Introductory.

Dubuque County is situated on the Mississippi River, in the third tier of counties south of the Minnesota line. It is bounded on the north by Clayton County and [the] Mississippi River, east by the Mississippi River, south by Jackson and Jones Counties, west by Delaware County, and contains seventeen townships, to wit: Cascade, Center, Concord, Dodge, Iowa, Jefferson, Julian, Liberty, Mosalem, New Vienna, Peru, Prairie Creek, Table Mound, Taylor, Vernon, Washington and Whitewater, each about six miles square, except Peru and Mosalem, containing a total of 112 square miles, or 391,680 acres.[^a]

Topography.

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The chief mineral wealth of the county consists in its lead mines, the richest in the United States.

The agricultural products consist chiefly of corn, wheat, rye, oats, barley and potatoes, all of which grow abundantly and are famous for their fine quality.

The Little Maquoketa and its numerous branches water the northern and central portions of the county, while the Big Maquoketa and its tributaries run through the southern, southeastern and western townships, furnishing considerable water power.

Taking the county all in all, for convenience of navigation, water, fuel and timber, richness of soil, beauty of landscape and hospitable climate, no section of the country offers superior inducements to those who seek a permanent home for themselves and their posterity.

The city is delightfully situated on the left bank of the Mississippi, 475 miles above St. Louis and 382 miles below St. Paul. It is located on an alluvial plain about four miles long by one mile wide, with the Mississippi bluffs, which hug the river closely on the Dunleith side, here keeping at a respectful distance. The lower portion of the city is devoted to business, interspersed with numberless private residences, schools, parks and drives of superior beauty and excellence, the whole completing a picture harmonious and attractive.

The bluffs rise to the height of nearly two hundred feet west of the city, ascended by admirably graded and macadamized roadways, and adorned with private residences, gardens and resorts, the homes of wealth, intelligence and liberality. From the summits of these bluffs is spread out before the observer a landscape, rivaling in beauty and exquisite perfection the masterpieces of artists who touched but to improve. A range of hills bounds the western horizon, between which and the bluffs is a matchless panorama of groves, farms, gardens and gently rolling prairies. Nestling upon the bank of the river, the city quietly reposes, while the majestic Mississippi rolls onward, its mighty volume of waters gathered from all the vast country between the beautiful Itasca and Peosta, fifteen hundred miles, to pour them into the Gulf amid the cane fields and orange groves of tropic Louisiana. Across the river, the whistle of the locomotive is heard, anxious to begin the journey eastward, or to the ambitious city, far down to the south, on the banks of la belle riviere. Farther on are the green hills of Illinois and Wisconsin, while above them all stands historic Sinsinnewa Mound, looking down with a consciousness of dignity that comes with age and superiority. The scene is grand beyond description, waking up emotions of the beautiful and sublime, and educating the heart to a reverence for nature and nature’s God.

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A charter of the city of Dubuque, as recommended by the citizens through the Board of Town Trustees, having been approved by the Territorial Legislature, was adopted for the city by popular vote on the 1st of March, 1841. It provided for the election of a Mayor and six Aldermen, constituting a City Council, and conferred upon that body the usual powers necessary to the establishment and maintenance of a municipal government.