Note V-11 — Chapter V · CORRESPONDENCE AND CONFERENCES.[V-1]

The first visit of white men to the Mandans was made in 1738, under the leadership of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, otherwise Le Sieur Verendrye. A relation of this journey, by Rev. Dr. Edward D. Neill, occupies pp. 113-119 of the Macalester College Contributions, Department of History, Literature, and Political Science, Second Series, No. 5, which I extract in substance, as follows:

On Sept. 24th, 1738, Verendrye was at the confluence of the Red River of the North with the Assiniboine r. Two days afterward he began his journey up the latter, and on the 30th, having found a suitable place, he established Fort La Reine. Within a week, Mgr. de La Marque (otherwise Charles Nolan, Noland, or Nolant, son of J. B. Nolan and Marie Anne La Marque, b. 1694), and his brother, Sieur Nolan, with eight men, arrived in two canoes from Mackinac. On Oct. 16th Verendrye selected 10 of his own men and 10 of La Marque's party for the Mandan expedition, and their march began on the 18th. The party consisted of Verendrye, with two of his sons; La Marque and his brother Nolan; together with some voyageurs and Indians—in all 52 persons. On the 21st, at the distance of 26 leagues from Fort La Reine, they reached the first (no doubt Turtle) mountain. After slow marches southwestwardly, the first Mandans were met on the morning of the 28th. A chief came and stood near Verendrye, and one of his band presented corn on the cob and some tobacco. These Indians were only covered with a buffalo-robe, wearing no breech-clout. The Mandan chief requested the French to visit his village, and left on the 30th, accompanied by about 600 Indians. On the evening of the third day's march an Assiniboine, one of a number of this tribe who had already joined the expedition, stole a bag containing Verendrye's papers and other valuables; two men were hired to pursue the thief, and they captured him. On the morning of the fourth day's march camp was broken early in order to reach the Mandan settlement. A short distance from the village they were met on an elevation by a delegation of Mandans, who presented the calumet. Verendrye directed his son, the chevalier, to draw up the French in line, place the flag of France four paces before them, and fire three volleys. At 4 p. m., Dec. 3d, Verendrye and his associates entered the village and were conducted to the lodge of the principal chief, where a bag containing presents, and also 300 livres, was stolen. The Assiniboines were much afraid of the Sioux, from whom they had separated years before, and the Mandans, not wishing to entertain Verendrye's escort, purposely raised a rumor that the Sioux were coming, whereupon the Assiniboines decamped. Verendrye was embarrassed for want of a good interpreter, but learned that on the banks of the Missouri, lower down, were the Pananas, and then the Pananis, at war with each other. Six days after the Assiniboines decamped, Chevalier Verendrye, Sieur Nolan, six Frenchmen, and several Mandans visited a settlement on the bank of the river, and then Sieur Verendrye and Mgr. de La Marque inspected the village. There were 130 cabins. A fort was built on an elevation in the open prairie, surrounded by a ditch about 15 feet deep and from 15 to 18 feet wide. (Compare A. J. Hill's plot of Mandan fortification, in T. H. Lewis' Minor Antiq. Art. No. iv, p. 5, 1884.) The cabins were spacious, separated into several apartments by thick planks, and goods were hung on posts in large bags. The men were naked, covered only with a buffalo robe; the women also, excepting a loose apron about a foot long. On the evening of Dec. 4th Verendrye's son and Nolan came back and reported that the village they had visited was twice as large as that where they were. On Dec. 8th the latitude was taken and found to be 48° 12´ N. It was now decided to leave two men to winter with the Mandans to acquire their language, and return with the rest to Fort La Reine. Before they departed the head chief was presented with a flag, and a leaden plate upon which the arms of France were cut. When ready to leave, Verendrye fell sick and could not travel for two or three days. On Dec. 24th, still weak, he reached the Assiniboine village, and was agreeably surprised when the box of papers which had been stolen was returned in good order. On Jan. 9th, 1739, the first height of land between the Missouri and Assiniboine rivers was reached; here Verendrye remained, while La Marque hurried on to Fort La Reine. There he arrived Feb. 1st, and sent back assistance to Verendrye, who reached the post, greatly fatigued, on the 10th of this month. The two voyageurs who had been left with the Mandans returned to the fort Sept. 27th, 1739, with reports representing more fiction than fact.

In 1740 Verendrye visited Canada, and on Oct. 13th, 1741, he returned to Fort La Reine. He afterward established a fifth post called Fort Dauphin at Lac des Prairies, and a sixth, Fort Bourbon, at the mouth of the Poskoyac r. (i. e., the Saskatchewan). In April, 1742, the Chevalier Verendrye and his brother left Fort La Reine, and by way of the Mandan village, on a southwestward course, are supposed to have reached the Rocky Mountains in January, 1743. The Sieur Verendrye died Dec. 6th, 1749.