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The Grand Meadow Chert Quarry Archaeological and Cultural Preserve / Wanhi Yukan is the only open-pit chert quarry in the state of Minnesota. This eight-acre remnant is found within the larger Grand Meadow Quarry Archeological District, a 170-acre site on the National Register of Historic Places. This small untouched area is what remains of the best place for Indigenous people to locate Grand Meadow Chert, a stone they found particularly useful for making hide scrapers.

The site has little glacial drift and the ancient seabed which became the chert layer is relatively close to the surface. At some time after the Last Glacial Period, Grand Meadow chert nodules were discovered along the stream banks of what is now the South Fork of Bear Creek in Mower County, Minnesota. Finding the stone was simple. As time passed, Indigenous people began to dig pits to reach more chert.

For at least 8,000 years, the valuable stone was knapped into spear points, knives, arrowheads and especially hide scrapers. For the Indigenous people, the hide scraper was an essential tool used to turn bison pelts into leather for clothing, shelter, and other items.

For at least 8,000 years, Grand Meadow Chert was acquired by digging through prairie soil to reach the useful stone. Unlike many other flint and chert sources found world-wide, the Grand Meadow chert is found as discrete nodules in a matrix of glacial till, not surrounded by solid rock. Relatively easy mining work at Grand Meadow resulted in thousands of pits and trenches extending to the north and west from the banks of Bear Creek. With white settlement, most of these pits were filled in and smoothed over for farming. The 8-acre parcel of land still exists with open pits nearly untouched since quarrying stopped about 400 years ago. Nearly 100 pits and trenches are found within this Preserve.

The Quarry Story
The site was brought to public attention beginning in 1952, when a local man named Maynard Green wrote to Minnesota's leading archaeologist, saying that he believed the site to be an untouched, pre-contact indigenous quarry. Though the two men did spend the day together, whether prevented them from visiting the quarry; no subsequent visit occurred. From 1977 to 1980, a team of archaeologists conducted the Minnesota Statewide Archaeological Survey by the Minnesota Historical Society. They were sent to survey the possible quarry in 1980. Seeing the widely scattered debitage left from thousands of years of stone-working, they identified the quarry site as having once covered at least 170 acres. Much had been filled in and covered over by settlers and agricultural activities. The extraordinary landscape within the remaining 8 acres of quarry pits, unworked since they were abandoned, is unique in Minnesota, and rare anywhere in the United States. The 1980 survey team placed this site into the state's archaeological record.

In 1994, the site was added to the National Register of Historic Places and was purchased by The Archaeological Conservancy. In collaboration with the Prairie Island Indian Community and with the Mower County Historical Society, an interpretive program is being established to allow the public to visit this site. The public opening is expected in 2024.

subhead: re-discovery, 1952
National Register

Grand Meadow Chert
Grand Meadow Chert was formed during the Devonian period, a warm epoch when the sea levels were high enough that much of today's North America was under recurring and retreating shallow oceans. Because of its sedimentary past, Grand Meadow Chert contains brachiopods and **these other things** and is uniquely identifiable by these distinctive fossil inclusions.

The stone is "a satiny to waxy chert, ranging in color from light gray to olive gray to dark gray. An olive gray patination is common, and the cortex typically consists of chalky cream-colored to brown limestone."[**footnote to link to paper "The Grand Meadow Chert Quarry by Tom Trow and Dan Wendt"**]

Once the chert layer was revealed by digging, the nodules of useful stone were simply picked up from the glacial till matrix. These nodules ranged in size from **four to 10 inches in length** and for this reason, larger tools made from this chert have not been found.

Knapping this stone

Uses of Grand Meadow Chert
Grand Meadow Chert is unique in its. It may be identified by

It is only found

Making tools from this chert

particularly useful in creating hide scrapers. These invaluable tools were used by Indigenous people in the pre-contact era, 1150-1450 AND SURELY EARLIER

Cultural Significance of the Grand Meadow Chert Quarry
The quarry preserve is located in southeastern Minnesota

with multiple archaeological sites of Indigenous villages found within ,

100s of years,

meeting place

Test Excavations and Interpretation
During the 1980 survey, excavations revealed

and this meant

leading to these hypotheses and assumptions

Opening the site to the public
Dates when open to the public:

Once opened to the public, visitors will take a signed, self-guided tour on the Wanhi Yukan Trail through the quarry site. Though the archaeological significance of the quarry makes it impossible to create a fully-accessible experience, a portion of the footpath will be accessible to those with mobility restrictions.

The self-guided tour will pass by a talking circle, where groups can pause and reflect on the thousands of years of human labor to create these pits by people digging for chert. This will be accessible. To the south of the wooded quarry area, a prairie restoration has been undertaken with locally harvested seeds and support from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. A path will take visitors of all mobility levels to an overlook **looking at what, actually?**

The plans for the site include off-road parking and a portable toilet facility. Due to the rural nature of the preserve, visitors will be asked to take away with them anything that they bring to the site.

A Visitors' Guide will be published, and available at (some? web sites?). The guide will expand on the trail-markers and signs within the quarry, and offer an expanded glimpse into the history of the quarry site.

public access visitor guide program developed by the Prairie Island Indian Community, in partnership with the Mower County Historical Society

ADD something about the prairie restoration. AND maybe the buckthorn? And Knapping

delete these notes eventually
Where is the archeologist article(s) link, so we can link to it. notes and changes 43.72 86 98-92.58 92 80 43.72 72 47-92.58 92 74

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

Adding pictures