Great River Road Trip, Day #17
Tuesday, May 20, 2025
Today was a cold, overcast and rainy day. However, it was luckily also short day of travel to get to Galena, Illinois.
Our first stop today was in Fulton, Illinois to visit this windmill.
From ChatGPT: “De Immigrant is a striking Dutch-style windmill located in Fulton, Illinois, perched atop a flood-control dike overlooking the Mississippi River. This fully operational windmill stands as a testament to the city's rich Dutch heritage and community spirit. Constructed between 1999 and 2001, De Immigrant is an authentic replica of an 1855 windmill from Groningen, Netherlands. It was meticulously crafted by Dutch millwrights using traditional techniques and materials, including 30 metric tons of bilinga wood. The components were shipped to Fulton and assembled by Dutch craftsmen, with the windmill officially opening during the Dutch Days Festival in May 2000. By May 2001, it began grinding wheat, rye, buckwheat, and cornmeal using blue basalt millstones.”
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From ChatGPT: “Standing nearly 100 feet tall, De Immigrant features an octagonal smock design with a 35-foot brick base constructed from 150-year-old bricks. The windmill's cap can rotate to face the wind, allowing the sails to turn and power the grinding machinery. Under optimal wind conditions, the mill can grind approximately one bushel of grain every 10 minutes. The freshly ground flours are available for purchase at the adjacent Windmill Cultural Center.”
The Windmill and Cultural Center were closed today. We have discovered that many of the places like this along the road really don't “open” for peak-season operation until Memorial Day.
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The Fishing Dutchman sits in front of the building across the street.
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The building across the street from the Windmill Cultural Center appears to possibly have been an old school that is being reworked to serve as a Dutch museum or some such thing. Just inside the glass door was this painted cow.
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Just north of the town of Fulton we stopped at Lock & Dam #13. We are back above St. Louis and back in the land of lock and dams.
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A typical dam with both roller and tainter gates.
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This group of six barges was just exiting the chamber and the doors were closing behind them. The friendly Corps of Engineers staff gave us a wave as he cruised by on his three wheeler.
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Next to enter the locking chamber was the southbound tug with the remaining six barges.
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This character was looking to catch a free ride back up to higher water.
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Next, we stopped in the town of Savanna, Illinois. It appears that Savanna is a relatively sleepy river town, but they do have some rather eclectic stores along their Main Street. It appears that Slender Man likes to hang out at this establishment.
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Directly across the street is another place that I am at a loss to explain. It appears to be an ice cream shop with old painted car hoods and even a makeshift police chopper on the roof.
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This guy is located in Marquette Park in Savanna and he is a memorial to the woman who was responsible for establishing the local Humane Society. The Dale Gardner Veterans Memorial Bridge is in the background and connects to Iowa just above Sabula Island. We stopped at Sabula Island on the way down the river, but there was nothing to photograph so that stop did not make it into the blog.
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Just north of Savanna we stopped at The Mississippi Palisades State Park scenic overlook. It was a cloudy day with significant fog all day - so not too much to see here looking back south to Veterans Memorial Bridge.
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On a clear day, or especially at sunset this northwestern view is probably quite nice. But today, it falls a bit flat.
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Just south of Galena, Illinois is the Long Hollow Scenic Overlook. Again, the fog was substantial but did make for an interesting landscape view. The cows get to enjoy these rolling hills and pond.
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The view of Grant Park from the pedestrian bridge over the Galena River in downtown Galena, Illinois.
Galena was home to Ulysses S. Grant before he volunteered to enter the Civil War on the side of the Union. He would go on to gain substantial fame for his war victories, including the pivotal battle of Vicksburg, Mississippi which we now know well from our stop there a few days ago.
Upon his return to Galena after the war, the people of the town honored him by giving him and his family a fully furnished home in town. We plan to visit there tomorrow.
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Of course, the statue of Grant gets center stage in Grant Park.
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This is a 1913 Krupp Howitzer captured from Germany in World War I. It was brought here to Grant Park as a “trophy of war” to honor the men from Illinois who served in the First World War.
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This is a Blakely rifled cannon used by the Confederate Army in the first engagement of the Civil War on April 12, 1861 in the attack on Fort Sumter. The American Civil War had begun.
The date stamped on the breach indicates it was made in 1860. It would be used by the Confederate Army for 4 years before being found by Sherman after it had been abandoned by retreating rebels.
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In my opinion, this is by far the most fascinating piece of weaponry we have seen so far; because of one very peculiar anomaly. The large dent you see on the side of the cannon was where it was struck by a cannon ball - almost assuredly from enemy fire. This thing is one solid piece of steel, so it really makes you appreciate the power behind the projectile that left that mark. It was amazing to be able to touch that spot and imagine that the very place your hand rests was once the impact site of a Civil War cannon ball.
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This fountain, and the Grant statue were the first two items installed in the park in 1891.
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This is the view looking Southwest down N. Main Street in downtown Galena. Unlike so many of the river towns we have visited - that are slowly fading into oblivion - Galena remains a vibrant town with a thriving tourist component. All the storefronts and eateries are gearing-up for their busy season which will begin this coming weekend with Memorial Day. It was great to see a town with such life after witnessing a fair amount of blight. Tomorrow we hope to take in some of the shops that we missed today and also to visit the historic district.
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