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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1949)
12 PAGES THIS ISSUE ★ ★ ★ 2 SECTIONS North-Ncbraaka’a Fagteat-Growing Newspaper Section I Pages I to 8 VOLUME b9—NUMBER 19 O'NEILL NEBR.. THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER IS. 1949 PRICE 7 CENTS ^ ^ ^ REVIEW SCOUTING TRIP . . . Eddie Tomlinson and Darrell Weingartner point our a part of their itinerary on their August canoe trip into Canada with other Nebraska Boy Scouts Hans Haun, chief Scout executive of Nebraska, was one of the lead ers accompanying the boys.—The Frontier Photo by Ellen Land on. Scouts Enjoy Canadian Trip By ELLEN LANDON Staff Writer Two O’Neill high school boys, who are now spending much of their spare time practicing football, started get ting in condition for this sport in August when they went on an 80-mile canoe trip from Wint'on, Minn., into Canada under the auspices of the Cov ered Wagon Council on a Can- i adian canoe trip. They are Darrell Weingart ner, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. ' George Weingartener, and Ed- j die Tomlinson, 16, son of Mr. ; and Mrs. Dick Tomlinson. Both are first class Scouts in Troop 210. Not only did they learn how to paddle a canoe all day without getting blistered hands, but they also developed the fine art of geting an extra portion of food at lunch time through the practice of “hos engoggling” (which the boys thought was the way to spell the word.) And to be certain it takes plenty of food to keep teen age boys going when they are paddling or portaging a canoe all day. In fact Darrell and Eddie agree that if they go another year, they will most certainly tuck away a carton of candy bars somewhere in their gear. Their unusal scouting ex perience which provided both a vacation and a means o f earning extra merit badges started August 16 when with 20 other Nebraska boys and an adequate number of lead ers they set out for the North land from Fremont by truck. The first day’s journey took them to Redwod Falls, Minn., where they camped out all night in the city park before going on to Grand Rapids, Minn., for stop number one and thence to Winton, Minn., the starting point of a chain of lakes which make canoe trips, as the one enjoyed by the local boys, practical. On their fourth day from home and their first day of canoeing they went almost 20 miles crossing into Canada in mid-afternoon. They were paddling rented canoes of which there were in the group. “We got lost the first day” J remarked Eddie, “and that put us behind our schedule a lit tle.” “We turned left when we should have turned right,” Darrell explained. In due time, however, they arrived back at Jack Fish Bay, the main lake, and went on from there to portage eight times that day, coming at last to their canoe base, Cecil was elected to carry the canoe which weighed about 80 pounds, but the other two boys occupying this particular, canoe carried his gear. The j longest ifortage was one and one quarted miles. On the first night at the ca- 1 noe base the party was dren ched because the tents did not j turn out to be waterproof, and ' so the next day was spent drying out belongings as well as earning merit badges for swimming and canoeing. • At this point the two local boys split up for a couple of days. "The party I went with paddled on North where we expected the fishing would be better,” Darrell recalled. He esimated they went approxi mately 20 miles on North, and the ffishing, while not spec tacular was much improved. Darrell, who is calm about j almost everything, told in a ! matter-of-fact manner of his catch of a 23-inch Nothem pike in the farther North wat ers and of the 29-inch fish another boy in the party caught. During these three days Ed die and the group he remain ed with, put in their time swimming and lazily drifting down toward Basswood Falls where the two continued rend- j ezvoused to start the return ! trip via Duluth and Red Cloud. Minn., and Lake Okoboji, la. No merit badges were in- 1 volved, of course, but the boys, particularly Eddie, won’t soon forget the little electric cars which are a feature of the rides at Arnolds Park adjacent to Lake Okoboji. Food taken on the trip was of the concentrated variety so there would be as little bulk to carry as possible. There were tinned meats bacon, powdered j milk and eggs, dehydrated j soups and vegetables, koolaid | to flavor the lake water, dried fruit, oatmeal, chocolate bars and pancakes. A