| Galena River (Rivière aux Fèves) | |
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The Galena River flowing through downtown Galena, Illinois in April 2008. Note the city floodgates in center connecting to the river levee system on the right
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| Country | United States |
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The Galena River, also known as the Fevre or Fever River,[1] is a 52.4-mile-long (84.3 km)[2] river which flows through the Midwestern United States.
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The river rises in Grant County, Wisconsin, south of Benton and southwest of Shullsburg. It enters Illinois in Jo Daviess County to flow through the city of Galena before it joins the upper Mississippi River a few miles south and west. The river is part of the Driftless Area of Illinois and Wisconsin. This region was ice-free during the Wisconsin glaciation and underwent hundreds of thousands of years of glacial-free erosion. The river also occupies a substantial canyon.
The river was originally known as "Rivière aux Fèves" and "Bean River" due to the large amounts of wild beans that grew along its banks.[3] Following English language code-switching of the French river name "Rivière aux Fèves", the river name was corrupted and was eventually referred to as "Fever River".[3]
The Winnebago War of 1827, also known as the "Fevre River War", is associated with this river.