St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1861-11-07
* = IV " IL " ST. CLOUD SEEARNS" CO., MINNESOTA THU

- ~ AAA AOAON~4|AA Il
tain Of! tho Red Pipe, and standing here
upon the edge Of The. cliff, while the hcsts
OF the Red Men, numerous as, the leaves
Of tho forest, covered the plain below, he
broke of = piece of the Red Rock, and
l:t'lrued 2: great Calumet, which he smoked
bower them ull. He, It'd them that it, was
part Of their own aesh; that they we're one
people, aud should be .fuends and broth
ers while assembled hero :, tor the placc
being part Of themselves, belonged alike t.
them all; that they must make their pipes
from thu red stone, and smoke them to
him, whenever they would propitiatc his
assistance. Saying this the Great Spirit
blew forth great cloud OF smoke, in
which, with "a great noise, he disappeared
firm their view. Then blaze of fire roll
ed up .rom below, and melted the surface
OF the rocks, us wo see them to this day.
At that moment two sqnaws appeared in a
flaming Ere, and went into the two medi-
cine rocks. There they remain still and
theis consent must be obtained BY all who
desire, to take away portions Of the pipe
stOne."s :, -. T.
|"*Nhile examining :his remarkable spot
few years since, in company with a par
~ Ut French voyaSers and friendly Sioux,
| was struck with its physical characteris-
tics, which so strongly corroborated the
leading facts, in the abuye-quoscd tradi.
tions., :. There is every ind cation that
points tn this one conclusion, to wit: that
~ the long az Of the past, when the
Garth was il her infancy, md long prior to
the birth Of animal life, the rock that now
overlooks the Red Pipe quarry, had been
exposed to- the action Of mighty heat,
which bad fused its surface, aud glazed, it
over with a, vittous enamel. Doubtless
this line Of cliff, which being traceable
about thrae miles, 6ually loses Itself at eth
er end in, swell of the prairie, .L,ay have
formed u po ton Of the wall of volcanic
crrter, and the singular r.d formation ut
its base, uay possibly have been Of volcan-
ic otisih. In short, the geological feature
OF The. place and its, surroundin.s, forced
INC ut the time to this conclusion.
At little distance rom the cliff. and
upon the red STONE formlti0n, and surruun
ded by numerous excavations u,al., by the
Indians in different ages, are tn BE- seen
the Sane UNI Su"ctor"n,, the hnly of ho-
lies OF this sacred lncality. This is a
group Of bould>r rs of gneiss. There are
i've oi them, leaning against each other il,
J. u straight line, parallel to the wall of
quartz: the largest Of which is about thirty
feet in diameter; while the smallest is
perhaps something less than twenty. -
They are composed Of feltspar and INCA
the former appearing in crystals as large
as a mans thumb. These are cratic
stones, the locality of whose matrix science
may only guess at. Cuder these huge
boulders are discovered two holes; the
o0ens in which, according to the tradition:
and superstittons Of the red men. the two
squaws, who are tue genii Of the quarry
reside.
With such extreme reverence do the
indians regard these sacred boulders, tina,
;hey never approach within touching dis
tance OF them; and perhaps for ages the
coarse grass that grows at the foot Of them
has never been pressed by human feet
, All propitiatory offerings of tobacco and
> other pious gifts are thrown upon them
from respectful distance; and the guar
dian spirits Of the place are said to emerge
from their caverns during the night and
appropriate them. -. - =
- So much for this extraordinary quarry
= the product Of which has been declared by
eminent minera(o5ists to be mew mineral
cop,poun,i, as vet known to exist in nc
other locality than that so POLITICALLY and
appropriately y termed by its ancient propri
etors, the F1untain Of the Red Celun,et
a. Still do the Indians continue to make
pilgrimages to this rcsidiun. of the Great
Spiait: but not in such crowds as the ~
once did, for fist and surely are this pco.
pie passing away from the green meadows
and dark forests, which we're once all their
own. Smallpox and the vices introduced
by the white trader are extin: gushing
) tribe after tribe, nation after nation; and
lin j tsw years more the last. red, pipe will
have bet eni fashioned, and last Offering laid
upon the Rok of the Red Pipe. ''..$
| Tho t1o~+:o Nfor&1>1rr