Native carvers continue tradition at Pipestone National Monument

Catlinite is a variety of argillite found as an aggregate of Sioux Quartzite and named for American painter George Catlin who visited the quarries near Pipestone, Minnesota in 1835 where Indigenous peoples have worked since at least 1637.

The rock is soft enough to carve with a knife and the pipe in accompanying photo is made of catlinite. In 2015 the Pipestone National Monument Superintendent sought input from several tribes on the sale of the stone to non-Natives. The Monument is still an oasis but now it's surrounded by Republicans, glyphosate-saturated cornfields and overkill CAFOs.

Faith Spotted Eagle is chairperson of the Ihanktonwan Treaty Steering Committee and a member of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. She called pipestone “the blood of our people,” and said the decision to stop selling pipes at the monument is “a generational decision” that was the answer to decades of prayer. Formal government-to-government discussions among the National Park Service and Native American tribes started in 2013. It’s a complex issue; selling the pipes carved from pipestone supports Native American craftspeople, but others argue that the sacred pipestone should not be sold. The new policy was reached by consensus; not everyone was fully satisfied. Spotted Eagle said she’d like to see the sale of all pipestone objects — not just pipes — to end at the monument. [Minnesota Public Radio]

Pipes are no longer sold at the Monument but can be found for sale elsewhere in Pipestone County. 

The Fort Robinson monument in Nebraska is inlaid with precisely cut slabs of red catlinite. It commemorates the life of Crazy Horse who was assassinated there in 1877.

Pipes are widely used by Indigenous people across the Great Plains and beyond, either by spiritual leaders or individuals for personal prayer for healing and thanksgiving, as well as to mark rites of passage like vision quests and the solemnity of ceremonies and gatherings. The pipe itself is thought to become sacred when the pipestone bowl and the wooden stem are joined. The smoke, from tobacco or prairie plants, then carries the prayer from a person’s heart to the Creator. Because of that crucial spiritual connection, only people enrolled in federally recognized tribes can obtain permits to quarry at the monument, some traveling from as far as Montana and Nebraska. From new exhibits to tailored school field trips, recent initiatives at the monument — undertaken in consultation between tribal leaders and the National Park Service — are trying to foster that awareness for Native youth. [Pipestone carvers preserve revered Native spiritual tradition]

I grew up near Pipestone; the quarry is a magical place. https://t.co/9pNuRFGskn

— interested party (@larry_kurtz) April 9, 2017