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.

I became seriously involved in pipe-making after being taken "under the wing" by her uncle, Little Feather. (a 4th generation pipemaker) He was a master carver who was so good, it seemed to me that he could "put stone back on a pipe", if a mistake had been made. It seemed to me that he could do anything with a piece of Pipestone.

Little Feather & I spent day and night together. We would shoot pool or play cards at night, and when morning came, whoever got up first would go wake the other up, and we would start working on pipes again. We lived right next to one another. My wife, at this time, did almost all of the sanding, polishing, and shining up of the pipes. She also sanded and beaded all of the stems. I would cut the pipes out, do some of the shaping and Little Feather would do the "finer" points of shaping.

Little Feather was killed suddenly in a house fire, one night after we had been out shooting pool, in 1987.

Within a couple days, a man stopped over at our house, and asked if we could fill a pipe order that Little Feather was going to have done for him. We obliged him, and continued to make pipes together ever since. I had to learn a lot of things, just by recalling how Little Feather would do things. Even long after his death, there have been many times when, I feel he is right there helping.

Since that time, our children have grown, with the oldest, Heather, getting married in 2004. Heather and Jason are happy to announce that they were blessed with a beautiful and healthy baby girl in October 28th of 2006. (Jozilyn Jo) Heather graduated in 2005 from a Jr. College after completing her internship at an elementary school where she worked with young children. Our middle child, Kala, fulfilled a dream this past summer by graduating from Stewarts: a cosmetology/hair styling school and she is currently employed in the small town of Edgerton, MN. J.D, the youngest, is currently a Sr. in high school.

The kids have been involved with the pipemaking ever since they were probably 7 years old. We can remember when they were 1 & 2 and would be sleeping or playing in the grass, while myself, Christine, and Little Feather worked on pipes.....so, they have literally grown up with it. When the kids were younger, they would help sand and polish, and the girls also helped with the beadwork occasionally. J.D. (Loud Thunder) is really the only one of our children who has continued to be involved in the business and in making ceremonial pipes.

Over the last couple of years, he has graduated to working on (and completing) his own pipes....and is showing a lot of talent. He enjoys making pipes and occasionally you may see some of his items for sale on the website.

eBay, this website, and other outlets for our art has helped stir a desire in J.D to become interested in pipe making. Pipe-making is very much a dying art. The youth (J.D. & his cousins) in our family and community are unfortunately, not showing the interest in it that we would like to see. Hopefully, as time goes on, that will start to change. If it doesn`t, it will not be too many years, and the art of pipemaking may be a thing of the past.

If you have purchased or decide to purchase a pipe from either us or J.D., you are helping to maintain a family tradition and more importantly helping maintain a culture, by assuring that high quality pipes will continue to be made available for ceremony.