lumberman, railroad builder, businessman, b. Owego, N.X. He moved to Wisconsin in 1854 and settled at Fort Howard, where he operated a sawmill until 1876; the mill was then moved to Fairchild. He acquired large tracts of timberland in Eau Claire and Clark counties, and in 1891 organized the N. C. Foster Lumber Co. at Fairchild. In 1882 he built a railroad from Fairchild to Mondovi, one of the earliest logging railroads in the state. He also constructed the Fairchild and Northwestern R.R. (1913), and maintained many other business enterprises in Wisconsin and California. Amer. Lumbermen (3 ser., Chicago, 1905, 1906); Eau Claire Leader, Mar. 17, 1923; Eau Claire Daily Telegram, Mar. 17, 1923.

The Wisconsin Historical Society has manuscripts related to this topic. See the catalog description of the Nathaniel Caldwell Foster Papers for details.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]