Eau Claıre, Wısconsın

Long before Eau Claire had a name, the Ojibwe had one for its river – their word for clear water. Explorers and traders carried the description into French, and it stuck, so the city is really a translation of the water that runs through it.

By the 1880s, though, you’d have struggled to see that water at all. White pine jammed the rivers on its way to the mills, and Half Moon Lake held 30 million feet of logs, which is how the place earned a less poetic nickname: Sawdust City. Today, plenty of travellers only glimpse it from I-94 between the Twin Cities and Madison.

VoiceMap’s self-guided audio tours are narrated by Roger Gostomski, who has called Eau Claire home for over 30 years. Cross the Phoenix Park footbridge to the confluence and hear how the Flood of 1884 left the Grand Opera House stage under three feet of water, or drive out to Carson Park, where Hank Aaron got his start – not too shabby for a lumber town. And if Ramone’s ice cream parlour calls, just hit pause.

Pop in your earbuds and let Eau Claire run clear.