42 GEOLOGY OF ILLINOIS. 



In 1823 emigration was pouring in lively. The Government had re- 

 served all its mineral lands in this part of the country. In this same 

 year Lieutenant THOMAS was sent here by the United States to look af- 

 ter these mineral lands. He granted leases, collected rents, and looked 

 after the mines generally. In 1827 population had so increased that a 

 village was laid off on the present site of Galena, and named from the 

 mineral found on its site and around it. There is a dispute as to whether 

 Lieutenant THOMAS or Dr. MUIB named the village. The authorities 

 differ on this proposition. In this year permits were given by the gov- 

 ernment to occupy and improve lots. The possessors of the permits 

 were liable to surrender them to the government upon thirty days' notice. 

 These permits were poor titles; but the people had no better up to 1836, 

 at which time Congress confirmed the titles of those in actual possession 

 of the town of Galena, laid off into lots by act of Congress, in 1829. 

 Previous to 1827 the leasing policy of the Government had substantially 

 failed, and the miners were working wherever they could obtain mineral, 

 without regard to the claims or ownership of the Government. 



The mineral lands, shortly after the first settlement of Galena, had 

 been turned over to the War Department, and the leasing or permit 

 system was continued up to 1846, every year running the Government 

 into debt. In this year a law was passed by Congress, throwing the 

 mineral lauds into market, and in 1847 the mineral lands in JoDaviess 

 county were brought into market and sold to actual purchasers. Dur- 

 ing all this time other settlements had sprung up, the most important 

 of which was the trading post called "The Portage," just below the pre- 

 sent site of the city of Galena. The Indians swarmed over the lead re- 

 gion at the time of its first settlement. Their squaws discovered many 

 mines, worked them to some extent, and traded the mineral to the white 

 settlers. Among these early mines was the "Buck Lead," near the pre- 

 sent site of Galena, discovered about the time of its first settlement. 



From 1827 the mines rapidly grew in importance and multiplied in 

 numbers. From 1840 to 1850 the greatest degree of prosperity was 

 reached in the mines, about midway between those years being the very 

 acme of mining prosperity. Galena became the mining metropolis of 

 the North-west. Thousands of rough miners swarmed through her streets. 

 All sorts of moving vehicles were seen in her thoroughfares, and every 

 language was spoken, every costume worn. The miner generally spent 

 all he made, was poor, and held his own remarkable well. And that 

 reckless spirit, bred of all uncertain pursuits, was abundantly manifested 

 among the miners who assembled in the lead region. Card playing and 

 whisky drinking, quarreling, and that rough desperate life developed 

 among adventurers of all classes gathered about Galena, was character- 

 istic of those as of all other mines. But in the midst of it all, the city of 



