Grand Meadow Quarry Archeological District

The Grand Meadow Quarry Archeological District in Mower County, Minnesota is a 170 acres (69 ha) historic district which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1994.[1]

Grand Meadow Quarry Archeological District
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Nearest city	Grand Meadow, Minnesota
Area	170 acres (69 ha)
NRHP reference No.	94000345[1]
Added to NRHP	April 8, 1994

It is an area, first identified by Grand Meadow resident Maynard Green, of pre-contact chert open pit mining. The site may be toured by arrangement with the Mower County Historical Society.[2]

It includes various chert quarrying sites used to make stone tools c. 8000 BCE–1600 CE.[3]

The quarry is the only known source for "Grand Meadow Chert," a stone used by Native Americans to make many everyday tools, including spear points, arrowheads, knives and scrapers.[4]

References

1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
2. "The Grand Meadow Chert Mine". Mower County Historical Society. Retrieved April 25, 2019.
3. Nord, Mary Ann (2003). The National Register of Historic Places in Minnesota. Minnesota Historical Society. ISBN 0-87351-448-3.
4. "Mower County Historical Society receives large grant for archaeological site". My Austin Minnesota. 2020-12-10. Retrieved 2020-12-29.