Verendrye brothers' journey to the Rocky Mountains

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The Vérendrye brothers were trappers, hunters, and explorers, who were possibly the first Europeans to cross the northern Great Plains and see the Rocky Mountains, during an expedition in 1742–1743.^[1] What little is known about their journey comes from a journal found in the French archives in 1851 and an inscribed lead plate commemorating the journey which was found buried near Pierre, South Dakota in 1913. Both the journal and plate are difficult to interpret. The journal states the trip may have been made by the "Chevalier Vérendrye and one of his brothers", who are otherwise unidentified. Most likely the Chevalier was Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye and the brother was François de La Vérendrye, but this remains uncertain. The mountains they saw during the expedition may have been the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming, but could also have been the Black Hills or the Laramie Mountains.