About the biggest reason why Eau Claire changed from a logging to an industrial town was because of the problem that they were running out of logs of pine.
Photo credit: Chippewa Valley Museum
This is Eau Claire as it stood in the early 1900's. Some of the smoke stacks are logging mills. The people of Eau Claire and Altoona were faced with what was about the biggest change in the history of Eau Claire. They hoped that good railroad connections, skilled workers, cheap hydroelectric power, and attractive communities would be enough to attract the new investors to the market, because they now had to compete with all of the other cities trying to survive in the new age.I hope that you will learn why and how Eau Claire changed from a logging town to an industrial city.