It’s a story of greed, wealth, and the chimera of progress. It’s a microcosm of the rollercoaster that was the development of the American West. And it’s a town most people have never heard of and wouldn’t know how to pronounce.

It’s Galena, Illinois (that’s gah – LEE – na) (www.galena.org). Now a charming tourist town, whose shops boast souvenirs that are a step above the usual knick-knacks and dried flowers, Galena’s past is a tale of America in miniature, the story of a prototypical boom town. And this tale is easily accessible to visitors in this delightful historic spot — through the small but informative Galena/ Jo Daviess County History Museum (www.galenahistorymuseum.org), through tours in historic buildings, or from a surprising number of books about the area.

As usual, the story starts with the Indians, who scratched out of the Earth a substance that, when heated, could be molded into tools — lead. (The museum exhibit says it was the women’s job to use deer horns and other primitive tools to accomplish this surface mining.) The mineral is naturally occurring, usually in the form of lead sulphide, whose Latin name is galena. When heated or smelted, the mineral becomes lead metal.

In the 1700s, when the French arrived, the two populations seemed to work cooperatively. While the Spaniards looked to the New World as a source of gold and silver, the French were hunters and explorers who integrated with the native population, incidentally introducing them to whiskey and guns. Lead became valuable for bullets, and Galena’s stores of the mineral lay close to the Fever River, which ran into the mighty Mississippi. Trading was easy with the many French missions and trading posts sprinkled along the waterway from the Great Lakes to New Orleans.

 To the visitor, the importance of the Fever River (later renamed the Galena River) is hard to imagine. Once 300 feet wide, it now is less than half that, flowing modestly under an oversized overpass. However, my trip to the nearby Mississippi (detailed in next month’s story) convinced me that the importance of these waterways cannot be underestimated.

After the Revolutionary War, Americans began to arrive in Galena. The historic town has opened the experience of mining to the visitor, through the Vinegar Hill Lead Mine and Museum, which features artifacts and tools; the Mining Museum and Rollo Jamison Museum, which includes a ride in a 1931 zinc mine train; and a mine shaft that slices through the Galena Museum.

Much of the lead was easy to mine, being close to the surface; many mines were only 3 to 4 feet deep. And people began to get rich. The hillside town sprouted elegant mansions with red brick facing and wide porches. In the 1820s, steamboats brought thousands of people to the town and hauled away millions of pounds of lead.

The Indians were forced out — as was happening throughout the region. Indeed, Galena was an important player in a decisive battle in the American conquest of the natives. Black Hawk, a Sauk chief, mistrusted the Americans, who violated their treaty with his people, and sided with the British in the War of 1812. When three Indians carrying a flag of truce were shot, fighting escalated, culminating in the Battle of Bad Axe in 1832. Galena served as stockade and hospital for the wounded, and the many who died of the cholera that came with the fighting.

While the town continued to grow, however, the lead boom showed signs of dying out. Easily accessible lead was being depleted, and miners who caught “gold rush fever” headed for California. (Galena merchants made good money outfitting them for the trek.) More importantly, the Fever River needed constant dredging to accommodate the steamboats, which were quickly being superceded by the railroad. By 1861 — despite Galena’s determined stance that the “freedom of the port must be protected” — the railroad connected Chicago and Dubuque, and Galena became just another stop on the line. The town was stopped in its tracks wearing the remnants of its 19th-century grandeur.

But wait! The history doesn’t stop there. In 1860, a soldier turned failed farmer arrived to work in his father’s leather store. His name was Ulysses S. Grant.

Galena is coy about its connection with the 18th president. After the war, the town presented Grant, his wife and four children with a fully furnished house that today offers a fascinating tour (www.granthome.com). On my visit, we had the place to ourselves and the undivided attention of the guide, who said that, while the popularity of other presidents comes and goes, Grant remains a focus of interest, even among Europeans, Russians and Asians. What the tour doesn’t readily share is the fact that, while the house is a good example of a mid-19th-century dwelling, the Grants hardly ever lived there.

Nevertheless, the house provides a convenient excuse to visit what is a remarkable tourist town. Aside from the preserved historic angle, you can find in the 90+ businesses on Main Street an ingenious variety of gift items ranging from light-up bride and groom caps to antiques and paintings — all housed in uniform red brick buildings that seem as if you have stumbled into a time warp. This street was the quaint setting for the town scenes in the movie, “Field of Dreams.”

For lovers of the outdoors, there is ballooning, golf, hiking, biking and camping. And there are numerous inns and restaurants. I stayed at the fabulous Eagle Ridge Resort (www.eagleridge.com), which provides elegant townhomes with all the amenities, including porch, barbeque and beautiful views, not to mention three restaurants and four golf courses. For upscale Italian dining, try Fried Green Tomatoes.   Happy Traveling!

Photos: The railroad put the stop to progress in Galena, which depended on the steamboat to make it a trade destination. Lead mining, which was hardscrabble manual labor, made many Galena residents rich. Scenes from “Field of Dreams” were filmed on Galena’s quaint Main Street. For those who love the out of doors, Galena offers rolling hills for hiking and camping.