The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-03-25
Jan INTERESTING RELIC DEATH OF FATHER FOX
FAMOUS LA VERENDRYE PLATE
UNEARTHED NEAR PIERRE,
S. D., NOW IN THE STATE HIS
ToRIcAL SOCIETY BIS SHOP
o'GoRMAN's PROPHECY CON-
CERNING IT.

The museum of the South Dakota
Historical Society. at Pierre has just
come into possession of the famous La
Verendrye plate, Imearthed in Febru
ary, 1913, on a high hill back of Fort
Pierre, South Dakota. This plate was
buried there by ga Verendrye, the
famous explorer, in March. 1743-
On cne side of 9he plate in five i'm
perfect lines the following words are
roughly engraved
Pose Par lie
Chevaly.et de Layr.
10 Jos Louy la Londette
A Miotte
lie 80 de mars 1743
And on the reverse side of this tab
let appears the following:
Ammo XXV[ Regni Ludovici Prorege
nlustressimon Domino Domino
Marchione
e Beauharnoist tMXCCCXXXXI
Petrus Gaultier de .Layerendrie Posvit
This inscription is translated as fol.
lows:
placed by the Chevalier de LVR.
1a Verendrye). Lo Jos, (Louis JOS
eph, his brother). Louy La Loudette
A. Miotte (the two employes), the
30th of March, 1743."
The Latin inscription is translated
to be:
I'm the 26th year OF the reign OF
Louis XIV, the most illustrious lord
the Lord Marquis of Beauharnois be
ing viceroy, 1743, Peter Gaultier dc
Laverendrye placed this"
The story of the discovery of this
historic relic of early days is inter
esting. On February 16, 1913, during
the session OF the legislature, seven
young people of Fort Pierre were play
ing on a nearby hill when one of the
party kicked against a projecting
piece of plate, which, after examina
tion, was believed to be the lining ol
a stowe On rEflJsing the dirt the
date, 1743, was .uiicovered Even then
the finders had no idea of the value
of the relic. However, they took il
home with them, and when the inscrip
tion was deciphered, excitement ran
high in Fort Pierre and Pierre because
of the finding of this old plate, the
presence of which in that locality was
known to historians, and the discovery
of which had been predicted by the
Right Reverend Bishop O'Gorman oi
Sioux Falls in an address before the
State Historical Society on January
%, 1903.
In the course of this address Bishor
O'Gorman dwelt on the earlier eX
plorations within the state of South
Dakota before the American Republic
had gained independence and set III
as a nation in the world. These form
part of the great romantic drama o.
conquest and exploration enacted or
this continent by Spain and France
especially, long before the United
States came into being. The most in
teresting of these explorations, as fal
as South Dakota is concerned, he said
was that of La Verendrye in 1742.
The purpose of the La Verendryt
expedition was not different from tha
of many Others it was the discover!
of the Pacific Ocean. On his way Wes
La Verendrye and his brother reached
what is now the Black Hills in thC
vicinity of Pierre, the present capita
of the state. On March Is, 1743, the!
halted for some days among band o
Sioux Indians who lived along tn,
Cherry Creek and also had an encamp
ment on the Missouri River. Cherr.
Creek empties into the Cheyenne Rive
about fifty miles from the Missouri
and the Cheyenne empties into th'
Missouri about thirty miles from
Pierre. La Verendrye's expedition
encamped somewhere between For
Bennett and Fort Pierre with tn
Little Cherry Indians. On an emi
nence near the camp, according to th
account given by La Verendrye him
self, he placed "a leaden plate er
graved with the arms and the inscriT
tion of the king, and some stones il
the shape of pyramid in honor @
the general" Concluding his address
Bishop OGorman said: Perhaps s
| strange and unexpected an event a
the finding of that leaden plate ma
come to pass"
A little more than ten years late
that strange and unexpected even
actually occurred. The precious reli
of La Verendrye's expedition no
rests in the museum of the State Hi
torical Society. 1t was purchased b
the subscriptions of the members {
the Society, Augmented by funds frol
the State Department of History.