210 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences^ ArtSj, and Letters, 



ejection much valuable agricultural land remained unsettled till 

 tlie leasing system was abolished/ 



Onlv a few miners wandered into the re£:ion till after the war 

 of 1812. Among the most famous of these was Julien Dubuque 

 who settled on the site of the present city of Dubuque. He 

 traded with the Indians in the whole re2:ion and bought lead 

 from them during the period from 1788 to 1810, the date of 

 his death. 



On l^ovember 29, 1821, the control of the mines was trans- 

 ferred from the Treasury Department to the War Department, 

 and the first leases under the Act of 1807 were granted the next 

 year to parties from Kentucky, among whom was Col. James 

 Johnson, whose brother was afterward vice-president of the 

 United States. This may be said to be the beginning of the real 

 activity of lead mining in the ^N^orthwest. The region was 

 destined to become one of the most important and widely known 

 in the West, profoundly affecting the life and economic condi- 

 tions of the whole Mississippi Valley. While the lead lasted, 

 this region was a center of interest, attracting attention from 

 every direction. Settlement after settlement was formed, till 

 the population in 1830 was over six thousand. Jo Daviess 

 Count V was created in 1827 and included the entire district 

 northwest of the Illinois river. The village of Galena grew 

 from four log cabins in 1826 with a population of fifty people, 

 to eighty buildings and three hundred people in 1830, and five 

 hundred and fifty buildings and three thousand people in 1839. 



Galena noAV became one of the most prosperous and best 

 known cities in the !N^orthwest. Steamboats coming up the 

 Mississippi river from ISTew Orleans and St. Louis, and down 

 the Ohio from Pittsburg, landed on her wharves immigrants 

 and miners from all parts of the United States and the world, 

 and took away millions of pounds of lead and other products. 

 This was the period before railway transportation had been de- 

 veloped. The steamboat was the quickest and most convenient 



» — ■■ ^■■ — — ■ — . ■..— ■ ■ ■■■ ■ — .-I . . I I .1- - mt I ■ ■ ■ .■■■ I ■ 11 la 



1 For evils of leasinar system, see: Annual Message of Pres. Polk, 1845; Ex. Doc. 1, 

 1st Session, 28d Cong. ; Ex. Doc. 2, 1st Session, 24th Cong. ; House Doc. 307, 2i Session 

 25th Cong, (by Brig. Gen. Worth) ; Ex. Doc. 3, 2d Session, 25th Cong. ; Ex. Doc. 2, Ist 

 Session, 26th Cong. 



«Sen. Doc. 349, Ist Session, 26th Cong., Vol. VI. 



