"
"Ho!" replied an old medicine man, "I remember when Unk-a-tahe got in
under the falls" (of St. Anthony) "and broke up the ice. The large
pieces of ice went swiftly down, and the water forced its way until it
was frightful to see it. The trees near the shore were thrown down, and
the small islands were left bare. Near Fort Snelling there was a house
where a white man and his wife lived. The woman heard the noise, and,
waking her husband, ran out; but as he did not follow her quick enough,
the house was soon afloat and he was drowned."
There was an Indian camp near this house, for the body of Wenona, the
sick girl who was carried over the Falls, was found here. It was placed
on a scaffold on the shore, near where the Indians found her, and
Checkered Cloud moved her teepee, to be near her daughter. Several other
Dahcotah families were also near her.
But what was their fright when they heard the ice breaking, and the
waters roaring as they carried everything before them? The father of
Wenona clung to his daughter's scaffold, and no entreaties of his wife
or others could induce him to leave.
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