National Historic Landmark- Verendrye Site

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.

The landmark is in a city park which is open continuously and is not well patrolled.

Courtesy National Park Service National Historic Landmarks