Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1914-05-06


rendered it so famous among the
marvels of nature has also from the
remote past made it favorite resort
among the various tribes of the
aborigines who have inhabited the
regions west of the Mississippi in
what is now Iowa and Minnesota.
1t had long been the custom of
these red men to utilize the cave
fcT practical purposes. Until the
appearance of the whites among
them they employed it as a sort of
cold storage plant, where bear, deer,
meat foods were stored during the
summer months for safe keeping as
we'll as good eating.
Whatever might be thought of the
wisdom of such an arrangement
among civilized peoples, making it
public utility dependent entirely
upon the virtue of the people for
its availability, it is quite certain
that no such question ever arose to
vex the minds of the wandering
tribes who found their choicest hunt
| ing grounds among the Wilds of the
Mississippi. When either a soli-
| tary hungry individual or a party
of these nomads approached the Ice
Cave and found it stored with food,
they helped themselves, taking what
they required without hesitation be-
cause they knew it had been left
there for the benefit Of such as them
selves. But they never appropriated
more than their present needs called
for; they never wasted any part OF
what had been provided; to have
done that would have brought down
upon them the scorn of all the tribes
and subjected them to the danger Of
being deprived of the benefits of the
Ice Cave storage for many moons,
if not forever. There was little
danger therefore of any fragrant vio-
lations of this mutual benefit device,
for aside from the deterrent fear of
penalty, these Indians, before they
came in contact with the white man
were essentially honest; seldom
guilty of robbing one another.
Therefore the Ice Cave was by mu-
tual consent exempt from depreda-
lions as well by hostiles as by those
who were friendly with each other.
There was also an interesting ira
dition connected with the history of
the Ice Cave which from the first
has given to it great additional i'm
portance in the eyes of such of the
red men as have been able to under
stand and appreciate its significance.
For over two hundred years it has
been believed that somewhere in the
cave there is concealed a valuable
collection of pearls which were found
on the shores of the Mississippi river
by one of the most distinguished
medicine men of the past, who fore
told that sometime in the future,
the pale-faces would come from the
country of the great salt lakes
toward the rising sun, and would
bring with them many things, the
like of which had never been seen
by the children of the great Manitou,
who would prize them so highly that
they would eagerly trade the skins
of the mink, the otter, the beaver
and all other fruits of the chase for
the curiously wrought trinkets of
the strange men with the pale faces.
1t would not be the skins of animals
pun of the red men that would be
most highly priced by the strangers;
| for, pleasant as these things would
look in their eyes they would appear
insignificant in comparison with the
pearls which he had found and care
fully tied up in bag of buckskin
and laid away in crevice OF the
cave where they would remain for
generations to come, guarded by the
wise Manitou whose love for his
children would cause him to protect
their treasure from the prying eyes
of every explorer until the time
should come when the hiding place
/, might be revealed and the pearls
traded to the pale faces.
This prophecy had taken firm
hold on the credulous minds of these
artless people, for they had unlimit-
ed confidence in the most distinguish
ed medicine man of the tribe and
readily believed all that he had told
them; nor can it be denied that he
had stated the facts as they had real
ly existed, for it must be granted
that though, as far as is now known,
these pearls have not yet been re-
covered, such changes may have
taken place, in the conformation of
the cave since the deposit was made
as to completely shut them in, per-
haps several inches, OF even feet
from, the opening in the walls where