La Verendrye Site
Off U.S. 83, Fort Pierre, South Dakota
Map
Coordinates:
+44.35515, -100.3781944°21'19" N, 100°22'41" W
Quadrangle map:Pierre SW
Description
Here, in late March 1743, the Verendryes, the first Europeans to explore the northern plains region of the present United States, secreted a lead plate beneath a pile of stones. Sixty-one years before Lewis and Clark first arrived in this area, these French explorers, in search of a Northwest Passage to the Pacific, lay the basis for French sovereignty on the Upper Missouri, seeking to define the bounds of French Louisiana to include the entire Mississippi River drainage. -- National Historic Landmark statement of significance, July 17, 1991
National Register information
Note: The following information comes from the NRHP database and has not been verified.
- Status
- Posted to the National Register of Historic Places on August 7, 1974
- Reference number
- 74001899
- Area of significance
- Exploration/Settlement
- Level of significance
- National
- Evaluation criteria
- A - Event; B - Person
- Property type
- Site
- Current function
- Park
- Periods of significance
- 1700-1749; 1900-1924
- Significant years
- 1743; 1913
- Number of properties
- Contributing sites: 1
Non-contributing objects: 1