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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (March 21, 1901)
8 The Conservative * PIPESTONE. lu tin article in THE CONSEUVATIVI ; of February 21 , Mr. A. T. Riclmrdsou cnlls your atteiition to a supposed error in my article of February 7 , referring to a fragment of pipestone found at the Roca Indian village site. In that article he leads his readers tea a wrong conclusion , or else I have led you to a wrong conclusion and in either case the matter should bo cleared up. "Pipestone" has been used as a com mon term for "Catlauite" so long that they have become , by common consent , synonymous , and I used the term in that sense. In all my writings I try to use terms that may be understood by readers who are not specialists , without the use of a dictionary ; in consequence , students of special lines may find objec tion to my language , however , the above explanation will doubtless set Mr. Richardson right in the matter. A few citations will substantiate the assertion I made , that pipestoue ( catlanite ) is found in no other place in the world , so far as known , except in the field of southwestern Minnesota , extending , of course , into Dakota at Sioux Falls , and , in a modified form into northern Iowa , according to 0. A. White. If wo consider all stones of which pipes are made as "pipestouo" ( or pipe- stone ) then Mr. Richardson's conclusion is a true one , and "it is found in all parts of the American continent. " But if that meaning is to be given , the words must not be compounded , as they then form one word having a grammatical function of its own. But this is a technical point and of little importance compared with the issue at stake. Let me quote from the source cited by Mr. Richardson in forming his con clusion. In George Beldon's work this statement occurs : "The warrior's pipe of the present day is made of red clay or soap-stone , which is found in nearly every part of the American continent. There are some stones that are held in great esteem by the Indians for making pipes. The quarry , four miles below the falls of Sioux river , between Dakota and the state of Iowa , is held in high repute. The soft red clay or soap-stone [ italics mine ] on the Iowa shore of the Missouri , and found on the Yellow Stone Make , also makes beautiful pipes. " This referes to red clay or soap-stone , not catlanite , as being found in all parts of the American continent. Catlanite to the "ar- belongs geological group , - gellgte , " which chemical analysis shows to contain silica , alumina , magnesia , water and other elements in small pro portion. Now , with reference to Mackenzie's statement that red pipe stone is found at Rainy lake , northern Minnesota ; Sir Alexander Mackenzie published his work in about 1800. Catlanite was first brought to the attention of geologists by George Catlin in the year 1887 , more than a quarter of a century after Mac kenzie's statement referring to Rainy lake , so pipe stone was used by him not to designate a special geological forma tion but in a general way as Mr. Rich ardson uses it. Mackenzie was not a specialist and can not be accepted as authority on a technical , geological sxib- jeot like this. He used the term to designate the substance from wliich pipes wore made. Concluding that Minnesota specialists would bo likely to know more of this subject I wrote to Hon. J. V. Brewer , of St. Paul , about the matter and I can not refrain from quoting from his reply to me , and also from his letter to Judge J. T. Keagy , of Alma , Kan. , on the same subject : "Red Pipestone , or Catlauite , is a marine deposit of great age , found only in one place so far as yet known , i. e. in southern Minnesota at the red pipestoue quarry. No red pipestoue or catlanite has ever been found any whore else in the world. It is overspread with glacial drift and was laid down about the same as the Kansas chert , but the influences of the marine action were far different and of a nature difficult to understand or explain. How the salt ocean or brackish Mediterranean sea deposited the red pipestone is a question that re quires more study. It is a genuine curiosity well worth careful study and consideration. It is of marine origin but of what material is unknown. "The Rainy lake deposit , of which you [ Judge Keagy ] have a specimen pipe found near Pillager , is more apt to ap pear greenish , or somewhat of a brown color , as seen by numerous specimens which I have here at St. Paul. Some call it soapstone. One specimen taken from the mound near the quarry is in the rough and shows a brownish natural color , while one which has been polished shows a greenish cast , not im possible to be described as reddish-green. "North of Duluthin Minnesota is a jet-black deposit susceptible to a high state of polish. All three of the Min nesota quarries are remarkably different and far remote from each other. But little attention has been extended to these quarries and for that reason they are not yet fully understood or accurate ly described. "I discovered a deposit of shale in Cen tennial valley , Montana , where Bannock Indians quarried a material for pipes. It is a few miles north from Red Rock lake. The color is reddish and I was deceived into the belief that it was catlanite , but it was not. Neither are the Rainy hike or Missouri river deposits mentioned anything whatever like catlanite. "I have pipes here at St. Paul from each of the four quarries mentioned ; they are dissimilar and by no means of the same kind of material. " Not satisfied until I brought the mat ter nearer homo , I consulted Prof. Bar- hour of our own State University , who said ho never hoard of catlanite being found anywhere except in the Minne seta field. J. S. Todd in the State Geological Survey of South Dakota says in 1894 that pipestouo has been longest known at the pipestono quarry in Min nesota and quotes Mr. Upham as saying that a deposit has been found at Pallas- ade , S. D. and also at a place called Bridgewater on Wolf creek , which closely resembles pipestone in chemical analysis. China has a black substance similar , even western Kansas has a soft , cream- colored rook something like it , but I can find no authority of any kind that catlanite is found in more than the one place. Soapstone or Steatite appears to the casual observer very much the same but is very different ; it is the basis of "French chalk" and "Venice talc" ; it is eaten by the natives of the Orinoco and is found in all parts of the world , according to the International cycle pedia. Just one more word. Balboa reached the Pacific ocean by land in 1518 , some two hundred years before Mackenzie was born , not to mention the hundreds of Spaniards who crossed Mexico. So Mackenzie could hardly have been first. E. E. BLAOKMAN. Roca , Neb. ONE TO BE REMEMBERED. With the 4th of March , 1901 , a num ber of things and persons passed from Washington life , the most of which , perhaps , will not be sorely missed. But there was one , who stepped from , high po sition with no loud public notice , yet leaving a keen sense of loss in his de parture , personal and national. On that day expired the congressional term of Donelson Caffery , the statesman of Louisiana ; the senator with a conscience , a Gulf state upholder of honest currency through harder opposition than may have befallen any other individual , the immovable opponent of all corruption and misrule , the single-minded right- seeker in everything. Some who talked with him on the eve of his retirement , found him brighter than he had ever seemed before , freer of spirit , and glad as a boy at vacation to be turning home again. A noble mansion on the banks of the Tech , a cane plantation which had felt the effects of his absence , a family who surrounded him with the love and honor he deserved , were calling to him as with siren voices ; a legal busi ness , as large it would seem as he chose to make it , grown up among those who knew his ability and integrity , opened all the further prospect of ad vancement he seemed to care for. He was sent to the senate , not by arduous hustle and intrigue , not by gangs of purchased delegates , not by lobbying interests , but at once from the body of the people , for beneficent public virtue ho had shown in the overthrow of just such interests ; and faithfully
