Minnesota, United States
When you pray with this pipe, you pray for and with everything.
—Black Elk (1863–1950), Oglala Lakota Sioux medicine man
The Plains Indians of Minnesota describe the sacred Pipestone Quarry, named a United States Historical National Monument in 1937, as a “square jewel” because from a distance it looks like a giant square-cut ruby. Today, only Native Americans are allowed to quarry the catlinite, the red stone used to carve pipes for medicinal and peace ceremonies as well as for communing with the spirit world.
If you embrace the Native American belief that smoke from the sacred calumet (the pipe made from pipestone or catlinite) carries prayers for well-being to the Great Spirit, visit this national monument that has been sacred to indigenous people for thousands of years. The best time is late spring, early summer, or fall. Located in southwestern Minnesota at an elevation of 1,600 feet, this high plains site endures high winds and below-freezing temperatures in the winter and blistering temperatures (80°F–100°F) in the summer.
Stand before the Three Sisters (large boulders) guarding the entrance of the quarry and offer prayers for healing and wholeness. Follow the paved Circle Trail to see Native Americans quarrying the red stone using only hand tools, Winnewissa Falls tumbling over massive boulders, and tall prairie grass swaying in the wind.
According to legend, the Great Spirit slaughtered buffalo on the site, turning the ground red, and from that sacred red earth the first human was formed.