22 October 2016, Saturday

We leave Sioux Falls and drive for about an hour, arriving at Pipestone National Monument a bit after 10 am. It is a beautiful sunny morning. We begin at the visitor center. In the museum we learn that Native Americans have long considered this place sacred. Beneath thick layers of very hard 1.7 billion year old quartzite lies a thin layer of softer red pipestone, a form of argillite that is high in iron. The soft red stone is ideal for carving. Because the site is sacred, many different nations would quarry pipestone in peace here. The pipes carved from this stone were used to burn a mix of dried herbs, often including tobacco. The smoke from the pipes carried prayers to the Great Spirit. As Europeans invaded the land, the Native Americans tried to ensure they would have continued access to the quarry through the treaties they were forced to sign. Although their access was tenuous at times, their right to quarry here was finally assured when the land became a national monument. Today only people associated with a recognized tribe are permitted to quarry here. Permits can take up to five years to acquire. The hard work of quarrying, done only with hand tools, is itself a spiritual endeavor. The film at the visitor center is the first O and I have seen that tells the story of a monument entirely from a First Nations viewpoint.

We chat with a woman at the center who is demonstrating how the pipestone is carved. She is a fourth generation carver. O tells her of the black argillite carvings from Haida Gwaii that we saw in British Columbia. She has seen black pipestone but was not aware of where it came from.

O and I spend the next hour or so walking the ¾ mile path through the quarry and the surrounding prairie. At sites where quarrying is still being carried on there are many prayer flags tied to tree branches. We walk along an area where the quartzite is uplifted and see the “Oracle,” a rock formation that looks like the profile of a face. The Oracle watches over the quarry.

When we return to the visitor center we learn a prescribed burn of the prairie is about to begin. This is done on a regular basis to try to kill invasive plants and to allow native grasses to regrow. As we return to the parking lot we can see approaching smoke and flames. We hear the crackling of burning grass and feel the heat of the fire. I’m glad this is a “controlled” burn.

We leave the monument, stopping as we drive out to see the Three Sisters, large glacial erratics near the quarry. One of several legends has it that three sisters wished to stay at the quarry after their father was ready to leave. They asked the Great Spirit for permission. This was granted, but they were to become a permanent part of the landscape and guard the quarry forever. This is yet another sacred site for Native Americans.