Galena, Illinois

“ The Illinois side of the Mississippi, between the Upper Rapids and the Lefevre river which leads you to Galena, is characterized by an extensive range of fantastic bluffs and isolated rocks. Covered as they are with vines and mosses, they present the appearance of ancient ruins, and it requires no great stretch of the imagination to discover towers and turrets of ancient castles, fortress walls that have been partly 35 battered down, and solitary pillars rising in gloomy grandeur, as if to preach a salutary lesson to the passing traveller, upon the ravages of time. ”

“ There had been much experience in learning to live with the harsh elements of nature and with the native inhabitants. The particular settlement called Mount Carroll to which Frances and Cinderella were invited to come was on the stage route from Galena, the oldest town in northern Illinois, to Peoria to the southwest by way of Dixon's Ferry. ”

“ Traders had begun to swarm into the country in increasing numbers, and to protect them from the Indians and to control properly the licensed fur-trade a military force was necessary. Perrot built a chain of forts along the Mississippi and a post (the present Galena, Illinois) near the southern boundary of the state, where he discovered and worked a lead mine. ”

“ A great deal of interest is felt, and all are working very enthusiastically.
From Galena, Illinois, the secretary sends an account of a new circle, and gives some very interesting reminiscences: “We have been much interested in the C. L. S. C. for some time, and some of our members are quite advanced in the course; but it was not until October, 1883, that we organized ourselves into a tributary circle. Our meetings are controlled and carried out according to a constitution ratified by the circle. We endeavor to be as parliamentary as possible. ”

“ Louis to Galena, on horseback, arrived in time to assist in completing the second cabin in the place.412 Two travelers who walked from Upper Alton to Galena, in January and February, 1826, had to camp out several nights, because no residence was in reach. Much of the way no trail existed.413 About 1827 it was common for men to go with teams of four yoke of oxen, and strong canvas-covered wagons from southern Illinois to the lead regions. ”

“ Fredericktown, in Frederick county, Maryland, is situated forty-seven miles from Baltimore, on the Pittsburg road, and is a flourishing place, carrying on considerable manufactures, and a brisk inland trade through a fertile and well-cultivated country. It is the second town in the state, and increases with rapidity. Population, five thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Galena, a village in Illinois, the centre of a celebrated lead-mining district, from which it takes its name. It is situated on Fever river, five miles before it empties into the Mississippi. ”

“ In 1822 Galena was visited by a Mississippi River steamboat, and a few years later regular steamboat traffic was established. And it was by these roadways and waterways that homeseekers soon began to arrive.
The invasion of the white man, accompanied though it was by treaties, was bitterly resented by the Indian tribes who occupied the Northwest above the Illinois River. These Sioux, Sauk and Foxes, and Winnebagoes, with remnants of other tribes, carried on an intermittent warfare for years, despite the efforts of the Federal Government to define tribal boundaries ”

“ Arduous as his labors had been in the Kentucky Conference, they now increased very greatly. He had a larger amount of territory to travel over, people were more scattered, and the dangers to be encountered were greater. In 1827, he was made presiding elder, and given the Illinois District, then a very extensive region, and in 1828 Galena charge was added to this district. The district thus enlarged extended from the mouth of the Ohio River to Galena, the entire length of the present State of Illinois, and over this immense distance our preacher was obliged to travel four times in the year. ”

“ In 1824 the lead mines near Galena began to be worked to advantage, and thousands of persons from Southern Illinois and Missouri swarmed thither. The Illinoisans ran up the river in the spring, worked in the mines during the summer, and returned to their homes down the river in the autumn,—thus resembling in their migrations the fish so common in the Western waters, called the Sucker. ”

“ The Four lakes are strung along on a stream called Catfish, which enters Rock river 25 or 30 miles above the boundary of Illinois. They are 6 or 8 miles long, abounding with fish, and are surrounded with an excellent farming country.
Green Bay settlement and village is 230 miles north of Chicago, 220 north-east from Galena, 120 from Fort Winnebago, and in N. latitude 44° 44'. Navarino is a town recently commenced in this vicinity, with an excellent harbor, grows rapidly, and bids fair to become a place of importance. Property has risen the last year most astonishingly. ”

