The Journey Of The Verendryes

By Shane Dunning

http://www.redshalereflections.com

Until recently, if I were to put together a list of the events important to the history of Eastern Montana, I doubt that list would include the Treaty of Utrecht, which ended the War of Spanish Succession in 1713. Perhaps I might be forgiven for disregarding the instrument that installed the Bourne family at the Court in Madrid when it concerns Montana. Such an oversight may be forgivable, but it would also be wrong.

A minor provision of the Treaty formalized Great Britain's claims over Hudson Bay and its surrounding colonies (known as "Prince Rupert's Land"). Previously, these areas were also claimed by the French, where its territory New France was expanding throughout the Great Lakes region. Because of this treaty provision, the lucrative fur trade of the Bay would be dominated by Britain's Hudson Bay Company. What does this have to do with Montana? Because, dear reader, this is the reason for the first documented visit to Montana by Europeans. Because the treaty limited the French in expanding New France northward (toward Hudson Bay), it began to look west.

In 1727, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye, was Commandant of "The Posts of the North," with forts along Lake Superior, the Lake of the Woods, and Lake Winnipeg. In 1738, "La Verendrye" heard from his Indigenous trading partners about "The River of the West" that emptied into the Pacific. He became the first documented European to travel to the villages of the Mandan on the Missouri River in present-day North Dakota. He left two Frenchmen with the Mandan to learn their language and returned home in December 1738.

When the two men returned to La Verendrye the following year, they reported that the Mandan were visited annually by a people known as "the Horse People" (Gens du Chevaux). These people described seeing white men living in stone houses in the West. Believing these to be Spanish colonies on the Pacific, La Verendrye sent two of his sons to find the Horse People and learn more about the route to the Sea of the West.

They cataloged their fascinating journey in a brief and thoroughly tantalizing document rediscovered in 1851 at the government archives in Paris. The paper is a short journal written by the Chevalier Vérendrye to the governor of New France in Quebec after their return home (a chevalier was a minor French noble).

Because the group's astrolabe broke very early in the trip, they could not document their latitude. The Vérendryes describe several interactions with Native peoples before any previously recorded white men in the Northern Plains.

To be clear, other Europeans may have been in the area generally. The explorations of the Vérendryes are the first documented encounters. The Spanish had made inroads in the Southwest, bringing the horse to America in the previous century. French and Spanish explorers had reached the Pacific through the southern plains. Indigenous peoples engaged in robust trade among each other, and word of the new white settlers reached the ears of those living in the Northern Plains. The Vérendrye journal is a fascinating glimpse into a different world: America before the white man.

In April 1742, the Chevalier Vérendrye (likely Louis-Joseph La Vérendrye) and his brother François, accompanied by two other Frenchmen, set out from Fort Reine to the Mandan Village, arriving in May. The journal begins: "Journal of the expedition [April 29, 1742-July 2, 1743], of the Chevalier de la Vérendrye and one of his brothers to reach the Sea of the West, addressed to M. the Marquis de Beauharnois." They stayed among the Mandan until July 1742, waiting for the People of the Horse. They became impatient and hired some Mandan guides to find the Horse People Village.

Traveling twenty days west-southwest, they encountered no one except animals. The Chevalier noticed "earths of different colors, such as blue, a kind of vermillion, green grass, glossy black, chalk white and others the color of ocher. Had I foreseen at the time that I should not go through these regions again, I would have taken some of each kind. I could not burden myself, knowing that I had a very long way to travel." In August, they reached a point he called "the mountain of the Gens des Chevaux." The document, packed as it is with such specific but also elusive details, makes a fascinating read. Who are the People of the Horse, and what could be their "mountain?"

Readers of the journal trying to interpret it in modern times are both informed and hampered by their knowledge of later events and reference points. What names the journal uses for people and places are clearly based on what a particular Native comrade identifies them as. In some cases, these names may have some connection to their modern term, but the journal's constant lack of precision makes certainty almost impossible. That same current context may also bias interpreters away from other possibilities. Historians have argued among themselves what these vague references mean. Here, the broken astrolabe is most keenly felt. Knowing the precise latitude would allow present-day researchers to compare the location to known archeological sites of specific tribes.

They stayed at the mountain, setting smoke fires until September when they noticed another fire to their South-Southwest. This was a group they called the Handsome People (Beaux Hommes), who "received them well." Their last Mandan guide left them at this point. The Chevalier's group stayed with the Handsome People for twenty-one days, obtaining a guide to take them to the village of the Horse People.

