SIEUR DE LA VERENDRYE 1685 – 1749

SIEUR DE LA VERENDRYE 1685 – 1749

Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Verendrye, was born at Trois Rivieres and saw military service in North America and Europe before entering the fur trade. While stationed at Lake Nipigon in 1727, he heard stories of the “Western Sea” which, Indians said, lay somewhere beyond Lake of the Woods. During the next twenty years, in attempting to reach the sea, he personally explored much of what is now northwestern Ontario, southern Manitoba and North Dakota, and directed the exploration of an even larger area. Throughout this territory he established numerous, important fur-trading posts, including St. Pierre on Rainy Lake, St. Charles on Lake of the Woods, and La Reine on the Assiniboine River.

*Erected by the Archaeological and Historic Sites Board, Department of Public Records and Archives of Ontario