ECOLAB INC. — Director's Dealing 2007

Dec 17, 2007

SEC Form 4 — Statement of Changes in Beneficial Ownership

Issuer: ECOLAB INC (ECL)
CIK: 0000031462
Period of Report: 2007-12-14

Reporting Person: BAKER DOUGLAS M JR (Director, Chairman, President & CEO)

Non-Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Code	Shares	Price	A/D	Holdings After	Ownership
2007-12-14	Common Stock	M	85295	$24.34	Acquired	185591.081	Direct
2007-12-14	Common Stock	F	59544	$51.445	Disposed	126047.081	Direct

Derivative Transactions

Date	Security	Exercise Price	Code	Shares	A/D	Expiration	Underlying	Ownership
2002-12-05	Common Stock	$24.34	M	85295	Disposed	2012-12-05	Common Stock (85295)	Direct
2007-12-14	Employee Stock Option (Right to Buy)	$51.445	A	59544	Acquired	2012-12-05	Common Stock (59544)	Direct

Holdings (Non-Derivative)

Security	Shares	Ownership
Common Stock	4785.010	Indirect

Footnotes

F1: Reflects the reporting person's payment of the exercise price and withholding taxes for a stock option issued in accordance with Rule 16b-3 by delivering and withholding shares of Ecolab Common Stock.

F2: The reporting person indirectly holds 4,785.010 UNITS in the Ecolab Stock Fund of the Ecolab Savings Plan (401(k) Plan) as of October 31, 2007. (The 4,785.010 UNITS are equivalent to approximately 8,933 SHARES of Common Stock.)

F3: Option granted under the Ecolab Inc. 2002 Stock Incentive Plan on December 5, 2002. The option was originally reported as covering 110,000 shares at an exercise price of $48.68 but has been adjusted to reflect a stock split on June 6, 2003, and the subsequent exercise of 49,410 shares on June 13, 2007. The option became exercisable, cumulatively, as to one-third of the total shares subject to the option on each of the first and second anniversaries of the date of grant and as to the remaining shares on the third anniversary of the date of grant.