Verendrye Plate Discovery

George O'Reilly (center) holding the newly discovered Verendrye Plate, 1913

On February 16, 1913, a number of children, playing along a bluff overlooking Fort Pierre, discovered a lead plate. Two brothers, Francois and Louis Joseph Verendrye, in trying to discover a route to "the Western Sea" planted the lead marker to claim the land for France in 1743.

Various publications and manuscripts on the history of the Verendrye Exploration and the Verendrye Plate discovery are featured on the South Dakota Digital Archives.

Verendrye collections via South Dakota Digital Archives.

Verendrye related images on the South Dakota Digital Archives. 


Photograph of Verendrye Monument overlooking Fort Pierre (S.D.), 1943.