KVA History Project - Part 2

So, let us finally continue with our look at the KVA local history project, which ran from 1977 through 1979.

            Perhaps no one knew of the importance of the oral history interviews for the KVA project better than Dale Muller of La Farge.  Dale had spent most of his life listening to peoples’ stories, remembering those stories and then passing them on to others.  As a young boy, Dale had been drawn to listen to his elders as they told of “the good old days”.  He remembered those stories of that earlier time and in 1972 when his son, Lonnie, began a new weekly newspaper in La Farge, he started writing about some of those memories in a weekly column called “John Bear Spreader Notes”.

            Dale used the pseudonym “Johnson Gunfrunk” when he penned the local history columns in the weekly issues of the Epitaph.  Some of the stories he told were priceless and I will share a very early one that he wrote in the second edition of the Epitaph – January 19, 1972.

            Dale was writing about the Dutch elm disease wiping out the American elm trees in the Kickapoo Valley.  He was not a big fan of that type of tree because it was a poor source of heat when it was burned for firewood and because of its penchant for warping and splitting.  Dale shared a local history story in that column that went like this, “Richard Cornell, local gunsmith, once made a full length stock for a .22 rifle out of elm.  It warped so bad that it bent the barrel.  He had the only gun on Bear Creek that would shoot around corners.  Dick became quite an expert at shooting squirrels on the other side of trees with it.”

            In 1976, when the village organized to celebrate the nation’s Bi-Centennial, Dale became a vital part of the committee that was formed in La Farge.  As part of La Farge’s look back for the American Bi-Centennial, Dale began to interview older people in the village.  Using a tape recorder for the interviews, he was able to save the precious local history stories for posterity.  As a matter of fact, when the Bi-Centennial activities were concluded with the 4^th of July Celebration in La Farge, Dale continued on with the oral history interviews and archived the tapes in the village’s library.

            When the Kickapoo Valley Association (KVA) began its local history project in 1977-78, Dale was a natural to serve on an “Advisory Group” for the project.  In the last issue of the “Kickapoo Pearls” (September – 1979), this testimony was made about the Advisory Group:

            “The Advisory Group to the Kickapoo Valley Association History Project has been a vital part of our efforts.  The members of the advisory group were selected by the KVA and the Crawford, Monroe and Vernon County Historical Societies to represent their various perspectives and concerns as historical information was gathered.  Other members were selected at large by the Advisory Group.  Their role has been to provide advice, direction, assistance, contacts and experience and knowledge to the staff of the project.  The members of the Advisory Group have served on a voluntary basis since early January of 1978.

            ‘Staff and Advisory Group have met regularly every six weeks over these past 20 months to jointly map out direction and goals.  Working in this type of situation was a new experience for most all of us and one that we’ll not soon forget.”

            Others on the Advisory Group included Kate Walter, Leita Twining Slayton, Kathy Calhoun, Helen Tuchalski, Jeanne & Bernard Smith, Connie Stephens, Steve Picus, Arlene Obert, and Dawald Craig.

            Dale Muller was also instrumental in helping with the initial phase of the KVA History Project, which was the preparation of a history of Seelyburg.  Dale had spent much of his youth in the Seelyburg area and helped to coordinate a research project on the old lumbering town on the Kickapoo River.  Working with other local history advocates Jeanne & Bernard Smith of La Farge and Connie & Lawrence Stephens of Viroqua, Dale joined Dale Treleven from the Wisconsin Historical Society’s Oral History Program to get the history of Seelyburg project started.

            In the summer of 1977, the KVA used a Summer Youth Work Program grant to hire Janet Marshall, a recent graduate of La Farge High School, to research and write about the former community of Seelyburg.  Janet conducted oral history interviews with several people and then wrote an excellent history about the old lumbering town.  Janet Marshall’s work set a fine example for the local history project that was to follow.

            With the advice and direction from the members of the Advisory Group, the KVA soon assembled a staff to collect the local and folk history, take that information from the interviews and put it into essay form and add photographs and graphics for the editions of the Kickapoo Pearls.  Tom Hovde, who lived near Ontario, became the leader of the KVA’s project and assisted at almost all levels besides administering all of the programs.

