Pipestone

On the second day of our trip home from Little Big Horn Battlefield, Rachel and I stopped at Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota. I have to admit that I really didn't know what to expect until we got there. The monument preserves and interprets a centuries old Catlinite quarry. From this one quarry came the stone used to carve most of the calumet bowls after 900 A.D. Also known as peace pipes by Euro-Americans because Native Americans were seen using them at so many of the treaty counsels.

In 1836 the famous western artist George Catlin made a journey to the pipestone quarries where he witnessed a group of Santee Sioux excavating the soft rock and carving pipe bowls for use in religious ceremonies. During his visit, the Santee told Catlin of the myth behind the use of pipestone:

At an ancient time the Great Spirit, in the form of a large bird, stood upon the wall of rock and called all the tribes around him, and breaking out a piece of the red stone formed it into a pipe and smoked it, the smoke rolling over the whole multitude. He then told his red children that this red stone was their flesh, that they were made from it, that they must all smoke to him through it, that they must use it for nothing but pipes: and as it belonged alike to all the tribes, the ground was sacred, and no weapons must be used or brought upon it.


In this image you can see the rock wall in the background, where a park trail now takes you past Lake Hiawatha and Pipestone Creek. Natives still quarry Pipestone from the site during late summer and early fall and some of these individuals are employed as artisans at the park, working the Pipestone into effigy shapes and pipes and selling them to the public. Rachel bought a Pipestone effigy of a bear and I bought a small turtle for my little sister. I also bought a calumet, a very beautiful piece of native handicraft. The selling point for me was the beadwork on the pipe stem, it was done in blue and orange, two of my favorite colors.

Here is another angle of the same pipe:



All in all this was a very productive day. We were able to see much more of rural Southwest Minnesota and Northern Iowa, and we really believe that Iowa is a beautiful state, nothing but farms and the occasional large town.

Here are some more pictures of our visit to Pipestone National Monument. The first one is a picture from the trail as you head to the first quarry location.


This next image is of the first quarry you pass on the way to the rock wall where the Great Spirit was believed to have given his instructions on the use of Pipestone to Native Americans. This is an active quarry site.
As the trail passes Lake Hiawatha and winds toward the rock wall, the image of an old Indian face emerges for hikers to see.

Leaping Rock received its name from local Indian tribes because of the attempts of young men to prove their bravery by leaping across to the rock and placing an arrow into a crack that can still be seen on it today. By the way, this picture is deceiving. Leaping rock is a good 6 feet away from the rest of the rock wall. The actual area for a person to land on if they were so inclined to leap across this chasm (a good 30 foot drop off to jagged rocks below awaits the clumsy) is about four and a half feet in diameter. You can see for yourself in the picture below how difficult it would be to land on top of Leaping Rock.
One thing that is noticeable at this site is the large amount of hundred year old graffiti. At what point do graffiti artists receive recognition for their contribution to the history of an area? Apparently, according to the Park Service at Pipestone NM, if settlers on their way through this part of Minnesota left markings on the rocks, they are today historically valuable. If you were to do the same thing today, though they would arrest you. There is a sign that says all of this next to the smattering of graffiti. There was a lot more graffiti than this.
Here are the rest of the pictures, no need for explanations, just beautiful scenery I thought I would share with everyone.

After we left Pipestone NM, Rachel and I drove to Waterloo, Iowa and spent the night there. The next day we went to Harper's Ferry, Iowa and visited Effigy Mounds NM. I will post a blog on our visit to that site soon as well as some pictures.