This account of the Spring Valley flood
is made available by Dick Lowater. It is a compilation of notes written by his
mother and articles (including photographs) published in the Spring Valley Sun during
the weeks immediately following the flood:
ÒThis hastily put together scrapbook may give you an
idea of why you didnÕt get your usual letter in October. Love, Flo LowaterÓ
Scenes
After the Flood
Of Sept.
17, 1942
Spring
Valley
ÒThis
house was moved two blocks – rode the water but caught on something and held.
A woman 60 years old was riding upstairs with her feet in water as it was
moving.Ó –Flo Lowater
ÒThis gives a little idea of what the back office
looked like after the flood. The water was over the lights you see and when it
went down they were covered with mud and alfalfa hay.Ó –Flo Lowater
Charles
Lowater
ÒThe windows in the front office broke and were washed away as were all desks, records, chairs, and, in fact everything but the empty safe that was too heavy to be floated down the river.Ó -Flo Lowater
Quick
Thinking by Victims and
Prompt
Action By Rescuers
Play
Important Role in Flood
Right in the middle of the hectic activities in
Spring Valley on that flood night of Thursday, September 17, were Mr. &
Mrs. C. E. (Ed) Fox, who live in their building on Main Street over the Hans
Christensen tavern. During that evening they saw the rushing waters smash
through into other buildings – first into the Sun office front, then into
the Valley CafŽ and finally into the Pence garage, all across the street from
them. They watched the workers in each building and when the water crashed in
they were sure that at least part or all of those workers drowned.
The people trapped in the Christiansen tavern cut a
hole through the ceiling up into the Fox bedroom, overturning the bed in their
haste to get through, These people then rushed into the FoxÕs front room and
began chopping a hole through the floor there to rescue others from the tavern
who had been caught up in front.
During this same time Mr. & Mrs. Fox heard cries
from the adjoining building on the south, and found Mr. & Mrs. Gehart
Gunderson and Betty on the Lilllie jewelry store roof; these were taken in
through the window. Then some one shouted from the north side of the building
for an axe – and with that mighty handy weapon a hole was cut through the
Noterman hardware store roof to release Theodore Noterman and his son, Jimmy,
from a perch in the attic of the store.
Mr. & Mrs. Gunderson and Betty rescued
themselves from a tough place. The ceiling of the Lillie jewelry store is
covered with ornamental tin. With a jewelerÕs small screw driver Gehart pried
open the ceiling and tore down enough to get his wife and daughter and himself
up through.
Betty then crawled through the attic to a small trap
door on the side of the building and from there reached the edge of the roof
and pulled herself up; from there she aided her father and mother to the roof.
Down the street an even more thrilling rescue was
being made by the Frank Ducklows. Mr. & Mrs. A. R. Bertelsen and their
three helpers were trapped in their drug store. The Ducklows, living over their
tavern, saw the predicament of the people in the adjoining one-story drug store
building. Lacking a rope, Mrs. Ducklow tore a new sheet into strips strong
enough so that Alois Ducklow lifted the Bertelsen crew through a small
single-sash window into the upstairs Mrs. Bertelsen had to swim the length of
the store to get to the back and safety, and became so covered with oil that
she was too slippery to grasp and had to be covered with a towel. When Mr. Bertelsen,
the last to leave, left the window he looked back down only to find this last
opening to safety covered with water.
Farther down the same side of the street Victor Mulhollam,
owner of the Variety store stock, had to swim nearly 30 feet in the boiling
maelstrom to reach the safety of Ed SchindlerÕs residence up over the clothing
store. Ed and his wife were among the lucky ones to get out just ahead of the
crushing water; they went upstairs (via a step ladder and a trap door) into
their living quarters overhead.
Four men in the Wolf hardware store, after battling
the water until the battle became hopeless, went upstairs in their building and
then traveled too the Schindler residence over the roof tops.
There were eight men in the Pence garage building,
mainly to try to protect the live stock housed there for the coming FarmersÕ
Day. These men battled the flood by lifting the live stock up into trucks at
first, and then later even holding the heads of the animals above water to try
to save them. Rex Pence had his motorboat in storage in the garage; when the
windows were smashed in the men took to the boat.
