On This Date in Minnesota History: August 25

August 25, 1937 – Pipestone National Monument, the first of two National Monuments in Minnesota, was established by an act of Congress on this date.

1

This legislation also restored quarrying rights to Native Americans, who today are the only people allowed to quarry the pipestone. “Native Americans, including the Dakota, have mined pipestone (catlinite) from the quarry inside the monument for hundreds of years.”²

Indians quarrying pipestone at pipestone quarries,
Pipestone Minnesota, 1908³

The second National Monument in Minnesota is the Grand Portage National Monument, established in 1958.


¹https://www.kdlt.com/2015/04/15/pipestone-national-monument-plans-prescribed-burn/pipestone-national-monument-jpg-2/

²http://www.mnopedia.org/thisday

³http://www.lakesnwoods.com/Pipestone.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipestone_National_Monument

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Portage_National_Monument