Compiled by Joseph Back

10 Years Ago PRESCOTT JOURNAL July 22, 2010

Thunderstorms were hit or miss near Prescott (photo) On Wednesday, July 14, storms ripped through with some area receiving several inches of rain, with gusts of wind reaching over 70 mph and some local flooding. According to the State Emergency Management Department, in St. Croix County over 30 homes were damaged.

The department was looking into whether damage in Hammond was due to a tornado or straight line winds. County officials estimated debris clearance costs at $10,000. In Pierce County, structural damage in the Ellsworth area included two destroyed homes, one with major damage, 13 with minor damage, and 25 homes that were affected by the storm. Rainfall totals were spotty and hard to record because of the heavy downpours and straight line winds received 0.36 inches of precipitation from Wednesday’s storms.

“We have had between 30 to 50 claims with the last two storms,” reported Char Magee of Prescott Insurance. “However, none of the claims were local. They were mostly out of town…”

25 Years Ago THE PIERCE COUNTY HERALD July 12, 1995

Agencies ready to help today’s runaways The Column (photo) Bill Kirk Most everyone has thought about running away from home at one time or another.

When I was a kid, the idea never advanced beyond a thought for me. But there was one occasion when I ran away from a different place—school.

It was opening day of my first school year. I was a first grader at a Northern Wisconsin elementary school, a district not offering kindergarten at that time. Instead of riding a bus, I had been taken to school by my parents, who were invited to spend some time with the other adults in the back of the room while we newcomers adjusted.

Eventually, I noticed they had left, and my new surroundings began to seem less attractive (he leaves the school building)… As it turned out, it didn’t matter. Shortly after I entered the store, I encountered my surprised parents, who reassured me about the school experience and returned me there. The urge to run never overcame me again. Only later did I learn the police had already been notified; if my parents hadn’t stopped my flight, they likely would have…(writer’s flight from school more due to “opening day jitters,” some kids in 1995 do have reason to seek a safe place) Among option for youths is the TeenCare Runaway Program. Based in this area in Menomonie, the programs assists youths and their families in crisis or with problems. Staffers help them deal with issues such as sexual pressure, drug and alcohol abuse, physical and emotional abuse, suicide, depression and general problem-solving.

One of 24 runaway programs affiliated with the Wisconsin Association of Runaway, TeenCare provides, free and confidential: —24 -hour crisis hotline for youth and adults (1-800-491-TEEN* or 235-8882*) —Youth and family counseling.

—“Time out” temporary shelter (upon guardian consent).

—Education and outreach.

—Prevention of youth in crisis from entering the social or juvenile justice system.

—Safe Place sites in six counties, which are businesses displaying black-and-yellow signs, where employees contact TeenCare.

(*possibly outdated, but more information on similar and contemporary resources can be found by going to https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/rhy)

40 Years Ago PRESCOTT JOURNAL July 10, 1980

Local draft registration to begin (photo of Postmaster) In the wake of world events occurring overseas affecting the United States, the House of Representatives recently ended a five month battle in Congress by ratifying legislation, to reinstate the draft registration. The House, on a vote of 234-168 approved President Carter’s request to bring back the Selective Service system and begin registration of men nineteen and twenty years old. This piece of legislation, costing 13.3 million dollars, was earlier approved by the Senate…

55 Years Ago THE PIERCE COUNTY HERALD

July 8, 1965

Ellsworth Beats N. R. 15-5; Pepin Tops Prescott 4-3 Pepin’s Lakers received a scare from last place Prescott Sunday in the Pierce-Pepin League as they eked out a 4-3 triumph to remain a half-game ahead of Ellsworth.

Ellsworth defeated Richmond, 15-5, in a battle for second to decide which team would challenge Pepin for the title and Hammond defeated Bay City 17-1, as Ron Hoffmeister hurled a no – hit game.

Hoffmeister struck out 18 Bay City swingers and walked five. He lost his shutout in the fourth inning. His teammates backed him with a 15-hit attack…

70 ¼ Years Ago THE REPORTER March 16, 1950

Obits: Mrs. Lyman Chinnock; Addie Goldsmith; Mrs. Ellen Husflosen Weather or Taxes?

The first half of March has passed and the county clerk’s office reports that there has been only one permit to wed issued so far. Must be that cupid is too busy worrying over the income tax problem or the possibility of getting snowed in and not making it to the church.

85 Years Ago THE ELLSWORTH RECORD July 11, 1935

CORN IS GROWING BY LEAPS AND BOUNDS/ By reason of the hot and humid weather of the past few days, corn which until a week ago was way behind schedule is making rapid headway. What corn needs for rapid growth is hot days and nights and conditions in the past few days have been ideal for its growth While little corn was knee high on the 4th of July, much of it exceeds that height now.

100 Years Ago PRESCOTT TRIBUNE July 22, 1920

MYRON REED PARTY REACHES OREGON/ Salem, Oregon, July 12, 1920 Dear Mr. Taylor: After thirty days of steady driving over 2509 miles of all kinds of roads, from mud, sand, rocks, and hills, to roads as fine as a city avenue, we have arrived in Salem, and are enjoying the hospitality of our old friends, Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Wilkinson and family. Mr. Fred Trulson was also here to welcome me.

