The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1899-07-14
5TSSHa "a Ee]@
FAMOUS QUARRIES.
THOSE or RED PlPEsTcNE WERE
SUNG OF ri HlAWATHA

No One But the Indians Are Allowed %
WORK It-DifaeuItics Encountered when
the Governments Tried to Buy the Reser'
vation-How the stone Was Named
Less than a mile from the busting
little city Of Pipestone, MIMI arr
three freaks Of nature that VIII Wen
repay a visit from the lovers OF lne
curious and the beautiful The hrst i
waterfall. or cataract, when "AeI
the stream that feeds it is swollen .!
melting snow and spring rains Is
miniature Niagara. and in point Of
beauty rivals many Of the famed
waterfalls of the East. The second L
the famous Red pipestone Quarry. tAe
scene OF rie opening Of LOngfeiioW
beautiful poem "Hiawatha. and tie
tLlri j. q -I1Gp Of immense rocks
also snoEen IF in "HiaWatAa" as the
Three NaitcnS-that have stood for
ages as a landmark 10 guide the Indi-
ans 70 Tie only spot in the known
world where the sacred pipestone
could be found
The waterfall, quarry and Three
Maidens ara all located on the Indian
Reservation. which i one mile square,
ADJOINING Vie corporation of Pipestone
on tie north. The reservation belongs
10 tie Uacotas. or what is better
known by IL French name as the 81
OK Nation. but il is claimed 10y the
YanEr j S'o-x. Several years since a
determined -E.rt was made ~ a COM
mittee OF eli ems Of Pip-.-Joue 10 pur-
chase il. is they did not want 80 large
q tract Of land 80 near this city lying
idle. but the Indians would not part
with il for love or money. The next
best thing 70 10 was 10 see if some
thing could not be done with it. even
if il remained i'm the Indians posses
sion An application was made to Con-
gress. an appropriation Of $4,000 was
obtained ami 4 substantial school
bailding was built on one corner of
the land. The school has proved so
successful that a second building, the
size of the first. is being bull 10 ac-
commOdate the ever-increaSing number
of pupils
The poem Of 'Hiawatha" begins:
On the mountains Of the prairie,
On the great Red Pipestone quarries,
and any one unacquainted with the
neighborhood would naturally suppose
that it was billy, to say he'least On
the contrary. the country is quite level,
there not being even what in Eastern
parlance would be called a"small hill'
in the neighborhOod. The quarry lies
in about the centre of the bed of what
is apparently a prehistoric lake. and
when first discovered the stone crop
ped out of the surface. but the contin-
ual quarrying for ages has extended
the quarry about sixty rods toward the
south. and it is now necessary To re-
move from six to eight feet OF scale
an dirt before the pure stone is
reached.
No one but the Indians are allowed
to quarry it. and every summer they
come in squads from distant reserva-
tons to get supplies Of the stone with
which to make pipes. knicknacks and
ornaments that they carve out of it,
both for theirown use and for sale and
trade to the white man. They also
frequently sell the stone in the rough
to the white men. who with turning
lathe. can work it up much better than
they can.
The stone is known to the scientific
world as catlinite, being so called in
honor Of Catlin. the celebrated histori-
an of the Indians. who was the first
white man TO set eyes on the quarry.
while gathering material for his Hist.
Dry Of the Indians of the Northwest"
in 1886.