Over time, Pipestone Creek's seasonal floods uncovered the rare pipestone layer, and later the rutted trails made by buffalo herds drinking from the stream may have further revealed it. Oral tradition suggests that Indians first discovered the easily crafted stone near this creek. The Iowa and Oto people, along with many other American Indians from the Northern Plains, quarried the exposed stone, and many traveled hundreds of miles to this quarry. They considered these quarries sacred, and according to some accounts, warring tribes stopped fighting when entering these neutral grounds. George Catlin sketched Pipestone Creek and the quartzite ledge while visiting here in 1836. This creek once meandered through a vast prairie, and in the past century the vegetation of the area has changed greatly.