They discussed the problem of rescue and some
thought of putting out into the stream in the boat; cooler heads suggested
going up through the attic and the roof, and that is what was done at last.
In the Valley Cafe, Leonard Thompson had seven
others with him. Fred Weber, who lives over the cafŽ, and (Long) Hans G.
Hanson, were holding the front door to keep it from tearing away when the plate
glass front gave way and they had to run for their lives. These eight people
were then rescued via a ventilating transom in the toilets; Leonard, standing
on the top of the water closet, was in water to his chin before he was pulled
up to safety.
In the Sun office Don Lowater and Lloyd Alton
punched, hacked and cut their way to safety through the shop roof in time to
help pull those people out of the Pence garage and then to help W. H. Tousley,
Miron Tousley and Clark Keyser out through the skylight of the Tousley
furniture store.
Further down the street, Mr. & Mrs. Harvey
Hanson and their two small children were forced to flee to the upstairs
apartment occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Charles Casper. Next door Mr. & Mrs. Ed
Keller were perched on the roof of their store. Ed saw a sheep floating by and
lassoed it with a rope, hauling it up and tying it to the chimney. Next morning
the prize animal was high and dry on the roof, bleating or help to get down.
This is a very incomplete and inconclusive story of
what happened on only one block of Main street that night. The Sun will
endeavor to get more true and thrilling stories from other parts of the town
for future issues.
ÒThis looks up our hill past WolfÕs Hardware. The
water came up the hill as far as the Congregational Church and was deep enough
to cover and float away cars that had been run up there for safety. We were at
the waterÕs edge there all nite watching piles of lumber go down as if on
freight cars, seeing whole buildings go, hearing cries for ÒhelpÓ and not
knowing what was happening to Donald and others.Ó –Flo Lowater
Wolf
Hardware on right looking toward Church Hill
These
Also Saved in Flood
In last weekÕs Sun, the story of the
narrow escape of those in the buildings in the central block of Main street was
told. This week we will try to tell the story of two more blocks.
In the Clifford Arneson store, Clifford,
Berven Arneson, Harley Larrieu, Allen VanDelist, Mrs H. P. Tanberg and Caroline
Johnson were working, moving merchandise up and keeping water out. When the
flood finally broke in the north windows of the store, it caught the two women
and Berven Arneson in the dry goods side; the rest of the crew were in the
grocery side.
Berven Arneson was perched on the flood
gate in the front door, pushing away the logs that floated against it. Noise of
the rushing water was so loud that he did not hear the shouts of warning from
the others as the water rushed in from behind him; the wall of water and debris
nearly washed him out into the torrent. But he managed to climb on top of the
north wall shelves and was making his way toward the center of the store when
the shelves fell over, throwing him into the deep water.
He then made his way to the shelving on
the south side of the building, where Mrs. Tanberg and Miss Johnson were
perched. As the current hit those shelves first, its force held them upright
for a time. Siezing a broom, Berven pounded a hole through the plaster ceiling
and began pounding on the upstairs floor.
In the meantime, Harley Larrieu and
Allen VanDelist, in the grocery part of the store, had made their way upstairs
and heard Berven pounding on the floor. Berven was able to make them understand
that he and the two women were under the part occupied by Doctor MooreÕs dental
offices. Allen VanDelist smashed in the door of the office and, after locating
the sound of the pounding, cut a hole through the floor.
Even then rescue was not completed,
because the hole was but 16 inches wide and some feet away from the shelving on
which the folks below were perched. But they made it, and soon after Berven
Arneson went up through the floor the shelving where the three had been
standing crashed over into the water.
But this was not the only close call in
the store. Those in the grocery department had not all been able to get out the
back way and over the shed roof. Clifford Arneson, the store proprieter, was
trapped in the southeast corner of the grocery department by the rising water.
He succeeded in breaking the ceiling, which is of insulation board, and got his
hands up on the raters just as the grocery shelves on which he was standing
went over. The group on the shed roof cut three different holes in looking for
him and had given him up for lost when by a flash of lightning they saw his
hands over the rafters and cut a hole there.