            Working from offices on La Farge’s Main Street, Hovde assembled a staff of researchers and writers that included Dail Murray, Lon Reuter, Judy Wilmes, Dan Eumurian, Lynne O’Brien, Mike Wright and Dana Strobel.  That group soon started conducting oral and folk history interviews with people up and down the Kickapoo Valley, recording their stories and memories while collecting and copying historical photographs to supplement the project.  According to a written account of the local history project that was published in the last issue of the Kickapoo Pearls, another local woman was a key ingredient to its success.

            From Volume IV, “Jean (Daines) Muller of La Farge was the main cog around which things got done.  Jean’s title was secretary/typist but her ability to keep files, typing, tapes, and everything else in order while working with ten people was a key to any accomplishments we’ve had.  Jean got married while she was working for us but it only slowed her down a little while.”

            Shawn Donovan of La Farge was the project’s bookkeeper, making sure that all CETA grant guidelines were followed and that the payroll came out on time.

            In addition to the written products of the KVA research, other mediums were used to present information on the history of the Kickapoo Valley.  Mike Wright led an effort to develop radio programs called the Crooked River Series, which aired the first Sunday evening of every month on WGBM-FM from Viroqua.  The one-hour programs included discussions on The Great Depression in the Kickapoo Valley, Settlement of the Kickapoo Valley, the Kickapoo Valley Railroad and other topics.  Several programs featured area musicians playing in “Old Time Kickapoo Music” segments.

            Frances Burton also produced a 16-mm color documentary film as part of the local history project.  Burton, whose family was from Gays Mills, was a filmmaker from Milwaukee, who moved back to the Kickapoo Valley to make the film.  She created the 15-minute film titled “Land of The Crooked River” from a script partially written by Dale Muller and narrated by Orlie Baker of Seneca.  The KVA History Project film (now a classic!) includes rare film footage from August 1939 of the last train on the Kickapoo railroad as it departed the station at Soldiers Grove.     

            In the end, the various results of the KVA’s local history project about the Kickapoo Valley were really marvels of their particular time.  The interviews, collections, essays, publications, oral tapes and film all strove to tell the story of a unique and particular place and its people.  That is something that others, including this humble scribbler, continue to this day.

KVA HISTORY PROJECT

Kickapoogians, “have an established unsavory reputation, extending throughout the state of Wisconsin and even beyond; that it is a territory some fifty miles long, wild and undeveloped, inhabited by illiterate people who are designated timber thieves, horse thieves and desperados.”

            That description of the “unsavory reputation” of residents of the Kickapoo Valley comes from the introduction to the classic local history book, The Kickapoo Valley – The Gem of Wisconsin.  The book was written and published by two women from Viola, Gertrude Frazier and Rose Poff, in 1896.  The entire purpose of the book was to present evidence that this reputation was undeserved and in their words, “wholly false”.

            (Before going any further, let the word go out to all good history lovers that a new shipment of the “Gems” book has arrived at the Friends of the Reserve gift shop located at the KVR Visitor Center north of La Farge.  Under the leadership of Chuck Hatfield, the “Gems” book was republished and rereleased in May 2007 after having been out of print for over 100 years.  An original copy of the book that was owned by Joyce Blackmore, noted Rockton historian, and donated by Brian Turner was used as a copy for the republication printing.

After the “Gems” book was released, Chuck and I along with wives, Gwen and Carolyn, went on a tour of the Kickapoo Valley from Wilton to Wauzeka talking to groups about the book.  The original order of the books was soon sold out and another batch had to be printed, then another after that.   Recently the gift shop had run out of the “Gems” books, but once again, the book may be obtained at the Friends gift shop.)

Gertrude Frazier and Rose Poff’s book was one of the first efforts to tell the stories of the people of the Kickapoo Valley.  Over the years there have been many others, including these scribbling’s that appear in the La Farge Episcope on a bi-monthly basis.  One of the more comprehensive efforts to record the history of the Kickapoo Valley and its people came about during the late 1970’s as part of a government funded project that had great impact and significance.

In 1977, the Kickapoo Valley Association (KVA) received a Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) federal grant.  The purpose of the CETA grant was to provide employment and training for people in the areas of public service.  The KVA, a group formed earlier in the decade to promote the Kickapoo Valley, used the CETA grant in a variety of ways.