big breakfast was always prepared over the open fires | built with wood chopped by the boys, but sometimes the lunch of two sandwiches and a chocolate bar was not quite so sustained. That’s where “hosengoggle” comes in! It’s a complicated game, but boiled down it involves an er tra quantity of food such as a candy bar which goes to the boy who holds up the right numbers of fingers while the leader counts around. Eddie won marshmallows this way but Darrell never happened to be lucky. The entire trip cost $65, and both boys had spent the earli er part of their Summer earn ing at least part of the mon ey—Eddie working for his dad in the hay fields and Darrell doing odd jobs. Neither boy forgot that his primary purpose in making the trip had to do with his “hoped for” advancement in scouting, and that is one rea son why in Ihe not too distant future both Darrell and Eddie will have earned the merit badges necessary to advance from first class to star scouts. Darrell, a senior at the pub lic school, plays tackle on the football team, and Eddie, a sophmore at St. Mary’s Acad emy, plays an end position on that club. College Trek Continues Among the scores of students • ’turning to their studies are r.any Holt county youths. The frontier continues its interviews vith several O’Neill college bound students: Miss Betty Gallagher, daugh of Mr. and Mrs. Edward M. G llagher, has transferred from osary college, River Forest, 1!, to the University of Nebras ■ at Lincoln. Miss Gallagher, o will enter as a junior, has mi pledged to Kappa Kappa Tt.ma sorority. While a Rosary l ege die was active in Glee ub. H r parents drove her to n’oln Friday, September 2, r “rush week.” She returned me ard left on Sunday to be > t-i' school term. Vis< Gayl Widtfeldt, daughter f Mr. and Mrs. David Widtfeldt, ’ft Sunday for Sioux City, where she will enter her sopho more year at Briar Cliff college. che is majoring in art education. Gayl plays a flute in the orches tra and is active in the St. Ce celia music club. She graduated t om O’Neill high school in 1948, where she took an active part in ♦he band and Thespian club. Gene McKenna, son of Mrs. Mable McKenna, is entering his junior year in business ad minstration at the University , of Nebraska at Lincoln. He is affilliated with the Sigma Aph la Epsilon fraternity. Miss Donna Whaley, daugh ter of Mr. and Mrs. Floyd Whaley, who is a junior at { Clarkson memorial haspital school of nursing, in Omaha, plans to specialize in surgery. Donna is a former Holt coun ty rural school teacher. Highway Drainage Structures to Be Built A contract for the construc :ion of drainage structures be 'veen O’Neill and Inman on LJ. S. Highway 20 were an- I lounced Saturday by the state highway department in Lin- j ?oln. The contract was awarded o the Platte Valley construc tion company of Grand Island 'or $17,657.60. ' I C of C Discusses Farmer-Rancher Day At the regular meeting of the O'Neill Chamber of Commerce Henry Lohaus gave a report of two recent highway 281, -oad meetings, according to-.Uft ..dent Melvin Ruzieka. * Lohaus reported on the na tional 281 association meeting at Red Cloud and the outcome of the Spencer-Butte-O’Neill con ference on the same road. (See national 281 report on this page ) Plans were laid for the annual farmer rancher day to be held in the near future. However, Ruzieka said, no date was set for the affair. A Chamber of Commerce float for the Diamond Jubilee - Fall Festival celebration was discuss ed. PCA Secretary Leads Discussion Nebraska Production Credit association discussed farm and livestock problems in a meeting held at Lincoln Monday and Tuesday. James W. Rooney, secretary treasurer of the O’Neill PCA, led the panel discussion on loan servicing and inspection. Others from the O’Neill PCA who attended the two day ses sion were: D. C. Schaffer, of O’ Neill; Ray Siders, of O’Neill; Ot to Krupicka, of Spencer, and Ott Oberg, of Ericson. EAGLES OPEN WITH PLAINVIEW Coach Miller’s Squad Has 10 Vets in Lineup — »* i* The O’Neill high school Eagles will open the 1949 football sea son at Plainview Friday night, September 16. Tonight (Thursday) Coach Marvin Miller will send the squad through signal practice under the lights at Carney park with the team suited up in new uniforms. The team will leave O'Neill at 5:30 p. m. Friday from the public school for Plainview with a traveling squad of 33 men. In preparation for the opener, this week the Eagle camp has kindled enthusiasm for the work 'hey have been