Tap a numbered dot and listen.
Northwest out of Chicago past the Eastland disaster, the rise of O'Hare, and the Black Hawk War country to Galena — the lead-mine boomtown that once outshone Chicago, gave the Union nine generals, and welcomed Ulysses S. Grant home. The Driftless Area's un-glaciated hills explain the lead.
In order along the route. Tap a dot on the map, or play them here.
Infinite Road draws from a library of primary sources — public-domain county histories, the WPA American Guide Series, National Register of Historic Places records, local records, and encyclopedic sources — then writes and narrates each story in its own words.