The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-08-01
PIPES OF AGES PAST.
AN EXPEDITION AT THE QUARRY
THE INDIANS WORKED.
The Deposit Was Held Sacred-Cop-
per Mines in Which the Red Men
Delved Before Columbus Csme-A
Nugget Weighing $4,000 Pounds.

per Mines in Which the Red Men
Delved Before Columbus Csme-A
Nugget Weighing $4,000 Pounds.
From the Pitts5ttr0 Dispatch.
MINNEAPOLIS, July 25.-An expedition
sent out by the bureau of ethnology for the
purpose Of making collections to illustrate
aboriginal quarrying and mining at the Co
lumbar exposition has left here for Wash,
ington with remarkable and most inter
esting assemblage of objects secured.
Among these objects are a number Of
pipes and fragments OF pipestone obtained
from the famous pipestone quarry IN South
west Minnesota, whence the Indians of
North America have got the material for
their pipes since very ancient days, long
before Columbus landed upon this conti-
nent From that time down to the present
the working of this same mineral deposit
has been kept up continuously, even the
savage Sioux travelling annually 200 miles
| to spend month at the quarry. For GEN.
| turtles the place was regarded as sacred, and
all tribes met there, preserving peace re-
! ligiously while on the spot For miles
around the quarry the plains are covered
with the rings which mark the sites where
Indian lodges were once established, and
everywhere are scattered fragments of pipe
stone representing the waste Of manuiact-
ure.
EASY TO CARVE WHEN FRESH.
This material seems to have been selected
| by the savages because OF its beauty and
softness when fresh The latter quality
| renders 1t easy to oarve while subsequently
it becomes extremely hard Its color is an
exquisite "Iudian red.n Much of the carv-
ing work done on the pipes is of highly
artistic quality. Some of the specimens
secured by Prof. Holmes, who made the
collections referred TO, would do credit to
the most skilled workers in meerschasm.
The pipestone deposit described is the
| only one OF its kind in this country. 1t is
stratum Of An unusually hard rhe clay, the
edge Of which is exposed along the side of
a hill. At the beginning there could have
been no difficulty in procuring 1t from its
native bed, but the labor Of quarrying it
has become very great, owing to the fact
| that the stratum has been removed and in
order to get to more 1t 10 necessary to
dig down through several feet of quartz
tie. The stratum being horizontal. the
slant OF the hill covering It, makes the
toll incidental to working the quarry pro-
| excessively more severe. Pickax and shovel
are the implements utilized for the purpose
by the Indians. who have not as yet learned
the art of blasting
A VALUABLE SORT OF STONE.
On account of the difficulties attending
| Inning Va Vic PAAoogOhCt ~ - Hulbc a
precious substance, a piece one foot square
being worth from 90 to 50 in tbe crude The
stratum described Ia about twelve inches is
| thickness and seems to be evenly continuous
for an indefinite distance through tho hill.
| However, only two inches OF this thickness
is of good quality, being smooth to the
| touch and free from grit. OF recent
years the Indians have learned how to inlay
| the pipes with silver and other metals, per-
forming this kind Of work in a manner
very artistic. They do all the pipe making,
the labor involved being too great to pay the
white man for his time. White people buy
the pipestons and make many other articles
out OF it for sale, from a complete house
down to miniature pieces OF furniture and
trinkets.
The fact that this pipestope quarry was
regarded as sacred is indicated by extensive
photographs on the rocks in the vicinity of
certain huge bowlders found on the spot.
representing aboriginal gods and other
things of religious Significance.
Prof. Holmes also visited the wonderful
prehistoric copper mines OF Isle Royale,
in the northern part of Lake Superior.
These were worked long before Column
bus was born, by the Indians, who
procured from them metal for their imple-
mentS ard ornaments. The copper occurs
there in masses of the pure or native"
metal, embedded in the volcanic rocks, aud
the primitive miners were accustomed to
dig it out with no better tools than brass
sledRes.
DIGGINGS FROM THE NATIVE COPPER.
Although the island is not adapted for
human habitation, tribes from all the sur
rounding country gathered there in ancien c
times for the purpose Of obtaining the
precious material. In order to find it a
great deal OF prospecting" had to be done,
and thus the surface of the hills to-day are
| uvha fonnd vpsrh al Ill -
and trenches, partly filled ap and over
grown with pine forests In these ancient
holes are discovered numerous stone imple-
ments which bear the marks OF use as min
ing tools. So thickly are such rude tools
scattered about that not less than sc, 90 of
ground, atfording an illustration Of the ex-
tensive character OF the work that was car
ried on.
The copper was sometimes found in
masses so big that they could not be re-
moved. and many such gigantic nuggets of
pure metal have since furnished oonanzas to
the whites, who, for years, made q business
Of exploring the old workings in search of
them. One nugget weighed IL, 900 pounds
and, because 1t was not practicable TO cut il
up or blast 1t into pieces, it had to be con-
veyed bodily to the lake shore and carried
away in a vessel, requiring much ingenuity
and the best modern appliances for the sue
C65Sl vi ptAsnLuoub VI bno bdbk. w men
the Indians came across such a mass of cop
per, the best they could do was to break off
few projecting pieces OF IL.
ILLUSTRATED AT THE WORLDS FAIR
The business of prospecting for such
abandoned nuggets was finally given up by
the whites, because they ceased to find
enough Of them to pay, although more than
1000 pits remained untouched by them.
After the miners of ansiquIty had got the
copper, they hammered it into tools and
ornaments, which were carried to all parts
Of North America and distributed by trade
Such articles, for which the material was
originally obtained from Isle Royale, are
found to-day in mounds and graves through
out this country. This exploration by the
bureau of ethnology of these great prshs-
torio workings for metal is the hrst that has
been made, and the results, which will be
illustrated by collections at the worlds fair,
throw a dew light upon the aboriginal peo-
pie, who have left behind them proofs of
such gigantic labors.
Considering the vast extent OF the coun-
try and the lack of any but the most print
tive means of transportation, it is certainly
astonishing 10 discover how general was the
system Of trade existing among the savage
tribes of North America at the time when
Columbus landed. The pipes, for which the
material was procured at the quarry previ-
| slxrI CFrih I'D hxy 10