Providence Hole

: THE CENRAL STATES AND THE GREAT LAKES
: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land

The going of white men into the prairies aroused the same sort of

animosity among the Indians that they have shown in other parts of the

country when retiring before the advance of civilization, and many who

tried to plant corn on the rolling lands of Iowa, though they did no harm

to the red men, paid for the attempt with their lives. Such was the fate

of a settler who had built his cabin on the Wyoming hills, near

Dav nport. While working in his fields an arrow, shot from a covert, laid

him low, and his scalp was cut away to adorn the belt of a savage. His

little daughter, left alone, began to suffer from fears and loneliness as

the sun went lower and lower, and when it had come to its time of setting

she put on her little bonnet and went in search of him. As she gained the

slope where he had last been seen, an Indian lifted his head from the

grass and looked at her.



Starting back to run, she saw another behind her. Escape seemed hopeless,

and killing or captivity would have been her lot had not a crevice opened

in the earth close to where she stood. Dropping on hands and knees she

hastily crawled in, and found herself in what seemed to be an extensive

cavern. Hardly had she time to note the character of the place when the

gap closed as strangely as it had opened and she was left in darkness.

Not daring to cry aloud, lest Indians should hear her, she sat upright

until her young eyes could keep open no longer; then, lying on a mossy

rock, she fell asleep. In the morning the sun was shining in upon her and

the way to escape was open. She ran home, hungry, but thankful, and was

found and cared for by neighbors. Providence Hole then passed into the

legends of the country. It has closed anew, however.