Nathaniel C. Foster, lumberman, railroad builder, and businessman, was born at Owego, New York, on January 6, 1834. He moved to Wisconsin in 1854, where he operated a sawmill, first at Fort Howard, and after 1876 at Fairchild.
Mr. Foster acquired large tracts of timberland in Eau Claire and Clark counties, and in 1891 organized the N.C. Foster Lumber Company at Fairchild. To facilitate his lumbering operations, Mr. Foster built a logging railroad from Fairchild to Mondovi in 1882. In 1913, he constructed the Fairchild and Northwestern Railroad.
