The Little Feather Center - Quarrying Workshop

Quarrying for the Sacred Red Stone


Tools of the Trade

"The indigenous people of long ago used stone tools and wooden wedges and pry bars to access the pipestone. The modern quarrier has replaced the stone hammers with metal sledge hammers, the wooden wedges are replaced with steel chisels and wedges. Wooden pry-bars are now metal crowbars and larger pry-bars." - Chuck Derby

Schedule

These workshops will be presented on a pre-registration basis only, please let us know on the form two dates you are available to attend. We will work with your schedule and will contact you to let you know when you have been registered.

The workshops will take place on weekends during July and August 2005
(July 2/3, 9/10, 16/17, 23/24, & 30/31. August 6/7, 13/14, 20/21, & 27/28.)

Day 1:

9—11 Set up tents at the Little Feather Center
11—12 Registration — Lunch
12:30 Welcome — Introductions
1:00 Work shop 1 — History of Pipestone
2:00 Work shop 2 — Traditions of Quarrying
3:00 Workshop 3 — Pipe making including demonstration (Outside weather permitting)
5:00 Supper
6:30 Workshop 4 — At the Monument - Exhibit Quarry and a walk around the quarries
8:00 End of the workshops for the day
9:00 Sweat lodge for those who wish to attend

Day 2:

9 am Breakfast at the Center
10:00 Workshop 5 — Quarries. Demonstration and hands on work.
12:00 Lunch at Center
1:00 Workshop 6 — Back to the quarries for more hands on work
4:00 Break with snacks
4:30 Workshop 7 — Question and Answer session
6:00 Supper and Farewells

You are welcome to camp an extra night if you wish to.

snacks will be available for those who need to eat at set times

At the Exhibit Quarry you will be shown the geologic section of a quarry, and talked through the procedure of getting to the Catlinite layer. Afterwards you will be taken to various quarries and shown the depth and characteristics of each one. The Spotted Quarry will be included in the tour.

Today you will watch a pipe being made. This is just to show what is done with the stone once it has been quarried.

Today you will be actually working in the quarries. Depending on the amount of participants you will be using different quarries to see how each has a character of it's own. Included will be the Spotted Quarry line and the southern line. You will need to have your tribal enrolment card with you, because it will need to be registered before you can quarry.

Only Tribally enrolled people can quarry, this is one of the rules of the National Monument and we have nothing to do with those rules, we have to abide by them.


Old Stone Face/Jumping Rock Copyright Soden

"Then I would continue on to the Falls and Leaping Rock or Old Stone Face. It was nice to play in the water and cool off a little in the shade of the trees." - Chuck Derby

All excerpts by Chuck Derby are from his book 'Memories of Sacred Land Comtemporary History of the Pipestone Quarry '
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