From Our Early Files Nov. 29, 2023
25 YEARS AGO
December 3, 1998
If the Whitehall district board of education accepts a proposal from the La Crosse County Sheriff’s Department, the local middle/high school could be a training site for drug-detection dogs. The La Crosse County department’s offer was forwarded to the local school administration by the Whitehall Police Department. Middle/High School Principal Bruce Ausderau brought the proposal before the board at its Nov. 23 meeting, but the matter was only discussed and no action was taken.
Wisconsin’s efforts to aid hurricane-ravaged Nicaragua are going well, with a significant boost coming from this area’s sister-city organization. Brad Martin, president of the Whitehall-Acoyapa Partners of the Americas said the group is doing pretty well. The local group has been taking part in a statewide effort to aid parts of Nicaragua — Wisconsin’s sister-state under the Partners of the Americas program, which were devastated in late October by Hurricane Mitch.
Town of Arcadia voters Monday night agreed to provide $8,750 in the 1999 budget for the proposed Arcadia Area Family Aquatic Center.
The Trempealeau County gun deer kill was down four percent over the 1997 season, according to Dave Linderud, Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologist for Trempealeau and Buffalo counties.
Arcadia Middle School students collected 137 food items for the Arcadia Food Pantry recently. Each student in each of the four homerooms were asked to bring one item of non-perishable food for the pantry. Harland Stone’s eighth grade homeroom had 100 percent participation.
Alvin Rebhahn said that it’s kind of a heritage thing that keeps him registering deer from his downtown Arcadia location year after year. Rebhahn has been registering deer for 32 years since first renting Rebhahn’s Service from his father in 1966. And, before that, he helped his father register deer since 1941. “I’d hate to quit because my father did it and I did it,” he said.
The Ettrick village board approved the purchase of a new squad car at their Tuesday night meeting. The 1999 Ford Crown Victoria will be purchased and will take 90 to 120 days to be delivered to Ettrick, according to officer Dean Bishop.
Santa arrives in Galesville and Trempealeau this weekend. He’ll be in Galesville on Friday and in Trempealeau on Saturday.
Huge cranes, standing several stories high, towered over the Trempealeau landscape in September and October. They were used to set the prefabricated concrete walls of the new lockhouse at Lock and Dam No. 6 in place. About 100 concrete panels were used to construct the central control station, one of many such Mississippi River sentinels governing the flow of river traffic, according to Dean Glasspoole, project manager for Schwab Co., the general contractor.
50 YEARS AGO
December 6, 1973
A group interested in securing community cable television for Trempealeau County and Taylor voted Monday to incorporate as the Western Wisconsin Communications Cooperative. The group’s board of directors includes local government officials, school administrators, teachers and representatives from farm and telephone cooperatives.
John Peterson scored 22 points and grabbed 18 rebounds as the Norsemen won their first Dairyland Conference game of the season Friday, 61-42 over Alma Center Lincoln.
Three directors were elected to the Arcadia Cooperative Association board of directors at the annual meeting of stockholders at Arcadia High School on Saturday. Adrian Pehler, Bensel Haines and Robert Siebenaler were elected to three-year terms on the board.
Trempealeau County school district administrators met in Arcadia Wednesday with Gordon Meistad, manager of Trempealeau Electric Cooperative and chairman of the Wisconsin Electric Cooperatives Association cable communications committee, to discuss the impact of the rapidly expanding field of cable TV on the educational future of the county.
Alfred Sonsalla, 58, Arcadia, was killed late Monday afternoon when he was run over by a tractor while working in a field on his farm. His body was found by his wife, lying on the side of a small knoll. A tractor, with its motor running, and a manure spreader, both on their wheels, were found about 100 feet away.
The Arcadia Raiders traveled to Galesville Friday night and handed the previously unbeated Redmen of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau a 58-50 setback. Hank Schultz led the scoring for Arcadia as he contributed 21 points and 14 rebounds. Ken Klink and Steve Lalibertie each added 12 points for Arcadia. Dave Salsman tallied 11 for G-E-T.
Members of the French Creek Senior High School class are collecting toys for underprivileged children.
The Caledonia Homemakers will hold their annual Christmas party on Dec. 11. Members will meet at the Wagner’s Supper Club for an 8 p.m. dinner with their husbands as guests.
How the village hall at Trempealeau acquired a large mural photo of nearby Brady’s Bluff was explained at a meeting last week of the Trempealeau County Historical Society. For several years, the mural was displayed in the Burlington Railroad Depot at La Crosse, but it was presented to the village of Trempealeau last summer, Mayor W.A. Elkins reported. To transport the mural, Elkins, Howard Coyle and Claus Vanderlaan cut the photo in three. Mrs. Bud Harris helped remount the photo in Trempealeau.
