Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

September 2, 2009, Page 10

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

September 1909

 

The manager of Box Ball Bowling Alley will have free bowling for ladies Thursday and Friday afternoons, each week.

•••••••••

Patrons of the cheese factories at Fairview and Humbird received their June milk checks last month and all smiled happily at the topnotch price for milk, $1.15 per hundred pounds. During June both factories received in the neighborhood of 8,000 lbs of milk a day, but the drought caused it to drop to about 6,000 lbs. the last of July.  The Fairview factory had doubled its output this season and the one in the village has increased about 15 percent, with the factory holding its own.  Dairying is rapidly advancing throughout this section and the cows are not only being increased in numbers but the grade of milk is also being raised each year.

•••••••••

Eberhardts Store is having a “High Class Furniture Sale”: Library Table, high quality quartered oak, reg. $24, now $21; Large, Leather Upholstered Rocker, Reg. $30, now only $22.50; Quality Brass Bed, $28 value for only $24.95; 5-drawer solid Oak Chiffonier, $7.57, only $5.45; Birds-eye Maple Chiffonier reg. $15, reduced to $12.75.

•••••••••

A letter to the Editor, mailed from Andover, S.D.:

 

Dear Sir: As it is rainy at present and we have a little time, we decided to write a few lines for your paper.

 

There were seven of us, all from Neillsville, on this threshing machine crew but there are only three of us left.  Four of the boys have gone home to see their mothers; the other three of us are going to hang through until we get done.  The first one going back home narrowly escaped death at the hands of his father, who mistakenly took him for a tramp.

 

Anybody wishing a drink of artesian water can do so by calling on this party.

 

In about a week later, two more left for their respective homes, telling all kinds of fishing stories about this country for an excuse to go home to see pa and ma, and also their sweethearts.  Our advice is that the next time they go west, bring their mama with them, so they will stay a week or so at least.

 

Well, we three have been busy threshing just the same. Our best run was 3,770 bushels of wheat.

 

We will be home about Oct. 1st if all goes well.  We have about 10 days threshing here and then the machine will be shipped to Blunt, S. D., where we have 15 or 20 days run. Blunt is about 160 miles southwest of here.  Hoping to see the tenderfoots in the near future, we remain.  The Neillsville Boys, Charles White, Thomas Wren and Edward Selves

 

(Having lived in South Dakota as a child, I remember some out –of-state harvest-hands working on our farm who became very sick after drinking water from an artesian well, which contained a great deal of alkali, as do most wells in that area. D. Z.)

•••••••••

William Campman and L. Williamson have been appointed members of the reception committee to act with the State Board of Agriculture in welcoming President Taft during the time of his visit to the Wisconsin State Fair.  The badges received by the gentlemen are very nice and after use will be laid up in the archives of their homes as a lasting memento of one of the honors of acting as secretaries of the Clark County Fair.

•••••••••

Emery Bruley has the following property for sale for less than the value: 3 houses and lots in Neillsville; 360 acres of good Clark County land; 30 city lots in Neillsville; 10 acres of land within Neillsville city limits; one-fifth interest in a Ginseng farm; 1 Franklin automobile; 1 Brick store building, on Main Street; controlling interest in The Bruley Steel Fence Post Company.  Inquire of the owner.

 

(Emery Bruley was an early owner of Tufts’ Mansion and owned property in Northeast Neillsville, for which Emery and Bruley Streets carry his name.  He also had many patents on items he designed, such as the cant hook and fencing, while a blacksmith. D. Z.)

 

(Transcriber notes: I had paternal great-grandparents who owned and lived at 1010 N Emery St. and maternal great-grandparents who owned and lived on the corner of Bruley Street and E. 9th St. in the 1920s and 1930s.  Both houses are still there.)

•••••••••

Robert Glass left three very fine specimens of Duchess Apples at our office Monday and they tasted as delicious as they looked.  Bob’s ability to raise apples is now on par with his ability to raise whiskers and swap fish stories.

•••••••••

Mr. Pelton of Milwaukee is here to superintend the laying of the stone for the First National Bank. Bedford stone will be used in the building and should be completed in about three weeks.

