National monument celebrates 75 years
Festivities honor Pipestone site’s rich history, culturePIPESTONE — Pipestone National Monument Superintendent Glen Livermont has mixed feelings about Saturday’s weather forecast, which currently includes a 40 percent chance of rain. He knows the moisture is badly needed, but also doesn’t want it to rain on his facility’s celebration.
By: Beth Rickers, Worthington Daily Globe
- Travis Erickson
PIPESTONE — Pipestone National Monument Superintendent Glen Livermont has mixed feelings about Saturday’s weather forecast, which currently includes a 40 percent chance of rain. He knows the moisture is badly needed, but also doesn’t want it to rain on his facility’s celebration.
“I hope it’s not raining cats and dogs,” he said. “We hope the weather can cooperate … but I don’t know of anybody who would complain about rain.”
Pipestone National Monument will celebrate its 75th anniversary this weekend in a big way, with events beginning at 8 p.m. tonight, and then continuing from 8 a.m. through to 9 p.m. on Saturday.
The festivities mark the 75th year of the establishment of the monument in 1937, but the site has a rich history that goes back to a time when glaciers deposited layers of mud, sand and gravel in the area, which scientists estimate as between 1.75 billion and 1.63 billion years ago.
Eventually, a unique kind of rock was formed, which came to be named catlinite, after George Catlin, the first European-American to visit the Pipestone quarries in 1836. A geologist who named the soft clay stone after Catlin sent it to him for analysis.
But long before Catlin made his historic visit, the quarries had been a place of pilgrimage for the North American continent’s native peoples, as they sought out the rock to make sacred pipes. The following historical reference is from the Pipestone National Monument’s website, www.nps.gov/pipe:
Stone pipes have been in use on the North American continent since around 1,500 B.C. and archaeological evidence suggests that the pipestone quarries of Pipestone National Monument have been in use for 3,000 years. Carvers prize this durable yet relatively soft stone, which ranges in color from mottled pink to brick red. Though these grounds are not the only source of pipestone on the North American continent, by all accounts this location came to be the preferred source of pipestone among the Plains tribes because of the quality of the stone. Oral tradition tells us that the site was used by people of all tribes, and that all tribes — even enemies — laid down their arms before quarrying side by side. Archaeological evidence shows many different tribes quarried here. By 1700, the Dakota Sioux were the dominant presence at the pipestone quarries.
The pipestone quarries are still in use today, with special permits to remove the stone from the quarry site — using only hand tools — granted to Native Americans of any federally recognized tribe. In fact, the national monument site was established in 1937, after much legal wrangling, in order to allow the quarrying to resume and officially opening the grounds to visitors. The visitor center was finished in 1958 and expanded in 1973.
The anniversary festivities will include several guest speakers, beginning this evening and throughout the day on Saturday, and an official anniversary program set for 1 p.m. Saturday. A large tent has been erected on the monument grounds for the ceremony, according to Livermont. Among those expected to offer remarks are Pipestone Mayor Laurie Ness, Lower Brule Sioux Tribal Chairman Michael Jandreau and Patricia Trapp, the Midwest regional deputy director of the National Park Service.
“Somebody wanted me to say a few words, too,” said Livermont, claiming to already having filled up the back and palm of his hand with notes. “There will also be some American Indian opening prayers and a drum group, which will be very appropriate.”
Sharon Hanson, currently president of the Pipestone National Monument Friends group, will also offer remarks.
“The Friends group has been pretty instrumental in helping the park, primarily with funding some projects that might not necessarily get funded through regular park service channels,” credited Livermont. “They help to fill in those gaps, generally with smaller items, but important items.”
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, visitors can receive a special memento to mark the occasion — a post office stamp cancellation.
“We worked with the U.S. Postal Service on that,” explained Livermont. “They have a program where they will create an official cancellation hand stamp. They worked with us on designing the stamp, and one of the postal workers will be here. People can bring in any kind of stamp or piece of paper that they want, and they’ll cancel it. Through our gift shop, we’ve created a special envelope with artwork of the quarry and a custom-ordered stamp that has Catlin’s painting of the quarry on the image of the stamp. So they can buy that envelope and stamp and have it cancelled. For a lot of stamp collectors, I think it would certainly appeal to them.”
Also appealing to all of the visitors will be the free aspect of all Saturday’s events.
“We were able to get special permission from the Washington office to waive all the entrance fees for one day,” Livermont said. “Of course, we will have available all the other permits that are sold for visiting other parks, and our annual pass will still be available.”
On the Net:
www.nps.gov/pipe/
Tags: news, national, monument, pipestone
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