Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

April 13, 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

April 1936

 

St John’s Lutheran Church again offers the community a rare treat in Northwestern College Male Chorus of Watertown, Wis.

 

Prof. C. F. Bolle, Director, and his chorus of 40 voices are scheduled for a sacred concert on Good Friday Evening, April 10th at 8 p.m.  A silver offering will be taken during the concert.  Come and hear the chorus present the priceless treasure of Christian hymns and chorales as outlined in their concert folder.

 

E. L. Sievert, principal of St. John’s Lutheran School is in charge of the publicity work and the arrangements of lodging and meals.                                                                                                                           

•••••••••

Boxes of smelt, sent as souvenirs of the Escanaba Smelt Jamboree, held April 2 and 3, to celebrate the opening of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan sport fishing season, will provide a fish fry that will be enjoyed by members of the Kiwanis club at the April 13 meeting, it was announced by V. C. Woelffer, secretary.

•••••••••

The community was deeply shocked Satruday morning when it became known that Captain Allan Wildish of Neillsville, one of the outstanding heroes of World War I, had succumbed to a heart attack at San Diego, Calif., where he had been spending the winter in quest of health.

 

Captain Wildish, who rose from the ranks to a commissioned officer, earned the admiration of some of America’s highest army officers during the World War for his extreme bravery and loyalty under the most terrific circumstances; due to the hardships through which he passed during the war days that his health became undermined and for many years, he was a patient sufferer from ills contracted in service.

 

Captain Wildish, the son of Mr. and Mrs. John Wildish, was born March 1, 1874, in Waukesha County.  When he was two years of age, the family moved to the Town of Grant in Clark County where they remained three years, moving at that time to a farm near Loyal.  Forty-eight years ago the family moved to a farm southeast of the Fairgrounds in Pine Valley where Allan grew to manhood.                                                                      

•••••••••

Taking advantage of the second crop of ice on O’Neill Creek, the first week in April, L. A. Allen donned his skates and cut a few fancy scrolls on the ice Friday morning.  The ice was between three and four inches thick.

•••••••••

A banquet featuring roast crow was served by the “Forty and Eight” of the American Legion at a Madison hotel on March 19.  Sportsmen supplied 60 crows for the feast.

 

“Black partridges” were held to be entirely palatable and had the unstinted endorsement of the conservation department.

•••••••••

Last Saturday, a deal was made by the Palmer Vinger Real Estate Agency where by Alvin Miller, a prominent farmer living near Loyal. Mr. Miller plans to make extensive improvements on the farm, which consists of 120 acres.  Mr. Vinger informs us that the next thing he is going to sell Alvin is the idea of getting a wife with as much ambition as he has, and he will be all set.                                                                                                       

•••••••••

Withee elected Miss Mary Free queen and Misses Maxine Thorson and Priscilla Funk, tap dancers, talent stars April 2, features of a cheese festival sponsored by Withee Commercial Club and the Wisconsin Cheese Publicity association.  Festivals, to publicize Wisconsin cheese, are also being held in Abbotsford and Loyal. Four hundred people attended the Withee program.                                                                                   

•••••••••

Camp Globe News:

Orders from the State E.C.W. offices have just been received at Camp Globe to build 40 more birdhouses.  This will make a total of 145 martin, tree swallow and wren houses to be made.  These birdhouses are to be placed in the various state parks.

 

Since the establishment of Camp Globe in August 1934, the many and varied accomplishments of the camp have not failed to make an impression on those who have followed the work.

 

Perhaps the most impressive job undertaken was the erection last summer of a 110-ft. steel bridge across the Eau Claire River, the entire job being done by the men of the camp.  This, the largest bride erected by a CCC camp, is a connecting link for the network of truck trails, which the camp has built throughout this area so that effective firefighting may be done during the fire season.  Last winter, to further aid the fire-fighters, up-to-date maps showing every road and trail in this area, were made by members of the camp.                                          

•••••••••

Norman Zettler of Marshfield was granted a license by the city council Tuesday night to operate a used car parts business in the Schweinler barn, East Sixth Street, Neillsville.                                    

