The handsome town of DUBUQUE , overlooked by rocky bluffs on the Mississippi around 150 miles west of Chicago, was founded as the first white settlement in Iowa by French-Canadian leadminers in 1788. In the nineteenth century it became a boisterous riverport and logging center. Buildings from this era still stand, but the companies that use them are now in meat packing and other food industries.

A complex of buildings at Third Street in the old Ice Harbor area, cut off from downtown by Hwy-61, includes an assortment of river-related museums (daily 10am-5.30pm; $6). Precisely which exhibits are housed in the Mississippi River Museum , in the Riverboat Museum , and in the National Rivers Hall of Fame (which focuses on "Pathfinders" such as Lewis and Clark, rather than the rivers themselves) seems to vary, but together they tell the story of Mississippi navigation from the days of Robert Fulton's first commercial steamboat in 1807 until the floods of 1993. The fifteen-minute introductory film " River of Dreams " is a good starting point for your explorations. At the time of writing the complex was undergoing a $188 million renovation and by 2003 will feature an aquarium, hotel and entertainment complex among other attractions.

Once your appetite has been whetted, you can travel along the high-banked Mississippi on a Spirit of Dubuque   paddle-wheeler cruise (May-Sept daily; $9.50 for 90min; tel 319/583-8093 or 1-800/747-8093), or on board one of the more expensive gambling boats. Alternatively, what's said to be the world's shortest and steepest cable-car ride grinds its way in summer from Fourth Street downtown up a sheer bluff to Fenelon Place, a residential street of old money and Victorian architecture. The top offers a sweeping view across the Mississippi to Illinois and Wisconsin (April-Nov daily 8am-10pm; 75¢). If cable cars don't appeal, then head north to the lovingly maintained, 164-acre Eagle Point Park (daily 7am-10pm; $1) set on bluffs high above the river.

Film buffs who enjoyed the 1989 baseball fantasy Field of Dreams can meet like-minded souls in surprising numbers at the original movie location, three miles north of Dyersville, which is 25 miles west of Dubuque on US-20. True to the movie's slogan - "if you build it they will come" - crowds still gather on the bleachers to watch phantom games at the edge of the cornfields, and buy souvenirs from two rival family concerns (April-Nov daily 9am-6pm).

Dubuque

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