Fort Pierre, South Dakota is about a 3hr drive south from Bismarck, North Dakota. It sits on the banks of the Missouri River.
The Verendrye Site, on Verendrye Hill overlooking the city of Fort Pierre just northwest of where the Bad and Missouri Rivers come together, is one of only a few verifiable sites associated with the first Europeans to explore the northern Great Plains region. Frenchman Pierre Gaultier De La Verendrye and his sons explored the interior of North America in the 18th century. In 1742, Francois and Louis-Joseph Verendrye embarked on an expedition to find a water route to the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately they were unsuccessful as they found no Northwest Passage to the Pacific however, this site documents their undisputed role in the French effort to achieve colonial dominance in North America.
A group of school children playing on the hill found the lead plate in 1913. They noticed a small part of the plate protruding from the ground, dug it out, and carried it into town. They were about to sell it to a local print shop, because it was made of lead. Fortunately, someone contacted State Historian Doane Robinson, and he saved the plate.
The inscription on the plate translates: “In the twenty-sixth year of the reign of Louis XV, the most illustrious Lord, the Lord Marquis of Beauharnios, 1741, Pierre Gaultier De La Verendrye placed this.” Scratched on the back are the words: “Placed by the Chevalier Verendrye, Louis La Londette, and A. Miotte. 30 March 1743.”
In 1874, Reverend Thomas L. Riggs, a Congregationalist minister, and his first wife, Cornelia Margaret “Nina” Foster, established the Oahe Mission to serve the Sioux Indians of central South Dakota. The missionaries chose to build on the site of an old Arikara Indian village called Ti Tanke Ohe, later shortened to “Oahe.” The mission eventually adopted the name of the Indian village, which also became the name of the dam and lake that now cover the site. The Oahe Chapel is now the only remaining building associated with the Oahe Mission.
The chapel served a dual purpose--as a schoolhouse and the center of religious life. The mission also opened The Oahe Industrial School in 1883 as a boarding school for Indian children and a second boarding school for young girls in the 1890s. Starting with an ABC primer, the men, women, and children of the mission all learned to read the Bible first in the Dakota language and later in English. As Europeans settled in the community, they joined in Sunday and holiday worship at the chapel. Services were originally in the Dakota language, but by the 1930’s were only in English.
Completion of the Oahe Dam led to the flooding of the original site of the Oahe Chapel. In the 1950’s during the construction of the dam, the chapel was given to the State of South Dakota, and the State Historical Society was put in charge of its restoration and continued preservation. In 1957, the society moved the chapel to a temporary location to escape the flooding and then moved it again in 1964 to its current location.
The Oahe Dam is a packed dirt dam built during the years 1948-1961 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. It is one of the worlds largest earth-rolled dams and provides more than $371 million in annual benefits to the American people. It can store up to 23.5 million acre -feet of water, making it the the 4th -largest reservoir in the USA. It is 200 foot in depth.
The Visitors Centre provides a history of the earliest residents in the region who were members of the Arikara Tribe, who farmed on the fertile banks of the Missouri River. Later to be followed by the Sioux, Mandan and Hidatsa Tribes who also lived along the river.
Later came a number of explorers of significance including Lewis and Clarke who are known for discovering the Westward Passage.
We also visited the South Dakota Heritage Center which is a 15,0000-square-foot Museum gallery explores the economic, social, political, and cultural history of Dakota Territory and South Dakota. The Museum’s primary exhibit, ‘’The South Dakota Experience’’, includes three galleries that illustrate the history of the state from its earliest inhabitants to present day.
Starts off with the original inhabitants. This is a magnificent dress was made of deer hide.
The military of the early days. This is what this Officer used to carry his personal items.
The style of dress worn to a State function.
Inside the house made of sod.
The sod house from the outside.
A new age.
Changing times moving into the 20th Centuary.
The genises of the Cow Boy.
The scary way to travel.
It has everything including baseball.
A very interesting place to visit.
Cheers, Beverley and Ross
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