“ His first work was in Kentucky. He came to Illinois in 1823. His views on slavery, which caused his removal, are interesting. A valuable work, especially for giving an insight into the social life of the time.
Chetlain, Gen. Augustus Louis. Recollections of seventy Years. Galena: The Gazette Pub. Co., 1899. 304 pp.
The author was one of the first settlers in Galena, and gives valuable information concerning that important region—1821 ff.
Chicago Historical Society's Collections. Chicago, 1882-90:—
I. History of the English Settlement in Edwards County, Illinois, by George Flower, 1882. ”

“ Travel by either water or land was slow and difficult. When a party of about one hundred men, conducted by Colonel R. M. Johnson, went, in six or eight boats, from St. Louis to the site of the present Galena, in 1819, to make an arrangement with the Indians which would permit the whites to mine lead, the upward voyage occupied some twenty days.390 Doubtless the journey of Edward Coles from Albemarle county, Virginia, to [pg 154] Illinois, in 1819, was typical of that of the better class of immigrants. At the Virginia homestead, slaves, horses and wagons were prepared for the long journey. ”

“ A more honorable man never transacted business. In September, 1861, I was engaged in an employment which required all my attention elsewhere.
During the eleven months that I lived in Galena prior to the first call for volunteers, I had been strictly attentive to my business, and had made but few acquaintances other than customers and people engaged in the same line with myself. When the election took place in November, 1860, I had not been a resident of Illinois long enough to gain citizenship and could not, therefore, vote. ”

“ Henceforth, for many years, the lead trade of southwestern Wisconsin, northwestern Illinois, and parts of Missouri and Iowa was the chief interest in the West. By this time the fur trade had almost died out, and the old French Canadian element had become but a small proportion of the population of the Mississippi valley. In those days, Galena, Mineral Point, and other lead mining towns were of much more importance than Chicago or Milwaukee, and their citizens entertained high hopes of the future. ”

“ Ten years earlier the builders of the Illinois Central had complained because their road from Galena and Chicago to Cairo ran generally through an uninhabited country upon which they could not live as they went along. ”

“ The State of Illinois is geographically much favored both for agriculture and commerce. With access to the Gulf by two great rivers that bound it on two sides, and communicating with the Atlantic by Lake Michigan, enterprise has aided these commercial advantages by covering it with railways. Stretching from Galena to Cairo, it has a great variety of climate; it is well watered by many noble streams, and contains in its great area scarcely any waste land. It has its contrasts of civilization. In the northern half are the thriving cities ”

“ From fort Winnebago to Galena, in the state of Illinois. From Galena to Prairie du Chien. From Detroit to Tecumseh, by Ypsilanti, Post-roads established.Saline, and Clinton. From Monguagon to Ypsilanti, through Brownstown, at Smooth Rock. From Pontiac to Sagana. From Ypsilanti to the mouth of the river St. Joseph, on the Territorial road, by way of Ann harbour, and Jacksonburgh. From Niles’ to Newberryport, or Saranac. From the mouth of the river St. Joseph, via Berrien, Pokagon Prairie, Lagrange, Young’s Prairie and Prairie Ronde, to White Pigeon Prairie. ”

“ Louis; beef, $0.03-1⁄2 to $0.04-1⁄2 at Galena, and $0.01-1⁄2 to $0.02 at St. Louis; whisky, $0.62-1⁄2 per gallon at Galena, and $0.30 to $0.33 at St. Louis.436
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Life of the People. Of the 13,635 persons who were following some occupation in Illinois in 1820, nearly 91 per cent (12,395) were engaged in agriculture.437 To this pursuit the state was naturally well adapted. One of the most observant of German travelers in America wrote that the meaning of “fertile land” was very different in this region from its meaning in Germany. ”

