In 1743, French explorers from Quebec reached a point near what is now Pierre, South Dakota and buried a lead plate on a hill to claim the land for France. One hundred and seventy years later, three children playing on the hill uncovered the plate. The plate quickly reached South Dakota state historian Doane Robinson, the man who later conceived the idea of sculpting various historic characters on Mount Rushmore.
Click image to download a 730-KB PDF of this replica of the Verendrye tablet.
In 1925, when Great Northern held the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition, the railway made several hundred miniature replicas to hand out to everyone who went on the trip. I previously showed images of this plate, but have since acquired one of my own. Presenting it here gives me a chance to correct several errors in previous posts.
First, in my post about the Verendrye monument that GN constructed in a town in North Dakota, I said the Verendrye expedition was led by Verendrye “with his two sons.” In fact, the father, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, did not go on this expedition, sending two of his four sons instead — and unfortunately no one is positive which of the two sons went, though one was probably Louis-Joseph Gaultier.
Second, in my post about the plate, I wrote that the children uncovered it in 1906. In fact, it was 1913.
Finally, in that same post, I wrote that the original plate was about 6″x8″ and the Great Northern replicas are about 4″x6″. In fact, the replicas are only 2.5″x3.25″.
The Latin on the front of the plate reads, “Anno XXVI Regni Lvdovici XV Prorege Illustrissimo Domino. Domino Marchione de Brauharnois MDCCXXXXI Petrus Gaultier de Laverendrie Posuit.” This translates to “In the 26th year of the reign of Louis XV, the most illustrious Lord, the Lord Marquis of Beauharnois, 1741, Pierre Gaultier De La Vérendrye placed this.” The plate was stamped out prior to the beginning of the expedition in 1741 but not buried until two years later. Words inscribed by hand in Franch on the back of the plate translate to, “Placed by the Chevalier Vérendrye, his brother Louis, La Londette, and A. Miotte. March 30, 1743.”
The plate I presented in a previous post also had the words, “Upper Missouri Historical Expedition July 1925 Compliements of Great Northern Railway.” Mine doesn’t have these words, which makes me wonder if it is was made by the South Dakota Historical Society before or after the Upper Missouri trip. Otherwise, it is identical to the Great Northern replicas.