Mr. & Mrs. Victor Knodt owe their
lives to the fact that they were too tired from the flood of the night before
to try to stay in their store; they had a premonition of what was coming, due
perhaps to the very close call they experienced in the May flood of this year.
Mrs. & Mrs. Knodt and their crew
left their store when the water was about waist high, going to their home to
carry some caned goods out of the cellar. While they were at work doing this
the flood broke in their cellar wall and the wall in falling just missed Vic as
he went up the cellar steps.
It was largely due to Vic KnodtÕs and
Melvin EmersonÕs knowledge of the seriousness of the situation that started the
Ellsworth people into such full scale action. They told the first group here
from Ellsworth at about midnight that the Valley would be without food and
water and that group, headed by Harold Doolittle, got busy.
The Knodts are salvaging a small portion
of their goods and have them on sale in the former Stenborg store location.
The Forthuns – Doctor and Mrs. and
the four children and George Kezar, who was there for safety from his home on
River street – expected their bulding to give way at every fresh wave of
the flood. The water reached the second story level, completely covering the
chiropractic rooms on the ground floor.
As they watched from the upstairs
windows they saw first one bullding and then another go down with the water
– the former Spindler building and the feed mill to the south of them, McLaughlinÕs
house and KnodtÕs store to the north of them. Mr. Forthun got a rope and tied
them all on it so that if their building did go the family would be together,
no matter what might happen.
ÒThe people of Spring Valley deserve
much praise and admiration for the pluck they show in going about the tremendous
task of cleaning up after the flood.
We imagine one could easily be tempted
to sit down and say ÒWhatÕs the useÓ, but this spirit does not seem to exist in
this little town, and we hope that it will soon be set up again. Spring Valley
will always be Spring Valley, wherever it may stand; and may it never again be
ravaged by flood waters.Ó – Wellwisher
ÒThis is at the Telephone office. A large hole is
above and a man and his wife and the telephone operatorÕs two children were up
there. The people downstairs got the ceiling boards loose but there is a false
ceiling and they were suffocating for air. The people upstairs chopped thru a
tough oak floor with an old ax and saved them.Ó –Flo Lowater
These Also Escaped the Flood
Among the many who dodged death in the flood, none
came closer to the end than Martin Olson, elderly gentleman living alone in the
trailer-house just west of the community building.
Martin, who is crippled by arthritis and rheumatism,
has always stayed with his trailer-house through all our floods. He decided to
do the same on the night of Sept. 17, too. To keep water from his trailer,
Martin had built up the house to more than four feet above the ground.
But the house wasnÕt high enough to escape the big
flood. At about 10:30 that night water poured into the floor of the trailer,
forcing Martin to climb up onto his bed. Then the rising water floated the
trailer-house, swinging the building completely around and against the poles of
the Northern States Power Co. substation.
The water crept higher and higher and the
trailer-house rose and rose with it. Now the Northern States Co. had built a
platform about 12 feet off the ground, to service their automatic switches
controlling the street lighting in Spring Valley. Martin Olson crept through
the ventilator on top of his trailer-house to the platform on which the power
transformers, switches and time clocks were located – and there he lay
during the entire night.
Almost as soon as he reached the safety of the
platform, the trailer-house broke away from its moorings and floated away. The
house lodged in the alleyway and was not destroyed; Martin has had it moved
back and is living in his house again.
At the Sweeney hotel, things happened fast, just as
they did all over town. Mrs. Zauft and Lorraine, Mrs. Speckman and Mike Sweeney
went upstairs just as soon as the water entered the first floor. Art Mahar, the
mason who is building the fine stone structure at Crystal Cave, rooms in the
hotel and was present, too.
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Stanz, living in their
trailer-house just north of the hotel buildings, got out of their trailer and
waded to the hotel building early in the evening. This prompt action saved
their lives, because their trailer-house disappeared completely and not even a
trace of it has been found since.