“ The office of a missionary Bishop at the west, if he does his duty, and throws himself with all his heart into the work, is no sinecure.
Our course from Galena, for the first thirty miles, was through beautiful oak openings, and over a rolling prairie. After this, on nearly to Chicago, our path lay through a magnificent, level prairie country. The wide sea of grass around us was now and then broken by a grove, springing up with luxuriance and beauty amid the treeless tract of country that stretched around on every side. ”

“ Galena, Grant County. Galena was a post office in the valley of Middle Fork John Day River, at a place once the site of Susanville post office. It is alleged to the writer that about 1901 a mine and its employees about two miles away up Elk Creek, secured the removal of the Susanville office to a point near the mine. This left the abandoned post office site without an office. A new office with a new name was petitioned for, and, due to the fact that there was a body of ore in the vicinity, Galena was suggested. Galena is a common ore of lead, chemically known as lead sulphite. ”

“ The town of Galena, the capital of the mining country, occupies a somewhat precipitous semicircular bend, on the right (or north) bank of the river, six or seven miles from its entrance into the Mississippi. Backwater, from the latter, gives the stream itself the appearance, as it bears the name, of a "river," and admits steamboat navigation thus far. It is a rapid brook immediately above the town, and of no further value for the purpose of navigation. Lead is brought in from the smelting furnaces, on heavy ox-teams, capable of carrying several tons at a load. ”

“ A few miles back of Chicago are extensive tracts of wet prairie.
Galena is the seat of justice for Jo Daviess county, situated on Fever river, in the midst of the mining district. It has about 20 stores, a dozen groceries, and about 1,000 inhabitants.
Springfield is near the geographical centre of the State, and in the midst of a most fertile region of country. It is a flourishing inland town, and contains about 2,000 inhabitants. Jacksonville, the county seat of Morgan county, has about the same population, and is equally delightful and flourishing. ”

“ A few miles south of the grove is the church of the Presbyterians, which is the most central, perhaps, of any in the town. Near Winton Carlock's is the Mt. Zion Church of the United Brethren, making the fifth in White Oak Township. The total value of these churches is over $10,000. They will seat more people than the total population of the township, something that can be said of the churches of but few towns in the county. There are a number of families of Unitarians, Universalists, a few Second Adventists, and some members of other denominations in the township. ”

“ The financial crash of 1857 unsettled affairs greatly, and few settlers came in for ten years. From this settlement, near the Lexington line, to that on the south, around about Speed Stagtier's, was long an open prairie. It was not till the close of the war for the Union, when " Johnny came marching home " to make new alliances or renew Long broken ones, and new homes were needed, that this whole range of country for miles around Blue Mound, stretching out east to the county line, was filled up by the hardy, industrious, patriotic men who now live here. ”

“ Our boat turned in behind an islet of living green, and pushed its way up the serpentine course of Fevre River. At length Galena was in view. It was at the close of the week, and here we were to seek a resting place for a number of days.
Galena, July 15th.
Fevre River, at Galena, runs through a narrow vale, and is hedged in on either side by ranges of hills. The town is built at the base and on the side of the western ridge, which is here quite precipitous. The valley itself is overflown with every rise of the Mississippi above this point. ”

“ Excellent progress was made and several hours before sundown they spied a small blockhouse, called Apple River Fort, about fourteen miles east of Galena.
“That’s Apple River Fort!” exclaimed John Mason as the sturdy little building appeared in the distance. “We’ve made good time and we’ll be in Galena before long.”
“If we reach there before dark it will be time enough,” said Joseph. ”

“ Latterly, the citizens have learned by experience to build them more permanently. There is no store in town, Saybrook being the principal trading point, although those living in the northern part find Potosi a convenient point. No township debt oppresses the taxpayers of Anchor, although the record is evidence that it is not their felt that they have not now heavy railroad taxes to pay. They repeatedly voted to donate the Decatur & State Line Railroad all they asked, to build a road through the town, but the possibilities of that railroad were burned up in the Chicago fire. ”