USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 15
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Assessment Districts.
Total Real Estate
Total Real and Personal Property
Assessment. True Value. Assessment. True Value.
Arlington
$ 2,035,135 $ 2,021,420 $ 2,296,065 $ 2,300,675
Caledonia
1,408,360
1,875,320
1,602,021
2,126,416
Columbus
1,773,400
2,094,200
1,973,616
2,301,215
Courtland
1,224,775
1,703,260
1,395,852
1,909,860
De Korra
1,115,191
1,251,220
1,236,898
1,398,823
Fort Winnebago
483,375
771,322
549,547
866,823
Fountain Prairie
1,288,520
1,774,900
1,468,173
1,979,178
Hampden
1,659,480
2,026,680
1,889,624
2,259,984
Leeds
2,071,401
2,191,760
2,281,358
. 2,423,651
Lewiston
496,030
886,188
608,600
1,029,878
Lodi, town
915,311
1,173,080
1,025,388
1,300,995
Lowville
1,396,665
1,544,340
1,541,673
1,703,200
Marcellon
809,090
977,398
927,481
1,105,653
Newport
495,025
587,078
592,115
689,664
124
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Assessment Districts.
Total Real Estate
Total Real and Personal Property
Assessment. True Value. Assessment. True Value.
Otsego
$1,326,412
$1,357,600
$1,469,007
$1,511,373
Pacific
282,300
350,956
324,294
401,810
Randolph, town
1,413,698
1,996,560
1,660,268
2,250,976
Scott
943,615
1,102,740
1,084,974
1,259,708
Springvale
1,055,640
1,331,020
1,211,780
1,489,978
West Point
874,900
1,269,840
1,047,381
1,469,514
Wyocena
720,960
932,683
829,437
1,055,612
Cambria, village
331,460
405,188
418,030
509,097
Columbus, city
2,040,685
2,342,480
2,649,405
3,011,820
Doylestown
214,010
218,850
264,658
268,621
Fall River
198,420
244.558
271,776
327,351
Kilbourn
728,000
959,500
1,516,420
1,937,926
Lodi
736,925
861,592
918,219
1,074,879
Pardeeville
440,823
589,004
540,087
716,763
Portage, city
3,140,674
3,166,540
4,169,149
4,387,431
Poynette, village
391,100
445,852
478,065
532,244
Randolph, west ward ...
192,150
227,472
241,820
281,553
Rio, village
470,735
547,220
630,550
706,110
Wyocena, village
98,392
124,559
142,453
170,493
Total for cities and
and villages $ 8,983,374 $10,132,815 $12,240,632 $13,924,288
Total for towns.
23,789,283
29,219,565
27,015,552
32,834,986
Total of county.
32,772,657 39,352,380
39,256,184 46,759,274
AGRICULTURAL INTERESTS
The settlers of Columbia County have always been largely engaged in agricultural and pastoral pursuits, and of late years their dairy in- dustries have assumed the greater importance. This fact is fully realized when figures of more than thirty years ago are compared with those of 1914, which have just (April) become accessible. In 1879, for instance, there were over sixty-nine thousand acres of wheat grown in the county, fairly well distributed between the towns, and in 1914 less than two thou- sand. Even in the former year the yield of wheat was deteriorating, the new Northwest beyond the Mississippi rising rapidly into prominence as the coming granary.
CONDITIONS THIRTY YEARS AGO
As stated by an observer of thirty years ago: "The early settlement of Columbia County was made by a robust, thrifty, industrious and frugal class of men and women, in their youth and physical prime of
125
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
life, full of energy and days' work. They found a rich soil, like them- selves, new and young and full of fertility, yielding readily to the will and wishes of the earnest and ambitious toiler who owned and cultivated it, and rewarding his efforts with abundant harvests. The land yielded so abundantly and persistently that the opinion prevailed for many years that the grain-producing qualities of the soil were inexhaustible; hence the straw was burned to get it out of the way and the manure was per- mitted to go to waste. Crop after crop was taken from the soil, and nothing returned in exchange therefor to preserve its fertility until the crops became less and less; so that now lands which at one time would yield with reasonable certainty 30 to 40 bushels of wheat to the acre cannot be depended upon to yield 10 or 15."
