Mrs. Clara Larrieu was born in 1884 in the Spring Valley, Wisconsin, area, before the establishment of the Village of Spring Valley. She was, at the time of this interview, the oldest living Spring Valley resident, and she has many valuable recollections concerning the rapid growth of the community during the 1890's and the iron minine and smelting industries which contributed to the town's rapid growth at the turn of the century. Mrs. Larrieu also supplies some information about lumbering operations in the area.
The interview provides a lively description of Spring Valley as a mining "boom" tmm complete with imported labor, and thirteen saloons. In addition, Mrs. Larrieu details biographical infonnat ion about her husband who held various jobs in the Spring Valley area, including work in a veneering mill, in a lumber mill, and as a Spring Valley postal worker from 1917-1951.