64 THE GEOLOGY OF MINNESOTA. 



[Catlin, 1837. 



place has been, for many centuries, resorted to for the red stone, and from the great number of 

 graves and remains of ancient fortifications in the vicinity (as well as from their actual traditions) 

 it would seem that the Indian tribes have long held this place in high superstitious estimation, and 

 also that it has been the resort of different tribes, who have made their regular pilgrimages here 

 to renew their pipes. 



It is evident that these people set an extraordinary value on the red stone, independently of 

 the fact that it is more easily carved and makes better pipes than any other stone ; but whenever 

 an Indian presents a pipe made of it, he gives it as something from the Great Spirit ; and some 

 of the tribes have a tradition that the red men were all created from the red stone, and that it 

 thereby is " a part of their flesh." Such was the superstition of the Sioux on this subject, that we 

 had great difficulty in approaching it, being stopped by several hundred of them, who ordered us 

 back and threatened us very hard, saying that no white man had ever been to it, and that none 

 should ever go. * * * * * 



The red pipe-stone will, I suppose, take its place, amongst interesting minerals ; and the 

 " Coteau des Prairies," will become hereafter an important theme for geologists, not merely from 

 the fact that it is the only known locality of that mineral, but from other phenomena relating to 

 it. The single fact of such a table of quartz resting in perfectly horizontal strata on this elevated 

 plateau is of itself, as I conceive, a very interesting subject for investigation, and one which calls 

 upon the scientific world for a correct theory with regard to the time when, and the manner in 

 which, this formation was produced. That it is a secondary and sedimentary deposit, seems 

 evident ; and that it has withstood the force of the diluvial current, while the great valley of the 

 Missouri, from this very wall of rocks to the Rocky mountains, has been excavated and its debris 

 carried to the ocean, I confidently infer from the following remarkable fact. 



At the base of the wall, and within a few rods of it, and on the very ground where the 

 Indians dig for the red stone, rests a group of five stupendous boulders of gneiss leaning against 

 each other, the smallest of which is twelve or fifteen feet, and the largest twenty-five feet in diam- 

 eter, weighing, unquestionably, several hundred tons. These blocks are composed chiefly of 

 feldspar and mica, of an exceedingly coarse grain (the feldspar often occurring in crystals of an 

 inch in diameter). The surface of these boulders is in every part covered with a gray moss, which 

 gives them an extremely ancient and venerable appearance, while their sides and angles are 

 rounded by attrition to the shape and character of most other erratic stones which are found 

 throughout the country. 



That these five immense blocks, of precisely the same character, and differing materially 

 from all other specimens of boulders which I have seen in the great valleys of the Mississippi and 

 Missouri, should have been hurled some hundreds of miles from their native bed, and lodged in 

 so singular a group on this elevated ridge, is truly matter of surprise for the scientific world, as 

 well as for the poor Indian, whose superstitous veneration for them is such that not a spear of 

 grass is broken or bent by his feet within three or four rods of the group ; where he stops, and in 

 humble supplication, by throwing plugs of tobacco to them, solicits their permission (as the guar- 

 dian spirit of the place) to dig and carry away the red stone for his pipes. The surface of the 

 boulders I found in every part entire and unscratched by anything, and even the moss was every- 

 where unbroken, which undoubtedly remains so at this time, except where I applied the hammer 

 to obtain some small specimens, which I brought away with me.* 



The fact alone that these blocks differ in character from all other specimens which I have 

 seen in my travels, amongst the thousands of boulders which are strewed over the great valley of 

 the Missouri and Mississippi, from the Yellowstone almost to the gulf of Mexico, raises in my mind 

 an unanswerable question as regards the location of their native bed, and the means by which 

 they have reached their isolated position like five brothers, leaning against and supporting each 

 other, without the existence of another boulder of any description within fifty miles of them. 

 There are thousands and tens of thousands of boulders scattered over the prairies, at the base of 

 the Coteau on either side, and so throughout the valley of the St. Peter's and Mississippi, which 

 are also subjects of very great interest and importance to science, inasmuch as they present to the 

 world a vast variety of characters, and each one, although strayed from its original position, bears 

 incontestable proof of the character of its native bed. The tract of country lying between the 



* In a specimen with which we are favored by Mr. Catlin, the feldspar is in distinct crystals, is tinted red, and 

 greatly abounds; the quartz is gray and white, and the mica black, while the moss covers nearly half the mass. Eds. 