CONDITIONS OF THE PRESENT
With the increase in agricultural population, corn and oats have both increased in acreage and yield, but not in the proportion they would have done had not so large a portion of the rural settlers devoted them- selves to the dairy industries. Rye, potatoes and beans are also plentiful crops in Columbia County. As thirty years ago, the banner corn towns are Arlington, Caledonia, Leeds, Randolph, West Point, Scott, Lowville and Hampden, or, generally speaking, the southwestern and northeastern portions of the county. The same may be said of the oats area, although Courtland and Fountain Prairie are productive districts and therefore extend the eastern belt of that crop a little further to the south. Leeds, Arlington, Randolph, Courtland and Hampden are good barley sections, and De Korra and Marcellon run to rye. Potatoes are readily raised in Newport and Lewiston townships, or the northwestern part of the county, and Lowville is the largest of the bean towns.
Over thirty-seven thousand acres of the county are grass lands, against nearly thirty-six thousand in 1879, the Township of Leeds being head and shoulders above other sections in the production of that crop. One is not surprised, of course, to see a shrinkage in the area of growing tim- ber during this period of thirty-four years. In 1879 over fifty-eight thousand acres were standing in Columbia County; in 1913, or 1914, 40,553. The largest areas of timber are now in Caledonia (7,215 acres), De Korra (4,312) and Marcellon (3,310).
Some years ago quite an excitement was abroad in the county over the prospects of tobacco as a profitable crop, but the fever has abated. Not quite twelve hundred acres are now devoted to the cultivation of the weed, of which Hampden has 301, Otsego 193, Lowville 188, Arling- ton 161 and Lodi 145; and these lead all the others.
126
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
The actual production of farm products during the year 1913 was: Corn 1,808,293 bushels, oats 1,612,007 bushels, potatoes 678,445 bushels, barley 407,615 bushels, rye 189,725 bushels, tobacco 1,881,450 pounds and hay 35,943 tons.
Columbia County, in the earlier times, was considered quite an apple-bearing country, but most of the old orchards have been aban- doned and other parts of the country are so much better adapted to the raising of that fruit that it is seldom that new trees are set out. The result is that there are now only about thirty-six thousand growing apple trees in the county, as compared with 61,000 in 1879.
A SPLENDID DAIRY COUNTY
A different story is told when a comparison is made between the milch cows of the earlier period and the present. In 1879 Columbia
A DAIRY HERD IN COLUMBIA COUNTY
County had 11.727 animals of inferior grade, valued at $171,695, while the creameries were all home affairs and cheese factories were virtually unknown. Now there are 21,473 milch cows, many of them as fine as any in the country, valued at $805,549. Of this number 4,179 supply the 16 cheese factories with the raw product and 15,300 contribute to the creameries. There is no class of industries in Columbia County which exceeds in importance those connected with the establishments men- tioned, and we are therefore pleased to present to the readers of this history the latest obtainable details regarding them.
127
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
CREAMERIES IN COLUMBIA COUNTY
Towns, Etc.
No.
Value
No. Patrons No. Cows
Pounds, Milk
Pounds, Butter
Money Received
Columbus, twn. 1
$2,500
100
900
462,000
100,000
$33,000.00
Ft. Winnebago 1
3,400
97
800 1,418,712
73,032
20,215.18
Fount'n Prairie 2
3,500
126
1,290 1,710,982
174,394
51,722.26
Lowville
1
2,000
225
900
482,720
160,923
45,058.44
Marcellon
1
3,000
80.
400
60,000
17,601.24
West Point
1
950
80
800
78,641
22,530.20
Cambria
1
3,000
100
600
180,000
50,400.00
Doylestown
1
4,150
318
2,500 1,021,245
255,001
72,400.28
Kilbourn City *
1
3,800
125
750
120,000
32,000.00
Lodi
1
4,000
200
2,000
318,844
96,732.50
Poynette *
1
1,300
145
1,000
108,121
29,105.00
Wyocena
1
2,500
156
1,100
306,469
106,614
33,450.70
Columbus City,
2d W.
