174 NARRATIVE OF THE EXPEDITION, 



Mine au Fevre. Situated on the River au Fevre, wliicli enters 

 the Mississippi on its east banks, twenty-one miles below Du- 

 buque's mines. The lead ore is found ten miles from its mouth. 

 / At this locality, the ore is accompanied by the sulphate of bary- 

 tes, and is sometimes crystallized in cubes or octohedrons.* 3. 

 Mine of the Makokety, or ^Maquoqueti. This small river enters 

 the Mississippi fifteen miles above Dubuque's mines. The mine- 

 ral character and value of the country has been but little explored. 

 The history of the mines of Dubuque is brief and simple. In 

 1780, a discovery of lead ore was made by the wife of Peosta, a 

 Fox Indian of Aquoqua's Village. This gave the hint for ex- 

 plorations, which resulted in extensive discoveries. The lands 

 were formally granted by the Indians to Julien Dubuque, at a 

 council held at Prairie du Chien in 1788, by virtue of which he 

 permanently settled on them, erected buildings and furnaces, and 

 continued to work them until 1810. In 1796, he received a con- 

 firmation of his grant from Carondelet, the governor of Louisiana, 

 in which they are called "the mines of Spain." By a stone monu- 

 ment which stands on a hill near the mines, Dubuque died on the 

 24:th March, 1810, aged forty-five years and six months. After his 

 death, the Indians burnt down his house and fences — he leaving, 

 I believe, no family f — and erased every vestige of civilized life ; 

 and they have since revoked, or at least denied the grant, and 

 appear to set a very high value on the mines. Dubuque's claim 

 was assigned to his creditors, by whom it was presented to the 

 commissioners for deciding on land titles, in 1806. By a majority 

 of the board it was determined to be valid, in which condition it 

 was reported to Washington for final action. At this stage of 



* The city of Galena has subsequently been built on this river, at the distance 

 of six miles from the Mississippi. The river is, indeed, thus far, an arm of the 

 Mississippi, Avhich permits steamboats freely to enter, converting the place into a 

 commercial depot for a vast surrounding country. Not less than 40,000,000 pounds 

 of lead were shipped from this place in 1852, valued at one million six hundred 

 thousand dollars. It is the terminus of the Chicago and Galena Railroad, connect- 

 ing it by a line of 180 miles with the lakes. It contains a bank, three newspaper 

 offices, and several churches of various denominations, and has, by the census of 

 1850, a population of 6,004. 



\ There is believed to be no instance, in America, where the Indians have disan- 

 nulled grants or privileges to persons settling among them, and leaving families 

 founded on the Indian element. 