There was a river project that included a cleanup of the Kickapoo River to open up more areas of the river for canoeing.  This particular project was not too popular in some circles in the La Farge area as the community was still simmering from the stoppage of the dam project.  Some ardent pro-dam activists saw canoeists on the Kickapoo as one of the factors that contributed to the dam project being stopped.  So, on several summer weekends during these times, the “Beavers” (a secret chain saw wielding group of guys who often gathered in local watering holes before proceeding to the river under the cover of darkness) would saw down trees and drop them into the Kickapoo River to thwart canoeing.  Interestingly, the “Beavers” efforts provided plenty of work for the young men working on the KVA’s river project, as they assisted the local canoe livery owners in keeping sections of the river open to canoeing.

Another aspect of the KVA’s CETA grants was an agricultural survey done with landowners and farmers along the river way to look for problems and seek solutions caused by flooding.  There was also an Energy Alternatives Project developed under the CETA grant.  The work and findings under that aspect of the grant led to the development of Soldiers Grove as the first solar community in the country.

But the showpiece of the KVA’s CETA grant was the Local History Project.  The KVA’s History Project (1977-79) was vast in its reach and impressive in its accomplishments.  An Advisory Group was formed by the KVA and the Monroe, Vernon and Crawford County historical societies to provide various perspectives and concerns as historical information was gathered.  Dale Muller and Jeanne & Bernard Smith represented La Farge on the 10-member advisory group for the history project.  Working with a staff of people hired to conduct the history project, the members of the advisory group provided insight to various avenues to pursue for the project.  The staff and advisory group met regularly during 1978 and 1979 as the history project was unfolding.

The Local History Project included a number of endeavors to collect and share the unique history of the people of the Kickapoo Valley.  A “Study Unit Project” was developed for schools and teachers to use in presenting local Kickapoo Valley history in their classrooms.  After the unit was developed, a seminar was held on the UW-Richland campus to introduce the concept and materials to area teachers.  Eventually, the unit was distributed to all the schools in the Kickapoo Valley area.  Margaret Lee of La Farge headed up the study unit project.

A documentary film was also produced.  Under the leadership of Frances Burton, the 16mm color documentary, “The Land of The Crooked River” was eventually completed and released.  The fifteen-minute film is a classic in presenting the unique nature of the Kickapoo Valley and its history.

A history textbook was also a part of the KVA Local History Project.  The textbook would include all of the information gathered in the different aspects of the local history project.  Although the history textbook was never published, much of the research, collected materials, and even the preliminary organization have been done, and that awaits an energetic crew to complete.

At the heart of the Local History Project was an effort to collect local history by conducting oral history interviews.  At the same time, an ear was tilted towards the collection of folk history and tales through the interviewing process.  As the local and folk histories were being gathered during 1978-79 there was also an effort to share some of that information with the public.  This was accomplished through the publication of the “Kickapoo Pearls” newspaper-magazine.  The first issue of the “Kickapoo Pearls” was published in June 1979 and subsequent issues were released in July, August and September (the “Harvest Moon” edition) of that year.  Each publication of the “Kickapoo Pearls” had a printing of 2,500 copies and as the news and excitement about the publications spread, the tabloids soon were in short supply.  People were excited to learn about the lore and legend of the winding Kickapoo!

Rack 'Em Up!

Well, either you’re closing your eyes

To a situation you do now wish to acknowledge,

Or you are not aware of the caliber of disaster indicated

By the presence of a pool table in your community

Ya got trouble, my friend, right here,

I say, right here in River City,

Trouble with a capital “T”

And that rhymes with “P” and that stands for pool!

When I first heard the actor, Robert Preston, sing those words in the movie adaptation of Meredith Willson’s musical, “The Music Man”, I immediately thought of my hometown of La Farge. Wilson may have been writing about memories from his boyhood hometown of Mason City, Iowa, but that song seemed to fit right in with this Kickapoo River town. Of course, I viewed the movie at the Mars Theater in La Farge back when the movie was first released in 1962, so it was natural I suppose for me to imagine that the mythical River City of Willson’s story was La Farge. I don’t really remember any other songs from that movie, but some of the lyrics of “Ya Got Trouble” have always lingered in my mind. “P” rhymes with “T”, which stands for Trouble, so watch out for those pool tables!