1
3,000
115
1,000
106,000
28,600.00
Portage City,
2d W.
1
1,500
210
1,260
530,000
201,688
59,912.52
Total
15 $38,600 2,077 15,300 5,932,128 2,043,258 $590,728.32
CHEESE FACTORIES
Towns, Etc.
No.
Value
No. Patrons
No. Cows
Pounds, Milk 400,000°
Pounds, Cheese - 40,000 $
Money Received 4,800.00,
Caledonia
1
1,500
27
315
1,638,056 594,299
169,500
22,088.58
Columbus, town. 1
2,500
20
200
55,778
8,599.28
Courtland
3
5,000
45
700
2,715,502
275,694
37,851.34
Fountain Prairie 2
1,900
51
500
1,351,496
133,942
19,720.00
Randolph t
3
3,600
82
955
4,288,117
441,700
65,685.00
Scott
4
4,400
98
875
3,497,890
352,755
53,357.97
Fall River, village 1
350
32
384
4,000,000
40,000
8,000.00
Arlington
1 $ 1,000
15
250
Total
16 $20,250 370 4,179 14,885,360 1,509,369 $220,102.17
* Village.
t Randolph leads the towns as a cheese producer, her brick cheese being widely and favorably known. As is seen by the table Scott is her closest competitor. Courtland is next, making northeastern Columbia her banner cheese section.
128
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
LIVE STOCK
The live stock of Columbia County is by no means confined to milch cows, as the last report of the assessor proves. The value of all other cattle is given at $310,967, making a total of $1,116,516 for that class. Its 14,787 horses are valued at $1,464.271; 18,859 swine at $227,188, and 13,035 sheep and lambs at $48,685.
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
For over sixty years the farmers have been organizing and sup- porting agricultural societies, designed both as social factors and to stimulate and protect their interests. Various local and seetional socie- ties and fairs, such as the Union Fair at Columbus and the Lodi Union Agricultural Society, grew out of the parent body, known as the Co- lumbia County Agricultural Society. A suggestion which led to the organization of the county society was made by Jesse Van Ness, of West Point, at a meeting of the board of supervisors held at Portage in November, 1851. His suggestion was received so favorably by his fellow members that soon after a preliminary meeting of farmers and leading citizens was held at school house No. 7, in the Town of Fort Winnebago.
Van Ness became president pro tem, and Joseph Kerr of Randolph, F. C. Curtis of Lowville and J. A. Guptil of Scott were appointed a committee on constitution. On the 19th of the month the meeting re- assembled, adopted a constitution which was simplicity itself, and about fifty leading farmers throughout the county paid 25 cents each for becoming members of the society.
The officers elected were: President, J. Van Ness, West Point ; first vice president, Joseph Kerr, Randolph ; second vice president, Thomas C. Smith, Columbus ; treasurer, F. C. Curtis, Lowville ; recording secretary, John A. Byrne, Otsego; corresponding secretary, Henry Converse, Wyocena.
FIRST FAIR AND SECRETARY'S REPORT
The first fair of the Columbia County Agricultural Society was held on the commons at Wyocena. The receipts were $15.75 and the dis- bursements $11.80, but everybody had a good time, and the society went forward with a hopeful face. At least one may so infer from the first report of Secretary Byrne, which he issued as follows :
OTSEGO, December 6, 1852.
Dear Sir :- The first annual fair and cattle show of Columbia County Agricultural Society was held in the village of Wyocena, in November
129
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
last; but this being our first attempt, it was, as was to be expected, somewhat meagre ; however, as a starting point and a beginning, it was one of which we may justly feel proud. Like our parent, the state society, we commenced without funds or patronage. Our birth was slowly and humble; our future -- who shall say ?
At the session of the Board of Supervisors in November, 1851, a few of our practical farmers, while chatting sociably on this topic, proposed having a primary meeting, for the purpose of getting an expres- sion of public sentiment. It was done. A proposition to organize a county society was received with favor. Committees were appointed to draft a constitution and by-laws, and to nominate officers. An adjourn- ment then took place, and on reassembling, a constitution was agreed upon, officers appointed, and an address delivered by Hon. Joseph Kerr, of Randolph, and under such auspices we came into existence; the vital spark was infused into our materiality, and now it needs but little to fan it to the vigor of manhood.
