than did Illinois.(463) The lead industry at Galena was still in its infancy, notwithstanding the fact that the richness of the mines was early known.(464) In 1822, a number of persons went to Galena from Sangamon county.(465) For some years it was a common practice to go to the mines in the summer and return to the older settlements for the winter.(466) The population of Galena was 74 in August, 1823;(467) about 100 on July 1, 1825; 151 on December 31, 1825; 194 on March 31, 1826; 406 on June 30, 1826;(468) and 1000 to 1500 in 1829.(469) In 1826 a part of Lord Selkirk’s French-Swiss colony on the Red River moved to Galena and became farmers in that region.(470) The rush to the lead region began in 1826 and became intense in the next year.(471) In 1827, a rude log hut, sixteen by twenty feet, rented for $35.00 per month. Galena had then about two hundred log houses,(472) and in the same year the first framed house was raised.(473) In July, 1828, five hundred lead miners were wanted at $17.00 to $25.00 and board per month.(474) A pursuit that was once common and profitable is described by a lawyer who traveled the first Illinois circuit, consisting of the counties of Greene, Sangamon, Peoria, Fulton, Schuyler, Adams, Pike and Calhoun, in 1827, as follows: “On this circuit we found but little business in any of the counties—parties, jurymen and witnesses were reported in all the counties after Peoria, as being absent bee and deer hunting—a business that was then profitable, as well as necessary to the sustenance of families during the winter.”(475)