Put it in your Pipestone, MN and smoke it.

Miles Driven: 49.5 - September 8th Pipestone, MN to Brookings, SD
Total Miles: 1772.6
Entrance Fees: $3.00 (covered by America the Beautiful Pass)
Camping Fees: $21.35

Dino drinking hot cup of tea, Pipestone, MN

The night was cold, very cold.  Waking up around 7am the temperature was 51 degrees.  I laid in my sleeping bag for another hour reading hoping it would get warmer.  When I finally poked my head out of the tent the temperature had risen to 60 degrees.  Time for a nice hot cup of tea and some breakfast.  Putting the tent away and packing the car I went to the office to pay and take a long, long shower before heading to Pipestone National Monument.    

The 15 minute long video explained the origins of the Pipestone (Catlinite) and its significations in today’s American Indian culture.  Pipestone can vary in color from mottled pink to brick red.  The stone is durable but yet relatively soft.  If you drop a carving it will probably break into pieces.  Specimens dating back 2,000 years have been found in Mound City, in today’s Ohio.

Petroglyphs, Pipestone, MN

The Pipestone location became the preferred place to quarry the stone around 1700 when Dakota Sioux controlled the quarries and only distributed the stone via trading.  

“Ceremonial smoking - rallying forces for warfare, trading goods and hostages, ritual dancing, and medicinal healings - marked the activities of the Plains people.”

Old Quarry Pipestone, MN

By the 1800’s pipes found their way into non-Indian societies through trade and effigies honored politicians and explorers; some caricatures where far from flattering.  Pipes and the Pipestone became a source of income for their makers and families.  To protect the Pipestone source from the White man, the Yankton Sioux secured free and unrestricted access by an 1858 treaty.  American settlement threatened to consume the square-mile reservation.  Outsiders were digging new pits and extracting the sacred stone.  In 1937 Congress established Pipestone National Monument to provide traditional quarrying for American Indians.


Quarrying today is very similar to how the stone was quarried in the past, by manual labor, brute force, sledge hammers, shovels, pry bars, chisels, wedges and picks.  No other tools are permitted in the sacred grounds for quarrying.  It can take anywhere from one to five years for an American Indian to gain access rights to quarry for the stone.

Oracle (Medicine Man) Pipestone, MN

Once you have gained access the real hard work begins.  Before one can get to the Pipestone there are several layers of hard Sioux Quartzite with visible cracks and fractures.  Once the Pipestone is exposed care must be taken to remove it.  The layer is only 14 to 18 inches thick, but only about 2 inches of that is ideal for carving pipes.  The Pipestone has natural fissures and must be removed layer by layer very meticulously.

After spending most of the day at Pipestone National Monument, the little town and writing post cards, I hopped on the road and drove to Brookings, SD where I slept in my car in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Circle Trail Walk, Pipestone, MN