Almost due north of New Orleans in Mississippi off I-55 is Tylertown on the Bouge Chitto River.  This is a popular destination for canoeing and river rafting. One of the features of the river is a big, but gentle rapids over a soap stone outcropping. When the waters are low, you have to get out and drag the canoe or raft through, but BEWARE! When it's dry, soapstone is hard and gritty. When it's wet, it's slick as glass. When I got out of the canoe to ford those rapids, I slipped and landed on my behind four times.

It has been reported that roughly 40 to 50 percent of soapstone in quarries contains some asbestos. Since soapstone is a metamorphic mineral, it can have different minerals around it. You can be assured that soapstone in commercial products has been thoroughly tested.

When I was a kid, we went camping with friends at Lake Wenatchee State Park. My mother was against the idea because of the prevalence of rattlesnakes in the area, but friends being friends we went to stay being friends. There was an active soapstone quarry in the vicinity and one of the fathers suggested we go see if we could get some soapstone. It being Saturday, who's going to notice. As it turned out, they were working that day. One of the fathers went to the foreman and did a bit of negotiating, so that us kids could sift through a pile of waste.

I came away with a small cobble. (Hey, I was little when I was a kid.) It became my frustration fighter. I was in a one kid family and there was no one to blame when I screwed up. I had a pocketknife and I would attack that rock when shit came my way. I can't remember what became of that rock. Probably got too small to worry over.

My first exposure to soapstone was (eons ago) at 6th grade camp. We were given a chunk of it to carve into whatever shape we imagined. I don't recall what mine was but scarily enough I do still have it some where.