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Did Laura, Rose and Almanzo Wilder Live in a Cave One Winter?

So I'm reading "I Remember Laura": Laura Ingalls Wilder by Stephen W. Hines and I came across the most interesting item.  At the end of the book there is an  chapter called "Unsolved Mysteries: Sometimes the Question is Who Knows What? Or, Does Anyone Know Anything?" In this section, Hines brings up some items that he (and others) have wondered about. For example, Hines wondered what happened to Mary's organ or whether or not "Pioneer Girl" would ever be published. (We know the answer to that one, don't we?)

BUT the item that caught my eye in this chapter is the one called "Has anyone ever found Laura's cave?"

Laura's Cave? 


Did Hines mean the dugout the Ingalls family lived in on Plum Creek? Why, we know where that is. It isn't a mystery.

However, that isn't what Hines is referring to anyway. Hines is referring to a much older Laura Ingalls Wilder, who, very sick and entering the last days of life told a story to a roommate in the hospital . The roommate recalled this story to a visiting nurse in her nursing home- The nurse was Arleen Kindel of Clarion, Pennsylvania. So this is a secondhand story, told by a visiting nurse who heard a story from a dying patient, told by another dying patient,  but an intriguing story nonetheless.

Mrs. Ingalls' roommate recalled to Mrs. Kindel a time when Wilders first moved to the Ozarks and endured part of a harsh winter in a cave.

A cave!


I am not a Laura Ingalls Wilder expert by any means but I've read up over the years and I can tell you this is the first I heard of this story. Maybe I was the one living in a cave? I'm hoping someone better versed on this shares what they know because I'm so intrigued.

I began to search the web and you know what I found? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Surely a story about the Wilders living in a cave would garner some interest? Wouldn't others be talking about this if it's true?


Hines goes on to say that the log cabin that was originally on the Rocky Ridge Farm land just wasn't warm enough that winter and so the family took to a cave somewhere on the property. However, the place the visiting nurse recalled as where the cave was near Hollister, MO, not near the Wilder's home.


Because of the fuzzy details, Hines wasn't sure if this story was true at all. However, after he spoke to James V. Lichty, whose grandmother was a friend of the Wilders, and who spent a summer with the Wilders, he thought there might be something to it. Mr. Lichty said there is definitely a cave in an area of  the Wilder property. The cave was below a bluff on a hill, offering protection from wintry winds. This part of the property isn't open to the public.

Of course, none of this means the story is true. The Wilders are definitely people who would do whatever they had to in order to survive. And let's face it, Laura is no stranger to living in a cave. But you would think this tale would be a little more widespread if it was indeed true.

So now I'm going  to put it to you, Laura Ingalls Wilder fans and scholars. Does anyone have any information about this chapter of LIW's life? Spill!




Comments

  1. KateApril 3, 2015 at 8:33 AM

    This was posted to the LIW group I'm part of on Facebook, and I thought I'd copy and paste my reply here. Disclaimer: I do live in southwest Missouri (about an hour from Mansfield) and I have for about sixteen years now.

    Not a lot of people tend to use caves as living quarters, because when you get far enough back for them to be warm, you're also far enough back for there to be no light (Harold Bell Wright, author of the book "Shepherd of the Hills," did live in Marvel Cave which is now part of Silver Dollar City, for a short time on his doctor's recommendation as it was believed to be good for lungs - if you take the right path on the cave tour you can see the cabin). I honestly can't see this being true. Yes, the original cabin may not have been much protection against the weather elements, but both Laura and Almanzo knew how to make a house warmer, and they were no strangers to cold - just look at the temperatures listed in the last few books. The coldest I can ever remember southwest Missouri getting was -14 degrees in 2009 - and that was highly unusual. Additionally, they made it to Missouri in late summer/early fall. With no experience as to what Missouri winters were like, and probably expecting them to be like Dakota's, they would have made winterproofing the cabin a priority. I also can't envision them staying in a cave in the Hollister area - that is probably an hour away from Mansfield now, by horse and buggy/wagon it would have been several, and even today there is almost nothing in Hollister. I would call this story very highly unlikely - the only reason I think it might possibly have some veracity is because of Almanzo's ongoing health problems and the belief of doctors at the time that living in caves could help with those.

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  2. Alice April 3, 2015 at 8:35 AM

    Thank you for answering, Kate. It's a shame there is no one around who can help to answer some of the questions in a definitive way.

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  3. AnonymousMay 30, 2015 at 8:23 PM

    I just visited Mansfield and stayed at MansfieldWoods--small cabins 1/4 mile away from the Wilder farmhouse. I was told that there is a cave on their property that Rose got lost in and was asked if I would like to explore it. Well, that wasn't my cup of tea, but there is a cave very close to the farmhouse. I don't believe that they spent winter in a cave but the proximity of one to her certainly makes it an entertaining speculation.

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    Replies
    1. AngelacMay 30, 2019 at 8:08 AM

      Wow. This is an old thread. But still. In a lot of places-- Kansas, MO, so on-- especially tornado prone states-- a cave was generally the name given to what we would call a cellar today. They were used for food storage and a place to shelter during tornadoes. They were often stone structures, usually apart from the house. So...if the cabin that was on the property wasn't weatherproof--& from description in On the Way Home, it wasn't, & they weren't able to afford to weatherproof it-- they arrived in the fall-- & so likely weren't able to afford to as they would have had to buy winter provisions, they very possibly might have chosen to winter in the 'cave'. It would have been drier and warmer and so on. It may even have had an above ground room-- and as those types of caves were man made-- it's unlikely that it would have had the features a natural cave: cave bacon, oddly shaped and low rooms. Keep in mind entire families would jam in to find safety during tornadoes and that most were large enough to stand up and walk about in--& that LIW was only 5' tall& Almanzo only 5'4& it gets a lot more feasible.

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