Poised on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, Dubuque provided a vital entry point for westward expansion. Explorers, Native Americans, fur traders, lead miners and pilgrims all played a part in the little-known history of Iowa's Driftless Region. It was Dubuque that contributed the first military company in the country for service at the start of the Civil War. Jefferson Davis made a foray into the city in pursuit of lead miners. And gangster Al Capone reportedly used the Hotel Julien as a retreat and hideout. Uncover these lost stories and more with author and historian Susan Miller Hellert as she chronicles the fascinating and all-but-forgotten tales of Dubuque and the surrounding region.

Poised on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, Dubuque provided a vital entry point for westward expansion. Explorers, Native Americans, fur traders, lead miners and pilgrims all played a part in the little-known history of Iowa's Driftless Region. It was Dubuque that contributed the first military company in the country for service at the start of the Civil War. Jefferson Davis made a foray into the city in pursuit of lead miners. And gangster Al Capone reportedly used the Hotel Julien as a retreat and hideout. Uncover these lost stories and more with author and historian Susan Miller Hellert as she chronicles the fascinating and all-but-forgotten tales of Dubuque and the surrounding region.

Two things people frequently say about Clinton are that it was the lumber capital of the world and home to the most millionaires per capita. While those interesting nuggets are not exactly true, there are plenty of fascinating facts about the city. Learn why Clinton could easily be known as a holiday town if not overshadowed by the meetings and parties of America's lumber kings. See what life was like guiding an acre-long log raft down the Mississippi. Enter the century-long debate on the location of the Big Tree. And find out how Clinton fed the world. Matt Parbs, director of the Sawmill Museum, unearths Clinton's past from the weight of myth and details its hidden history.

A collection of colorful stories about some of New Hampshire’s most notable newsmakers and remarkable historic events. Includes photos. Hidden in the cracks and crevices of the Granite State are the stories of pioneers who pursued their passions, creating legacies along the way. Compiled by a Smithsonian researcher and former Boston Globe contributor, this treasury includes tales of: the mountain man who became an innkeeper the “Bird Man” who took his passion to the White House the gentleman who ascended the highest peak in the Northeast in a steam-powered locomobile the story of one skier’s dramatic win at the 1939 “American Inferno” Mount Washington race the Shaker Meetinghouse, built in just one day, in complete silence the gallant efforts to save the Old Man of the Mountain and much more

Atop a scenic bluff overlooking the Mississippi River and downtown Dubuque there once lay a graveyard dating to the 1830s, the earliest days of American settlement in Iowa. Though many local residents knew the property had once been a Catholic burial ground, they believed the graves had been moved to a new cemetery in the late nineteenth century in response to overcrowding and changing burial customs. But in 2007, when a developer broke ground for a new condominium complex here, the heavy machinery unearthed human bones. Clearly, some of Dubuque’s early settlers still rested there—in fact, more than anyone expected. For the next four years, staff with the Burials Program of the University of Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist excavated the site so that development could proceed. The excavation fieldwork was just the beginning. Once the digging was done each summer, skeletal biologist Robin M. Lillie and archaeologist Jennifer E. Mack still faced the enormous task of teasing out life histories from fragile bones, disintegrating artifacts, and the decaying wooden coffins the families had chosen for the deceased. Poring over scant documents and sifting through old newspapers, they pieced together the story of the cemetery and its residents, a story often surprising and poignant. Weaving together science, history, and local mythology, the tale of the Third Street Cemetery provides a fascinating glimpse into Dubuque’s early years, the hardships its settlers endured, and the difficulties they did not survive. While they worked, Lillie and Mack also grappled with the legal and ethical obligations of the living to the dead. These issues are increasingly urgent as more and more of America’s unmarked (and marked) cemeteries are removed in the name of progress. Fans of forensic crime shows and novels will find here a real-world example of what can be learned from the fragments left in time’s wake.

Daily change in any city can be difficult to recognize. Although everyone notices when a building is razed, it is more challenging to identify the subtle alterations occurring regularly which make a city slightly different than it was the day before. It is for precisely this reason the authors have decided to capture the changing face of Dubuque through a compelling selection of over 80 vintage images, each paired with its modern counterpart. Older residents will be able to identify many of the long-gone structures pictured in this volume, but newer arrivals will uncover a Dubuque they never knew existed. Public institutions, parks, homes, and entire blocks have been altered, and from the birth of photography to the present, these changes are documented in this volume. The physical contrasts between Dubuque's residents today and those of long ago are immediately apparent. Fashions and jobs are always evolving, but the similarities outnumber the differences. The people of Dubuque are, as always, hard-working and self-reliant, and they remain proud of their heritage and their town.

Step backstage in this look at little-known and utterly fascinating aspects of Jazz Age Louisiana. New Orleans' early jazz greats like Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Kid Ory and Buddy Bolden had fascinating careers, but Hidden History of Louisiana's Jazz Age is filled with tales of murder, lust and adventure. Clarinetist Joe Darensbourg of Baton Rouge ran away and joined the circus three times before the age of 20. The Martel Band of Opelousas witnessed a legal public hanging of a convicted serial murderer in 1923 Evangeline Parish. Trumpeter Evan Thomas of Crowley could have been a rival to Satchmo but was cut down on the bandstand in the Promised Land neighborhood of Rayne, La. Author Sam Irwin explores the odd and quirky in these fascinating stories of the Roaring Twenties.