75 YEARS AGO
December 2, 1948
A large congregation of worshippers attended the first Mass at St. John’s the Apostle Catholic Church at City Hall in Whitehall Sunday morning, officiated at by the Most Reverend John Treacy of La Crosse, assisted by his secretary, the Rev. James Finucan and the Rev. Edward Roskos of the North Creek parish, who will serve as pastor of the new congregation. Joseph Wozney, student at Ss. Peter and Paul’s school at Independence, was the server. The choir, brought in from North Creek by Fr. Roskos, consisted of Stanley Wierzgala, Emily and Theresa Kluz and Mmes. Henrietta Mish and Hattie Prudlick. The congregation so far numbers about 70 families. A location for a church is being considered.
Six major changes have been made to school districts in Trempealeau County, according to the annual report submitted last month to the county board of supervisors by County Superintendent of Schools Dorris Sander. The most significant of those is the organization of an entirely new elementary and high school district in the Arcadia area. Schools that have closed this year as a result of low enrollments include Fitch Coulee in the town of Pigeon and New City in the town of Burnside.
The new U.S. Hwy. 53 from Whitehall to Pigeon Falls, a distance of about six miles, was officially opened for traffic Saturday. The new stretch of concrete had been used by local people for nearly a month while the shoulders were being worked on, but the detour signs routing buses and tourist traffic through the town of Hale have now been taken down.
Ten Whitehall Boy Scouts received their tenderfoot badges in a investiture ceremony held Monday at the mothers’ and dads’ potluck supper, about 125 people attending. Receiving their new rank were James Breska, Gavin Strand, David Wood, Arthur Hanson, Rodney Thompson, Paul Hendrickson, Gary Larson, Theodore Johnson, Douglas Kopp and James Garson.
Arcadia opened its conference season at Augusta Tuesday night and came out the winning end of a score of 29-25. It was a good game throughout.
Harry Stagg, local contractor, received a bad gash in his forehead, which required nine stitches to close, in an accident on Tuesday. Stagg, in his pickup, and Leo Ellis of the Community Telephone company driving a company vehicle collided on Highway 93 south of Arcadia where the detour to Pine Creek begins at the junction with J.
100 YEARS AGO
December 6, 1923
O.J. Galstad is in the hospital with a badly bruised side and limbs, the result of being struck by a car Monday evening while walking from his home north of town to Martin Johnson’s at Coral City. Henry Olson was the driver of the auto.
Impressive ceremonies marked the formal removal of tolls for crossing the Winona wagon bridge last Saturday. Following a big free dinner at the Armory, where the out-of-town people were the guests of the city, a program was presented at the Opera House to a capacity crowd. Representative citizens from Alma, Fountain City, Whitehall, Independence, Arcadia, Galesville and other adjacent towns were in attendance.
August Smieja was arraigned before Judge E.F. Hensel Tuesday, where he pleaded guilty to the unlawful possession of intoxicating liquor, and was fined $500 and costs.
Stephen Nelson of Fuller Coulee was at Whitehall Wednesday with a load of oats, receiving 38 cents per bushel.
The antique stag curtain at the Whitehall Opera House, which was well patronized by local business firms many years ago, is still in use. It reminds us of the many changes that have transpired in Whitehall in the past 10 years, as several of the whose names appear have long since gone out of business, and scarcely one-half the business places have the same proprietors as held forth at that time.
Galesville is to have a year-round association of horse shoe pitchers. It will be named Galesville Horse Pitching Association. The many sharks are working to show their skill and invite anyone who thinks he can make a ringer to join up with them.
Galesville’s popular lecture course will present the opening number, The Bohemian Girl Opera.
Arctic Springs butter scores high in Madison and was awarded a high score at the state convention. Harold Bibby is superintendent of the creamery.
A parochial school teacher in Trempealeau County in 1863 was honored at his church in French Creek for his 82nd anniversary, where hundreds of friends gathered to congratulate Ole Engan.
Plans for a new bridge across the Beaver Creek are being made. The old bridge is to be condemned.
125 YEARS AGO
December 1, 1898
The Thanksgiving ball given by the band boys in Whitehall was fairly well attended and the participants report an enjoyable time. An elegant supper was partaken of at the City hotel about midnight.
Deputy Sheriff Penny of Arcadia was in Whitehall Tuesday with parties from that place who were being heard before Justice Scott concerning their knowledge of a violation of the statute with reference to the Sunday closing of saloons.
The carpenters have about finished their work in the interior of the American House, and everything is now in tip-top shape. Mine Host Best is as proud as a peacock and wears a smile a yard wide, and so does “Billy” Stallings.
Theodore Moe has completed the house he recently bought, thus adding another neat and tasty residence to those already on Blair Street. Mr. Moe’s neat cage ought to catch some pigeon on the wing before too many moons.
Skumlin Bros. of Pigeon report a very good season’s run at threshing, having threshed about 59,000 bushels of oats and barley, and 13,000 bushels of wheat and rye.
A jolly party was out sleigh riding last evening, driving to Independence and back. They were Misses Iva Cliff, Maggie Buchholz, Gunda Olson, Myrtle Whitney, Carrie Vold, Mable Congdon and Nina Stanley, and Messrs. Albert Wing, Nels Stalheim and Lewis Weeks.
Skating on the mill pond was enjoyed by a large crowd of young folks last Sunday afternoon. The boys played several interesting and exciting games of polo.
