A Trip to Spirit Lake. 



At the time of our visit it was occupied by the only white 

 person who escaped death on that memorable day so long ago, 

 \\ hen the cruel Sioux made their last fight on Iowa soil. 



\Ye were welcomed at the door by a sweet-faced, gray- 

 haired little lady, whose every feature tells the tale of sorrow 

 and suffering through which she has passed. While looking 

 at her fine collection of Indian relics I asked questions bearing 

 on the massacre and gradually drew out her story. Never will 

 I forget the impression made upon me as that quiet, sacKfaced 

 lady described the scenes of that March day that deprived her 

 of home and parents and left her captive among blood-thirsty 

 savages. 



The story could not impress the reader as it did the writer, 

 for as she described the horrors of that afternoon she pointed 

 out the place where each scene in the tragedy was enacted. 



I will not attempt to give the entire story, but an outline 

 of it from memory in her own words as well as I can. 



"My father moved with his family to northwest Iowa, and 

 settled on the shores of this beautiful lake in July,. 1856, and 

 erected the house in which he was afterwards murdered. 



"During the summer several other families came in and 

 settled along the lake and by fall there were probably forty 

 persons settled in the beautiful groves along the nearby lakes. 



''In the fall Inkapaduta's band of Sioux appeared upon the 

 quiet scene. This chief, as I remember him, was probably 60 

 years of age, about six feet in height and strongly built. He 

 was deeply pitted by smallpox, giving him a revolting appear- 

 ance and distinguishing him from the other members of the 

 band. His natural enmity to the white man, revengeful dis- 

 position and matchless success on the war path won for him 

 the place of leader among his people. 



"The causes leading up to the massacre were said to have 

 been these : One day while the Indians were in pursuit of elk 

 they had some difficulty with settlers in the lower portion of 

 the Little Sioux valley. The Indians contended that the 



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