Galena, Illinois postal history: quoting Collector's Club of Chicago website about this exhibit: "Galena’s 1838-1869 Lead Mining Era: An American “Boom to Bust” Story [Kathryn J. Johnson, CCC].The purpose of this exhibit is to illustrate the lead mining town of Galena, Illinois, as a proxy for the ‘boom to bust’ mining towns found throughout the United States, as it can be illustrated by the contemporary mails. The exhibit begins in 1838, when stagecoach mail services began in Galena, and ends in 1869, when the Transcontinental Railroad construction was completed."
Link: http://www.collectorsclubchicago.org/galena.php
South Evanston, Illinois article, by Harvey M. Karlen
Link: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4YgvNCDMek0N0lrSmpxU0Z1UUU