By Chris Hubbuch | Winona Daily News
Reprinted with permission from June 4, 2005 newspaper

Bill Multhaup shifted in his chair, worried that he had made a mistake.

Across the table sat Leonard Wabasha, a future hereditary chief and the direct descendent of Wapasha III, whose Dakota people were forced in 1853 from the land that would become Winona and onto reservations to the west.

On the table was the pipe — two feet long and made of dark walnut — Multhaup had carved with the idea of presenting it to Leonard's father, Ernest Wabasha — the hereditary Dakota chief — at the second Hdihunipi, the Dakota homecoming gathering on the shore of Lake Winona. It would be a gesture of reconciliation, a peace offering to the descendent of those who lost their homeland.

When Wabasha heard that someone wanted to present his father with a pipe, he assumed it was an Indian. But here sat Multhaup, a washichun — a white man.

Multhaup, a retired building superintendent, started teaching himself woodworking some 40 years ago when he worked for the Winona school district. He dabbled, making a cupboard for his wife, Leona. A big fan of the Minnesota Vikings, Multhaup made wood-handled replica Viking swords, one of which he gave to head coach Bud Grant, who once stayed at Multhaup's Rollingstone home.

In the early 1970s, while on vacation in eastern Oregon, Multhaup's niece took him hunting for arrowheads in the Columbia River. He fell in love with the mountains and rivers and even moved there for a year when he had the luck to find a job. Leona didn't like it, so they returned to Winona.

He also fell in love with Native American culture. He knew the bloodthirsty savages portrayed in Hollywood films couldn't be accurate, so he started reading about the history, culture and religion of Minnesota's first inhabitants.

About 15 years ago, Multhaup, 75, combined his interests and started making decorative pipes like the one he proposed to give to Wabasha's father. He sold them for a time in stores in Albuquerque (New Mexico), Austin (Texas) and Jackson Hole (Wyoming), but soon realized he was spending too much time in the basement when he should be hunting and fishing and enjoying his retirement.

"I'd much rather make one and give it to a friend than sell it to a stranger," Multhaup says of the pipes, which can take 35 to 40 hours of work.

Wabasha picked up the pipe. He saw that it was carved from wood with a bowl made from deer antler — not from the rock of pipestone, in southwestern Minnesota, which is believed to be the flesh and blood of ancestors and is considered sacred.

"Why did you use wood and antler?" Wabasha asked Multhaup.

Multhaup said he knew pipestone was sacred to the Dakota and not for a white man like him to touch.

Wabasha examined the pipe.

He says he is still learning the traditions of the cunumpa, which could be a lifelong process.

"There are not many people who are pipe carriers," he says of those with the spirituality and knowledge to handle the most sacred ceremonial pipes.

Finally Wabasha looked up.

"This is beautiful work," he said. "I'll decide right now. We'll accept it."

Multhaup will present the pipe to Leonard's father Sunday morning after a Christian and Dakota service that will combine spiritual elements of each tradition into a liturgy of healing and reconciliation.

Multhaup hopes the gathering will be an opportunity for more people in Winona to learn about

Dakota history and traditions, but he is also looking forward to presenting Ernest Wabasha with his pipe — a moment he says will be the highlight of his pipe making.

"It is considered a great honor to receive a sacred pipe," says Leonard Wabasha. "He can't do that, but his feelings are the same. It's the sincerity of the gesture that's important."

What: Pipe presentation

When: 11:30 a.m. Sunday, after a 10 a.m. Dakota & Christian Spiritual Service for Healing and Reconciliation

Where: East Lake Park, Winona

Reporter Chris Hubbuch can be reached at (507) 453-3511 or chubbuch@winonadailynews.com.