ANCIENT ABORIGINAL TRADE IN NORTH AMERICA. 6(1 



chiefly on the traditions of the Indians, which certainly indicate a com- 

 paratively long acquaintance with the locality. It appears, however, 

 hardly admissible to ascribe a very high antiquity to the quarry, consider- 

 ing that thus far no pipes or objects of ornament made of the red stone 

 have been discovered in the oldest tumuli of the Mississippi valley, and 

 the results of a recent examination of the Coteau des Prairies by Dr. 

 r. y. Hayden likewise tend to detract much from the supposed antiquity 

 of this aboriginal place of resort. According to Dr. Ilayden, the layer of 

 Catliuite, hardly a foot in thickness, rests upon a gray quartzite, and 

 there are about five feet of the same gray quartzite above it, which the 

 Indians had to remove with great labor before the pipestone could be 

 secured. A ditch from four to five feet wide and about five hundred 

 yards in length indicates the extent of work done by the Indians. Only 

 about one-fourth of the pipestone layer, thin as it is, can be used for the 

 manufacture of pipes and other objects, the remainder being too impure, 

 slaty, or fragile. Dr. Hayden describes the place as unpicturesque and 

 deficient in trees. He found no stone implements in the vicinity, nor 

 did he learn that any had ever been found ; rusty iron tools, on the 

 other hand, are frequentlj^ discovered. According to his view, the quany 

 belongs to a comparatively recent period.t 



Nevertheless the fact seems to be well established that the surround- 

 ing tribes resorted for many succeeding generations to this locality, and 

 that it formed a neutral ground, which they approached with a kind of 

 superstitious awe. The Indians looked upon the red stone as a particu- 

 larly valuable gift of the Great Spirit, and Catlin relates from personal 

 observation that they humbly sacrificed tobacco before five huge boul- 

 ders of granite near the quarry, in order to acquire the privilege, as it 

 were, to take away a few pieces of the stone.t At present the settle- 

 ments of the whites are advancing toward that interesting spot, which 

 lies now, indeed, within the State of Minnesota, close to its western 

 border, and in a county to which the name "Pipestone"' has been given. 

 A communication from Dr. Hayden informs me that the place is still 

 visited by Dakotah Indians, but not verj^ frequently, and without the 

 observance of those ceremonies which formerly appeared indispensable. 

 Kot much longer, however, will the red man be seen to make his pil- 

 grimage to the quarry of Coteau des Prairies. 



Mr. Catlin has published very good drawings of the red pipes, which 

 are, moreover, familiar to every one who has paid some attention to 

 Indian matters. Some of them bear testimony to the skill and patience 

 of their makers, who, in most cases, probably possess no other imple- 

 ments than the knives and files obtained from the traders. The cylin- 

 drical or conical cavities in the bowl arid neck of these pipes are drilled 

 with a hard stick and sharp sand and water.J 



* Hayden, in American Journal of Science and Arts, Vol. XLIII, January, 1867. 

 t Catlin, Vol. II, p. 166. 

 tCatlin, Vol. I, p. 234. 



