Pipestone National Monument

Minnesota: Pipestone National Monument

Pipestone National Monument, quarry, southwestern Minnesota, U.S. The monument is located just northwest of the city of Pipestone, near the South Dakota border. It was created in 1937 to protect the local pipestone (catlinite) quarries, which were the source of the relatively soft red stone used by the Plains Indians to make pipes for smoking on ceremonial occasions. The monument occupies 282 acres (114 hectares).

According to Native American legend, the people and the stone were made of the same material, and thus the stone was to be used only for making pipes for religious and ceremonial use. Pipes were often carved in effigy forms, but the better-known style was the inverted T-shaped calumet. Quarrying began in the 17th century, and many tribes used the quarry. By 1700, however, the Sioux were in control of the site. It was visited in 1836 by artist George Catlin, who wrote about and painted its activities and collected a sample of the stone, which was named for him. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow mentioned the quarry in his 1855 poem The Song of Hiawatha. The U.S. government took over the site in 1893.

The pipestone lies in veins 12 to 18 inches (30 to 46 cm) deep a short distance below the surface and is located between layers of hard quartzite, which must be broken through in order to reach the pipestone. Today only Native Americans are allowed to remove pipestone from the quarries. A trail allows viewing of the quarries, native prairie plants, and Winnewissa Falls. The Upper Midwest Indian Cultural Center demonstrates the art of pipe making.