Salem is rightly called “The Cherry City,” and the main business seems to be looking at the roses and eating cherries. The harvest is at its height and it certainly looks good. The ride over the “Yellowstone Trail” is a great experience. The road was a little moist through Minnesota and Dakota, and we had some experience with Dakota “gumbo.” Montana has had good rains this year and the caops are fine.

For anyone who enjoys “roughing it,” the trip is great. We came as far as Battle, Mont., without a mishap, but in coming down “18 mile hill,” a sharp rock cut a hole in one of our tires. I suppose the hill is 18 miles long, but it also seems 18 miles high…

115 Years Ago RIVER FALLS JOURNAL July 13, 1905

Vol. 49, No. 15 Notice to Contractors.

Notice is hereby given that the District Board of School District Number Two of the Town of Kinnickinnic will receive sealed proposals for the erection of a school house for said District at one o’clock p.m. July 20th, at the school house in said district.

Plans and specifications for the building may be seen at the office of the district clerk, and also at the office of Allen P. Weld in the city of River Falls. The right to reject any or all bids is reserved. The contractor is to furnish all material and labor.

Address all communication to A. H. Lovell, District Clerk.

R. R. No. 1, River Falls, Wis.

130 Years Ago THE PIERCE COUNTY HERALD July 9, 1890

C. J. Brewer, Editor./ All communications should be addressed to the Editor at Ellsworth, Wis./ OUR REPUBLIC./ [The following Essay was written by Miss Mabel Dickinson, of Maiden Rock, and read at the Public School Graduation at that place. Age of writer 13? (or 18) years.] Our Republic began at the Declaration of Independence when the old liberty bell proclaimed the glad tidings to the listening ears of the nation.

Our forefathers once decided that our population was never likely to be very dense west of Newton, a suburb of Boston; and the founders of Lynn came to the conclusion that the country would never amount to anything west of that. I imagine their surprise could they suddenly appear on this stage of action at the present day to find here 1,500,000 square miles of arable lands and a population of over 50,000,000. Great Britain is by far the richest nation in the old world; Our wealth exceeds hers by more than $276,000,000, and the European wealth is the accumulation of many centuries, while the greater part of ours has been created in the last fifty years. The time will undoubtedly come when the people of the United States will possess more wealth than all the nations of Europe.

Our soil is particularly favorable to the growth of this “root of all evil” (love of money). An English epithet applied to Chicago was that it was too “beastly prosperous.”… In speaking of inventions the first one that looms up before our eyes is Eli Whitney’s cotton gin. The raising of cotton in the Southern States did not prove to be a profitable employment; it did not pay for the time and labor of separating the cotton from the seed. But, when Whitney’s wonderful invention was achieved, hundreds of slaves were imported to work in the cotton fields. It was than that the first seeds of our civil war were sown, the harvest to be reaped over a half century afterwards.

(TO BE CONTINUED.)

145 Years Ago THE PIERCE COUNTY PLAINDEALER July 13, 1875

E. C. Kibbe, Proprietor Homeward Bound./ Homeward bound. How strange that we do not think of this oftener than we do. Homeward bound. How this simple thought would cheer many a wreck upon the sea of life, if he would but let it; yet here comes another thought: how many of us are drifting further and further away from this goal—how rapidly the current carries us down among the eddies and whirlpools of sin and corruption, until we have lost all sense of right and justice. How my mind runs back to the time when my mother gave us her last farewell, as she crossed the threshold of the dear old homestead for the last time.—Standing in the doorway, she placed her hand gently on my arm, and, with the words trembling on her lips, she raised her feeble voice in supplication to God, that he might keep his all-protecting hand over me, that I might not go astray—how I promised that I would always “stand steady and true,” and never forget her counsel.

Years have passed, and that dear Christian mother is numbered with the angels…The last words of my mother come back, like iron darts, to pierce me through and through with remorse; until the cry ever on my lips is, Gracious God, if though couldst but place be back to the days of my youth, how faithfully would I serve Thee, and never more would I forget that safeguard of youth, a mother’s counsel.—Unattributed. //

160 Years Ago THE PRESCOTT DEMOCRAT (formerly The Northwestern Democrat) July 18, 1860

Vol. II, No. 39 – Motto: “Be sure you’re right, then go ahead” (Adopted along with name change in April) REPUBLICAN MEETING.—The Republicans of this county, on last Friday held a mass meeting. The firm of Wise & Button addressed the meeting. Their speeches were brief but to the point. // A shower of supher fell in this county one day last week; in some places the sulpher was over a sixteenth of an inch deep.—Hudson Star That is a pretty close call for black republicans.

(Note: According to a term definition at nkaa.uky.edu, the phrase “black republican” was used at this time for Abraham Lincoln and it would seem his supporters as well (plural usage). The pre-Civil War Democratic Party was a proponent of what was then called “popular sovereignty,” whereby the people of a state held the right to choose whether it was to be slave or free, while Lincoln and the abolitionist Republicans were seen as radical and dangerous elements by these same people, because intent on destroying their freedom. The modern Democratic Party purged the majority of its openly pro-segregationist politicians or “Dixiecrats” in 1948, and so cannot necessarily be identified with this pre-Civil War mentality).