GOOD OLD DAYS

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

Clark County News

February 1876

The vaults in the new Clark County courthouse are being constructed and will soon be ready for use. The locks, doors, shutters and other parts are being furnished by Hall’s Lock & Safe Company.

Campbell, Watson & Hommel are building a magnificent fire-wagon.  It is designed to carry a supply of buckets for the fire company and the new Champion Chemical Fire Extinguisher which has been ordered from Louisville, Kentucky.  Neillsville will have a masterpiece of mechanical ingenuity when the fellows have completed the wagon.

L. J. Glass, Clerk of Circuit Court, has moved his office into the new courthouse.  His office is fitted up conveniently and tastefully. Glass can be found in his office, ready for business.

A sure way to be happy is to eat lots of clams and oysters.  Mrs. Tibbits keeps them on hand, at the restaurant, ready for her customers.

The party of young folks, from this area, who attended the leap-year party at Merrillan on Friday evening, of last week, returned on Saturday, reporting a splendid party.

Mills Colburn is making himself very useful by supplying kitchens with stove shelves. Every housewife who already has such shelves knows the value of this needful article in their kitchens.

The Divisions of the Sons of Temperance has engaged Rev. Bert E. Wheeler, formerly of Neillsville to deliver a temperance lecture at the Neillsville School House on Friday, February 18, 1876.

This society has prospered greatly since its organization last October.  They now have a membership of about 60 and for the purpose of a better society, propose to start a library. This library will give the society a permanency by bringing support of our area citizens.  This town is very much in need of a library, as next to our schools and churches, it is the best of educators.

In connection to the temperance lecture, we shall have music and readings.  At the close of the lecture, all of those wishing to join in enjoying a dish of oysters for supper are welcome to go to the residence of W. C. Allen.  Admission to the lecture is 25c; supper is $1 per couple.

A full stock of Gray’s molded collars can be purchased at Tommy Nichols’ barber shop.

We are requested, by certain residents living on East Street, to return their sincere thanks to the gentleman who has recently put a latch on his gate by the sidewalk. This kind deed has thus prevented the gate from obstructing the sidewalk and furnishing a stumbling block for pedestrians passing by on dark nights.

The ups and downs that have attended lumbering in Clark County during the present winter, owing to the changeable state of the weather, made us curious and for that purpose we visited the lumbering district this week.

During our trip, we visited what is known as “Weston & Schofield’s ‘big’ camp,” on section one, in township 28, range three west. This is beyond doubt the “boss” camp on the river.  It presents more the appearance of a frontier village than a logging camp.  It contains, at present, a population as great as many of our inland towns. The camp is laid with as much order as any village to be found. Within its area, there are ten buildings: a cook shanty, two sleeping shanties, four stables, a store room, a blacksmith shop and a cabin occupied by the family of one of the foreman.  The cook shanty is 24’ x 40’; the sleeping shanties are 24’ x 40’ and fitted to accommodate over 100 men.  The teamsters, who are the first to get out in the morning, occupy one shanty and the men otherwise employed live in the second shanty. The stables are 36’ x 40’ and afford stable room for 40 teams of horses. There is a well fitted store-room, 24’ x 30’, and a shop, in which a number of hands were actively working.  Some were constructing five sets of bob sleds while others were horse-shoeing and doing tool repairs.  About half-way between the camp and the landing is where the teams of horses are fed at noon and the teamsters take their dinner.  The buildings are high and well ventilated, being more comfortable than the majority of such houses and barns found in other such settlements.  Everything about the camp is kept in the most perfect order.

There are at present 80 men in the crew, working, with 33 teams; 23 oxen teams and 10 teams of horses, enabling an average of over 1,500,000 feet of logs to be moved in a week.  The timber, though taken from the valley of the Eau Claire River, is put into the Black River, which necessitates hauling the logs over a steep hill. The hauling to the top of the hill is done by oxen, four being used on each sled from the skidways to the foot of the hill, then six oxen pull from there to the top. From the top point of the hill, horses take the load to the landing.  Looking from the skidways to the landing, teams can be seen continually going and returning, presenting a sphere of activity not to be surpassed on many public thoroughfares.