•••••••••

Walter Zank, Pine Valley, son of Mr. and Mrs. Wm Zank, and Miss Frieda Gerhardt, Neillsville, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Wm Gerhardt, were united in marriage at the Reformed Church parsonage Wednesday, April 22, Rev. E. H. Vornholt officiating.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Ed Zank, brother-and -sister-in-law of the groom, were witnesses.

 

The young couple will live on the Stelloh farm in Pine Valley.                                  

•••••••••

Here’s one for Ripley’s “Believe it or Not.”  Mrs. F. M. Garman last week went into her garden, according to Dr. Garman to harvest a few parsnips for dinner and got hold of one that felt as though it was anchored to a rock.  After a most difficult struggle Mrs. Garman got the parsnip out and what a parsnip it turned out to be.  It was 34 inches long and a couple of inches in diameter.                                                                                         

•••••••••

Fire was discovered in the sugar bush at the Charles Greeler farm in the Town of York Sunday evening at about 6:30 o’clock.  A woodpile caught fire from sparks from the smokestack of the cooking shanty.  Fortunately, the Greeler family had just installed a telephone so were able to summon help from among their neighbors, thus saving the shanty and syrup equipment and a large portion of the wood.                                                      

•••••••••

Rev. E. H. Vornholt, who has been pastor of the Reformed Church here for several years, has resigned to accept the pastorate at Berne, Minn.  This is a Swiss community, out in the country, 27 miles northwest of Rochester.

 

He will hold his last service here in May.                                               

•••••••••

The Arbutus Lake CCC Camp at Merrillan (Hatfield) Wisconsin is entering its seventh work period with an enviable record of work accomplishments for the time the camp has been in existence.  The camp was established June 16, 1933, on Arbutus Lake and it has been at the same location ever since.  The working territory includes southern Clark County and practically all of Jackson County east of Black River Falls.

 

The camp is a State Forestry Camp under the jurisdiction of the Wisconsin Conservation Department.  It has been really loaned to the State of Wisconsin by the federal government for work in Fire Protection District 10 of the Conservation Department.

 

It was established primarily for fire protection purposes, and secondarily for the improvement of the communication and transportation facilities in the district.  Besides these two main purposes, there are numerous others for establishment such as: improve forest stands, reduction of fire hazards, and construction of fire breaks, planting, blister rust control, stream improvement, lake improvement, dam construction and mapping.  All of these purposes revert back indirectly to fire protection.

 

The following is a summary of some of the major accomplishments, which make the boys down here “swell with pride”; 28 bridges, 5 concrete dams, 133 miles of telephone lines, 50 miles of fire breaks, 55 miles of roadside clearing, 216 miles of trailside clearing, 6,593 man-days of fire pre-suppression, 1,252 acres of fire hazard reduction, 760 miles forest stand improvements, 111 miles of truck trails, 1,185 acres of Norway, Jack and White Pine in plantations or equaling 1,500,000 trees planted.

 

The 133 miles of telephone lines constructed has connected all the lookout towers with the dispatcher’s office in the Ranger Station at Black River Falls.  The new lines are metallic circuits, and they have made the fire detection system more efficient in both observing and reporting fires.                         

•••••••••

Opening Dance at Tioga Tavern, Satruday, April 25, 3 ½ miles south and 2 miles west of Willard, at Frank Hren’s Farm, Good Music, Gents 25’, Ladies Free!

 

 It was a “busy shopping day” when this photo was taken of the 500 block along Hewett Street, downtown Neillsville in 1936.  There were several stores, which included two or three grocery stores and two drug stores.  (Photo courtesy of Steve Roberts)

 

April 1956

 

For Sale: Last Unit of Veterans Village.  The City of Neillsville offers for sale the last unit in Vets Village, as follows: 805 West Fourth Street, one of the Smaller Units.  Sealed Bids will be received at the office of the city clerk up to 5 p.m., April 10, 1956.  John C. Brandt city clerk

 

The April 12, 1956 issue of The Press ran this news item:

 

The City of Neillsville sold the last of its veterans housing units Tuesday night, to the Loyal Rotary club for $219.75, and turned its attention to the disposal of the nine lots on which these units were situated.