The notice of our fair had been issued only a few days prior to the time of holding it, consequently the attendance was thin, and yet large enough to show that, with proper organization and a due share of exertion on the part of each member and officer, Columbia will yet take a proud position among her sister counties in this State, in the cause of agriculture. To obtain that point, but one course is necessary. The society has now taken root; let it extend its branches into each town- ship, school district and road district; let its members, and all friends of agricultural knowledge, take an interest in its welfare, and it must succeed.
The officers elected for the ensuing year are as follows: President, Joseph Kerr, Randolph; vice presidents, Daniel S. Bushnell, Wyocena, and George M. Bartholomew, Lodi; secretary, Henry Converse, Wyo- cena; treasurer, Frederick C. Curtis, Lowville; executive committee, R. C. Rockwood, Wyocena; J. Q. Adams, Fall River; John Converse, East Randolph; Jesse Van Ness, West Point; Henry Merrell, Portage City.
I remain, dear sir,
truly yours, JOHN A. BYRNE,
Secretary Columbia County Agricultural Society.
This report was printed in the Wyocena Advance a few months ago, and drew forth an addendum from A. J. Townsend, the Lowville and Wyocena pioneer. "After reading the report of the first county fair in last week's advance," he says, "this thought came to me: How Vol. I-9
130
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
many are alive that took part in that fair sixty-one years ago this fall ?
"There was a fine exhibition of grains, vegetables and stock. Jacob Townsend and sons of Lowville had a herd of fine Devon cattle, on which they took all the first premiums. There were a few fine horses exhibited.
"Some amusing incidents during the fair : Two men from Marcellon came with a large rangy horse and stumped everybody for a race for ten dollars. No takers until the Lowville boys raised the money and ran John Low's pony against the Marcellon horse. The pony won by ten rods, and the men took their departure amid the shouts of the large crowd of spectators, minus the ten.
"Then John Gilbert of Lowville asked his father, Jonathan Gilbert, for a dollar. The old man said, 'No, but I will put up a dollar for the winner of a foot race with ten starters, and I will be one of them.' The race was made up and the old man started and ran a few rods and said: 'Oh, pshaw! I won't run.' John won the race and got the dollar."
OTHER FAIRS
The show and cattle fair of 1853 was also held at Wyocena. At that exhibition there were nineteen entries under the class of horses; twelve under cattle; one, poultry, and two, farm implements-one of which was a plow and the other a vertical gate. The receipts were $20, disbursements $18.81.
The fair held at Columbus September 20, 1854, was an improvement over the Wyocena shows. The scene of the exhibition and the rural festivities was at the forks of the road on the western declivity of what became known as Lewis & Cook's hill. The "Mountain House," a little hotel kept by A. P. Birdsey between the two roads, was the hall of fine arts, and in it were displayed a few fruits and specimens of fine needlework. There were ninety-nine entries. The receipts for members' fees amounted to $32. Of this $18 was disbursed in premiums, together with thirty-one volumes of the State Agricultural Society and sundry diplomas.
Since then fairs have been held at the following places: Portage, 1855; Wyocena, 1856 and 1857; Portage, 1858 and 1859; Cambria, 1860; Portage, 1861 and 1862; Lodi, 1863; Columbus, 1864; Portage, 1865 and 1866; Columbus, 1867; Portage, 1868; Columbus, 1869; Portage, 1870; Columbus, 1871; Portage, 1872; Columbus, 1873, and at Portage since 1874. In that year the City of Portage purchased forty acres of land in the First Ward, made a park of it and gave the Columbia County Agricultural Society, or its successors, an indefinite lease of the grounds.
131
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Each year up to 1901 at this place an annual fair was held under the auspices of the society.
COLUMBIA COUNTY FAIR ASSOCIATION
In 1901 the old society had become weakened by adverse conditions, and the Columbia County Fair Association, a stock company, was organ- ized. This organization, with sufficient finances back of it, proceeded to breathe new life into the annual exhibits of the county. New buildings were erected, new methods pursued, and the fair, as the result of the efforts of the stockholders of the association, is one of the biggest and best in the state. The first officers of the new association were: J. H. Wills, president; J. E. Jones, secretary, and R. N. McConochie, treas- urer. The present officers of the association are: C. Hecker, president ; F. A. Rzyme, secretary, and A. J. Jamieson, treasurer.
