Welcome to this Dakota owned Site and Center

News first, Latest at the top. Introduction comes after the news.

If you wish to order some stone or a Pipe, join the Quarriers Guild, or attend a workshop please use the form page HERE

Please sign our guest book to let us know you have visited. Just click on 'View my Guestbook' and then click the 'post' link and enter your information. We look forward to hearing from you. The guestbook link is on most pages

April 2008:

Over the past few months filming has gone on at the Center. Nico came over from the Netherlands and filmed hours of footage of Chuck, this he took back to Holland and he has edited this footage into 3 DVD's, the first (which is actually number 2 in the Wakan Sota series) will be available in May 2008. It is called 'Sacred Smoke; The Making of the 'T' or Plains Pipe' and it shows Chuck making a Pipe from start to finish, including the stem. It is a great educational tool for anyone wanting to make their own pipe. Nico has done a wonderful job on capturing every aspect of this process, and Chuck did a marvelous job of presenting it. We are at present taking orders for the DVD's, the cost will be $20 each title plus p&p. If you are interested in ordering a copy please email us at littlefeather4@hotmail.com and we will put you on the list.

The other DVD's will be:
#1: 'Ancient Tracks; the History of Pipestone as told by a Dakota Elder',
#3: 'And the Stone Sings; Quarrying the Sacred Stone'
both presented by Chuck
and
#4: 'Ancient Voices; An Honoring of Extraordinary Native American Woman'.
Presented by Gloria

These should be available later in the year but you can order a copy now if you like. Each of the DVD's will run for approximately an hour, they are for any age group and are able to be played in most countries.

We now have Gloria's Ancient Voices museum set up in the front of the Center, this is to honor the achievements of Native American women and it has been set up by Gloria with help from Nico, Janine and Chuck. The grand opening will be in May.

The library area and one of the dresses on display

And at the back of the Center the photographic exhibit of the 'Dakota Images 1862 - 1868' is up and running, as well as the regular museum being re-designed, do please stop by and see all of the new things that have been added.

One wall of the Dakota Images exhibit and one part of the redesigned museum

Our opening times during the summer months (May - August) are going to be:
10am - 6pm Monday thru Saturday, 1pm - 4 pm Sundays.

Most Saturday noon times we will be serving Indian Tacos.

August 4th 2007: Ever since we had the 'Sacred Circle of Life' exhibit at the Center back in 1997 we have wanted to show it again, however it was given to another museum. During the past month we have been working on a project to bring it back in a different format. We have had help with this from Cindy a visitor to this site who hails from Idaho. She actually worked on putting many links onto a webpage for us. Gloria has formatted the page and you will find it here (the page will open in a new window so that you don't lose this page). We were extremely pleased to get the permission from the Minnesota Historical Society to use these photos as a new exhibit here in the Ancient Tracks museum. We hope that you would like to help us in this project. Details are on the webpage. Thanks in advance.

June 20th 2007: Chuck met with the protesters and explained the situation from the Quarriers and Pipe makers point of view. He told them the process of quarrying, and gave them information about the false stone. They asked why this stone can be sold under the Catlinite or Pipestone name, however they still decided that Pipes should not be sold even though Chuck had given them information about only paying for the time to quarry and make the pipe. It didn't seem to penetrate. All of the info on this website was given to them verbally yet it made no difference. For some reason they still hold to the belief that someone is making money on the stone Also at the meeting was Chuck's cousin Lee Taylor who reiterated what Chuck was saying, and Superintendent LaRock from the Monument. The meeting lasted a few hours. Updates will be put on here once we hear anything new.

June 5th 2007: The site has been changed to this new design. Not all pages have the full listing of links, this page does as well as the site map page that you could keep open while you browse so that you can see what each page is about. We decided to go with the four sacred colors rather than stay with the usual pipestone/brown color. We hope that you like it.

June 1st 2007: Bad news! The Pipestone Issue has again been awakened by a few people and the quarries and the Pipe are again in danger. Those of us who have worked against the denigration of the quarries, quarriers and crafts-people are again having to fight to stop the lies from being spread. Keep watching this page for more details. Due to this we have decided to reinact the old website that had a lot of information about the Pipestone Issue and related subjects. Gloria is working on it as we speak so please come back in a few days and read up on the latest.

If you are a quarrier or craftsperson please contact us for further details about what you can do.

littlefeather4@hotmail.com

While working on the updated website Gloria came across a page she had written for our newsletter ten years ago. We felt it was very pertinant to this new Pipestone Issue. Please take a look at it HERE It will open in a new window.

May 27th 2007: After discussions with Gloria we have decided to put the Ancient Voices museum in the Center. It will take up almost all of the front area. Ancient Tracks will be in the back of the Center. The virtual museum will still be on the internet and will stay there. Our building will still be called Little Feather Center, but the Museums will have their own names. Gloria is at present working on putting the museums together from England, others will be working on it with her and it will be set up in September. Keep watching this space for details.

Thanks to those of you who have expressed their good wishes for our return, both to this site and to each other. We appreciate it.