Julien Dubuque and the Iowa lead

The Meskwaki were mining lead on these bluffs before any European arrived. In 1788 they granted Julien Dubuque permission to work it, making him the first white settler in what became Iowa. He was buried on the bluff in a stone tower that still stands over the Mississippi. The state was opened by lead, not gold, and Iowa still has no gold rush to its name.