Maiden Rock
Hwy. 35, 1 mi. N of Stockholm, Pepin County
The story of Maiden Rock has several versions. One by Mary Eastman was published in 1849. She heard the story from an old Indian friend, Checkered Cloud, who firmly believed the event happened around 1700. A more romantic version in verse was written by Margaret A. Persons. James Duane Dory accompanied the Henry Schoolcraft expedition into this area and on June 3, 1820, Doty wrote in his journal: "It is told that many years since, a young and beautiful Sioux girl was much attached to a young Indian of the same band, and who would have married her but for the interference of her relatives. They insisted upon her marrying another one whom she despised, and she contrived to avoid the connection for near a year. At length her relations, haveing sent away the young man she loved, on this point compelled her to marry the one they wished. It was evening, and she had not been united more than an hour, before they missed her from the lodge. Nothing could be found of her until morning, when they discovered her at the foot of this precipice, down which she probably precipitated herself."
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[Source: McBride, Sarah Davis. History Just Ahead (Madison:WHS, 1999).]