Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

November 5, 2014, Page 12

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

 November 1869

 

A harness shop is soon to be started in town by a gentleman who just arrived here, Mr. P. S. Dudley.  He is a practical workman of considerable experience and will do first-class work, besides keeping always in store a stock of goods in his line.  His shop will be in the building on Third Street formerly used as a warehouse by Hewett, Woods & Co.  The institution is needed here and will be liberally patronized.                   

•••••••••

Pork and salt for sale, by the barrel at Uncle Dan Gates flour and feed store

•••••••••

The Ball given at Arch Day’s hotel, six miles south of here, last Friday night, was a success.  About thirty couples were present.  The supper was gotten up and served in excellent style.  Arch keeps a good hotel.  He is one of those genial, whole-souled men and makes it pleasant and agreeable for all who stop beneath his hospital roof.

•••••••••

Dr. W. C. Crandall is building a new house and barn on the west side of town.  Doc, has started pretty late in the season, but intends having the job finished this fall.                                            

•••••••••

Wm. T. Hutchinson, real estate agent, offers for sale a choice lot of No. 1 farming lands in the Town of Eaton, in this county, two and a half miles from Eaton’s Mill on Black River, said tract contains 520 acres.  It will be sold at $3.75 per acre; one-quarter cash down, balance in three or four year payments, at six percent interest.

•••••••••

A party of gentlemen from Sparta passed through town the other day on a hunting excursion in our county.  The party consists of Capt. J. D. Condit, Charles Farnham, B. M. Masters, S. N. Dickinson, O. O. Irwin, Capt. G. A. Fisk and Wm. Wright.  We learn that they quartered in an old logging camp on Cawley Creek.

 

After a week, the hunting party has returned, bringing their dead game with them.  They made their headquarters in the woods, a short distance from Jones Tompkins’, a gentleman whom they found very obliging and willing as well as capable of conducting them to the best hunting grounds.  The party of men has footed up the result of the hunt as follows: killed 4 deer, 2 porcupines, 1 rabbit, 1 partridge, and 1 pine squirrel.  They also wounded some deer, wild cats, bears and wolves.  Whether this report can be relied upon or not, we cannot say, but we do know that Capt. Fisk was obliged to go after more ammunition.  That undoubtedly, accounts for the many rifle reports heard in the vicinity of their camp and the numerous targets found riddled full of holes.  Some old hunters declare it was not safe to travel much around there, though they found it a good cash market for their game.                                                

•••••••••

Hewett & Woods are building at their new mill on the Humbird road, two new houses, one to be used as a warehouse and the other for a hotel.  The travel upon that road is constantly increasing and it is deemed practicable to start a hotel there for the accommodation of travelers.                                                               

•••••••••

At the monthly Clark County Board meeting, Eli Mead was authorized to keep and maintain a ferry across the Black River, above the mouth of the East Fork and a license was granted to him for the purpose. 

•••••••••

We visited the new Methodist Church this week and found the plasterers just finishing the last coat of plaster.  The building looked well, and we justly feel proud of Neillsville’s first church.  We noticed much, however, that is necessary for its completion.   The pulpit and seats remain yet to be built and we know that the Church is unable to do it.  It is not a matter of public interest to our citizens?  Is it not our duty to take it in hand and see that it is done?  We all know that Mr. Walker, the pastor, has worked with unflagging zeal to secure the construction of the building.  He is poor; the Church is poor.  Is not the town abundantly able to render the necessary assistance?  Will it not be immensely to our benefit?  We think so; not only morally, but in every other respect.                                            

•••••••••

Free Lindsay will log on the East Fork this winter.  He starts for the woods tomorrow and before spring will have two million feet of logs on the riverbank.                                                            

•••••••••

An Exchange says: “A severe winter is generally predicted.  That of 1829-30 was one of the coldest on record.  Animals that house themselves in the cold weather have advanced their preparations and the freezing storms on land and sea are no equivocal warnings.  A distinguished savant, writing to the “Bulletin of the Scientific Society” of Europe, states that since the atmospheric perturbations of 1859-60 the years have been warmer, clearer and drier, and the barometric pressure higher than before; and these anomalies, so much moderation in the succeeding winters, cannot fail to find their compensations in exceedingly cold weather this season.                                                

•••••••••

A couple of hunters think they have found in a certain place in this county, a rich gold mine.  They did find a substance having an appearance of the precious metal.  They say it was in a rock, like quartz, and are about to give it a severe test.  One of them enthusiastically remarks that if it is gold, there is plenty of it, enough to pay the national debt!  Then it is certainly a most valuable discovery, but, “all is not gold that glitters!”

