July 1878

There are some Clark County people slightly smitten with the Dakota fever.  But if they intend to go over there and take a tree culture claim, they might want to retain their residence here.

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Work on the new Odd Fellow’s Hall has been commenced in earnest.  It will be a frame building veneered with brick, 14 x 70 feet in size and two stories high. The upper story will be occupied by the Odd Fellows and temperance societies, jointly, as a lodge room.  The lower story will be leased for business purposes.

(The Odd Fellows Lodge hall building still stands on the south side in the 100 block on West 5th Street, second building east of the West Street intersection.  As you look up above the second story of the building, you can see and read the inserted block, which identifies the building. DZ)      

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Does the man, boy, brute, or whatever it was, who took advantage of the absence of a poor sewing woman from her home-to-be splatter her walls with eggs, feel proud of the achievement?  “The Republican Press” would like to herald your name directly as the contemptible whelp that you are, but of course you are too cowardly to let your name be known, for only a coward will strike in the dark.

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The cheese factory at Huntzicker’s is already supplying the stores of this place with a very excellent article of cheese.  The establishment is a complete success in every way.

(The Huntzicker cheese factory was located in the Town of Eaton, west side of State Hwy 73, north of the intersection of Twenty-Six Road. DZ)                                       

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Several loads of wheelbarrows and other implements for the construction of the Hemlock Island Dam, passed thru town this week.  A steam sawmill will be erected on the spot for the purpose of sawing the plank and square timber needed in the construction of the dam.

(The Black River Logging Association was building a dam at Hemlock, one mile south of where the Popple River empties into the Black River, as a way of controlling the river’s water level during log drives downstream to the La Crosse markets. DZ)       

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Ed Donovan of Loyal has a real good dog, and the family thinks a great deal of him; but he is not a brave dog, and he would never volunteer to put down a rebellion or fight Indians.  He is not even equal to the emergency of a 4th of July celebration.  Ed’s dog was up early on the morning of the last National anniversary, but if he had any bright anticipations for that day they were all knocked in the head by the firing of an anvil, at the first sound of  which he left the village as fast as his legs could carry him, making more noise than the anvil that frightened him.  The dog being indispensable in the family, he had to be found, and was found after a week’s search, near Greenwood.

Come to think about it, our practice of celebrating the 4th with noise, is enough to disgust a well brought up dog.

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Through the agency of Mr. Herman Shuster, district clerk, the Neillsville Grade School will draw its proportion of the state fund for the maintenance of public high schools.  What the amount will be we are unable to state, but it till be a benefit whether much or little.                                      

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The Sherman Guards, of this place, have received new uniforms, throughout.  It is of dark blue cloth and cut in the style of the United States Infantry uniform.  The caps are of dark blue cloth, with gold wreath and pompon in front.  Altogether the outfit is a very handsome one, in which the company, with the proficiency in drill already attained, will compare favorably with any military company in the state.

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A little ten-year-old son of Herman Hemp of Weston received quite serious injury last Thursday evening.  He was standing before a yoke of oxen keeping the flies off their heads with a brush.  In its overzealous efforts to free itself from the flies, one of the oxen struck the boy in his side, just below the ribs, with his horn, making a very ugly wound in the muscle, and extending upwards a couple of inches and about the same in width.  Fortunately, it neither penetrated the cavity of the body nor broke any of the ribs, as it might have done.  Dr. Cargen, who dressed the wound, thinks it is not at all dangerous.

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Patronize your home area and buy Greenwood Cheese at Lee & Co. in Neillsville.

(This was apparently the name of the cheese that was being produced by Huntzicker’s cheese factory. DZ)

Clark County Ghost Towns

Carlisle – located in the Town of Levis, on the Corner of State Highway 73 and Owen Avenue.

Thompkins Hotel – was near the junction of Poertner Avenue and Opelt Road, west side of the Black River, north of the bridge.

Heintown – was on Heintown Road, two miles east of Christie, then one mile north on Owen Avenue at that intersection.

Romadka – a railroad spur stop, one mile south of County Road H, on Romadka Ave.

July 1938

Mr. and Mrs. Henry Rundle of Humbird made a pleasant call at the “Press” office while up here to visit at the Henry Frantz home.  Rundle, a veteran of the Spanish-American War, came to Clark County with his parents in 1876, settling in the Town of Levis.  His father was a Civil War veteran.  Henry was born while his father was at the front lines, so he was named Wm. Henry Frederic Ira Thomas Rundle.  However, he shortened it to Henry. Mr. Rundle has gathered a lot of interesting history on the early days in Levis.  Friends will be pleased to learn both he and Mrs. Rundle have recovered from ill health and accidents. 

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The interior of the Winnebago Indian School here will be repainted in the near future, and for this job over 300 gallons of paint have been purchased.                                            

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No member of a county board is permitted, under the law, to be assigned to or work on a county WPA project, according to the attorney general.                                                    

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Harry A. Larson, a rural mail carrier at Menomonie, was bitten by a four-foot bull snake, which had crawled into a mailbox to rob a bird’s nest of its eggs, when the carrier reached his hand into the box.

(It is hard to imagine a four-foot snake fitting into a mailbox.  I do remember bull snakes being four to five feet long, 2 ½ inches in diameter, crawling out of the bluff hillsides on warm summer days above the Jim River on the Dakota prairie.  DZ)                                                             

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David Parry and Carl Wegner did an expert job of cleaning the ceiling and sidewalls in the Sniteman drug store, which brought out again the brilliant colors of gold, brown and White used years ago, and also rosettes and other decorations.  By the way, the Sniteman drug store was the first building in the city wired for electricity, using carbon lamps until filament bulbs came on to the market.

