; 
: 
3 
1883.] Catlinite. 747 
valley of Pipestone creek, reveals what has thus far been done in 
excavating the rock.”! 
Professor I. N. Nicholet observes: “This red pipestone, not 
more interesting to the Indian than it is to the man of science, by 
its unique character, deserves a particular description. In the 
quarry of it which I opened, the thickness of the bed is one foot 
and a half; the upper portion of which separates in thin slabs, whilst 
the lower ones are more compact. As a mineralogical species, it 
may be described as follows: Compact; structure slaty ; receiv- 
ing a dull polish; having a red streak ; color blood-red, with dots 
of a fainter shade of the same color; fracture rough; sectile ; feel 
somewhat greasy ; hardness not yielding to the nail ; not scratched 
by selenite, but easily by calcareous spar; specific gravity 2.90. 
The acids have no action upon it; before the blow-pipe it is in- 
fusible per se, but with borax gives a green glass.” 
Dr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, to whom Catlin sent specimens, 
Pronounced it a new mineral, and gave to it the name of catlinite. 
The Great Red Pipestone quarry of the North-west has been 
the theme of some of the most interesting myths of the North 
American Indians. Aside from the testimony of early eye-wit- 
nesses of the customs of the native tribes, some of these legends, 
which have been handed down through many successive genera- 
tions, in various portions of the United States, would seem to in- 
dicate that the material had been employed in pipe-sculpture for a 
considerable length of time. Nearly all of these traditions of the 
Sioux, Mandans, _Knisteneaux and other: tribes, as narrated by 
atlin and other writers, while they differ somewhat in detail, ap- 
Pear to be simply modifications of Longfellow’s version, as em- 
bodied in his “ Song of Hiawatha.” In addition to savage myth- 
ology, facts are not wanting to prove the comparative antiquity of 
the aboriginal operations at Coteau des Prairies. “There are in- 
i tions,” says Dr. Hayden, “of an unusual amount of labor on 
the part of the Indians in former years to secure the precious 
Material.’ 
The narratives of many of the early writers contain allusions to 
catlinite. The Jesuit missionary, Marquette, who smoked the pipe 
of peace with the Indians as early as 1673, describes the imple- 
Am Four, Sci. and Arts, Vol. XLII, Jan., 1867, p. 19. 
; Senate Doc, No. 237, Twenty-sixth Congress, Second Session, 1840-'41. 
See Wilson’s « Prehistoric Man,” London, 1862, Vol. I, p. 11, et seq. 
Am. Four. Sci. and Arts, Vol. LXIII, Jan., 1867, p. 20. 