As they traveled Southwest, they encountered other villages, including the Petite Renards (Little Foxes) and the "Pioya," being welcomed by both. Finally, they reached a village of the Horse People, which they found "in great distress. There was nothing but weeping and howling, all their villages having been destroyed by the Gens du Serpent and very few persons having escaped." The Serpent People, he was told, were a force to be reckoned with.

This nation of the Serpent is considered very brave. During a raid they are not content with destroying a village, according to the custom of all Indians; they keep up warfare from spring to fall. They are very numerous, and woe to those who cross their path! They are not friendly to any nation. It is said that in 1741 they completely defeated seventeen villages, killing all the men and the old women, making slaves of the young women, and selling them on the seacoast for horses and certain merchandise.

The Chevalier inquired among the Horse People about the nation that lived by the sea. They replied, "none of their nation had ever been there, the way being blocked by the Gens du Serpent." The only nation not fearful of the Serpent People was the People of the Bow (Gens de l'Arc). Informed that they may know the route to the sea, Vérendrye went to find them. He encountered the People of the Beautiful River (Gens de la Belle Rivière) along the way. Finally, the group reached the People of the Bow.

The Chevalier was very impressed with their chief, a man "worthy of all our friendship."

I asked him if they knew of the white people of the seacoast, and whether they could take us there. He replied: "We know them through what has been told us by prisoners from the Gens du Serpent, among whom we shall arrive shortly. Do not be surprised if you see many villages assembled with us. Word has been sent in all directions for them to join us. You hear war songs every day; this is not without plan. We are going to march in the direction of the great mountains near the sea, to hunt for the Gens du Serpent. Do not be afraid to come with us; you have nothing to fear, and you will be able to look upon the sea for which you are searching.

Vérendrye recognized the chief's description of the white people by the sea as Spanish colonies. He also admitted that the route indicated by his native friends would take him through the southern plains, already known to the French and the Spanish. Nonetheless, he accompanied the People of the Bow west until they reached the mountains in January 1743. There, they found an abandoned Serpent People village, a fact that concerned their hosts. At this point, the Vérendryes decided to end their journey and return home to their father.

They continued east until April 1743, encountering the People of the Little Cherry (Gens de la Petite Cerise). There the Chevalier states in his journal:

On an eminence near the fort I deposited a lead tablet bearing the arms and inscription of the king and placed some stones in a pyramid for the general. I told the Indians, who had no knowledge of the lead tablet I had put in the ground, that I was setting up these stones in memory of the fact that we had been in their country.

Leaving the Chokecherry People, a brief encounter occurred with the People of the Glued Arrow (Gens de la Flêche Collée), also known as the Sioux of the Prairie. This was a small interaction with women and children. Vérendrye stayed by this village for some time but was not approached. They traveled north, finally reaching the Mandan village on May 18th. They continued to Fort La Reine, arriving on July 2.

Historians have argued over Verendrye's journal for years. In some aspects, there is near universal agreement. In others, speculation runs rampant. The "People of the Serpent" are believed to be the Shoshone, although the term may also include their relatives, the Comanche. Historian G. Hubert Smith believed the "Mountain of the Horse People" is White Butte in southwest North Dakota. While there is some debate, the consensus of historians today is that the mountains that ended Vérendrye's westward journey were the Big Horn Mountains.

More importantly to local folks, the same historical consensus believes the Vérendryes traveled briefly into southeastern Montana, likely along the Little Missouri River. They crossed into present-day Wyoming, traveling south, where they probably encountered the People of the Bow (believed by many to be the Pawnee).

As mentioned, a copy of the journal was discovered in Paris among the French government archives in 1851. It received some brief attention but quickly returned to obscurity. That all changed in 1913. That year, the lead plate described in Vérendrye's journal was discovered on a hilltop at Fort Pierre, South Dakota. This discovery added considerably more credibility to Vérendrye's journal.

The explorations of the Vérendryes established the French claim on the Missouri River area, including this part of the country. The Missouri River territory of New France was incorporated into Louisiana after the British won the French and Indian War and obtained French Canada. This was the Louisiana that President Jefferson purchased from Napoleon in 1803. Jefferson, you may recall, sent Lewis and Clark to explore the newly acquired territory, seeking the rumored Northwest passage. These more familiar aspects of United States history were partly set into motion by, of all things, the Peace Treaty of Utrecht.