Mr. & Mrs. Stanz were very proud of their little
home; it was the product of their own hands and represented more than a year of
hard work.
Another trailer-house, C. W. PenceÕs, went in the
flood. It had been stored in the Pence garage next to the fire-hall. Remains of
this house were found on the Mary Peterson farm below town.
In the Badger bowling alley, Lee Richardson and his
two helpers, Bobby Gavic and Harlan Smith, had the water stopped out until the
wall gave way under the building and let the flood pour up through the heating
registers. The three then went through the doors into the hotel to stay until
morning.
Mrs. Caroline Stark was brought to the hotel early in
the evening by her grandson, Arnold McKernon. Water rose to the ceiling in her
home back of her former store and tore up the floors of her building as well.
The water crept higher and higher and the
trailer-house rose and rose with it. Now the Northern States Co. had built a
platform about 12 feet off the ground, to service their automatic switches
controlling the street lighting in Spring Valley. Martin Olson crept through
the ventilator on top of his trailer-house to the platform on which the power
transformers, switches and time clocks were located – and there he lay
during the entire night.
Almost as soon as he reached the safety of the
platform, the trailer-house broke away from its moorings and floated away. The
house lodged in the alleyway and was not destroyed; Martin has had it moved
back and is living in his house again.
At the Sweeney hotel, things happened fast, just as
they did all over town. Mrs. Zauft and Lorraine, Mrs. Speckman and Mike Sweeney
went upstairs just as soon as the water entered the first floor. Art Mahar, the
mason who is building the fine stone structure at Crystal Cave, rooms in the
hotel and was present, too.
Mr. & Mrs. Herman Stanz, living in their
trailer-house just north of the hotel buildings, got out of their trailer and
waded to the hotel building early in the evening. This prompt action saved
their lives, because their trailer-house disappeared completely and not even a
trace of it has been found since.
Mr. & Mrs. Stanz were very proud of their little
home; it was the product of their own hands and represented more than a year of
hard work.
Another trailer-house, C. W. PenceÕs, went in the
flood. It had been stored in the Pence garage next to the fire-hall. Remains of
this house were found on the Mary Peterson farm below town.
In the Badger bowling alley, Lee Richardson and his
two helpers, Bobby Gavic and Harlan Smith, had the water stopped out until the
wall gave way under the building and let the flood pour up through the heating
registers. The three then went through the doors into the hotel to stay until
morning.
Mrs. Caroline Stark was brought to the hotel early in
the evening by her grandson, Arnold McKernon. Water rose to the ceiling in her
home back of her former store and tore up the floors of her building as well.
Vic Langer and George Glampe, sensing that this was
no ordinary flood, had left the Langer tavern on Main street to go to their
homes; they got as far as the hotel, but no further, and there joined the
throng upstairs. GeorgeÕs house floated off its foundation and the lower floor
of VicÕs house was wrecked.
The Jim Tabor family lived upstairs in the Tousley
building in that block; downstairs were the Avalon beauty shop and the former Mrs.
Kezar dress shop. The Tabors were in comparative safety but for one thing
– Mrs. Tabor was expecting a visit from the stork at any time, and the
terrible night of the flood was no help in her condition. Next day Mrs. Tabor
was taken to the Baldwin hospital and that same day gave birth to a husky boy
– a baby who will have some story awaiting it or a birthday remembrance.
Down the street at the Red & White Store Peter Blegen,
his daughter Florence and ÒGunnyÓ Gunvalson worked hard putting goods above the
regular high water mark. The work proved to be futile, as there was eight feet
of water in the store that night.
These three had a hard time getting through the rear
of the store to an outside stairway leading to the upstairs and safety.
Floating debris blocked the door until a big effort cleared it. Pete Plegen was
fortunate that the flood in May showed up the weaknesses in his building and he
had a new wall put under his store building just in time.
In the Bauer & Armstrong store, George Bauer,
Lloyd ÒToryÓ Armstrong, Teddy Davis, Frankie Cassel, Ralph Gavic and Jackie
Armstrong spent the early evening lifting all the frozen food from the lower
tiers of lockers up one row; they also lifted the first three shelves of goods
in their store up to higher shelving and upstairs. Their work proved futile,
except in the case of the material taken upstairs.
