Which
would you prefer?
If
you were obtaining sacred red stone for your Ceremonial Pipe
where would you like it to come from?
Here?
(up to date pictures of the Pipestone quarries below).
The
first two are where at least 90% of all the red stone sold
in the world today comes from. If you obtained your stone
from a Rock Shop, Gem Shop, or Trading Post in the past 20 years you are more than
likely getting stone from the first quarry. If you have obtained
some cheaply in Pipestone in the past 10 years, or on EBay in the past 8 years then it probably comes from the
second quarry.
Neither
of these are mined by Native Americans, they are not mined
with hand tools, and they are definitely not mined or cut
with reverence
The
third picture shows the top of a quarry at the Pipestone National
Monument. This is one of the ancient quarries, where only
Native Americans mine with hand tools, with prayer and reverence.
This stone constitutes only a small percentage of the stone
that is in circulation today. We would guess only about 1%
comes from the ancient quarries in Pipestone.
True
Pipestone/Catlinite can be easily cut with a hacksaw, even
a regular knife. If the stone that you have will not cut easily,
breaks your tools, quickly dulls your blade, cracks or similar
mishaps happen, then the stone you have is not pure Catlinite.
To
Gem Store and Rock Shop Owners:
Dear
Owner,
If you
stock red pipestone in your store would you please ensure
that it comes from the Pipestone quarries, and has been quarried
by Native Americans. If you cannot verify that the stone is
from the ancient quarries but still sell it as such then you
will continue to perpetuate a fraud.
We have
recently heard that the person who is selling the false stone
has been saying to rock shop owners that if anyone else comes
in trying to sell them stone from Pipestone that it will be
false and to have nothing to do with them. He says that he
is the only one with the genuine stone. This is an outright
lie and needs to be exposed, the exact opposite is actually
true. Right now as I write this there are plans going ahead
by a Native American body that will enable the true Catlinite
quarriers the ability to prove that their stone is genuine.
Unless the person selling the stone to you, the buyer, has
that proof then do not buy it as it will NOT be Catlinite,
the real pipestone. This man will definitely NOT have that
proof. He is NOT a Native American and so he is NOT and never
will be in the Pipestone Quarriers Guild. Only Native
Americans are allowed to quarry for stone in the ancient quarries,
non-natives/non-enrolled people are not even allowed to lend
a hand. Quarrying in Pipestone is purely a Native American
undertaking.
Many
people come to our Center, personally or via the internet
and phone and they complain about the stone that they are
getting from stores such as yours. We know when they tell
us the problem, that the stone that they have obtained is
not the genuine Catlinite, which is what they had expected
it to be. The stone that they are getting comes from the Jasper
quarries and is not the correct stone to use for Pipes and
sacred objects.
We have
no problem with you selling the red stone as long as you do
not sell it as true pipestone (Catlinite) after all you have
probably bought it from a salesperson yourself and now need
to make your money back. However unless you know for certain
that it does come from the ancient quarries in Pipestone,
Minnesota, and not from 12 miles along the road in Jasper,
please tell your customers that it isn't the stone that Indians
use for their pipes, and has not been quarried reverently
by a Native American using hand tools. If they still want
the stone then at least you have told them that it isn't Catlinite.
Thank
you very much for your co-operation
Chuck
Derby
(for
the Original Pipestone Dakota Tiospaye)
The
Little Feather Center guarantees the stone that we have. It
has all been quarried by Chuck and his family at the Ancient
quarries.
Chuck
Derby is a proud Founder Member
of:
Master Quarrier
Logo
© Copyright Gloria Hazell 2000 - 2007
Be
assured that the pipestone you get from us is the Genuine
stone from the sacred quarries. It is the same stone that
the original pipestone pipes were made from.
Chuck starting to quarry in mid September 2006.
Here is is moving the dirt out of the way so that he can access the quartzite layers. Just this part of the job is time consuming and hard work. Each bucketful of dirt has to be taken out and put onto a pile at the back of the quarry area. here he is quite close to the top of the quarry.
A month later: Now look at the difference. Chuck is standing on the level where he can extract the Pipestone Catlinite. He has another foot to go down and at this point he is standing in water and mud that he has to work in. The stone behind him is Sioux Quartzite that he has removed from the quarry it is of course all unusable, it cannot be cut.
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