Clark County Press, Neillsville, Wisconsin

November 7, 2018, Page 9  

Contributed by "The Clark Co. Press"

Transcribed by Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon.

Index of "Oldies" Articles 

 

Compiled by Dee Zimmerman

 

Clark County News

November 1878

 

Several firms in town have been endeavoring the past week to see which could give the greatest number of barrels of apples away.                                                             

•••••••••

On the first day of this week, County Surveyor Bussell laid out the new road on this side of the Black River from the old bridge at Arch Day’s to the site selected for the new bridge, this side of Arnold’s.  After leaving the old bridge, the road as laid out, will follow the bank of the river for about a mile and a half, when it will make a straight cut across the big bend made by the river and strike that stream again about a mile below the mouth of Wedges’ Creek, and near the new bridge.  Mr. Bussell thinks the new road will be about three-quarters of a mile shorter than the old road, and with proper turn-piking, will make a much better one.  The Town of Levis has commenced work on the road and intends to get it turn-piked and completed before it freezes up, unless winter sets in earlier than usual.

 

(That bridge would have spanned the Black River near the present bridge site on the STH 95 route south of the Dells Dam. DZ)                                                                                

•••••••••

Miller Brothers of Greenwood have recently sold several carloads of basswood lumber that was delivered at Hatfield for $20 per thousand feet. They furnished all they have been able to procure, at this price, and are still unable to fill the orders sent to them. The lumber was shipped west over the Green Bay railroad.

 

The value of the basswood lumber is at least becoming recognized, and it will not be long before the demand everywhere will be greater than the supply.  There is money in hauling basswood to Hatfield at $20 per thousand, but there would be much more in it if we had a railroad to this place, and this section fooled themselves in voting against the railroad proposition last summer.  Had it been put in this fall, most of them would have had a profitable winter’s job ahead of them in getting out logs and stave bolts.

•••••••••

Quite an addition has been made to the force now occupying Doc French’s hunting shanty on the East Fork during the past week.  If there is anything in that locality that can be made into venison, it will be done.

•••••••••

Next Wednesday afternoon, on the 27th, I will put chickens in the field adjoining Mrs. J.H. Marshall’s.  Come and shoot a turkey for your Thanksgiving dinner.  D.H. Gates.

•••••••••

Mr. Wm. Yorkston of Lynn furnishes us the following news from his vicinity:

 

Quite a little village is starting up at Marsh’s Corners in the Town of Grant. The building formerly used as a store by the Granger’s has been purchased by a German, who is putting in a large assortment of goods consisting of groceries, boots and shoes, dry goods and hardware.  He says he will take all kinds of farm produce in exchange for goods and will sell cheap for cash.

 

Mr. Nelson Marsh has bought two lots upon which buildings are erected; one building is for a blacksmith and a wagon-maker to ply their trades in, the other building is for the residence of the blacksmith.  We are informed that a shoemaker is coming in the spring to purchase a lot and put up a building, in which he intends to make and mend boots and shoes for the people of this neighborhood.

 

(At first, the village was named Mapleworks, later being changed to Granton. DZ)

•••••••••

Several tough looking customers made their appearance here the first of the week and opened up what they called a wheel of fortune, one of the devices for gulling the gullible.  They made themselves very much at home, so much so that on Tuesday evening one of them followed one of the guests of the O’Neill House into the dining room with the avowed intention of thumping him for some pretended insult.  The guest, who was very good-natured and somewhat tipsy, had given no apparent cause for assault, and it looked very much as though an opportunity to rob the victim in a scuffle was all that was desired.

 

Dick Lynch, the able-bodied clerk of the O’Neill House, took the fellow’s word for it that he was spoiling for a fight and accommodated him with neatness and dispatch.  After receiving as good a pounding as he could have found in a month’s travel, he was arrested and lodged in jail.  Justice Kountz next morning attended to his case, giving him three days more in jail and a fine of moderate proportions.

 

One of his partners was arrested the next morning and lodged in jail on the charge of gambling.  Somehow the “Wheel of Fortune” has turned wrong side up with them here, and when they can get away they will do well to dig out and try some other community.

 

September 1938

 

The Highway 29 bridge over the Popple River near Owen was opened to traffic Tuesday, just a month after construction on the new span was started.  The bridge replaces one, which was washed out by the September flood.  Repairs on the Dill Creek bridge on County Trunk N were finished a week ago at a cost of $1,136, according to County Highway Commissioner Otto Weyhmiller.  Mr. Weyhmiller said work on the Miller bridge in the Town of Colby probably will be completed by November 10. The estimated cost of the Miller bridge is $5,000.                                                                                      

•••••••••

Mrs. Alfred Klopf informs the Press that her father, Samuel B. Calway, built the Episcopal Church in this city, its altar and founts.  Mr. Calway being an expert carpenter and cabinet-maker.  He came to this city 70 years ago and saw Neillsville grow from a crude logging town to a beautiful little city.  His work on the church was donated.

•••••••••

In an effort to raise money with which to take the Neillsville High School Band to the 1939 American Legion State Convention in Oshkosh, the local post of the American Legion is planning a benefit dance at Keller’s Silver Dome Tuesday, November 22.  Dux’s orchestra will furnish the music. 

•••••••••

An unromantic pink pig signifies the spirit of Dan Cupid in the Clark County Clerk’s Office.

 

The pink pig is a little bank, which once held the marriage license fee of Clarence Kehrberg of Loyal and Inez Olsen of Spencer.

 

Now it holds miscellaneous pennies and dimes donated by sympathetic souls entering the clerk’s office and spotting the pig.