The boys were not sure that the store building would
stand and so ducked out on the roof of the locker plant.
ÒThis gives you an idea of what happened to many
cars that night.Ó –Flo Lowater
Highlights of the Flood
Vic Langer has torn the wood floor out of his
building on Main street and is replacing it with concrete.
Last Sunday we realized what we had been saved from
for the first week after our flood. Curiosity seekers from far and near,
thousands of them, jammed our streets, walked our sidewalks and butted into
business places where cleaning-up was in progress and even into private homes.
It was a great day for the manufacturers of photofilm. If the town had been
opened the previous Sunday it would have been all carried away in bits as
souvenirs. During the time the State Guards had control it was supposed that
nobody was allowed to enter unless properly vouched for by some responsible
Spring Valley citizen or by an officer. A number of passes bearing the forged
signature of Sheriff Vic Gilbertson were used by some people who wouldnÕt like
to have their names published.
One night a man in a big car was stopped by a guard
in uniform; he told the guard that he was coming in to help Don Lowater, a
personal friend, at the Sun office. It happened that Don himself was doing
civilian guard duty that night and was standing nearby. ÒDo you know this man?Ó
the guard asked Don. ÒNever saw him before in my life.Ó was the answer. Without
a word the fellow whipped his car around and got out of there, at faster than
wartime speed limit.
The Red Cross stopped its canteen services here at the
weekend, but has established headquarters in the band room in the high school
building and several experts are here to conduct a rehabilitation program for
the needy in the village. That program will be a long one and one involving
many thousands of dollars.
A number of Spring Valley business places are now
open for business (not quite Òas usualÓ) or will be open this week. Some of
them make announcements in this weekÕs Sun, and most of the others will dig out
and begin work by another week.
It will be longer before the creamery can resume.
Some partitions in the creamery building were washed out and machinery
disarranged, so the interior downstairs is being changed around and rebuilt and
improvements made. Main entrance will be switched to the west side.
The locker plant is out, probably for the war
duration. The building in which it was housed was so badly twisted by the flood
that it will probably never be used again; ÒToryÓ Armstrong and George Bauer
say that they hope to put in a bigger and better plant – in the new
location in the sweet bye and bye.
Although one of its big lumber sheds went down the
river with all its contents, Roy Segerstrom says that the Consolidated Lumber
Co. will do business as usual here, moving to the new location when the time
comes.
In last weekÕs rush the Sun forgot to mention that
the village largely owed its quick recovery of city water service to the
all-day-and-all-night work of Joe Sieberns of Minneapolis and Ted Vanasse of
Gilman.
Work on repairing the Omaha track from Spring Valley
to Woodville is being rushed; trains may be running again before this is read.
For a time, at least, the track will extend no farther than the Valley Elevator
Co. in the village.
If Al Michaels could only use all the firewood, in
the shape of broken boards and timbers, which is heaped up housetop high on his
front lawn, he would be all set for a year at least.
Trustys
Arrive To
Clean Up
The Village
Warden Burke of
Waupun, spent Friday in Spring Valley arranging for the maintenance of the 40
to 50 trusties who arrived here the first of the week to help Spring Valley
clean up. Mr. Burke arranged to buy nearly all their provisions from local
stores.
Trucks full of
bedding and beds, cooks and the vanguard of the crew arrived Monday. They will live
in the village hall, sleeping upstairs in the auditorium and cooking and eating
downstairs. The building is ideal for that purpose, since it contains cooking
facilities and showers, and rooms for recreation as well as sleeping quarters.
The men will begin
the clean-up in the village at once. They plan to pick up the streets, help home-owners
in re-setting back buildings, piling up the debris in orderly fashion, and
tearing down the hopelessly wrecked buildings remaining upright.
Later they intend to
pick up the material lodged along the river banks; that is a job that of major
size in itself. Warden Burks said that Governor Heil has instructed him to stay
until the job is done or until freezing weather stops outdoor work; they expect
to remain about two months.
