CATLINITE

'Catlinite', or 'pipestone', is a type of argillite (metamorphosed mudstone), usually brownish-red in color, which occurs in a matrix of Sioux quartzite. Because it is fine-grained and easily-worked, it is prized by Native Americans for use in making sacred pipes commonly referred to as peace pipes. Pipestone quarries are located and preserved in Pipestone National Monument in the southwest corner of Minnesota, and at the Pipestone River in Manitoba, Canada.
The term ''Catlinite'' came into use after the American painter George Catlin visited the quarries in Minnesota in 1835; but it was Philander Prescott who first wrote about the rock in 1832, noting that evidence indicated that American Indians had been using the quarries since at least as far back as 1637.

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★ Mississippi Valley Archaeology Center at the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse: Describes the process of making pipes from Catlinite