 

For, now imprinted on the rather generous back of the swine bank is the plea: “Marriage fund, please contribute.”

 

The pig found its way into the clerk’s office when Mr. and (now) Mrs. Kehrberg applied for their marriage license on September 23. It then contained an odd assortment of pennies, nickels and dimes, which the couple had saved as their own marriage license fund.

 

The bank was opened by Herbert Borde, assistant to County Clerk Calvin Mills. Borde counted out the 50-cent license fee.  Approximately $3 was left to give the couple a slight financial boost. Feeling kindly, the Kehrberg’s-to-be left the pink pig behind.

 

As no couple lacking the 50-cent fee but wanting the license has made the fact known, said Mr. Borde the fund probably will be given to some charitable organization.          

•••••••••

Joseph Felser formerly employed at the Ghent Machine Shop Wednesday took over his new duties as fireman-laborer at the post office.

 

Mr. Felser was one of 31 persons who applied for the position.  The appointment was made under civil service regulations and according to experience, Postmaster Louis Kurth said.

 

Victor Carl, post office chairman, has been undertaking the duties of fireman-laborer while the appointment was awaited.                                                                                      

•••••••••

Clark County supervisors meeting for a day and a-half of their fall session early this week before adjourning in favor of the deer hunting season, sat back, smoked  gift cigars and ate gift apples and candy bars as they listened to annual reports of a few departments.

 

The ”goodies” were furnished by various county officers to aid in making the supervisors feel “at home,” to embellish their comfort during the tedious routine work, and to add a little enjoyment to their stay.

 

And, from appearances, the smoke, which filled the circuit court room in which they met, and the number of hands holding half-eaten candy bars and apples; the gifts well served their intended purposes.

 

But their employment of the goods did not in any way distract the interest of the supervisors in the business at hand.

 

For instance, keen delight and pardonable pride were evidenced by most members, when they were told by county forester Allen Covell that the county’s forest reserves are being used more and more for the recreation purposes for which they are meant.

 

“With the completion of the Hay Creek Dam,” Mr. Covell declared, “Clark County has increased its recreation facilities and has put to good use the ‘waste’ land in the county.”

 

He pointed out that the county forest still ranks high among other county forests in the state.

•••••••••

Kenneth Speich, 11, Greenwood, gave a piano recital Sunday afternoon at the studio of his teacher, Miss Mabel M. Bishop. This was a repetition, chiefly for out-of-town people, of a recital given for Greenwood neighbors on November 5.

 

At the first recital, he was given a bouquet by the Slausen boys and their mother and responded with an encore.

 

Kenneth’s program was nearly an hour in length, all played from memory.  Kenneth is the son of Mr. and Mrs. George Speich of Greenwood, who are well known in Clark County.

•••••••••

Mr. and Mrs. John Hubing of Loyal celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary Tuesday, November 15, when about fifty of their friends and neighbors gave them a surprise party at their home.

 

John Hubing and Mary Ziglinski, both of Neillsville, were married November 15, 1898, and immediately after their marriage, went to Loyal and settled on the farm, which has since been their home.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Hubing and their children have converted their tract of wild land into a fine modern farm, and beautiful buildings replace the crude log house, which served as their first home.

 

They have six children and 17 grandchildren, five of the children being present for the celebration, namely: Lorraine, Mrs. Paul Bauer and Beatrice, Mrs. Rollie Bauer, Loyal; Raymond and Joseph Hubing at home; Antoine Hubing, of Neillsville, Vanetta, Mrs. Kenneth Johnson, Chicago, was unable to attend.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Hubing were presented with a fine gift of money, with which to purchase what they desire.

•••••••••

While Don and Harold Thoma were coming home from school one day, they sighted a beautiful white collie stray dog. They befriended the dog and found him to be a fine farm dog.  About two months later, a farmer from the northern part of the county claimed the dog.  The Thoma’s valued the dog so highly that they offered the dog’s master a choice of the best cow on their farm for the dog. The offer was refused.  A month later, the dog was run over and killed.

 

(The above dog story has a sad ending.

 

I will share a story about a dog our family once had.

 

When I was 10 years old, my grandpa gave me a two-month old collie-English shepherd mix puppy that I named Buster.  He would become a great farm dog and family pet.

 

Every summer morning, Dad would call upon Buster to drive the dairy heard bull into the barn, where he was stanchioned during the day, and later let out to pasture in the evening.  Buster had given the bull a nip on his nose and, heels that had earned his respect.  Dad gave us strict orders that no one was ever to enter the cattle yard when the bull was in there.

 

One summer day, half an hour after the noon meal, Mom went looking for Gary as it was nap-time.  She asked brother Norman and I to join the search,.  As we came to the wagon trail behind the barn, we saw little footprints and paw prints on the sandy wagon path that led us over a hill behind the barn.  We continued walking along the wagon trail that bordered a hayfield for some distance, until coming to the large cornfield covered with tall standing cornstalks.

 

Reaching the cornfield, we started calling out Gary’s name, and soon Buster came out from amongst the tall corn.  Wanting our attention, he would slowly retreat back into the cornfield, stopping now and then, watching for us to follow him.  After walking some distance, he had led us to where Gary was found, lying asleep on the ground beneath the corn stalks.  It was Gary’s nap-time and I’m sure the long hike had added to the little tot’s fatigue, so much so that he had to nap right there, in the cornfield. 

 

Buster had taken on the responsibility of protecting a member of his family, which entitled him to receive some hugs and being considered as “our hero” that day. DZ)

 

 

An early 1930s view of Hewett Street, looking north from the intersection of 4th
Street, Zimmerman Brother’s Store can be see at the left.

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