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Wm. Hickathier of Bloomer fixed a contraption for the front of his car to catch grasshoppers as he ran it through a field.  The hoppers fell into the pan at the bottom of the car and in a short time he caught five grain-sacks full of hoppers.

Grasshoppers were so thick in Washburn County that the train was stopped due to the rails being too greasy from squashed hoppers.  The train was unable to start moving again without assistance.

(The year of 1938 had to have been the worst year for the infestation of grasshoppers throughout the Mid-west.  Some farm fields were totally destroyed, such as in the Dakotas where the grasshoppers chewed off corn and grain plants down to within a few inches from the ground. DZ)                      

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Two Greenwood families, Mr. and Mrs. E.A. Elmer and Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Quast, celebrated their golden wedding anniversaries Sunday, July 3, with many children and friends attending in honor of the event.  The Elmers were married at Columbus and moved to Greenwood nearly 40 years ago, where they raised a family of ten children, all of whom were present for the festivities.

Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Quast were married in Jefferson and resided there until 1907, when they settled on a farm south of Greenwood.  Later, in 1917, they moved into Greenwood, where they have since lived.

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Bruce Beilfuss, who graduated with honors from the Neillsville High School in 1932 and the University of Wisconsin with Bachelor of Arts degree in 1936 and a Bachelor of Laws degree in 1938, is engaging in the practice of law at Abbotsford, where he is opening a law office.  He will be associated with Atty. H.G. Haight in Neillsville in the practice of law.

Bruce made an excellent record at the university.  He is a member of Gamma Eta Gamma fraternity and of Kappa Sigma social fraternity.  He has been admitted to law practice in all state and federal courts.  Bruce is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Beilfuss and has the best wishes of a large circle of friends in Neillsville in taking up his new duties.

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Neillsville golfers lost a closely contested match to the visiting Owen team Sunday, July 10, by one-half a point.  Among the visitors were Earl Kidd, W. Kozlowski, Christianson, F. Pacholke, Bob Cattanach, E. Hâaya, Ed Cass, Lou Cattanach, Bert Cattanach, S. Harlyche and M. McMillen. Following the contest, a lunch was served at the club house to the participants.

Best golfer of the day was Lou Cattanach of Owen,  who turned in an 80 for 18 holes.  Others with low scores were Hash Hagen with an 83, Bob Cattanach and Harry Palms with 84’s, Art Tangen 85, Bert Cattanach 86, J. Olds 87, Allen Pacholke 89, and Dr. Lee 88.

(The Cattanach brothers of Owen were all noted as good golfers on the Owen golf course.  Bob Cattanach and his family later became residents of Neillsville, where Bob became well known for his golfing scores on the Neillsville Country Club course. DZ)                                              

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A fine compliment was paid of the Neillsville golf course last Thursday by Mr. and Mrs. Barclay of New York City, who were passing through Neillsville on their way to St. Paul; stating that it is one of the finest courses they have seen in a town the size of Neillsville.

Mr. Acheson is associate editor of the Reader’s Digest and so interested did he and his wife become in the local course, that they declined to accept an invitation to an early dinner given by the women at the club house, preferring to spend their time on the course.  Mr. Acheson spoke at a meeting at St. Paul later that evening. 

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Flying over Neillsville at the rate of four miles a minute Thursday morning, Howard Hughes and his party of four, in round-the-world flight, gave many of our citizens quite a thrill.  Like a silver bird, almost two miles up in the air, the plane passed over here quickly, with the roar of the two 550 hp motors plainly being heard.

The party of fliers passed over Neillsville 33 minutes after leaving Minneapolis, and they arrived in New York three hours and 53 minutes after passing over Neillsville.

This gives some indication of how short great distances are made by the high speed of modern airplanes, which will be going still faster in a few years.  The flight across Wisconsin was made in one hour and 18 minutes.

Howard Hughes, a multi-millionaire sportsman and his party, including pour companions, flew around the world in an elapsed time of 91 hours, eight minutes and ten seconds, less than half as long as it took Wiley Post to make the same route five years ago.                                                   

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A Stevens Point taxi driver last Thursday drove a dark-eyed blond to a greenhouse where she told him to go in and buy a large bouquet of flowers.  When the taxi driver came out with the flowers the pretty blond and the car were gone.  The car was later found near Neillsville, without the blond in sight.

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Ernie Snyder is active in quite a development at Wedges Creek, near Highway 10.  He planted a large number of certified potatoes of a new variety that can be peeled by machinery.  Also, he and Wm. Ruchaber have planted 5,500 berry bushes nearby.  He may be doing something to improve the bathing and outing facilities by the lakeshore.                                                                                     

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When Billy Musil fitted up a tiny play cart with Hayrack a number of years ago, loaded it high with hay he had cut and cured himself, and hauled it from his home on State Street to Grandpa Musil’s farm at the north end of  the city, much to the amusement of the city’s citizens, he was a very small boy. He is eleven now, but ever since he transported that load of hay he has been working out bigger ideas; from the planning of a sheep ranch to the building of an automobile.

Last week Billy assisted by Kenneth Dux, completed a masterpiece, in which they have been riding up and down Neillsville hills with apparent ease and no small amount of pride. A pneumatic-tired coaster wagon was purchased from the Neillsville Tire Shop, lengthened out to accommodate two passengers and an old Maytag wash machine motor, adding a few bolts, belts, and a control lever, properly hitching them together and took off.

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