too.

 

That’s where the trouble came in.  With larger milk checks coming the way of dairy farmers of the area than at any time in the last decade, estimates of the needs for the community in that denomination just fell short.

 

(In mid-September, the price for milk had risen 5 cents, to $2.15 per hundred-weight.  At that time, most dairy plants paid the farmers twice a month. DZ)                                                                 

•••••••••

A cow recently escaped from the Ray Harwick farm in the Town of Dewhurst, and now refuses to return home.  She prefers the seclusion of the Levis mounds to life with man; and every effort thus far to capture her has failed.

 

Mr. Harwick purchased the animal several weeks ago, from a farmer near Alma Center.  One day, over a week ago, the cow then left out of the barn for drink of water discovered an open gate and made a speedy departure down the road and into the brush.  Since then, she has eluded all humanity, her sense of smell seemingly being so acute that she allows no one to come near.

 

She seems to have adopted the tactics of the deer, and goes out only at night to feed.  Mr. Harwick has kept vigil at night, hoping to catch her unawares; but has not succeeded.  Now he is building a fence with a plan in mind that he hopes will outwit Mrs. Cow and her vacation in the wilds of Dewhurst.                   

•••••••••

The major job of transforming the old Neillsville brewery building into housing for modern bowling alleys has been nearly completed, and installation of six new alleys by factory workmen was under way this week.

 

The above photo was taken of the floodwaters on the former Indian School Property, west side of Black River, along the South side of old Highway 10, now CTH B, during the 1943 flood.  Mark Vornholt Sr., manager of the Indian School’s farm operation, lived in the farmhouse shown in the background.  As shown, the water level is up to within a few inches of the porch floor.  Also visible is a rope with one end tied to the third tree from the left and the other end tied to a post on the front porch of the house.  A few longtime Neillsville residents remember the O’Neill Creek’s flooding of the Grand Avenue Bridge area in 1943, when the creek’s flood waters of the nearby houses were at the same level as that of this past week, being 73 years ago.

 

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