 

November 1944

 

The Rev. Ben Stucki has completed 25 years of service as head of the Winnebago Indian Mission and school.  During those 25 years he has built the school structure on the banks of the Black River at Neillsville and has conducted the mission operations here and at Black River Falls.  He has become a figure well known in the Evangelical and Reformed Church over a large part of the United States.

 

The anniversary of Mr. Stucki was given a celebration last week upon the occasion of the regular meeting of the Mission Board.  The celebration was a surprise to Mr. Stucki.  Probably the most gratifying part of the celebration was the participation of nearly 70 present and former employees, who made up a purse for Mr. Stucki and accompanied it by letters of congratulations and good will from those absent.  In addition to this purse, the present staff of the school gave Mr. Stucki 25 red roses and an anniversary cake.

 

While this year marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Rev. Ben Stucki, the connection of the Stucki family with the Indian enterprise runs back much farther.  The work was established at Black River Falls by Ben Stucki’s father, Jacob Stucki, in 1878.  The occasion of the establishment of the school at Neillsville was the overcrowding of the old mission at Black River Falls on Sunday, Oct. 8.  That was a combination occasion, with homecoming and rally, communion and baptizing of Indian children and infants.  A purse of $25 was given to Mr. Stucki by his grateful friends, Indians and others.

 

(A story told by Ben Stucki, as appears in a book, “The Winnebago at Home” written by Arthur V. Casselman.)

 

Some years ago a white man came to the Rev. Jacob Stucki at his missionary home and asked him if he knew where an old Indian by the name of Green Grass lived. Mr. Stucki told him that he did and offered to take him to the old man’s home.  This is the story that the white man told the missionary on the way:

 

“When I was a boy my father and mother and six of us children lived near Red Mound.  We were very poor.  It was almost impossible for father to support us out here in the hills, so he went to Chicago to make a living for us.  He left the family behind and used to send money every month from Chicago.

 

“The following winter was a severe one.  The snow was very deep, and travel was practically impossible.  It was fifteen miles to town and there was no way of getting mail.  We never heard from my father again.  Our condition grew more serious from day to day.  Mother made the little supply of food go as far as possible; but at last we had nothing left to eat.  There was no one to help us.  Mother put us to bed to keep us warm.  All the food there was in the house was a part of a loaf of bread.  With this she started to prepare a last meal for us.

 

While she was working in the kitchen she heard a noise outside and after a while two Indians came in with guns.  Mother was very much frightened because she thought they had come to kill us.  They they asked for something to eat, she showed the bread and said that it was all she had for herself and her children.  They asked to see the children.  She brought them into the room where we children were in bed and told them that we were starving.  The Indians then left.

 

Some hours afterwards they came back.  Mother was more frightened than ever, but she could not refuse to let them in.  When they came in she found that they had brought with them a quarter of venison, some dried squash, dried beans, dried corn and Indian potatoes.  They put the food on the floor and told mother to prepare something to eat.  She made a meal for them and set it out on the table and told them to eat.  The one Indian who could speak a little English, said, ‘Me no eat.  You and papoose eat.’  He repeated this several times before she finally understood what he meant.  This was the first meal we had had for a long time.  The two Indians sat silently and watched us eat and then they left.  All that winter the Indians supplied mother and us with everything we needed.

 

“Now I always stop here, whenever I can, to look up Green Grass, who was one of the two Indians who saved my mother and us from starving.”

