This log-only, camoflaged cache is at two of three cabin sites on
the east side of East Okoboji marked by the DAR with two adjacent
monuments. The actual location of the Thatcher cabin is probably
closer to the lake; the Noble family was staying here until their
cabin was completed.
Take care when parking --- find a place to pull off the busy
road completely. Bring your own pen. There is little space for
trade items in the cache container, although there is a small prize
for the first to find. Please close the lid securely when
replacing.
This is what happened here 150 years ago according to an account
reported by Bob Brown in the book Inkpaduta by Parsons and Kennedy:
"A short distance to the north of the East Lake (from the Howe
cabin, where eight settlers lay dead or dying this frigid Monday
morning, March 9, 1857) stood the cabin of the Thatcher family. In
the cabin were Mrs. Dora(?) Thatcher, Mr. and Mrs. John Noble,
Enoch Ryan, and two small children. Mr. Thatcher was away on a trip
for supplies and was detained at a place called Shippey's Point
where the oxen had become bogged down in the deep snow. Inkpaduta
and his men entered the cabin under their usual guise of
friendship. They checked and found everything to their advantage.
Then, again they struck. Two rifles spoke simultaneously and Ryan
and Noble fell together. The Sioux next snatched the children by
their feet, pulling them from their mothers' arms and took them
outside where they bashed their brains out against an oak tree,
which stood near the house."
"After wrecking everything in the house and killing all the
livestock, the Sioux went to the two remaining women, Mrs. (Lydia)
Noble and Mrs. (Elizabeth?) Thatcher (both aged 19). They had one
captive already (13 year old) Abbie Gardner, and they decided to
triple their collection of hostages. For the time being the two
women were allowed to survive."
"Several weeks later while crossing the Big Sioux River near the
present site of Flandreau, SD, Mrs. Thatcher was crossing a
driftwood bridge with the Indians when she was pushed into the
water. She kept herself afloat and made it to the shore where she
was clubbed by and Indian and then later, as she was being carried
downstream by the current, she was shot."
"Several days later Mrs. Noble was killed by Roaring cloud, a
son of Inkpaduta. She had been asked to leave the tent she was
sharing with Abbey Gardner but she refused. Roaring CLoud took her
outside where he killed her with four or five blows with a war
club."
