Item Information
Title: A variety of specimens of steatite from the Red Pipestone Quarry
Date: 1836
Physical Details: 1 artifact ; 40 x 64 cm.
Description: Identification on attachment (typewritten): A chart prepared by Catlin from specimens found in the Red Pipestone Quarry in Minnestota, the only known source for the porous red clay from which numerous tribes of Indians fashioned their pipe bowls. Since the deposits of catlinite were an unexplainable phenomenon to the Indians, the quarry was regarded as a great medicine place, or place of mysterious power, which no white man before Catlin had visited. The specimens, attached by sealing wax, were removed at a later date.
The Red Pipe Stone Quarry is on the Coteau des Prairies near the sources of the St. Peters River.
Creator: Catlin, George, 1796-1872
Forms part of: George Catlin papers, undated, 1821-1904
Rights Statement: Current copyright status is undetermined
Citation Information: George Catlin. A variety of specimens of steatite from the Red Pipestone Quarry, 1836. George Catlin papers, undated, 1821-1904. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Digital ID: 5445