Gems & Precious Stones: Amber, Cat's-Eye, Jet, Titanite, Malachite, Azurite, Hematite, Lazulite Page 229



	208	GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES IN THE

	known European locality, and also from any place known in America other than the one from which all these pipes come, and which are all traceable, I have found, to one source, and that source as yet unvisited, except by the red man, who described it everywhere as a place of vast importance to the Indians, as given to them by the Great Spirit for their pipes and strictly forbidden to be used for anything else." Specimens of the mineral were sent to Dr. Charles T. Jackson, of Boston, who was then "one of our best mineralogists and chemists." He gave it the name " catlinite," and pronounced it a new mineral compound, not steatite, harder than gypsum and softer than carbonate of lime. This locality was visited and referred to by Dr. Charles A. White¹ and subsequently described by Dr. Ferdinand V. Hayden. He says : " On reaching the source of the Pipestone Creek, in the valley of which the pipestone bed is located, I was surprised to see how inconspicuous a place it is. Indeed, had I not known of the existence of a rock in this locality so celebrated in this region, I should have passed it by almost unnoticed. The pipe-stone layer, as seen at this point, is about 11 inches in thickness, only about 2\-1/4 inches of which are used for manufacturing pipes and other ornaments. The remainder is too impure, slaty, fragile, etc. A ditch from 4 to 6 feet wide and about 400 yards in length, extending partly across the valley of the Pipestone Creek, reveals what has thus far been done in excavating the rock."² Longfellow's lines commemorate the Indian legend : " From the redstone of the quarry With his hands he broke a fragment, Moulded it into a pipe-head. Shaped and fashioned it with figures; From the margin of the river Took a long reed for a pipestem, With its dark-green leaves upon it." Whether catlinite has been used to make pipes for any very great length of time is difficult to decide. According to Dr. Hayden, "the quarry belongs to a comparatively recent

	¹ American Naturalist, Vol. 2, p. 644,. Feb., 1869. Am. J. Sci. II., Vol. 43, p. 19, Jan., 1867.