doing. A grueling one hour and 15 minute scrimmage was held on the baseball field North of town Tuesday, with the White squad tromping over the Green’s, 25-0. The White squad includes some of the boys that will be in the starting lineup for the Plainview tussle. Miller commented that block EAGLE HEAD COACH . . . Marvin Miller (above) will send his charges through the initial test Friday night at Plainview. ng was ragged and the back- ’ field men were running too “high,” during the first lengthy scrimmage. However, the Eagle mentor , said, the defensive play of As sistant Coach Howard Dean’s ’ linemen was outstanding. ! , Wednesday the squad toiled through a rugged blocking and tackling session and a 30-minute ' scrimmage. The Eagles will wind up the *■ preparation for the initial 1949 contest with the signal practice j , it Carney park. Probable staring lineup for t the Plainview game will be: End—Kloopenberg, Shaw. j t Tackles—Weingartner, R. Res sel. Guards—T. Ressel, DeGroff. Center—Porter. Wingback—Wagnon. Tailback—Calkins. Fullback—Layh. Blockingback—Pearson. NATIONAL 281 M IS HELD l. I). Cronin Elected to Association’s Hoard of Directors The highway 281 association elected national officers and took first step toward incorp oration in a meeting held at Red Cloud September 7. Julius D. Cronin, O’Neill at torney, was named a member of the board of directors. Earl W. Carpenter, of Red Cloud, president of the Nebraska .as sociation, w a s unanimously elected president of the na tional organization. The meeting was attended by delegates from Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota and Texas, according to Henry Lo haus, O’Neill representative. Lohaus said that by-laws were adopted and a consti tion drafted and an attorn ey was instructed to draw u p incorporation proceed ings. The national 281 association was formed to obtain system atic improvements for the North-South route which runs from North Dakota to Texas, through South Dakota, Nebr aska, Kansas and Oklahoma. Spokesmen from the Nebr aska state highway depart ment, who attended the one day session, said the six mile stretch of highway 281 South of Red Cloud to the Northern Kansas border would be pav ed “very soon.” Other unimproved Nebraska segments of the route were not mentioned for immediate im provement, Lohaus related. Meanwhile, Friday even ing representatives of Butte, Spencer and O'Neill conferr ed at Spence? to decide where improvements on the graveled stretch of road North of O'Neill was needed ; most. Gov. Val Peterson, in a re cent meeting with the Nebr aska 281 association members, said if the three towns, (O’ Neill, Butte and Spencer) could get together and design ate where the route in the three-town area was the worst, he would attempt to get ep propriatiins to improve it. Cool Weather, Rain Hit Holt Region I _ Heavy downpours of rain and abnormally cool weather pre dominated this week in the O’ Neill region. Accompanying the rain were evere electrical storms that Parted fires throughout the area, stroying considerable amounts f property. I - loss was the Inman hay barn fire (see story column sev ioss was estimated at '12.003. I cks in the Chambers, / ag and Inman areas orted destroyed by fires 1 r. from being struck by lightning. i st downpour of rain he Inman-Page-Ewing turday and Saturday -i received 3.34 inches of ing 3.30; Orchard, 4.43, a 1 Page, 5. Den s from the heaviest hit iiea. Page, said that Dry creek a both the East and West part f town could not carrv off the water and many lots and base nents were flooded with water. 'vater ran Aver the county road 108 in the Southwest part f Page also covered some of ! the town’s streets. Meanwhile. O’Neill received; ' 35 inches of rain Saturday af t 'moon and evening. A brief but wavy mid-afternoon downpour1 brought the O’Neill volunteer i fire department to scoon debris ■way from drain gutters on Douglas' street to allow water to *-un off properly. With the rain and electrical ■dorms over the region, abnor mally cool weather followed. The temperature dipped to the freezing point earlv Tuesday morning with the high for the week marked on Saturday and Monday at 73 degrees. Low temperature for the same Deriod a year ago was recorded on September 8 at degrees. State weathermen predicted that North - Central Nebraska would receive a light frost Tues day night. However, Wednesday area re ports failed to list the frost. Weather summary for 24-hour periods ending at 8a. m. daily: Date Hi Lo