Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-26
PIPES OF AGES PAST.
An chronological Expedition at the
Quarry the Indians Worked.
THE DEPOSIT WAS HELD SACRED.
Copper Mines in Which the Red Men
Dslved Before Columbus Came.
A NUGGET WEIGHING 10000 POUNDS

A NUGGET WEIGHING 10000 POUND
ESPECIAL TELEeRAM TO THE DrsPATcH.l
MINNEAPOLIS, July 25.-An expedition
sent out by the Bureau of Ethnology fo
the purpose of making collections to illus
trate aboriginal quarrying and mining a
the Columbian Exposition, has left here fol
Washington with remarkable and most
interesting assemblage of objects secured.
Among these objects are a number o
| pipes and fragments of pipestone obtained
from the famous pipestone quarry in South
west Minnesota, whence the Indians o
| North America have got the material fo
their pipes since very ancient days, long
before Columbus landed upon this CONT
nent. From that time down to the present
the working of this same mineral deposi
has been kept up continuously, even the
savage Sioux travelling annually 200 miles
to spend month at the quarry. Fol
centuries the place was regarded as sacred,
and all tribes met there, preserving peace
religiously 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 manu-
tacture
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 it easy to carve, while subsequent
ly it becomes extremely hard. Its color Is
an exquisite 'Tndian red" Much of the
carving work done on the pipes is of highly
artistic quality. Some of the specimens Sc
cured by Prof. Holmes, who made the col
lections referred to, would do credit to the
most skilled workers in meerschaum.
The pipestone deposit described, is the
only one of its kind in this country. It is
is stratum of an unusually hard red clay,
the edge of which is exposed along the side
Of hill. At the beginning there could
have been no difficulty in procuring it from
its native bed, but the labor of quarrying it
has become very great, owing to the fact
that the edge of the stratum has been re-
moved, and in order to get more it is peces-
sary to dig down through several feet of
quartzite. The stratum being horizontal,
the slant of the hill covering it, makes the
toll incidental to working the quarry pro-
are the implements utilized for the purpose
by the Indians, who have not as vet learned
the art Of blasting.
A Valuable Sort of Stone.
On account of the difficulties attending
the mining ofthe pipestone, it is quite a
precious substance, piece one foot square
being worth from 50 to So in the crude. The
stratum described is about IL inches in
thickness and seems to be evenly cdntinu-
Gus for an indefinite distance through the
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 pipestone and make many other articles
out of it for sale, from complete house
down to miniature pieces of furniture and
trinkets.
The fact that this pipestone quarry was
regarded as sacred is indicated by extensive
photographs on the rocks in the vicinity of
certain huge powders found on the spot,
representing aboriginal gods and other
things Of religious significance.
Professor Holmes also visited the won
derful prehistoric copper mines of Isle
Royale, in the northern part of Lake
Superior. These were worked long before
Columbus was born by the Indians, who
procured from them metal for their imple-
ments and ornaments. The copper occurs
there in masses of the pure or native"
metal. embedded in the volcanic rocks and
the primitive miners were accustomed to
dig it out with no better tools than stone
sledges.
Diggings From the Native Copper.
IL L.. -.
human habitation, tribes from all the sur
rounding country gathered there in ancient
times for the purpose of obtaining the
precious material In order to fne it a
great deal Of prospecting" had to be done,
and thus the surface of the hills to-day are
everywhere found covered with old pits
and trenches, partly filled up 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 80, 900 of
them are to be seen on the surface of the
ground, affording an illustration of the ex-
tenslve character of the work that was car
ried on.
The copper was sometimes found in masses
SO big that they could not be removed,
and many such gigantic nuggets of pure
metal have since furnished bolanzas to the
whites, who for years made j business of
exploring the old workings in search of
them. One.nugget weighed IL, 900 pounds,
and, because it was not practicable to cut it
up or blast 1t into pieces, it had to be con-
veyed bodily to the lake shore and carried
away in vessel, requiring much ingenuity
and the best modern appliances for the
successful accomplishment of the task.
When the Indians came across such mass
Of copper, the best they could do was to
break off few projecting pieces OF it.
illustrated at the worlds Fair.
The business of prospecting for such
abandoned nuggets was finally given up BY |
;he whites. because they ceased to find |
enough of them to pay, although more than
one thousand pits remained untouched by |
hem. After the miners of antiquity had |
got the copper, they hammered it into tools |
ind ornaments, which were carried to all |
parts of North America and distribut cd BY |
rade. Such articles, for which the mate
'ial was originally obtained from Isle
Royale, are found to-day in mounds and
yraves throughout this country. This ex-
,loration by the Bureau of Ethnology of
hese great prehistoric workings for metal !
S the first that has been made, and the re-
ults, which will be ilIustra ted by collec-
ions at the Worlds Fair, throw new light
lpon the aboriginal people, who have left
behind them proofs of such gigantic Ia
,ora
Considering the vast extent of the
ountry and the lack of any but the most
primitive means of transportation. 1t is
certainly astonishing to discover how gen.
raj was the system of trade existing among