•••••••••

William Boll traded his Lynn hotel to Joe Wiertz for his 160-acre farm in the Town of Washburn.

•••••••••

Mrs. Frances Mac Bride, primary teacher at the Granton School, and her two sons, Lamont and Douglas, who are students at Granton have been making daily trips via railroad between Neillsville and Granton this past week, which they will continue to do until they can find suitable residence or desirable rooms to rent for housekeeping.  Then, Mrs. MacBride’s mother, Mrs. Laura Brown will come to live with them.

 

September 1939

 

The estimated 150,000 persons who lined the streets of Oshkosh along the parade route at the American Legion state convention recently may have had some difficulty in determining what high school bands marched by; but not so with the Neillsville High School Band.

 

Members of the American Legion post saw to that.  A sign 12 feet long and bearing the name, “Neillsville” and the name of the Haugen Legion Post, preceded the band on the course of the march.  Officers of the Haugen Legion Post: Commander Harry Roehrborn, Darrell Cummings, Leslie Yorkston and Art Kunze, carried the Neillsville sign.

 

Post delegates were H. J. Naedler and Commander Roehrborn.  Mrs. Albert Dahnert was the auxiliary delegate.

 

Another article in the same issue of the Clark County Press in regard to the Neillsville High School band:

 

The Neillsville High School band proved its high rating among school musical organizations of Wisconsin during the recent State American Legion convention in Oshkosh by tying for the first place with the Nicolet High School band of West DePere, three-time national winners, in the class “C” competition.

 

Official notifications of the results of the convention contest were received later this week by Richard A. Becker, director of the band, and officials of the Otto A. Haugen American Post, which the band represented in the competition.

 

The official score card placed the Neillsville High School organization above the Nicolet High School musicians in music and appearance; but the Nicolet High School band was rated ahead of Neillsville in marching.  First and second place prize money of $35 and $25 was divided between the two organizations with each receiving $30.

•••••••••

Thomas Goodell, one of Clark County’s two remaining Civil War veterans, quietly observed his 91st birthday Tuesday at his home in Spokeville.

 

Mr. Goodell reflected on his own experiences with war and life, and drew the conclusion that “War is just a waste of life, time and money.”

 

“I don’t like it,” he declared with vehemence. “There was the time, way back in 1863, when I was a young buckaroo and felt it would be glorious adventure.  I enlisted in the Union Army when I was 15 years old, lied my age.

 

“That taste of war was enough.  It wasn’t a glorious adventure, as I had supposed.  It was an experience of useless horror.  General Sherman said, ‘War is Hell!’ And I might add that it’s just a waste of human life, time and money!”

 

A veteran of the battle of Gettysburg, Mr. Goodell was born August 29, 1848, 20 miles from Abraham Lincoln’s town, Springfield, on a farm in Fulton County, Ill.  Although he never saw the Great Emancipator, Mr. Goodell recalls hearing many, many stories about Abe in private life and as a public figure.

 

In his early youth, Mr. Goodell recalled, the name of Abraham Lincoln was on almost every person’s lips in the area constantly.  They repeated his speeches and told stories of his prowess at splitting logs.

 

A comparative snip of a youth when Goodell appeared at the recruiting station in 1863, officers in charge smiled as he lied his age and enlisted, but they said nothing.

 

He was mustered in Company A, 15th Illinois Infantry.  This company saw more than its share of action on many fronts and played a vital part in several battles.  Thomas Goodell was in the thick of them all from the time he enlisted until after Gettysburg.

 

But memorable Gettysburg was Mr. Goodell’s last battle with bullet and bayonet.  Shortly after the encounter he contracted measles, and started a life-long battle with sieges resulting from the infection.

 

When the measles overtook him, Mr. Goodell did not know what was wrong with him; so he kept right at the job of being a good soldier. With his outfit he went to Pittsburgh, Pa., where he boarded a train to carry the outfit to Louisville, Ky., and another battle.