 

It is interesting to know that Green Grass’s grandchildren were in the Winnebago Indian Mission School of the Reformed Church at Neillsville. I wonder whether Green Grass’s grandfather was not one of those old men who said to D. Radin:

 

“I still keep up the old system of teaching my children at the campfire.  In the morning I wake them up early and start to teach them as follows:

 

My children, as you travel along life’s road never harm anyone nor cause anyone to feel sad.  On the contrary, if at any time you can make a person happy, do so.  If at any time you meet a woman in the wilderness, and if you are alone and no one can see you, do not scare her or harm her, but turn to the right and let her pass.

 

“My children, if you meet anyone on the road, even though it is only a child, speak a cheering word before you pass on.”

••••••••

The war department has sent The Clark County Press an official release about the service and citation of Staff Sergeant Jack K. Crothers of Granton. 

 

The statement of the war department, as originating at an Eighth Air Force Bomber station to England and as passed by the field press censor, is as follows:

 

“For extraordinary achievement during bombing attacks on Nazi war plants and on military targets in support of allied ground forces, Staff Sergeant Jack K. Crothers, 24, of Granton, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

 

“Sgt Crothers is waist gunner on the Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying fortress ‘Borrowed Time.’  In addition to his DFC, he holds the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters.

 

“His group is a unit of the Third Bombardment Division, cited by the President for its shuttle mission to Africa when Messerschmitt aircraft plants at Regensburg were bombed.

 

“Sgt Crothers flew in attacks on military targets in Berlin, on aircraft plants at Munich and Stuttgart, a ball bearing plant at Schweinfurt, oil refineries at Leipzig, Magdeburg, Merseburg and Zeitz and on an engine repair plant at Paris. He was in action on D-Day.

 

“We had a bad afternoon at Berlin,’ he said, ‘Our pilot and co-pilot were both wounded, but they brought the plane back.  The bombardier helped them.  The cockpit caught most of the flak that time.”

 

Sgt Crothers is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wendell Crothers of Route 1, Granton.  He was formerly a student at River Falls State Teachers’ College.                                                                             

•••••••••

Just as the Sixth War loan was going onto its stride, the people of Clark County had an object lesson in the need of replacement of equipment lost in war.  The object lesson was afforded by two trucks, which moved through the county, bearing what was left of the plane, which went down last Friday night in the Pray region.

 

What was left of that plane was a sorry sight; the engine reduced to a lump of metal; the fuselage all crumpled and torn beyond recognition.  The whole filled the bodies of two large trucks, which appeared to be junk wagons and nothing better, as judged by their load.  The trucks were bound for the Twin Cities.

 

That is what happens to a plane when it is left to land by itself.  Its pilot, los and running out of gas, had jumped with his parachute and had floated to safety.  But the plane, left to its own devices and perhaps so directed by the pilot, before he jumped, as to land certainly in a wilderness, had fallen to swift and complete destruction.

 

Clark County has seen little of war’s waste.  This was just a tiny glimpse of it.  In all the battle areas planes are crashing, and all must be replaced.                                                                           

•••••••••

Arnold Lewerenz will be baritone soloist with the Westminster choice chorus, which will sing with the New York Philharmonic symphony, late in November and early in December, in Carnegie Hall.  They will present Balshazzar’s Feast, by the English contemporary composer, Walton.  The Westminster chorus will appear on the regular afternoon concert of the Philharmonic on Dec. 3.

 

Arnold is a student at the Westminster choir college at Princeton, NJ, where he is majoring in voice and minoring in piano. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Lewerenz, Neillsville.                  

•••••••••

Women! Age 18 to 40! Earn good pay while working for Victory, 100 women wanted at once for essential war work.  No experience necessary.  Good wages.  Light work.  Pay time and one-half for overtime.  Apply at Roddis Lumber & Veneer Company, Marshfield, Wis.

 

An early 1870s photo was taken on the west side of East Street (now Hewett Street). 

On the far left is Neillsville’s first brick building built in 1872.  The Harness Shop, on the southwest corner of Sixth Street, could be either that of J. P. Dudley or Sol Jaseph.  O. P. Wells’ business building is the fourth building from the right and Fred Klopf’s Cheap Cash Store is the first building on the right.

 

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