Bayfield County Journal
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Bayfield County Journal Yesteryear Column
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Zoe von Ende Lappin, granddaughter of P.J. Savage, editor of the Iron River
PIONEER from 1898 to 1952, has obtained permission for us to post the
Memories and Yesteryear columns that are printed weekly in the Bayfield
COUNTY JOURNAL, successor� to the PIONEER and other newspapers in the
county. The COUNTY JOURNAL announced the upcoming Web postings in its Dec.
3O, 1999, edition with the headline, "Genealogy columns to appear on the
web".
I would like to thank Eric Sharp, Editor of the Bayfield County Journal for his willingness to work with us in our genealogical search. We look forward to the wonderful articles that will appear here. Thank you also to Zoe von Ende Lappin for all her work and the hours of typing.
County Journal,� Dec. 16, 1999
Yesteryear
Tony Woiak
Taken from the Washburn Times December 11, 1924
��� (Instead of having a steady 107- or 108- year old column, at times
I will jump around from year to year, as some people suggested.)
Washburn�s �Boy Mayor� Paul Ungrodt urges folks to pay their taxes
and takes up a cause on why taxes town are so high. (Back then,
Washburn was having a great deal of financial difficulties, and Ungrodt
helped get Washburn going again. Things were so bad, the town
couldn�t even afford to pay a lot of their teachers for months at a time.)
Rev. Perry Gibson of Winthrop, Minn., was home visiting his mother, Mrs.
John Gibson, who was ill. (Mrs. Gibson�s husband ran the
Northwestern Fuel Company for many years. After he passed away, she
took over. She had a small office around where the Bremer Bank is
today. Mrs. Gibson is the oldest person buried in Washburn Cemetery,
almost 107� years of age.) Mr. and Mrs. C.F. Bongrief celebrated their
30th wedding anniversary.
50 Years Ago
Taken from the Washburn Times Dec. 8, 1949
Born, a girl to Mr. and Mrs. Toivo Bakkala on Dec. 6. Deaths:
Levor Lein, 82, brother of Washburn merchant and former Bayfield
County sheriff; James B. Fisk, 74, DuPont employee who owned Fisk�s
Northern Repair Shop on East Bayfield Street. (Jim�s repair shop was in the
middle of the block, right next door to the Elliot Peterson family.)
W.H.� �Hank� LaHaie, 52, WWI vet, who also played semi-pro baseball,
pitched for the Madison Blues and was known as �LaHail� because of
his fast ball.� �Big Jim� Wiggs pitched for the Washburn Athletics
around 1900 and usually struck out between 15-20 batters a game. He
played for one of Washburn�s all-time best teams and may have been
Washburn�s greatest baseball player, bar none. His team took on all
comers and usually beat them, thanks mostly to �Big Jim.� He had such
good stuff that he was signed by Major League Hall-of-Famer Connie
Mack. �Big Jim� Wiggs didn�t last long with the Philadelphia Athletics. He
had great arm strength but was erratic and wild. But that doesn�t diminish
the fact that one of Washburn�s own played for one of the best managers in
baseball history and had enough talent to catch the immortal Connie Mack�s
eye.
25 Years Ago
Taken from the Washburn Times Dec. 12, 1974
There was an open� house at Mt. Valhalla to show off the new
chalet. Responsible for the new building was the Washburn Men�s Club
and the Washburn Snowmobile Club. St. Louis school children� unable
to pay full price for milk can get it for free. Mrs. Roy Roberts held a
shower honoring Nancy Bruneau. (This column is dedicated in memory
of Mrs. Roy Roberts, who was phy. ed teacher at St. Louis.) The WHS
Castle Guards, behind Scott Foss� 26 points, Scott Sneed�s 15, and Billy
Doucette�s 13 points, defeated the Black Bears of Glidden in basketball
73-56. South Shore nipped the WHS girls in overtime 46-39, despite Jane
Lindsey�s 14 points. Washburn Fire Chief Walter Hovey reports that the new
fire hall on Washington Avenue is coming along nicely.
10 Years Ago
Taken from the County Journal Dec. 14, 1989
Behind Kurt Kick�s 19 points, followed by Mike Siroin�s 16, and Ray
Dickerhoff�s 14, the WHS Castle Guards defeated the Bayfield
Trollers in Indianhead basketball action. Will Johnson has a two hour
video entitled �Summertime in Washburn.� Dr. John Telford was
president of the Chequamegon Area Ski Trail Association (CHASTA).
Karlyn Holman was appointed to the Wisconsin Arts Board. The city
council gives the go-ahead to� close the dump, landfill in the Town of
Washburn. Elsie Fleming was the Northern Lights Personality of the
Month. She was born in Hinckley, Minn., and was 4 years old when the
Great Hinckley Fire swept through.
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