| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History.
The separate villages of Eau Claire and Eau Claire City merged with the unincorporated community of North Eau Claire to incorporate as the City of Eau Claire in 1872 for the purpose of establishing a City water works. Simultaneously, the City was experiencing political opposition from residents of nearby Chippewa Falls against constructing the first dam on the Chippewa River at the Eau Claire Dells to aid Eau Claire’s lumber industry in the retrieval and sorting of logs transported to their lumber mills on the river. The City was only successful in receiving permission from the State legislature to construct the dam by citing the newly established waterworks as its primary purpose. The dam was owned by the City and constructed by, leased to, and operated by the Eau Claire Dells Improvement Company. A non-extant flume canal to Half Moon Lake was constructed on the west bank of the river to transport logs from the dam to lumber companies further downstream. A non-extant lock was constructed on the east bank of the river to allow navigation of boats around the dam. In coordination with the construction of the sixteen-foot-high dam, the city established its first water works. The dam, flume, and non-extant waterworks facility were constructed at a cost of over $95,000 and completed in 1878. Building of the dam caused the flooding of Dells Pond upstream to serve as a reservoir for receiving and sorting the logs.
The Eau Claire Pulp and Paper Company constructed a non-extant wood-frame mill adjacent to the dam on the east side of the river in 1883 and its own electric power plant in 1889. The Eau Claire Pulp and Paper Company went into receivership in 1890, and the mill was purchased by the Dells Paper and Pulp Company which was established in 1894 and constructed a larger brick mill to the north that same year. By 1897, the Chippewa Valley Electric Railway, Light, and Power Company was operating the former paper mill's power plant to provide electricity throughout the city.
The dam was replaced in 1914 (AHI #232150), presumably in conjunction with the construction of a new hydroelectric plant on the east side of the river in the location of the former lock. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Bailey, Judge Williiam F., editor. History of Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, Past and Present.” Chicago: C.F. Cooper & Co. , 1914, pages 361-369.
Eau Claire, Eau Claire Co., Wisconsin, Dec. 1885 New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Company, December 1885.
Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Sept. 1897. New York: Sanborn Map & Publishing Company, September 1889.
Insurance Maps of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, 1897. New York: Sanborn-Perris Map Company, 1897.
Taylor, Mary. Intensive Historic/Architectural Survey of the City of Eau Claire, Wisonsin. City of Eau Claire, 1983, pages 26-27.
Wisconsin Historical Society, Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, Eau Claire Pulp & Paper Mill; Dell Paper & Pulp Co., Eau Claire, Eau Claire County, Wisconsin, Reference Number 41233. |
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