May 27, 2013
by David Ryan
4 Comments

Stairway Wandering Along the Mississippi River – Part 4 (Galena, IL)

April 9, 2020 – Due to the continuing popularity of this blog post about Galena since it was written in 2013, I have expanded upon the topic of Galena and Dubuque and have just completed a new book called – Exploring Galena and Dubuque on Foot: By Sidewalk, Stairway, and Path. The book should be available for shipping on April 20, 2020. You can order the book right here on this website. Over time the book will become available at retailers in Galena and Dubuque. Thank you, David Ryan

Galena in the far northwestern corner of Illinois was a boom town during much of the 1840’s and 1850’s. Its economy was based on lead mining and its river port on the Fever River (six miles upriver from its junction with the Mississippi).

By the time Ulysses S. Grant moved to Galena just before the Civil War in 1860, the town was already in decline. (He moved there after a series of personal setbacks to work in his father’s leather business.) As for Galena, the lead mines were playing out; the river port was silting up; and commerce was shifting from river boats to railroads.

The economic stimulus of the Civil War and Ulysses S. Grant’s personal success during the war were not enough to halt Galena’s decline. As a result, its population shrunk and not much happened. Because of this there was no impetus to replace Galena’s 1840s and 1850s buildings with newer and more imposing structures.

150 years later, Galena’s mid-19th Century feel has made it a popular destination for weekend and day trips. With it being less than three hours from Chicago and its many hills, Galena has also become a favored location for second homes. The only drawback, if it can be called that, is that most commerce is oriented to the tourist trade.

Petey and I visited Galena on a cool but sunny Saturday in April. We didn’t go there to check out the shops lining Main Street. We went there to see if public stairways have a role in this very hilly river town.

We found a parking place at the north end of Main Street and started walking south.

As you can see by the number of cars, business must be good on Main Street. Continue Reading →

May 20, 2013
by David Ryan
5 Comments

Stairway Wandering Along the Mississippi – Part 3 (Stillwater, MN and Alma, WI)

After visiting the Twin Cities the next stop on our Mississippi River stairway wandering road trip was Stillwater, Minnesota. Stillwater is located on the west bank of the St. Croix River across from Wisconsin and is close enough to St. Paul to be a bedroom community. Being built on bluffs and ravines it should be a perfect location to find public stairways.

Stillwater not only has public stairways, it is proud of its stairs and publicizes them in its tourist literature. When you walk down Main Street you can’t help but to see the stairway at the end of the street. I was even told that a local outfitter has a stairway challenge. But when I went to look for the outfitter, I couldn’t find their store. They may have closed or moved, or I might have had the wrong address. It’s something to check out again on a future trip.

You can see the stairway at the south end of Main Street in downtown Stillwater.

Continue Reading →

May 11, 2013
by David Ryan
0 comments

Stairway Wandering Along the Mississippi – Part 2 (To Minnesota)

A year before he died Henry David Thoreau traveled to the frontier west of Minnesota in 1861 in hopes of improving his health. He reached the Mississippi across the river from Dubuque, Iowa and then went by riverboat north to Minnesota. Petey and I continued our road trip from Dubuque by driving north along the west bank of the Mississippi.

We went through very pretty and hilly country. We even found a few stairways along the way. This 50 step stairway took us to a path that brought us to the top of a bluff with over a dozen Indian burial mounds.

 If the presence of mounds on this bluff is typical for the area, a person living near here could make a lifetime project of exploring the bluffs. Continue Reading →