TOPOGRAPHY. 127 



Putnam and Schuyler arc also on the Illinois river beside 

 Calhoun and Pike above-named; Rock Island, Whiteside, 

 Ogle, and Winnebago, on Rock River. 



Joe Davies is a mineral district. The lands about Galena, 

 Fairplay, and Elizabeth, and in some other "diggings" in this 

 county, are very rich in mineral. The county has a good 

 soil, but is not of great value as an agricultural country, by 

 reason of the broken nature of its surface. It is drained by 

 Sinsinewa, Fever, Small Pox, and Apple Rivers. The country 

 at the head of Apple River is a very beautiful and fertile 

 district, and contains some handsome farms. The population 

 of the county has greatly increased since the census of 1840. 

 It w^as then (3, 1 60. It now probably exceeds 1 0,000, of which 

 nearly half is at Galena. 



Tlie first selllements were made in Galena, in 1828. This 

 place is situated about three miles from the Missisippi, upon 

 a little stream commonly called Fever River, or otherwise 

 Bean River, being by the winding of the stream, six miles 

 from its mouth. The river was first named by the French, 

 and it is now disputed whether the appellation bestowed by 

 them was F6ve, or Fievre. The circumstance that a small 

 stream next below, and but a small distnnce from it, is called 

 Small-Pox, and that the first place has had its share of the 

 fevers of the country, may seem to favor the idea of the 

 Fever. The pulse may be consulted to decide the important 

 question. 



By a law of Congress of February 5th, 1829, the Surveyor 

 of the Public Lands was directed to lay out a town on Bean 

 River, in Illinois, at and including Galena. 



Tlie town increased with a great rapidity. Miners pressed 

 in from all quarters, and it became at once the metropolis of 

 the lead diggings. Such it is, and will, no doubt, continue. 

 It is most singularly situated, on the side of a steep bluff. 



