Exploring Galena and Dubuque on Foot

April 16, 2020
by David Ryan
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Exploring Galena and Dubuque on Foot – Now Available

A book about Dubuque Stairs and Galena Stairs and other points of interest

Exploring Galena and Dubuque on Foot is a new walking book about two of the most scenic and historic communities in the entire country. Rather than the flat or gently rolling landscape of most of the Midwest, Galena and Dubuque are set in the middle of tall hills, deep valleys, and steep bluffs.

Galena, with its start as a lead-mining boom town in the 1830s and 1840s, has the finest collection of pre-Civil War buildings in the country! Dubuque, too, was a lead-mining boom town. But with a later start than Galena, Dubuque has the finest collection Victorian houses from the second half of the 19th century.

This new book is the result of the continuing popularity of two posts I wrote for this blog in 2013. The first about the public stairways in Dubuque (https://www.gentleartofwandering.com/stairway-wandering-along-the-mississippi-part-1-dubuque-iowa/) and the second about the stairways in Galena (https://www.gentleartofwandering.com/stairway-wandering-along-the-mississippi-river-part-4-galena-il/).

With so many reader visits to the two blog posts, my dog Petey and I decided to take several trips to the area last fall (2019) to see if there was enough material for a public stairway or walking book. In addition to plenty of stairways we found plenty of other items to make for compelling walks. All of the walks in the book take place in areas that were meant to be walked and explored on foot.

One of the Galena walks traces the footsteps of Ulysses S. Grant and visits all the places that impacted his life during the year he lived in Galena just before the Civil War. Had Grant not come to Galena to work in his father’s leather business in April 1860, Grant would never have had the opportunity to become the general who won the Civil War and who then went on to become the 18th President of the United States. To get from his pre-Civil War home to his place of work, Grant had to take a stairway that has 252 steps today.

One of the walks in Dubuque takes advantage of one of the handful of funicular (incline) railroads remaining in the country. Another walk in Dubuque climbs into a historic neighborhood on a 173-step stairway that is almost magical. You’ll feel like Dorothy and Toto landing in Oz when you reach the top.

The book has 144 pages, 5 maps, and over 100 photographs. The book is available on this website (https://www.gentleartofwandering.com/get-the-books/) and will soon be available at other outlets.

September 19, 2019
by David Ryan
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Looking for Tied Houses in the Midwest

A major tenet from The Gentle Art of Wandering is that, no matter where you are, you can always find something interesting. On a recent trip to the Midwest, my dog Petey and I wandered around looking for old Tied Houses.

Tied houses were taverns owned by a large or local brewery. The tavern was tied to the brewery for the beer they sold. Tied houses were very common at the turn of the last century and obviously went dark in 1920 with the coming of Prohibition. One of the provisions of Repeal at the end of 1933 was to eliminate the practice of tied houses. Breweries were now required to sell their product to a distributor who in turn sold the beer to a tavern or retailer. This three-tier distribution system is still in place today. A notable exemption from the three-tier system are brewpubs and craft breweries.

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June 29, 2019
by David Ryan
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Wandering to a Gallina Tower

Taking advantage of a very cool day for late June, the dogs and I decided to wander to a very remote parcel of BLM land (public land) north of Cuba, New Mexico, in the heart of what was once home to the “Gallina Culture.”

The Gallina were an isolated people living in very remote and rugged fortified locations north and west of the Jemez Mountains. Some of their fortifications resemble towers. The Gallina were more or less contemporaneous with the nearby Ancestral Puebloan cultures of Chaco Canyon and Mesa Verde. They disappeared almost 750 years ago.

There is plenty of evidence to suggest that their disappearance was not pretty. Many if not most Gallina sites show signs of extreme violence. Some group, for some reason or another, had it in for the Gallina, and they either killed, chased, or scared them out of the region. It is unknown if the Gallina died out or were assimilated into another group.

The BLM parcel that we intended to visit has several Gallina sites including a tower. I had been there before, but it has probably been 15 years since my last visit.

After two hours of driving we finally reached our destination. Unfortunately, the road providing the easiest access to the BLM land had a locked gate and was posted with No Trespassing signs. Luckily we were able to find a nearby oil well pad that was not posted with No Trespassing signs. So we parked the car and started walking.

If you are an outdoor explorer, it is helpful to know your state’s rules on trespass. In New Mexico, fences, gates, and the like must be posted with No Trespassing signs to enforce laws prohibiting trespass on your land. If a location is not posted, it is legal for you to park your car and start walking. With that being said, it is always best to keep your expeditions as close to or on public land for as much as possible.

Because we were starting from an unfamiliar direction we had to pass through some rough and wooded country to reach our goal. If you’re interested in exploring an area without an established path or road, a good tip is to find a cow path or game trail heading in the general direction as your destination. You may have to dodge some branches along the way, but you’ll at least be following a route that takes advantage of the land’s natural folds and contours.

That trace of a path going off to the right is an elk run and is the easiest way to navigate through the woods.

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