Galena, Illinois called Galena "La Pointe" and early Americans adopted this name as "The Point". Early documentation officially records the name as "Fever River", an early name for the Galena River, though it does not appear that this name was commonly used. George Davenport, a retired colonel in the United States Army, successfully shipped Galena's first boatload of lead ore down the Mississippi River in 1816. Three years later, Jesse W. Shull built a trading post. The Thomas H. January family, who arrived in 1821 from Maysville, Kentucky, are considered the first permanent American settlers. The next year, the US Department of
National Mineral Development Corporation National Mineral Development Corporation </nowiki> NMDC Limited, previously known as National Mineral Development Corporation, is an Indian state-controlled mineral producer. It is 72.43% owned by the Government of India, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel. It is involved in the exploration of iron ore, copper, rock phosphate, limestone, dolomite, gypsum, bentonite, magnesite, diamond, tin, tungsten, graphite etc. It is India's largest iron ore producer and exporter producing more than 35 million tons of iron ore from 3 fully mechanized mines in Chhattisgarh and Karnataka. It also operates the only mechanized diamond mine in the country at Panna