290325 - Verendrye's exploration of the Great Plains region

The Empire Builders episode of March 25, 1929, featured a dramatization depicting the exploration of the northwest United States by Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (11/17/1685 to 12/5/1749).

 

 

 

His quest for the Pacific Ocean took place in the 1740’s. Verendrye and his team of explorers (which included two of his sons) are believed to be the first Europeans to set eyes on the Rocky Mountains north of New Mexico.

The town of Verendrye, North Dakota, is named for this French-Canadian explorer. The town, with a Great Northern Railway station located there, was originally named Falsen. Falsen station was established, and evidently the town founded, in 1912. It was situated between Simcoe and Karlsruhe, two other stations introduced by the railroad. The origin of the name Falsen is not known.

Ralph Budd, President of the Great Northern Railway (circa 1931). Author's collection

In 1925, the Great Northern Railway sponsored the first of two ambitious historical expeditions. The GN’s president, Ralph Budd, was an enthusiastic amateur historian of the American northwest. He maintained an extensive library of books and maps on the topic in his home in St. Paul, Minnesota. The 1925 expedition was called the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition. Special invitations were made up and delivered to a wide range of authors, college historians, and politicians who might have a sympathetic position about the expedition. While the event was clearly orchestrated as something of an advertising campaign for the railroad, there is no doubt that Ralph Budd possessed a sincere interest in observing and memorializing this rich history.

The Upper Missouri Historical Expedition was conducted July 16-21, 1925. Prior to the event, the Great Northern Railway, on February 3, 1925, changed the name of Falsen station to Verendrye. The name of the town soon followed suit. Both the Upper Missouri Historical Expedition and the Columbia River Historical Expedition, conducted the following year, provided extensive inspiration for stories to be told through the vehicle of the Empire Builders radio series. Continuity writer Edward Hale Bierstadt (a nephew of famed western landscape artist Albert Bierstadt) focused much of his effort during the radio show’s first season on stories based in historical fact. It is almost a certainty that Ralph Budd supplied Bierstadt with a complete set of booklets printed and distributed by the railroad, in connection with the historical expeditions. The majority of these booklets were written by Grace Flandrau (1886-1971).



Cover of GN's booklet on the Verendrye Quest, published circa 1925

One title from the GN’s historical booklet collection, authored primarily by Flandrau, is “The Verendrye Overland Quest of the Pacific.” This booklet – and what appears to be a complete collection of all the GN historical booklets referred to here – have been scanned as PDFs and can be found at this remarkable web site, “Streamliner Memories,” maintained by Randal O’Toole, a railroad historian and enthusiast from Oregon.

One of the goals of the two historical expeditions sponsored by the Great Northern Railway was to commemorate the accomplishments of several early explorers and other historical protagonists of the northwest. As the company of participants in these historical expeditions traveled the line of the GN on a special Great Northern passenger train, stops were made to honor the key principals with speeches and, in some cases, permanent monuments. At Verendrye, a monument to David Thompson was dedicated by the GN Railway during the historical expedition, and speeches were made about both Thompson and Verendrye. One such presentation was made by a man named Doane Robinson, superintendent of the South Dakota State Historical Society. Mr. Robinson was an acknowledged scholar on the topic of the Verendryes and their exploration of the Dakota area. He also had a key part to play in bringing the so-called “Verendrye Tablet” into the realm of other historians and scholars.

Verendrye tablet, dug out of the ground near Pierre, South Dakota, in 1913. South Dakota State Historical Society photo

One day in February, 1913, some school kids from Pierre, South Dakota, were out playing on a hill near Fort Pierre. They were all about 13 or 14 years old. They were Hattie Foster, George O’Reilly, and Ethel Parish (the accounts vary, but there may have been 3 or 4 more friends with them at the time).

Hattie Foster (center) and George O'Reilly (right) were instrumental in uncovering the Verendrye tablet, known to exist but thought to be lost forever. South Dakota State Historical Society photo, probably taken in 1933

It was a Sunday – February 16^th – and at one point Hattie spotted something sticking out of the ground. She kicked at it and realized it was dense and did not easily move. The three soon dug it free from the ground. What they had was a lead tablet, about eight and a half inches long, six inches across, and about an eighth of an inch in thickness.

The kids did not realize the tablet had any historical value, but to them it had scrap value. One account says George declared he would trot it over to a print shop in town, which was always willing to buy scrap lead. Before he could do this, however, fate stepped in, in the form of two state legislators that George came across that evening. They took a gander at the tablet, saw that it was something special, and promptly called in state historian Doane Robinson, who was already a leading scholar on the life and adventures of Pierre de la Verendrye. He immediately recognized the significance of what the kids had discovered.

Some of the tablet was clearly prepared prior to the Verendrye expedition, with additional text carved into the lead surface before it was buried. Robinson was well-acquainted with the story of the Verendryes burying the tablet. The text was mostly in either French or Latin. Robinson had it translated. Some of the text indicated it was buried by Verendrye and his sons on March 30, 1743.

Both sides of a souvenir replica of the Verendrye tablet. The souvenir was also made of lead, but was just 3.25 by 2.5 inches. Author's collection

The Upper Missouri Historical Expedition was limited to about 75 invited participants. A souvenir replica of the Verendrye tablet was produced for the expedition members. Presumably, each one received one of these replicas.

 

National Park Service photo

 

In 1933, the South Dakota State Historical Society placed a monument on the site where the tablet had been discovered in 1913.

 

Another feature of the March 25, 1929, broadcast of Empire Builders was the appearance of a guest performer and direct descendent of Pierre de la Verendrye: Miss Juliette Gaultier de la Verendrye, a mezzo-soprano. She was a student of Vincenzo Lombardi, one of Enrico Caruso’s teachers.