Other fairs existing in the county at present, and which give annual exhibits, are the Lodi Union Fair, at Lodi, and the Inter-County Fair, held at Kilbourn City.
CURLING IN COLUMBIA COUNTY
Columbia County is the home of more curlers and more curling clubs than any other similar locality in the United States. The Scottish settlers in the county brought the spirit of the "roarin' game" with them from the old country, and as early as 1855 a club was organized in the town of Caledonia. Instead of the handsome stone now used, the pioneers used wooden blocks, many of the old blocks being in exist- ence today and held as relies by the various existing clubs. About 1870 these wooden blocks were succeeded by iron, and for a dozen years the iron block was in use. About 1880 John Graham, the pioneer druggist of Portage, had two pairs of granite stones imported from Leith, Scot- land.
The curlers of the early days built their rinks of ice on the ponds, rivers and lakes, Silver Lake, in Portage County, being the popular re- sort for county and state bonspiels. Thither the curlers annually from Columbia County, Milwaukee, Chicago and other points used to assemble in large numbers and enjoy immensely the famous outdoor sport in the invigorating atmosphere. The colder the weather, the keener the sport. At one county bonspiel held on the pond in the village of Poynette over one hundred curlers played all day in the open, while the thermometer registered over 30° below zero. So exciting was the sport that no one noticed the frosty atmosphere.
132
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
In later years the sport has become entirely an indoor sport, all of the clubs playing in rink houses erected for that purpose.
While the game was originally confined almost wholly to the Scotch nationality, it is now the winter sport in Columbia County of all nation- alities. Clubs are located at Portage, Pardeeville, Cambria, Columbus, Arlington, Poynette, Port Hope, Silicaville, De Korra and Wyocena. Portage has the most pretentious and commodious rink building in the state, and there annually the curlers of Wisconsin meet during the first week in February and play continuously night and day for an entire week, in what is known as the "state bonspiel," for prizes that are competed for annually.
The game is participated in by men of all ages. The boy of fifteen competes with the veteran of three score and ten. No betting is allowed -and the game is indeed and in fact, a gentleman's sport.
There is no aristocracy on the ice. The banker and the hod carrier, the clergyman and the dispenser of stimulants are on an equal footing and forget all differences in station when engaged in the famous winter sport, and rinks that have won renown in state, interstate and local bonspiels are the famous Crusaders, skipped by J. H. Wells; the Invin- cibles, skipped by J. E. Jones; the Ironsides, skipped by R. N. Me- Conochie; the Pardeevillians, skipped by L. J. Tucker; the famous Reedal rink of De Korra, Hal. Rockwood's Portage Terriers, Ed. Se- ville's Lodians, Bob Robinson's Scotch Laddies of Arlington, and the Wild Westerners, skipped by Charlie Delany of Poynette, and in recent years the sons of the older curlers are taking the laurels from their fathers and the newcomers are threatening to be more expert than their predecessors.
CHAPTER X THE PRESS
FIRST COLUMBIA COUNTY NEWSPAPER-SUSPENSION OF THE RIVER TIMES-JOHN A. BROWN AND THE BADGER STATE-"SHANGHAI" CHANDLER AND THE INDEPENDENT-ROBERT B. WENTWORTH AND THE PORTAGE CITY RECORD-ENTER A. J. TURNER-WISCONSIN STATE REGISTER FOUNDED-BRANNAN & TURNER-THE REGISTER FROM 1885 TO DATE-A. J. TURNER AND MAJOR LOCKWOOD-FIRST COLUMBUS NEWSPAPER-WISCONSIN MIRROR PRECEDES KILBOURN CITY-THE COLUMBUS DEMOCRAT-THE COLUMBUS REPUBLICAN- FIRST GERMAN NEWSPAPER, DER WECKER - RUNDSHAU UND WECKER-LAUNCHING OF THE PORTAGE DEMOCRAT-JAMES E. JONES-LODI'S UPS AND DOWNS-THE ENTERPRISE-THE POYNETTE PRESS-PARDEEVILLE TIMES AND BADGER BLADE (RIO)-KILBOURN'S NEWSPAPER VENTURES-WYOCENA ADVANCE-OTHER COUNTY NEWS- PAPERS-DEFUNCT PAPERS.
