The Historic Period produced the largest numbers of catlinite pipes. From the Rockies to the Atlantic they begin to appear in every imaginable form. The majority of these pipes were being produced as commercial products. Both Native American Indians and Europeans were producing them. But European Americans began to produce them in earnest.

     Holmes writes that by 1900, "The Indians sell much of the stone to the whites, who have taken up the manufacture of pipes and various utensils and trinkets, using lathes and other devices to aid in the work." He further writes that, "In a letter by Mr. Bennett dated 1892 it is stated that not 1 percent of the pipes then made and disposed of were of Indian manufacture."

      White European traders began manufacturing pipes from red catlinite during the fur trading years to trade with the Indians as far away as the Northwest. In a meeting of the American Philosophical Society in 1866 a Mr. Hayden reported that, "In the two years just passed the Northwestern Fur Company had manufactured nearly 2,000 pipes and traded them with the tribes of the upper Missouri." Holmes reports that when he visited the Pipestone quarry in 1892 he visited with a pipe maker who was established nearby. He was using lathes and drills to produce, "a great variety of articles supplied to the trinket market of Pipestone and neighboring towns."

    Catlinite pipes were manufactured for different reasons. As previously mentioned, most of them were made for commercial trade during the later half of the historic period. But the most important and original use of red catlinite pipes was for sacred rites and ceremonies. The term calumet is used to identify these most important pipes. Different tribes enforced very specific rules for a calumet's design, construction, storage and ceremonial use. Different pipes were assigned to specific situations. There were pipes for commerce and trade and for other social and political purposes. There were also pipes for war and other pipes for peace.

     The sacred calumet pipes were used for all things important, such as: passports by ambassadors when traveling, in ceremonies designed to conciliate foreign and hostile nations, to formalize peace, to ratify the alliance between friendly tribes, to secure favorable weather for a journey, to bring needed rains or to certify contracts and treaties that must not be violated. The ceremony may also include a chant or a dance to call upon one or more of the gods. McGuire writes that, "The accounts of all early American voyagers, with scarcely and exception, who have come in first contact with the Indians have referred to the common employment of tobacco in all treaties, councils, and, in fact functions of every kind, including social gatherings, in divination, and in the care of disease."

    The people living in the eastern United States during the Middle Woodland and Mississippian Periods were involved in an impressive network of trade. Obsidian from Yellowstone traveled as far east as Ohio and Pennsylvania. Copper from the Great lakes was traded far to the south and marine shells were finding their way as far west as North Dakota. These important connections with many different tribes must have involved treaties that would have been reinforced from time-to-time with the use of calumet pipes.

    Unless a pipe has with it an oral or written history or shows some manner of above average construction or use wear there may be no way to know for certain if any one of the multitudes of pipes found on sites are calumet pipes. Hamilton writes that, "The term calumet has often been employed to denote some of the more important-appearing pipes that are presumed to have been used by certain groups in connection with their most serious government, religious, war-making, or treaty-making activities." There is no certain way to identify calumet pipes, especially the ancient ones.

    A total of 208 pipes of various types were found on the Utz site in Saline County, Missouri. Some of them were probably used as calumet pipes but most of them were probably used by individuals. But traditionally, pipe smoking even for an individual was still a serious matter. Barrett writes that, "To the Indian of the old school, the one who is still a devout believer in the dream and medicine dances, and who sees the head of the supernatural in many phases of his daily life, tobacco may be said to be used, even at the present day, in a strictly religious manner."

     Many volumes could be written on the subject of catlinite pipes. They have involved all manner of human  life. From great events of war and peace to an individuals connection with the supernatural. They have been used in commercial trade across much of the United States and they have been a fascination for people ever since they were first described. It's remarkable to think how important some of these carved stone objects were to groups of people now lost in time.

"REFERENCES"

1899, McGuire, Joseph D., "Pipes And Smoking Customs Of The American Aborigines, Based On Material In The U.S. National Museum," Annual Report, Smithsonian Institution, Part 1, p. 361.
1905, West, George A., "The Aboriginal Pipes Of Wisconsin," The Wisconsin Archaeologist, Vol. 4, Nos. 3 & 4, p.50 & 92-97 & 130-141.
1911, Barrett, S. A., "Smoking Customs," The Dream Dance Of The Chippewa And Menominee Indians Of Northern Wisconsin, Bulletin, Public Museum, Milwaukee, Vol. 1, p. 360.
1919, Hodge, Frederick Webb "Catlinite," and "Calumet," Handbook of American Indians North Of Mexico, part 1, pp. 191-195 & 217.
1919, Holmes, W. H., "The Red Pipestone Quarry," Handbook of American antiquities, Part I, Introductory The Lithic Industries, pp. 253-264.
1934, West, George A., "Methods Of Manufacture Of Aboriginal Pipes," Tobacco, Pipes And Smoking Customs Of The American Indians, p. 334 & 834.
1967, Hamilton, Henry W., "Tobacco Pipes Of The Missouri Indians," pp. 1-42.
Personal Communication, Dennis Vesper.
Personal Communication, Charley Wagers.
Personal Communication, Bruce Filbrandt.
Personal Communication, Ray Fraser

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