Verendrye National Monument

Verendrye National Monument was a federally protected area in the U.S. state of North Dakota from 1917 to 1956. In the latter year it was withdrawn as a national monument. It is located in southwestern Mountrail County, west of the city of New Town. It lies within the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. This 250 acres (100 ha) monument was established on June 29, 1917, to commemorate the explorations of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye and his sons in North Dakota and the area of the upper Missouri River. The father was a French-Canadian explorer and fur-trader intent on finding an overland water route to the Western Ocean. Between 1731 and 1737 he built several trading posts between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg, assisted by his four sons and a nephew. In 1738 he and son François traveled southwest to what is now North Dakota, arriving in December at a Mandan village a day's journey from the Missouri River. On that trip Vérendrye established two forts, Fort Rouge and Fort La Reine, in what is now Manitoba. Other forts built to the north and west by people under his command created a large area in the west for French traders. In 1742 two of his sons (probably Louis-Joseph and François) made another expedition to the Missouri. Because of the difficulty of identifying places and Native American tribes in their reports, there is no certainty as to the route they

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