Prec. September 8 65 50 September 9 72 48 September 10 73 54 September 11 65 54 1.35 September 12 73 50 .01 September 13 50 32 .22 September 14 06 39 INMAN HAY AND BARN BURNS . . . Shown above are the smoldering ruins of 560 tons of hay and a half-block long barn that was ignit ed by a lightning bolt about 4 o’clock Saturday afternoon. The loss was estimated by the own er, the Watson Hay company, to be at $12,000. —Frontier Photo by John H. McCarville. Lightning Ignites Barn, 560 of TonS Hay at Inman INMAN—Amid a downpour of timely rain, lightning struck and destroyed by fire a frame hay barn and its contents, 560 tons f stored hay, here Saturday. The bolt of lightning struck the bam at 4 p. m., observers said. I. L. Watson, owner of the barn, estimated the damage at 12 thousand-dollars. The loss, the owner said, was partially covered by insurance. The barn, located in the heart of town, a part of the Watson Hay company here, was enveloped in flames 10 to 15 minutes af ter the lightning struck the North end of the half-block long struc ture, according to Watson. Hilda Harkins, who lives one half block West of the barn, looked out immediately after the lightning crashed, to see if it had struck nearby. She related to The Frontier that she saw nothing at the time. Minutes later, her mother, Mrs. M. L. Harkins, stepped to the front porch and saw smoke rolling from the North end of the hay barn. The Harkins, according to ob servers, were the first to discov er the fire. However, the Harkins were unable to spread an alarm be cause of downpouring rain and no telephone facilities. As the smoke billowed out of the North end of the barn, spec tators gathered and at the same time, flames had reached nearby electrical power lines causing them to break. When the lightning struck, it caused a short and blew out the fuses in the main tele phone switchboard. With the replacement of the fuses, Tom Watson, nephew of the owner, turned the alarm in to the O'Neill volunteer fire department. The fire department was un able to render services because of the lack of a public water supply here. Meanwhile, the downpour of rain continued, and. according to some resident spectators, it was timely in protecting the houses directly South of the burning in ferno. Some of the observers said they had never seen anything go up in flame as fast as did the barn. Watson speculated as to the envelopment of the building by the flames in such a short time. He gave this view: After the lightning struck the North end of the barn it followed the ridge row along both the East and West sides to the South end. And with the aid of a sudden gust of wind the hay inside burst into a mass of flames. The West half of the roof of the burning structure collapsed approximately half an hour af ter the barn started burning. The East wall and roof lasted about an hour before it too gave way to the raging flames. Watson said fire resistant roof :ng was on the East side. Sunday the debris was smol dering and flaming, as a contin uous stream of spectators from nearby towns stopped to view the remains. In 1943, Mr. Watson related to The Frontier, a similar incident occurred to another company barn causing $4,500 damage. Meanwhile, lightning also struck a haystack Saturday af ternoon 3Va miles North of In man causing it to burn also. BO Bus'ness Firms To Have Floats Approximately 80 O’Neill business firms have been con tacted by the parade commit tee of the Diamond Jubilee Fall Festival and have agreed to sponsor a float in the par ade, Chairman M. E. Jacobson laid late Wednesday. A complete list of the ! firms that will have floats in he parade will be published, lext week. 1 HOLT YOUTHS WIN RIBBONS County 4-H Members Take Many Prizes at State Fair Many Holt county 4-H club members were among the ribbon winners at the Nebraska state fair held at Lincoln, September 4 through 10. Holt county projects and win ners are: Agricultural demonstration: red—Tom Kelly, of Page. Girls’ cooking team: red—Dar lene Tassler and Raydine Cearns, of Amelia, Dress review: purple—Maxine Peterson, of Amelia; red — Ju dith Trowbridge, of Page. Team clothing judging: red— Maxine Peterson and Beverly Small, of Amelia. Dress exhibit: blue —Maxine Peterson. Judging livestock: 10th—Tom *llv, Lawrence and Laverne Englcr, of Stuart. Homimaking, canning team: white — Mary and Jacqueline Taggart, of Chambers. Other placings were Ila June Coon, of Inman, who gave dem- | onstration on canning food bud get, and Mary L. Osborn, of