Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota

Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pipe_quarry_02.jpg
Author: NPS Photo


Pipestone National Monument is a cultural heritage site in southwestern Minnesota. The site protects the sacred quarries that were used by early Native Americans for the creation of their ceremonial pipes.

The site was neutral territory so that Native Americans from different tribes - predominantly the Dakota and Lakota - could have access to the stones for producing their pipes. Burial mounds have yielded the Minnesota pipestone, indicating that the quarry site has been in used long before the Sioux tribe took control of them aroun 1700.

Pipestone quarry
Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pipe_quarry_01.jpg
Author: Calton, H-stt, Magnus Manske


Via the Treaty With The Yankton Sioux, signed on 19 April, 1858, the Yankton Sioux tribe secured free and unrestricted access to the site, even as trade brought the use of pipes into white society.

The land of the Minnesota pipestone quarry was acquired by the US Federal Government in 1893. The Yankton Sioux then sold their claim to the government in 1928, as they had by then resettled on a reservation some 150 miles (240 km) away. On 25 August, 1937, the US Congress established Pipestone National Monument, simultaneously restoring quarrying rights to only people of Native American ancestry. The Red Pipestone Quarries within the monument is also a designated Minnesota State Historic Site.

Visiting Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota

This national monument is located in Pipestone, to the west of Minneapolis. If you're coming from there, take Interstate 35 to Exit 13B and continue west on Interstate 90 until Luverne, where you take Exit 12 and continue on US Highway 75 heading north. Pass through the town of Luverne. Continue until you arrive at Pipestone. Turn left at the intersection with 9th St NE/111th St/County Rd 67. Continue west till you arrive at the site. The visitor center is open from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm daily except on Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Entrance fee is $3.00 per person aged 16 and above, valid for 7 days. Today's visitors can explore the area on a three-quarter-mile (1.2-km) self-guided trail to view the quarries. There is also a waterfall along the way.

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