page_title: Verendrye brothers' journey to the Rocky Mountains
section_title: Problems
hierarchical_section_title: Verendrye brothers' journey to the Rocky Mountains / Problems
caption_attribution_description: English: The historical stone marker where a lead tablet of the La Vérendrye Brothers was found in 1913
context_page_description: The Vérendrye brothers were the first Europeans to cross the northern Great Plains and see the Rocky Mountains. We know very little about their journey. All we know comes from a journal found in the French archives in 1851 and a lead plate commemorating the journey which was found in 1913 buried near Pierre, South Dakota. The journal and lead plate are difficult to interpret. The journal states the trip may have been made by the "Chevalier Vérendrye and one of his brothers" who are otherwise unidentified. Most likely the Chevalier was Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye and the brother was François de La Vérendrye but we cannot be sure. The mountains they saw during their expeditions may have been the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, but could also have been the Black Hills or the Laramie Mountains
context_section_description: The Vérendrye journals were found in the French archives in 1851 by Pierre Margry. (He was, among other things, Francis Parkman's agent in the French archives.) The first journal describes the elder Vérendrye's journey to the Mandans and the second "the Expedition of the Chevalier de la Vérendrye and one of his brothers to reach the Sea of the West." The brothers are otherwise unnamed. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography gives some evidence for Louis-Joseph as the Chevalier and François for the brother.  Hubert Smith reverses the two brothers but offers no evidence. Burpee has Pierre as the Chevalier. Other writers are careful to say Vérendrye's sons without being specific. In his journal of the first expedition the elder Vérendrye four times speaks of 'my son the chevalier' without saying which one.
  All the tribal names are guesses. Most writers think that the brothers reached the Bighorn Mountains, though Doane Robinson thought they only reached the Black Hills. Given the double sighting of mountains it is possible that they saw both the Laramies and the Bighorns. The first Mandan village was north of the river. The elder Vérendrye gave its latitude as 48°12' which is about 10 miles north of any point on the Missouri River. If the reading was not too inaccurate it implies a northern location, possibly a site near modern New Town, North Dakota, as first suggested by Libby in 1916.  Vérendrye said the second village was on the river which appeared to flow south and somewhat west, which could be one of several places. Hubert Smith favored a site near present-day Bismarck, North Dakota, because of extensive documentation of Mandan villages in that area and the lack of documentation further north. Smith's view contributed to the closing of the former Verendrye National Monument.
  The lead plate was found at Pierre, South Dakota, in 1913 and is now in the South Dakota Cultural Heritage Center in Pierre. It is six by eight inches and similar to ones placed in the Ohio Valley. The front has a die-stamped Latin inscription referring to Louis XV, Pierre La Vérendrye and the year 1741. On the back is hastily scratched "Placed by Chevalyet de Lave; [garbled]  Louis la Londette, A Miotte; 30 March 1743". Londette and Miotte are probably the two other Frenchmen who are otherwise undocumented. The garbled part was first read as "t b St" for Toussaint, assumed to be the first name of Londette. Hubert Smith read "Lo Jost" for Louis-Joseph. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography has "tblt" for Tremblet or Trembey, part of François' name.
caption: The La Vérendrye brothers. Historical marker at Fort Pierre, South Dakota
exif: {"Image ExifOffset": "26"}