| Summary: | 10 Pierce' county BEFORE THE PIONEER CAME Where the Indans came from and how long they had roamed over these prairies before the white men came, nobody knows. Neither can it be said with any degree of certainty as to who was the first white ,man to plant his foot upon the soil of Pierce county. It is believed by many that credit should be given to Pierre Verendrye, who marched with his expedition from Fort La, Reine, Canada, to visit the Mandans on the Missouri river in the dead of the winter of 1738. The records do not disclose which route he took to reach the Mandans villages from his station in the Turtle mountains. He might have gone southeast toward Devils Lake or he might have crossed the Mouse river loop to the southwest. If( he chose the southeast route it is reasonable to conclude that he crossed Pierce county. Again, it is an acknowledged fact that the Spaniards on their expeditions up the Missouri river reached as far north as North Dakota a, hundred years before the coming of Verendiwe and it may be reasonably assumed that they sent their hunting and trading parties far into the interior. Whether they reached as far as to the rich fur fields around our lakes, Devils lake, the Turtle mountains, and Mouse river, may be doubtful. About sixty years after the Verendrye expedition this region was visited by the geographer astronomer and fur trader, David Thompson, who also made the tour in the middle of the winter. This was in the winter of 1797 aaid 1798. The weather at that time, more than a hundred years ago, does not appear to have been much different from what it is today. Mr. Thompson, ,who carried a thermometer, reported the temperature in December to average 12 degrees below zero and one day as low as 41. Again in the summer of 1806 Alexander Henry, jr., a partner in the Northwest Fur company, .made a trip from his Pembina post across what is now North Dakota to visit the Mandans on the Missouri. Later, different trading expeditions were sent out by the Hudson Bay company the Northwest company, and others to barter with the Indians and to gather furs around our lakes, Devils lake, Mouse river and the Turtle mountains. Scanned with a Zeutschel Zeta book scanner at 300 dpi. Edited with Multi-Page TIFF Editor.
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