This morning we left Ashby, MN under bright blue skies. Driving south on SR 10 we passed by mostly wooded hills. Soon after intersecting with US 59 at Barret the terrain became flat with fields of ripe soybeans, corn and an occasional field of sugar beets. We saw one field of beets being dug, it looked like a muddy mess.At Appleton we went west on SR7 to US75 where we turned south, The terrain became more rolling with grazing lands and smaller fields and more trees. We stopped at Pipestone RV Park as we were about 1/2 way to Omaha. We went to Pipestone National Monument this afternoon.
This where the Indians of all tribes quarry the pipestone for their pipes. Indian lore has it that a long time ago it rained for many days continuously and drowned all the Indians except a young squaw that climbed to the top of a high hill. When she got up there it quit raining and a bird appeared out of the sky it opened it's wings and a man came out, together they started the Indian race again. Legend says that the pipestone was a result of all the blood from the dead Indians gathering in the low places when the water went away caused the rock to turn red. Pipestone national monument is a sacred place where Indians from any tribe could come and quarry the pipestone in peace with each other. To this day the Indians are the only ones that are allowed to quarry here. There is a waiting list of Indians wanting to quarry. Once they get a quarry permit they have to work it once a year and then they can renew the lease annually. The quarrying is all done by hand with hammers and wedges.To get to the pipestone ledge that is 12 to 20 inches thick they have to remove the topsoil and then about 10 fee of hard Quartzite rock. Because it is all done by hand it may take a few years before they reach it,
This morning we left Ashby, MN under bright blue skies. Driving south on SR 10 we passed by mostly wooded hills. Soon after intersecting with US 59 at Barret the terrain became flat with fields of ripe soybeans, corn and an occasional field of sugar beets. We saw one field of beets being dug, it looked like a muddy mess.At Appleton we went west on SR7 to US75 where we turned south, The terrain became more rolling with grazing lands and smaller fields and more trees. We stopped at Pipestone RV Park as we were about 1/2 way to Omaha. We went to Pipestone National Monument this afternoon.
This where the Indians of all tribes quarry the pipestone for their pipes. Indian lore has it that a long time ago it rained for many days continuously and drowned all the Indians except a young squaw that climbed to the top of a high hill. When she got up there it quit raining and a bird appeared out of the sky it opened it's wings and a man came out, together they started the Indian race again. Legend says that the pipestone was a result of all the blood from the dead Indians gathering in the low places when the water went away caused the rock to turn red. Pipestone national monument is a sacred place where Indians from any tribe could come and quarry the pipestone in peace with each other. To this day the Indians are the only ones that are allowed to quarry here. There is a waiting list of Indians wanting to quarry. Once they get a quarry permit they have to work it once a year and then they can renew the lease annually. The quarrying is all done by hand with hammers and wedges.To get to the pipestone ledge that is 12 to 20 inches thick they have to remove the topsoil and then about 10 fee of hard Quartzite rock. Because it is all done by hand it may take a few years before they reach it,
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