•••••••••

Sale of the local egg buying station of the Bowman Dairy Company to the C. W. Hawes Co., Inc. was effected last week, with the latter taking over the operation Monday.  Included in the sale were the route trucks and other equipment.

 

The Hawkes Company, a native of the state, has long been in the egg buying field in Wisconsin, and is one of the largest in the business in the state.

 

In telling of the sale, a representative of the Bowman Dairy Co. explained that Bowman has developed extensive egg buying fields in Illinois, closer to its Chicago headquarters, and that it “is difficult to operate a branch so far from” its main base of operations.                                                                               

•••••••••

Fishing indoors for scrappy Brook and Rainbow trout will be a featured attraction at the two-day Sports Show in Loyal Saturday and Sunday.  The show is being sponsored by the Loyal Sportsman’s club.

 

An indoor tank has been planted with fish measuring nine inches and over, some weighing up to three pounds.  Anglers may keep whatever they catch and the person catching the heaviest trout each day will receive a one-week vacation at a resort in the Indian Head Country of Wisconsin.  Fishing tackle will be awarded the next two winners each day.

 

The show is being staged in the Braun Building with doors opening at 1 p.m.  A stage program will be presented at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. both days.

 

(Has the sport of fly-fishing in this area disappeared?  I remember in the 1950s, when some in the Loyal area, such as Sherrin Mack and my husband, Lloyd, left early on the opening of fly fishing season, traveling to the Brule River up north where water froze on the fishing-lines, in their hopes of catching trout, and later fly-fishing on Hay Creek, along Cty, Trunk I, near Rock Dam.  In the Neillsville area, it was Milo Mabie and Herman Hagedorn, dedicated fly-fishermen, who fished streams south of town and on Jackson County creeks.

 

Or is the lack of fly-fishing due to trout disappearing in the area streams? DZ)

•••••••••

A “substantial grant” has been made toward the establishment of an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Neillsville, it was revealed this week by members of the local committee.

 

The grant has been voted on by the Home Mission department of the Evangelical Lutheran Church.  Its amount was not revealed.

 

Thomas Dorski, a member of the local committee said: “The Home Mission board is very interested in the movement to start a new church here, looking for a fine turnout at the May 17 meeting.”

 

The local committee is composed of Charles G. Jordahl, Myron J. Jordahl, Mr. Dorski, Kenneth M. Olson, Hilbert Naedler, Fred Appleyard and Melvin Appleyard.                                                               

•••••••••

A three-student team gave Neillsville High School its third consecutive first-place rating in the state crops judging contest in Madison last week, the first time any school has achieved such distinction.

 

The team was composed of Art Stiemke, who placed ninth in the individual ratings; Bob Bell, who placed third among individuals; and Ben Urlaub, whose “perfect 100” placed him tops in the state.  John W. Perkins is the high school agricultural instructor, whose crops teams have consistently rated among the tops in Wisconsin.

•••••••••

Sam’s Superette has been purchased by Mr. and Mrs. Otto Gustman, who are now actively managing the business.  The store will now be known as Gustman’s Corner, in Neillsville.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Sam Ray commend you, the customers, to Mr. and Mrs. Otto Gustman who will continue to operate the store that you will find friendly and in which you will find fruits, vegetables, meats and groceries that are fresh and priced right.

•••••••••

Mary Oestreich, daugher of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Oestreich, and Cullen Ayer, son of William Ayer, were married at Waukon, Iowa, Friday, April 20.  They will live in Loyal.                

•••••••••

Four, or possibly five, track meets have been scheduled for Neillsville High School’s 22-man squad this year.

•••••••••

(Corrections on “Good Old Days” pages: March 16, 2016 should have been March 1911, not 1901, and March 23, 2016 was March ‘the date was omitted at the bottom of this page’. Dmk)

 

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