Bio: Hediger, Herman (1955)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 
 

Surnames: Hediger, Murphy, Runge 
 

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) September 15, 1955 
 

Hediger, Herman (1955) 
 

Herman Hediger Drives 3,500 miles in 8 days - With foot and ankle in cast he manages 700 miles on each of two days -  
 

With his left foot and ankle in a cast, Herman Hediger has just completed a drive of more than 3,500 miles.  He did nearly all of the driving.  On each of two days of the trip he drove more than 700 miles.  On the first day out he drove to Dickinson, North Dakota, and on the last day in he drove from Wells, South Dakota, to Neillsville, a distance of about 750 miles. 
 

The trip was primarily intended for attention to the affairs of the Hediger ranch at Whitetail, Montana.  Mr. Hediger was there two days.  He was accompanied by Mrs. Hediger, Mrs. Frank Murphy and Mrs. Otto Runge.  Mrs. Murphy went in order that she might have a visit with a sister, who resides at Sidney, Montana.  The Hedigers dropped her there, and picked her up again after their stay at the ranch.  
 

Blithely over Big Horns:

The four members of the party then went through Billings to the Yellowstone; then out the east exit through Cody and over the difficult Big Horn Mountains.  Many, including the writer of this piece, have dodged the Big Horns more than once, but Mr. Hediger had more of an eye for the scenery than fear of the abyss.  As for the women, they closed their eyes at some of the tough spots.  
 

This long, hard drive was something of a trial for a broken foot, which prefers to be kept in a horizontal position.  But Mr. Hediger kept his seat well back and stretched his leg well out. Thus he managed pretty well.  
 

Back in Neillsville, however, Mr. Hediger is not without his tribulations.  He finds slow going with the break of last April.  He has had an attack of the hives, some of which ran down under the cast, creating discomfort.  But for a man with more than his share of woes, Mr. Hediger has kept up his spirits and is generally in good health. His energy and determination were reflected in his drive of 3,500 miles in 8 days, a sufficient test for a man with two good legs and no hives at all. 
 

(I, the transcriber remember those mountains well as my first mountain experience.) 

Responses

I helped lay the tile floor etc. after a fire at the Hediger cheese factory and home sometime around 1960.  I also worked in the cheese factory making cheese. At that time the cheese was made in the big vats and cut by hand into chunks maybe one foot or so square and dropped by hand through a slicer, then salted and stirred in the vat. then it was scooped out of the vats by hand-aluminum scoop shovel and into 55 gall barrels and capped and then shipped to where ever some kind of processed, packaged cheese was made to sell.  Workers never stood around when you worked for Herman. You better be working all the time.  Think I got less than $1.00 and hour.  Don Schutte