Dorsey, and Jean Farrier, of Chambers, in a cooking team. TEAMS SOLICIT RURAL PRECINCTS Fourteen head of cattle and 15 head of hogs have thus far been contributed for the call auction that is to be held as part of the Diamond Jubilee-Fall Fes tival celebration September 30 for the benefit of St. Anthony’s hospital building fund, according to Mrs. Glenn Tomlinson, secre tary of the hospital building fund committee. Teams of men and women volunteer rural solicitors have been systematically covering precincts in Holt county seek ing calf and monetary dona tions, and selling tickets to the $5-per-plate banquet that is to be held October 3 at the Am erican Legion auditorium. Not all of the teams have re ported, the secretary said, and there could be more donations outstanding. Teams were unable to get into the rural areas during the first part of the week because week end rain storms had made some of the roads impassable. Saturday. Harry Ressel, Holt County Agent A. Neil Dawes and L D. Putnam will pick out a calf from the Ray Siders prize herd for the sale. Ticket sales to the benefit t'-innuet are reportedly lagging. Friday afternoon, September 16., 23 ladies will go Into the resi dential and business districts here in O’Neill in an attempt to sell tickets to the affair. In charge of the banquet ticket sales is Mrs. E. M. Gallagher. The building fund now stands at 93-thousand dollars, six thou sand dollars short of the 100 thousand dollar goal for the people’s part of the hospital P-TA HEARS ACTIVITY REPORT Committees Selected For 1949-50 School Year The Parent-Teachers associa tion Monday evening held the first meeting of the 1949 - ’50 school year at the public high school auditorium. Raymond Eby reported on Summer activities of the associa tion. The faculty of the school were introduced and presented with small gifts of appreciation from the group. Committees were selected for the 1949-’50 school year. They are as follows: membership — Mrs. Homer Asher, chairman; Mrs. Robert Nicholas, and Mrs. Theodore Strong; publicity—A. Neil Dawes, chairman, Mrs. Rob ert Kurtz, E. C. Terry; program —Mrs. Ralph Gerber, chairman, Mrs. Alfred Carroll, Rev. V. R. Bell; refreshments — Mrs. Art Dexter, chairman, Mrs. Virgil Laursen. Mrs. Paul Fetrow. The program for the evening was in charge of Mrs. Ralph Gerber. Scout Troop Hears Safety First Talk At the regular meeting of Boy Scout troop 210 Wednesday eve ning at the American Legion au ditorium Robert Kurtz, of O’ Neill, talked to the Scouts on all phases of safety first. Kurtz pointed out the meaning and the necessity of safety in the l'ves of Scouts and why they should u.;c the accepted safety rules. 4 Sales Listed cn Frontier Calendar Four public farm sales are list ed in the Frontier’s sale calen dar. They are: Tuesday, September 20—Wm. A. Anderson, of Page, will sell his personal property, including 34 head of cattle and a complete line of farm and haying machin ery. Wallace O’Connell will be the auctioneer and O’Neill Na tiona bank will clerk. (For com plete details see advertisement on page 7.) Friday, September 23—Lester Oetter. who lives 25 miles South of O’Neill on highway 281 and 1 *4 miles East, will hold a sale of his personal property, which in cludes 18 head of cattle, a full line of farm and haying machin ery, all 32 volt electrical equip ment. a 1939 Ford automobile, some household goods and mis cellaneous tools. (See advertise ment on page 10 of this issue.) Ed Thorin, of Chambers, will be the auctioneer and the Chambers oiate oank will clerk. Friday, September 30—Floyd Dye, who lives 25 m'les South of O’Neill on highway 281 and then two miles East and p half mile South will have a public sate of h's Dersona Dropeny , w’^ich in cludes 136 head of cattle, six head of horses, complete set of household poods, a full line of farming and haying machinery .•md other miscellaneous items. (Complete details will be found in a later issue.) Ed Thorin will be the auctioneer, and the Cham bers State bank will clerk. Monday, October 3— Charley Fleming, who lives 5 miles Northeast of O’Neill on the Op portunity road, will hold a sale of his personal property, which includes a big line of farm ma chinery. (Complete details will be found in a later issue.) Wal lace O’Connell and James G. Fredrickson are the auctioneers. First National bank will clerk. The Frontier’s auction service includes newspaper advertising, radio advertising and handbills —a three-way plan that assures maximum results.