Town of Pipestone and Erasure of Indigenous Peoples

Pipestone, MN is located in the southwestern corner of Minnesota, next to South Dakota.

Driving north from US-90, signs for Pipestone National Monument begin as quartzite outcroppings emerge out of the flatter prairies of southern Minnesota and Iowa. A sign with Pipestone, Minnesota’s town motto: “Pioneers, Peace-Pipes, and Progress,” greets travelers headed to the National Park. The expansive quartzite buildings along Main Street and the ubiquitous references to peace pipes distinguish Pipestone, Minnesota from other small western settlements in the state.

It is clear that the town has relied on the economic benefits of pipestone and tourism for a long time. The image of a Sacred Pipe, chanupa in Dakota, serves as a logo for Pipestone Realty LLC on North Hiawatha Avenue. Off Main Street, closer to the Pipestone monument, the lawn in front of an old railroad depot sports an enormous metal sculpture of a chanupa. The building behind the sculpture houses an organization named the Keepers of the Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers. According to their website as of 2016, this organization is an American Indian non-profit dedicated to educating the public about Native American sacred pipe traditions and selling crafts made by Native artists.

The businesses closest to Pipestone National Monument rely on images of American Indian culture, yet appear unconcerned with respectful representations of the Sacred Pipe or Native cultures.

An enormous sculpture of a joined Chanupa (sacred pipe) sits in front of the Keepers of The Sacred Tradition of Pipemakers. Some Dakota  find this sculpture offensive since the bowl and stem of a pipe are only to be joined in ceremony.

The businesses closest to Pipestone National Monument have relied on images of American Indian culture, yet have appeared unconcerned with respectful representations of the Sacred Pipe or Native cultures. These businesses have appeared much more focused on the economic opportunities that stereotypical representations of Native cultures can provide. Across the street from the park stands an “Old West” style fort, advertising camping, raw catlinite for sale, and a fossil and petroglyph museum. The property adjacent to the park had advertised itself as “the home of the world-famous Hiawatha Pageant,” although the Pageant was performed for the last time in 2008, after 60 years of continuous production.¹ The pageant was a dramatic staging of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's famous 1855 epic poem, The Song of Hiawatha.  This poem romanticized as noble savage what one historian called "The White Man's Indian" -- indeed it was perhaps the epitome of how the romanticized representation of "Indianness" erased the ongoing presence of modern Native people.  The pageant's dramatic final scene involved the hero, Hiawatha, heading off into the West by a sacred canoe after a missionary arrives to his village.²  For many years, the pageant brought 10,000 spectators to Pipestone over three summer weekends, and in 1997 was named one of the American Bus Association's "Top 100 Events."³