La Verendrye

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de la Verendrye (1685-1749), was a French-Canadian soldier, explorer, and fur trader. He was the first to explore extensively the southern prairies in what is now the northern United States and southern Canada.

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, later Sieur de La Verendrye, was born in Trois-Rivières, New France, on Nov. 17, 1685, the fourth son of the governor of that town. He entered the army as a cadet at the age of 12. Over the next 10 years he served in three campaigns against the English to the south.

In 1707 La Verendrye sailed to France and obtained a commission as lieutenant in the Regiment of Bretagne. During his 4 years in the French army he took part in three more campaigns, and he was badly wounded at the battle of Malplaquet. Without private means to support his career, La Verendrye was obliged to return to Canada in 1711.

He married Marie Anne Dandonneau in 1712 and in the next 5 years had four sons, all of whom later shared in his western adventures. To support his growing family, La Verendrye turned to the fur trade. The governor appointed him to the command of the trading posts on Lake Nipigon. During this service La Verendrye was caught up in the current fever of the quest for a great western sea. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he was convinced that the route to the sea must follow a northerly course through the lands of the Cree Assiniboine Indians rather than through the country of the Sioux. The most westerly known limit at this time was the Lake of the Woods.

In 1730 La Verendrye discussed his plans with the governor in Quebec. He received a sympathetic hearing but no financial support beyond a monopoly of the fur trade in new areas he might discover. The following year he formed a partnership with a group of Montreal merchants who, in return for a large share of any fur profits, would supply him with the necessary equipment. It was an unsatisfactory arrangement and eventually plunged him deeply into debt, but it was the only method of financing his search for the western sea.

Exploring Westward

La Verendrye set out with three of his sons in July 1731. Slowly advancing westward, he and his party built fur-trading posts on Rainy Lake, the Lake of the Woods, and the Red River at the edge of the prairies. In 1734 he returned to Quebec to report his progress to the governor and the following spring went back west with his youngest son. His eldest son was killed by the Sioux on an island in the Lake of the Woods.

The need to keep peace among the Indian tribes and the harassing details of the fur trade slowed La Verendrye's westward advance, but by 1738 he had built a new fort on the Assiniboine River. That same year he made a long, overland journey to visit the Mandan Indians along the upper reaches of the Missouri. He was disappointed in not acquiring any knowledge from them of the elusive western sea. The next 4 years saw little exploration except in the area north of the Assiniboine.

During 1742-1743 two of La Verendrye's sons made an extensive trip to the southwest, while he, in ill health, remained behind at Ft. La Reine. The exact route of their travels is in dispute, but it is unlikely that they went beyond the Black Hills in present-day South Dakota. La Verendrye next turned his attention to the northwest and discovered the Saskatchewan River but lacked the resources to follow it to the Rocky Mountains. He returned to Quebec in 1744 to face his creditors and relinquished his command in the west. The following year he was promoted to the rank of captain and in 1747 was reinstated in his western command and authorized to continue his explorations.

La Verendrye's exploits were officially recognized in 1749, when he was awarded the Cross of St. Louis. He died in Montreal on Dec. 5, 1749.

Further Reading

The only biography of La Verendrye in English is Nellis M. Crouse, La Verendrye: Fur Trader and Explorer (1956). There is also the excellent introduction of Lawrence J. Burpee to the Journals and Letters of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Verendrye (1927). Additional information is in A. C. Laut, Pathfinders of the West (1904), and Lawrence J. Burpee, Pathfinders of the Great Plains (1914).

Additional Sources

Smith, G. Hubert, The explorations of the La Verendrye in the Northern Plains, 1738-43, Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1980.

For more information on Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye, visit Britannica.com.

Vérendrye, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de la (pyĕr gōtyā' də värĕn' syör də lä vāräNdrē') , 1685–1749, explorer in W Canada and the United States, b. Trois Rivières (Three Rivers), Que. His father was the sieur de Varennes, for a time governor of Trois Rivières. Vérendrye entered the French colonial army and served in Queen Anne's War and for a time (1707–11) in its European counterpart, the War of the Spanish Succession.

In 1727–28 Vérendrye was a prominent figure in the extension of New France on its far frontiers and in the search for an overland Northwest Passage to the Western Sea, serving as commander of the trading posts on Lake Nipigon. In 1729 he returned to Quebec and sought to secure official permission and aid in an expedition to search for the Western Sea. Obtaining a monopoly of the fur trade in the West, but no financial support, he entered into partnership with some Montreal merchants and set out in 1731 with three of his sons, Jean Baptiste, Pierre, and François, and a nephew, La Jeremaye. The party founded a number of posts—one on Rainy Lake; Fort St. Charles on the Lake of the Woods; and Fort Maurepas, which was at first on Red River and later on Lake Winnipeg. He returned to Quebec in 1734 but went back to the West with still another son, Louis Joseph.

In the years that followed the Vérendryes continued to explore in the hope of reaching the Western Sea. The eldest of the sons, Jean Baptiste, was killed (1736) by the Sioux. In 1738, Vérendrye made his memorable journey from the Assiniboine River to the Missouri River, where he visited the Mandans. He then returned to Fort La Reine on the Assiniboine, and it is said that he discovered Lake Manitoba in 1739. The most-discussed voyage undertaken by the Vérendryes was that of 1742–43, which was accomplished by two of the sons, probably Louis Joseph (who is generally agreed to have been the son known as the Chevalier) and François. They made a fairly long journey westward, but because of the difficulty of identifying places and Native American tribes, there is no certainty at all as to their route. The earlier hypotheses were shaken when in 1913 some school children discovered near Pierre, S.Dak., the lead plate that had been buried by the explorers when they reached the Missouri on their return. Chiefly because of this discovery, it is now generally thought that the journey did not extend farther west than the Black Hills. The elder Vérendrye sent out next an expedition that went to the Saskatchewan River and also founded two forts, Dauphin and Bourbon, on Lake Winnipegosis, probably in 1741. How far the explorers in this region went it is impossible to say; they may have entered present-day Wyoming.

In 1744, Vérendrye was retired and replaced as commander in the West. In 1749 he was again appointed to that post and was given the Cross of St. Louis. He died before he could accomplish anything further in exploration. His sons wished to continue the work but received no government aid.

Bibliography

The Journals and Letters of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes de la Vérendrye and His Sons were edited by L. J. Burpee for the Champlain Society (1927). See also Burpee, Pathfinders of the Great Plains (1914); biography by N. M. Crouse (1972).

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