The press of Columbia County was born in 1850, the year after the last of the Indian lands were thrown open to white settlers. John Delaney was its father -- an energetic, honest, brilliant Irishman, who had set his first type sixteen years before in the office of the Green Bay Intelligencer, the first newspaper published in Wisconsin. Mr. Delaney afterward studied law and was admitted to the bar, and therefore came to Portage well grounded in two professions. His brother James came with him; also a few cases of type and a battered printing press.
FIRST COLUMBIA COUNTY NEWSPAPER
On the 4th of July, 1850, the Delaney brothers issued their Fox and Wisconsin River Times from a wooden shanty which stood on the northwest side of the canal. It was a six-column folio, democratic, and high and hopeful of spirit. Passing over its general literary features, its optimism breathes in Delaney's editorial which speaks so positively
133
134
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
of the feasibility of the Fox and Wisconsin improvement-a direct inland water communication between New York and New Orleans, via Portage- placed beyond question, with the means at hand for its completion. He declares that the short canal to connect the rivers will be finished that summer, and states that the Wisconsin is traversed regularly by steamers throughout its entire route, and that the navigable portions of the Fox have also their steamers plying regularly between the cities and towns.
In a supplementary greeting to the public, Editor Delaney apologizes for not describing the town and adjacent localities. He is willing, how- ever, to receive advertising patronage. His establishment cost him $1,000, and current expenses were heavy, but he hopes that he has not commenced prematurely and that he will be reimbursed and do a good business, the newspaper having become necessary to civilization. He is not quite sure of his subscription list, and for the purpose of ascer- taining who his patrons really are will postpone the next issue for three or four weeks. The next paper was not published, in fact, until August 5th.
The one prediction, which has come to pass, was made by Brother Delaney in his salutatory: "We this day publish the first number of the Fox and Wisconsin River Times. If it is not a curiosity now, it will be hereafter, as the first paper published in the City of Fort Winne- bago."
SUSPENSION OF THE RIVER TIMES
James Delaney, Jr., brilliant and popular, like his brother, was drowned in the Wisconsin River, May 31, 1853. At the time he was city clerk of Portage and but twenty-seven years of age. In the August following John A. Brown became associated with Joseph Delaney, brother of John and James, in the publication of the paper. The office was removed to the second story of Moore & Gorman's building, opposite the Pettibone Block, where the paper continued to be published under the new management until its suspension as the River Times September 17, 1853.
JOHN A. BROWN AND THE BADGER STATE
On the following 1st of October Mr. Brown rechristened the journal, of which he was sole editor and proprietor, giving it the name Badger State, under which he had published a paper at Janesville. As ex- plained in his announcement: "Under the new arrangement we have taken a new name for the paper; not because we have any objection
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
to that of the River Times; but we have a decided partiality for our old name of Badger State. It was endeared to us in earlier times- during the old constitution fight, when we joined to raise the chorus : " 'We are a band of brothers In the new Badger State.'"
On the 14th of April, 1855, Chauncey C. Britt became an equal partner with Mr. Brown. The Badger State had already been enlarged, and it was again expanded the year after the copartnership was formed. The paper continued to be vigorously democratic. On the 15th of August, 1856, the Badger State office was moved to the new Badger Block, and the editors invited their friends to "call and make themselves comfortable in the prettiest printing office in the state." Early in the following year Mr. Britt became sole publisher, and within 1857 and 1858 there were a number of changes in management, indicating some- thing unsubstantial in the operations of the Badger State. The 4th of December, of the latter year, saw Mr. Brown again at the helm, but his death on the 10th of February, 1859, really killed the paper. His widow and J. M. Doty, one of the former editors, attempted to save it, but it finally suspended December 10th following Mr. Brown's decease.
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