1743 Verendrye Plate discovered near Fort Pierre. (Photo courtesy Travel South Dakota)
An expedition led by brothers Francois and Louis Joseph Verendrye placed a lead plate near present-day Fort Pierre in 1743, claiming for France much of the northern portion of what would become the Louisiana Purchase. Schoolchildren playing in the hills found that marker 170 years later and brought it home.
And 100 years ago this week, on his way to do preliminary work on Mount Rushmore, famed sculptor Gutzon Borglum stopped in Pierre to take a mold of the Verendrye Plate to create a replica for the French government, according to the Sept. 10, 1926, edition of the Argus Leader.
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