A New
Spring Valley
Business men present at the meeting held
here last week unanimously voted to move our village to another location. That
vote was a brave and necessary first step, but it didnÕt solve our problems nor
end our necessary efforts.
Reasons for the unanimity of that vote
are not far to seek. Never before, since the ancient glaciers melted away, has
the Spring Valley location suffered such a flood; it took the combined results
of a moisture-saturated warm air (98%) being met by extra-early wintry winds
from the Arctic, just over the Spring Valley water-shed and when the ground was
absolutely saturated with water, to produce such a flood. All these factors may
never again meet together. On the other hand, they meet again next week. Hence
fear and uncertainty hang over our heads and will continue to haunt us as long
as we stay beside the Eau Galle.
We
are told by government engineers that it is entirely possible to control any
such downpour here. Looking at Boulder Dam, for instance, we know that it is
indeed possible; but as Gov. Heil said when here in June, ÒSpring Valley aint
worth that much money.Ó There are less costly and better ways of reaching our
goal of safety.
We
must remember that Spring ValleyÕs greatest assets did not consist in our buildiings
nor in our stocks of merchandise, but in the goodwill which we have built up in
these past fifty years in the splendid, far-spread, prosperous community around
us. Our buildingss are wrecked, our goods are destroyed, but we still possess
that community.
A
farmer who lives many miles from Spring Valley expressed this truth to a Sun
man. ÒYou mourn for your town,Ó he said, Òbut whose town do you really think
Spring Valley is? ItÕs my town – it belongs to the hundreds of us who
live far out of the valley but who love it and depend on it. We canÕt let is
fade away.Ó
Moving
the physical location of the town a few miles may sacrifice some of our
buildings and associations, but it will still retain Spring ValleyÕs most
valuable resources – our community and good will.
Fortunately
there are suitable new locations within a short distance from the present
village in almost every direction to which we can move and where we will be
free forever from the fear of future floods.
But
we must begin NOW with full intention to carry on as fast as possible and not
to be stopped by any obstacle whatever. There are always lions in the path of
those who fear them. There are difficulties of finance, of agreeing on a plan,
of war-time restrictions; but these difficulties can be solved as we meet them
if we go on now while the feeling of unity and the impetus of our necessity are
with us.
The fiftieth anniversary of the founding
of Spring Valley was to have been celebrated next month. We now have a
heaven-sent opportunity to make that anniversary a splendid rebirth into a new
and better-planned Spring Valley that will come closer to our heartÕs desire. Like
Topsy, the old Spring Valley Òjust growedÓ without form or direction; think
what we can do now, starting from the ground up. We are in the position of a
family whose old and well-loved home is falling; it must be patched up, with
the ever-present danger that it may fall in over our heads, or a new home may
be built, still on the home farm, convenient, more livable, and one which the
neighbors will enjoy visiting.
In building our new home we shall have
the active assistance of hosts of friends, far and near – if we do it
now. Everybody is glad to help those who also help themselves, but these
helpers of ours will soon lose interest if we show hesitating weakness. Such a
chance as this comes to very, very few communities and perhaps only a few
communities are wise enough or strong enough to make use of such a chance when
it does come.
A few years from now, those of us who
Òstay by the shipÓ will look back at what now seems to be our great calamity
and perceive that it really was the greatest of opportunities for good fortune.
Time will prove that Lady LuckÕs stinging slap was given us to wake us up and
compel us to take the step that shall lead to a future which we never could
have realized without her painful insistance and assistance.
Railroad
Back in the Valley
The Omaha railroad is back in Spring
Valley. A large crew of men started work on bridges and right-of-way Tuesday,
expecting to be through by the end of the week.
Railroad officials estimate that $10,000
worth of their bridge material is scattered along the right-of-way between
Spring Valley and Elmwood. This is new materials and was in the process of
being placed in bridges and other structures washed out by the May flood. No
material in existing structures is figured. This must be salvaged – it
cannot be replaced
Flood damage on the main line has not
yet been completely repaired. At the Knapp hill there is still only one track
open, and that track had to be placed on the old railroad grade that was
abandoned many years ago. The new grading is completely gone.
