Steamboats once navigated to this point, where Plum River Falls powered saw, powder, grist, and flour mills at various times between 1836 and 1885. Near here, the Rock Island Military and Prophetstown Trails to Galena were intersected as early as the 1830s by roads to Freeport, Rockford, Polo, and Milledgeville. On three occasions during the Black Hawk War, companies of mounted volunteers from Galena scoured this area for hostile Indians.