At the time we visited the camp, nearly 4,000,000 logs had been landed on the ice.  Over 3,000 logs were on the skidways with the choppers and sawyers being a long ways ahead of the skidders.

Under the management of Tip Hilton, its gentlemanly foreman, the progress has exceeded the expectations of its proprietors.  If the rest of this winter remains moderately fair, they will get in considerably more than 8,000,000 logs, the amount they had calculated to handle at the commencement of the season.

(Township 28 is Reseburg Township, with Range three west, Section one being located in the square mile of the upper-most north east corner, bordering on the Town of Longwood. The Weston-Schofield camp was located within that section, between what is now Resewood Avenue and Sterling Avenue, south of the present Highway 29. D. Z.)

Emery Bruley wishes to engage in other business, so he is offering to rent or sell his saloon and black smith shop on lots east of the O’Neill House.  The premises are in good repair.

Humbird was treated to a genuine horse race on the ice last Saturday. A horse belonging to Mr. Hollenbeck, from below Alma Center, took first prize in the race. A horse belonging to the host of the Halstead House took second prize.  Quite an excitement was occasioned at the time by the upsetting of a cutter belonging to J. F. Allen and the spilling out of its occupants, Mr. Allen and Mrs. Hackney, on the ice.  In the upset, the robes got so completely wound around Allen and his partner, it appeared that the bundle which clung fast to the reins and so rapidly skipped over the ice was composed of but one individual. But, after proceeding in its hazardous manner upwards to 30 rods, the robes suddenly unfolded and Mrs. Hackney sprang to her feet, unharmed, having held onto the reins all of the time.

February 1931

Old-time fiddlers of this community will have a chance to show their skill to compete for cash and other prizes. The contest is being sponsored by the Adler Theatre in conjunction with the Neillsville Press, to be held on March 6.

All of the old-time fiddlers are urged to come out and take part in this display of fiddling skill which is sure to bring forth good talent.  Parts of Wisconsin have had a return of old-time dance music and square dancing is regaining some popularity just as it was once enjoyed when the older generations were doing the schottische, quadrille and reels. The ranks of the real old-time fiddlers are thinning out and few of the present age have had the pleasure of seeing and hearing these musicians in action.  Those fiddlers who have picked up the old “tunes” are eligible to enter the contest, the only requirement being that the contestant play by “ear.”

The fiddlers’ contest is attracting much attention.  The contestants now booked are: Roy L. McCann, of Loyal; Wilson O’Leary, 10, Humbird; Walter E. Goldsmith, Merrillan; Mrs. F. E. Dean, Hixton; Cy Hopkins, Nekoosa; Will Neville, V. Catlin, Mrs. George Bryan, Elmer Frantz and Henry Wallace, all of Neillsville; Leo Stanley, Greenwood and Jimmy Ryan, Owen.

A proposed 4 cent gas tax bill has been introduced in the State Legislature by Senator Cashman. Senator W. J. Rush visited the Kiwanis Club meeting on Monday evening, requesting its members to voice an opinion on the gas tax measure.  The bill proposes to levy the 4 cent tax on gasoline and abolish the personal property tax on automobiles.

About a dozen men employed by the City of Neillsville are making rapid progress on the new intercepting sewer being laid along O’Neill Creek.  The work began at the lower end of the system and the job is going along fast, as there is little frost in the ground and the bottom lands along the creek are quite dry.

The money saved by the city in having little or no snow shoveling thus far this winter, will go quite far in laying the sewer and it helps keep the men employed.

The most encouraging sign of spring, on the date of February 12, is Fred Balch at work on his golf clubs.  He has polished up the shafts, painted the “mallets” and says that anybody can buy them cheap.  Balch says there are a lot of good shots left in those old golf clubs, but he can’t seem to get them out of those clubs anymore.

Joseph F. Zilk, the Standard Oil man, recently purchased the corner lot at the south-east end of Hewett Street on Highway 10, 95 and 73.  The property was obtained from C. R. Sturdevant and the house on the lot is now occupied by W. J. Landry and family.

