The Pipemaker Family Tradition

My wife and I have been making pipes together for about as long as we`ve known each other. My wife grew up in a pipe-making family. She is a 5th generation Native American pipemaker enrolled in the Sisseton Wahpeton Sioux Tribe. Her grandfather was instrumental in helping preserve the Sacred Quarries for use by present day Native Americans. The Sacred Quarries lie on what is now called the Pipestone National Monument and was formally the Pipestone Reservation.

This land has been set aside by the federal government so that any Native American, that is enrolled in a federally recognized tribe, can apply for a permit, and if granted that permit, can quarry catlinite, just as it has been quarried for 100's of years. (using only hand tools such as shovels, sledge hammers, picks, wedges, etc..) Pipestone National Monument over the years has become a tourist destination.