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Museum Collections
The Museum of the
South Dakota State Historical Society collects, preserves, and
interprets the social, political, and cultural history of the State of South
Dakota and Dakota Territory. The museum makes its collections available
through exhibitions, loans to other museums, and publications. The
collections in storage are open for study by appointment.
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La Verendrye Plate
“In the twenty-sixth
year of the reign of Louis XV,
the most illustrious Lord, the Lord Maquis of Beauharnois being Viceroy,
1741,
Peter Gaultier De La Verendrye placed this.”
--Inscription on Verendrye Plate-- |
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In 1742 the Verendrye brothers, sent by their father from the
Hudson Bay area of Canada, went in search of a water route to China.
The two French-Canadians trekked west on foot and on horseback for over
fourteen months. They did not find a water route to the sea, but they
were among the first newcomers to see the Dakota plains.
On March 30, 1743, Verendrye’s second son placed the plate
on a hill in present-day Ft. Pierre, SD, where it lay undisturbed for
170 years.
On February 16, 1913, a group of teenagers found the plate. They
quickly decided that, since the plate was lead, they should sell it to
the local print shop in Fort Pierre. Fourtunately, State Historian
Doane Robinson was contacted and the plate was saved.
The Verendrye plate is on permanent display at the Museum of the
South Dakota State Historical Society. |
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Back to
Museum Collections
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For
More Information on the Museum Collection please contact:
Daniel Brosz
Curator of Collections
605-773-6013 |