Joseph F. Zilk purchased the southeast corner lot of the Hewett and Division Street intersection in 1931.  Later that year he started constructing a building for a car service and Buick dealership, which was known as the Zilk Villa. The attractive brick structure of a unique design was a model station of that era.

George D. Schultz, one of the oldest settlers in southern Clark County, died suddenly at his farm home near Dells Dam, Feb. 12.

Schultz was born in Buffalo, N.Y., Aug. 18, 1849, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Schultz.  In 1853, the family came to Wisconsin, staying one winter in Milwaukee, and then moved to a farm in Dodge County.  There, Schultz grew to manhood.  In 1870, at the age of 21 years, he came to Clark County, working in lumbering camps along the Black River and Cunningham Creek during winters and returning home for the summer.  He worked in the woods and on the river for 17 years, while he became foreman for the Black River Improvement Co.  He was placed in charge of Dells Dam: then used as a flood dam for log driving and held that position for 25 years.

On July 4, 1878, he was married in the township of Levis to Mary Leopold.  Soon after their marriage, he bought some wild land close to Dells Dam.  From time to time, he worked on clearing the land and erected buildings, developing it into a comfortable farm home.  During the years he was employed at the dam, he was one of the best known men in Clark County; from La Crosse to the headwaters of the Black River the woodsmen and river-men knew him and held him in high regard.  He was an authority on questions of logging, log driving, was efficient in handling men and getting work done.  He had an active interest in local government, serving on the Levis town board and school board for many years. Schultz was one of the oldest members of the Neillsville Odd Fellows Lodge, a member of about 40 years.

Besides his wife, he leaves five children: Florence, Mrs. Arne Bakken; Mrs. Hattie Blencoe and Hazel, Mrs. Tony Hantke, all of Neillsville; Phillip of Hatfield; and guy on the home farm.  Bessie, Mrs. F. Abend, died in 1928, and Oscar was killed by a falling tree in 1904.

The funeral was held Monday afternoon at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Tony Hantke with Rev. Paul White officiating.  The Neillsville Odd Fellows also took part in the ceremony.  A mixed quartet consisting of Mrs. Louis Lautenbach, Mrs. Curtis Powell, Walter Lynch and Carl Opelt furnished appropriate music for the service.  Burial took place in the family lot in Dells Dam Cemetery.

Mrs. Caroline Lustig, a resident on Neillsville’s north side, brought to the Press office, a bouquet of May flowers which she had picked on the bank of the Black River recently. The flowers were in full bloom and very pretty.  Mrs. Lustig, who is 79 years old, is very active and spends much of her time outdoors in the woods and walks downtown, often.

May and Ruchaber plan to move into their new store in the Dewhurst building, Monday.  Most of the stock is now in place and the store is a model of modern merchandising practices.  They have received a truck-load of cookies which will be given away next week as part of the store’s grand opening program.

Dr. Johnson of Abbotsford, a practicing physician for 35 years in that village and all along the Soo Line railroad for many miles, died last week at the age of 69.  The funeral was held at the Abbotsford Armory, Sunday under the auspices of the Masonic members.  A very large funeral attendance was reported, an estimate of nearly 2,000 persons.

A mass meeting of farmers, mostly members of the Farmers Union locals around Neillsville, met at the W.R.C. hall Tuesday. Their purpose was to discuss the question of building a bulk oil station in Neillsville to distribute gasoline and oil to farmers. The general sentiment seemed to be in favor of proceeding with the project.  A temporary committee, made up of a member from each Farmers Union local in this vicinity, was appointed.  The committee consists of: Calvin Mills, Mrs. Agnes Keller, Frank A. Viergutz, Charles Thompson, Arnold Worchel, Paul Kuhn, Victor Horton and E. W. Lee.

Last week, C. D. Bollom purchased the meat market from Wm. Betz and took possession Monday morning.  Bollom has been in the meat and grocery business for a good many years. For five years, he was located in Owen and one year in Greenwood.  Betz has not announced his plans for the future.

Eaton Center Graded School has re-opened for classes after being closed for some time due to the scarlet fever epidemic.