Regular train service means that the
Spring Valley station will be a busy place. Fertilizer being shipped in for
farmers of this community is waiting for the opening of the line – six
carloads of it.
In the connection, Melvin Melsby, Pierce
county Chairman of the A.A.A., advises farmers to take their shipments of
fertilizer promptly on the days designated on the notification cards otherwise
the entire unloading procedure will be held up because of the heavy shipments
and limited trackage of the present Spring Valley railroad yards.
LOOTERS,
TAKE NOTICE
The flood has shown Spring Valley both
the good and the bad side of human nature. The good side is overwhelmingly
stronger but the bad shows up too strongly at times.
On the banks of the Eau Galle south of
Spring Valley lie goods, materials and records from nearly every former
business in Spring Valley. Hundreds of people have looted these heaps of many
useful things that do not belong to them – some in ignorance but most of
them sneaking the goods home in shame under cover of darkness. It is about
these thieves – and worse – that this is written.
Spring Valley was defenseless during the
first week after the flood. The state guards did a major job in patrolling the
highways and the streets of the village, but some people walked two or three miles
just to pick up loot found on the river banks.
If by chance you are one of those who
carried off something of value that does not belong to you, we hope this will
make you ashamed enough to bring the articles back and find the rightful owner.
It may be that you were seen and that there will soon be a warrant out for your
arrest. Would you rather be branded as worse than a thief – one who kicks
a man when he is down – or are you one who has courage enough to bring
your loot back?
Think it over, you few. – Make the
right decision now before it is too late.
K. L. Schellie, of the Wisconsin State Planning
Board, and F. W. Sawtelle, one of the boardÕs surveyors, began work Monday in
making a survey of the new site where the village of Spring Valley will be
moved, just west of the present location. These men are helped by three high
school boys, a different bunch each day, as a practical part of their school
work.
At present the surveyors are running contour lines
as a guide to grading for the new town, and are also investigating soil
conditions and underlying rock. Their findings will influence the exact
location of each part of the new town.
THANK YOU
The Sun that you get today is the first paper
printed in our own plant since the flood of Sept. 17. The fact that you got any
paper at all since then is due to those wonderful friends of ours, the other
printers of this section.
Heading the list in that friendship are two grand
fellows, Oscar Halls and Harold Doolittle, and their loyal crews of helpers:
OscarÕs did the first flood issue, and did it alone, without suggestion or aid
from Spring Valley – a whale of a good job, too.
HaroldÕs did the printing of the succeeding two issues;
some of the composition on the second issue was done by Aug. Ender and his crew
in Durand, and some composition on the third issue was done by Bub White and
his crew at River Falls. Oscar Halls filled in the ticket by setting a large
part of the advertising in the issue last week.
Wm. Hawley, of Baldwin, spent the Sunday following
the flood swamping out the Sun office; Bill supervised the job, too, from a
printerÕs angle, as the Sun force was kept busy rescuing what machinery was
possible to save from rust and mud.
Art Best, of Woodville, and Jack Cory, of Elmwod,
offered their plants to the Sun. Jonathan Boothby of the Boothby Printery at
Menomonie, sent the Sun stationery, envelopes and a typewriter and began doing
the urgent job work brought to the Sun office. The Wisconsin Press Association
began collection of a fund for our personal relief.
There were many others, not printers, who gave us
splendid aid by helping to shovel out mud and spoiled paper, clean type and
machinery, and pick up generally. Warren Weldon, with the help of other men
from Hersey, worked several days; and among others were Frank Lowater with his
mechanic from Chippewa Falls; men from Baldwin, Beldenville, Gilman, Spring
Lake, Rock Elm and the village; and also the ladies from the country and the
village who helped to wash type by hand. Altogether this is the reason we are
able to print the Sun in our office this week.
We have always prized our friendships highly; but
this demonstration of good-will from our neighbors and friends is beyond any
words of ours.
For the present, and until future time can let us say it more adequately –
Thank you, The Lowaters |
