Long before Lewis and Clark ever stepped foot in our amazing state, there was another explorer who made his way through the still-wild land and was known as one of the first outsiders to ever be in the area. Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, Sieur de La Vérendrye - quite a mouthful - was originally commemorated for this act by having 101 acres of land preserved in his name, giving us the Verendrye National Park. This park, however, no longer exists. Why? Let's find out about this lost national park in North Dakota:
The park was in existence from 1917 to 1956.
It was located right on the upper Missouri River where what is now Lake Sakakawea, not far from New Town. Vérendrye and his son, François, had traveled down from Manitoba to a Mandan village, with structures much like the one shown below, in 1738.
After that, they headed back to the Canadian region and established multiple trading forts.
Vérendrye's two sons lead an expedition to the Missouri River yet again in 1742, and most likely camped on what is now Crow Flies High Butte, right in North Dakota, where the national park was originally dedicated. From there, they traveled further south, and were probably one of the first Europeans to ever see the Rocky Mountains, over 60 years before Lewis and Clark ever made the trek themselves.
There was controversy over whether the sons had ever truly traveled through Crow Flies High Butte and there was evidence that the route they took never took them anywhere near it.
Because of this, the national park was stripped of its title and the land was lost underneath Lake Sakakawea.
More recent evidence suggests that they had actually traveled there and the national park should have never been removed, but in spite of that, there isn't much of the park left.
Below this lake is the remnants of the site and the actual sights that the French explorer and his sons saw as they stood upon Crow Flies High Butte and gazed down onto the Missouri River, well before North Dakota ever existed as a state and before Lake Sakakawea was created by the Garrison Dam.
Today, part of it remains as Crow Flies High Recreation Area near New Town. Verendrye National Park would have been North Dakota's second national park. But with the lake and the unclear history, it will probably never get that title back.
North Dakota's only remaining national park is the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, featured in its own article at the link.
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