Verendrye Hill and Monument

The stone calls the plate the first written record of white men in South Dakota, and as a record it is; as a first visit, most historians now think French traders reached the region earlier, perhaps as early as 1679. The three children who found it in 1913 meant to sell it for scrap lead. When the legislature later appropriated seven hundred dollars to buy it, George O'Reilly received five hundred and Hattie Foster two hundred; Ethel Parish had moved away, and no one knew where she had gone.

What the plaque says

Here on March 30 1743 the Verendryes buried a lead tablet to claim this region for France this tablet found on Feb. 16 1913 is the first written record of the visit of white men to South Dakota. Erected by State Historical Society and Ft. Pierre Commercial Club 1933

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Verendrye Monument — 0.2 mi
  The hilltop above Fort Pierre where three children found a lead plate in 1913 that two French brothers had buried in 1743 to claim the West for their king.
• South Dakota State Capitol — 1.8 mi
  A copper-domed capitol built to end three elections' worth of fighting over where the capital belonged, beside a lake fed by an artesian well with a gas flame burning in it.
• Oahe Dam — 6.6 mi
  One of the largest rolled-earth dams in the world, dedicated by President Kennedy in 1962, holding back a reservoir that reaches more than 230 miles to Bismarck.

More markers nearby

• Fort Pierre — steps away
• Fur Posts — steps away
• Father Hoecken Monument — 0.2 mi
• The Stockgrowers Bank of Fort Pierre — 0.4 mi