 

But that was the curtains for Tom Goodell in the Civil War.  He lost consciousness during the train ride and came out of the coma some time later to find that he was lying on the deck of a ferry boat bound for David’s Island hospital.  A strong cold breeze was blowing.  As a result Mr. Goodell took cold.  For some time he battled with the cold and measles and several times he hovered near death.  The cold settled in his eyes and he nearly lost his sight.  Ever since that time he has been troubled by poor eyesight.

 

By the time he was released from the hospital, the war was over. A year later, in 1866, he was married to Mary Bayless, who died in 1914.

 

A farmer for many years, Mr. Goodell has been interested in many types of business enterprise.

 

“I’ve been in about as many things as there are to be, except jail,” he remarked.  For a time he was a dealer in cattle in Illinois.

 

For the last 12 years he has made his home with his grandson, Howard, in Spokeville.  His only son, Franklin, is living with another grandson, Everett, on a farm in Iowa.

 

Clark County’s other remaining Civil War veteran is Albert Darton of Loyal.

er

 

•••••••••

A new WPA wage scale is now in effect in Clark County.

 

Pay boosts for all but one classification of WPA labor had been announced for Clark County’s remaining 126 WPA workers in a revised pay scale.

 

According to G. E. Wiseman, district director of the WPA, unskilled workers on inside projects will be the only persons adversely affected by the revision. They will receive $39 per month, which amounts to a one-dollar per month cut in pay.

 

Unskilled laborers on out-of-doors projects receive a pay boost of $2.80, making their total monthly wages $42.90.

 

Largest increase was made in the skilled labor group, which receives a raise of $12.60 per month.  They will receive $67.60 as compared with $55 under the former scale.

 

However, top pay still goes to workers on professional and technical projects. They receive an increase of $7.99 per month, raising their wages from $60.91 to $68.90.  As a matter of fact though, the raise in this instance will not mean a great deal as only three persons in the county are on professional and technical projects.

 

(For those of us living in this era, it is difficult to imagine families living on the above monthly salaries, but they did and there were those who lived on less, as some of us can remember. D. Z.)

•••••••••

The St. John’s Lutheran School, starting on its 54th year in Neillsville, opened Tuesday with the largest enrollment in its history.  Ninety-two children enrolled in elementary and intermediate grades, according to Principal Erich Sievert and at least two more registrations are expected.

•••••••••

There will be bicycle races at the Cooperative Rally to be held at the Clark County Fairgrounds on Saturday, Sept. 9. Cash prizes will be given.  All boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 16 years are invited to enter these races.  Entries can be made to Henry Rahn before Saturday or at the Fairgrounds Saturday morning. Races start at 10 a.m., be sure to enter.  There will be Free Ice Cream!

•••••••••

Activities of Clark County residents, which last week temporarily depleted small local supplies of staple foodstuffs, appeared to run its course early this week. 

 

A heavy wave of buying, pointed particularly at sugar and flour, moved commodities from storerooms and shelves of Clark County merchants for several days.  At one time many merchants were forced to limit flour sales to one sack per family to spread out their small supplies as they awaited the shipment of new supplies.

 

During the first days of the rush as many as from 14 to 15 sacks of flour frequently were sold to one person.  One merchant said he had sold 40 sacks of flour and two sacks of sugar to one farmer.

 

The wave of buying had reached Neillsville and other Clark County communities during the middle of last week.  It appeared to be a continuation of a movement of which started a few days’ earlier in centers of population and which spread with increasing momentum to rural communities.

 

One local merchant said the buying wave resulted from “war price scare.”  Many recalled the high prices and limited supplies of basic foodstuffs during World War I, he said, and hastened to build up reserve supplies, just in case.

 

One farmer explained, “I ate black bread all during World War I, and I don’t intend to do it again.”

 

Although reserve supplies of flour and sugar were said to be plentiful, the sudden buying wave depleted supplies of local retailers, forcing prices to skyrocket.  Refiners and mills refused to ship out orders for a couple of days last week while they waited for the local market to steady, local merchants said.

 

 

Some members of the 1935 Neillsville High School football team, left to right: Bill Lowe, Jack Crothers, Don Paulus, Cliff VandeBerg and Vilas Kraft.  

(Photo courtesy of Bill Roberts’ family collection)

 

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