Name/Title
In Sight of the Rocky MountainsEntry/Object ID
0000.000.9Description
In Sight of the Rocky Mountains - 1743
All of the French Fur Traders, La Verendrye from trois Rivieries in Quebec, had penetrated the furthest west. Two of his sons, setting out from therehoset as Fort la Reine became the first Europeans from the Northern plains to see the Rocky Mountains. For weeks they travelled south and west.
On their way back they planted on a hilltop where the bad river flows into the Missiouri, a lead plaque bearing the coat of arms of France with their names scratched on the back.
One Sunday afternoon in 1913, while playing on that hill, an American schoolgirl, Hariotte May Foster, found the plaque. Today can be seen nearby in the museum at Pierre, the capital of South Dakota.
Fort la Reine, Rural Municipality of Portage la Prairie
Ralph Sketch - Scultpure Pender Island, BC - 1992