Chestnuts might be roasting on an open fire as "Der Bngle" hears silver bells and dreams of a white Christmas while Frank and Dean are
outdoing each other crooning, “Let it snow, let it snow let it snow……..”
They never lived in Northeast Wisconsin!
In 2016, many anticipate romantic gently falling snow and a Christmas Eve that is quietly Christmas- card perfect. Sometimes it happens,
sometimes it doesn’t. But Wisconsin is not Beverly Hills L.A. and most years Bing’s
dream would come true. There is snow, however most often not the blissfully warm, gently falling kind that offers scarf and stocking hat clad folks a winter wonderland. Wisconsinites
bundle up.
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| Grandpa's horses |
Snow and frozen ground was a pre-Christmas dream of the populace of
early Kewaunee County. Movies had nothing to do with it. There weren’t
any anyway. Snow that shuts the county down in 2016 meant great traveling conditions in 1900 and before, and for a long time after. It was the time of a
horse dependent society. If the horse could go, the family could go. The harsh blast
of a car horn will never evoke the nostalgia and comfort of the jingling sleigh
bells in a Budweiser commercial. Harness bells announced that another sleigh was
near. In a day without headlights, bells - and lanterns - meant safety. Adding to the
joy on Christmas Eve were the sleigh bells mingling with church bells heralding the birth of the
Christ Child.
Replaced by garages or
carports in northern climes, stables have become things of the past. Hotels have ramps and parking lots as do stores and churches. There
was a time when cities and villages had liveries at which to board or rent a
horse. It would never do to leave a horse tied in the sun or cold for hours. Church
stables ensured that horses could get out of the elements during services that
were far longer than today’s. St. Paul’s large stable was directly behind of the
current church. Sanborn Fire Maps also show a smaller stable behind the
location of the present parsonage.
Although known by various names, what has
been the Stebbins Hotel since 1905 has been there since the winter of 1857-58.
The Stebbins had two stables providing space for horses. Even saloons offered
stabling. In 1902 Albert Lohrey advertised his first class stabling in addition
to fine saloon and bowling alleys. The
1900 Sanborn map shows a stable behind the saloon but adjacent to the bowling
alley and along the alley that ran north and south down the center of the black, behind Lohrey's,. There were places for horses during the summer or on
a winter day when drivers of today just might decide to stay home.
When autos began making the scene, they could be operated in
the summer when the roadways were dry and dusty. Snow shut them down as did
spring and fall rains leaving mud and more. Everybody knew the new-fangled auto
would never replace the horse.
After RFD was fully implemented in Kewaunee County on
November 30, 1904, mail in was delivered in a horse drawn vehicle that
resembled an outhouse on wheels. The mail carrier brought everything imaginable,
unless it was so big – a Sears’ home, for instance - that it had to be sent via
railroad. Little coal burning stoves provided heat for the carrier and, no
doubt, sometimes singed the mail. So what if mail was singed? Mail was carried
to the rural homes of those who previously traveled to pick it up themselves.
Later, when carriers could use horseless vehicles, the vehicles only worked for
so long. An auto couldn’t ford rives in spring when freshets washed out a
bridge. No, it was the horse that could do it all. If Will Fellows were here,
he’d tell you had his auto been swept away he might have drowned. As it was, he
and his horse went to the neighboring farm where both were dried off and warmed
before making sure that the mail went through. There were times that Fellows
repaired country bridges so that he and his horse could use it.
By the beginning of World War ll, cars had almost replaced
the horse. Algoma’s Louie Kammer gave up his dray line and began driving truck.
Tom Baudhuin’s trucking company grew steadily. Bing Crosby had to be waxing
nostalgic dreaming of a white Christmas with softly falling snow. When Frank Sinatra
and Dean Martin wanted to let it snow, maybe it was because they had someone to
shovel it.
Those who were certain the horse would never be replaced are
no longer with us. Would they be surprised if they could come back? Maybe. What
would really give them something to think about is breaking news and how a few
inches of predicted snow can mean a traffic nightmare. It wouldn’t bother a
horse.
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| Snow in the Town of Red River |
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