The evil of the pool hall was a moral dilemma played out in many an American town and La Farge was no exception. By the time that I came along as a lad in the 1950s and stood on the sidewalk and stared in at the forbidden tables at Mac’s Pool Hall on La Farge’s Main Street, I think the moral drama had played its course and that type of an establishment was pretty well accepted. It was viewed as a relatively harmless place for boys and men to while away their free hours – playing pool and cards. There were age limits of course, for both playing pool, which I think was 12 or 14 years of age, and the adult card room in the back, which I’m pretty sure required the age of 18 for proper entry to play.

The village of La Farge has always had pool tables. When the village was established in 1899, one of the first pieces of business that the newly elected board had to conduct was giving out licenses for pool tables. Since that first village board decided to give out liquor and beer licenses for saloons and other drinking establishments, the pool table license usually went with it. But pool tables were in other establishments in La Farge besides taverns. There were actual pool halls from the very beginning. A Mr. Bezuchka, of the Hillsboro brewery family, who had many business interests in the village at its inception (including its gold mine), opened a three-table pool hall in La Farge several months before getting his liquor and beer licenses to turn it into one of the first saloons in town. Two of the three hotels in the village also had pool tables for their patrons to use. The “La Farge House” or “Belcher’s Hotel” did not have a pool table, as the family who owned the hotel strictly forbid their guests from any drinking, smoking or chewing in their establishment. So, it would follow that there would not be any pool table there, either. (Those strict rules soon led the Belcher family to close down the hotel, as they had little use of their rooms from business travelers. Mrs. Belcher ran a millenary store in the front of the building for years and a barbershop was also located there.) Both the “Central Hotel” and the “Ward Hotel”, La Farge’s other two hotels at the end of the nineteenth century, had pool tables. As a matter of fact, we have a record of a view of the pool table at the Ward Hotel provided us by Dale Muller in one of his Johnson Gunfrunk articles.

Writing in one of his John Bear Spreader Notes, Gunfrunk (Muller) was regaling about the village’s past in an article titled, “La Farge – Back Then”. In that piece, Muller recalled the busy Saturday nights in the village of his youth, “When a new kid came to town, and the town kids wanted to impress them they would take them down to the Ward Hotel, and peek down in the game room. They had a pool table and some card tables down there, and you could see the drummers playing cards with money on the table and drinking something out of big brown bottles. In one corner of the room, they had a stuffed two-headed calf and that really impressed the country kids.”

WELL – there you have it folks! Trouble with a capital “T”: card games, a pool table, drinking from big brown bottles and a two-headed calf! – Welcome to Sin (River) City!

Regular pool halls were in the village from its start. Besides the previously mentioned Bezuchka establishment, Art Travers had a pool hall early on in his building next to the Central Hotel. There was a pool hall in the Miller building across from the bank and another at one time in the KP Hall building on south State Street. Suffice it to say, many of the buildings that survive from that early era of the incorporation of the village (and there are quite a few of them), probably had a pool hall under roof at one time or another.

Sam Hook put a pool table in his general store located up in Seelyburg soon after he opened the business. That move did not sit well with the residents of the north end of La Farge. Dempster Seely, Chauncey Lawton and the other leaders of that community had always kept a tight check on drinking, gambling and other sins in Seelyburg over the years, but that group was gone by the time Sam opened his store. More than one correspondent to the La Farge Enterprise reporting on the happenings in Star (Seelyburg) at that time mentioned the sullying affect of Sam’s pool table on the youth of the old river town.

A while back, I received a scan of an old photographic post card from Julie Roberts, who lives down Readstown way, of a pool hall that was located in La Farge over a century ago. The historical society in Readstown had come in possession of the post card, which was dated as being mailed on May 28, 1909. The photograph showed an interior shot of a three-table pool hall owned by a man named Hart. The post card was sent by his daughter, Tacy, who identified the post card’s photo as her Dad’s pool hall in La Farge. Looking at that old photograph postcard, I am reminded of the last pool hall in La Farge – the one where I hung out in my youth. That back window placement and covered sidewall beam on the right side of the photograph remind me of Mac’s Pool Hall as I remember it, but it could be the interior of another building in La Farge as well.