Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye

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Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye (November 17, 1685 – December 5, 1749) was a French Canadian military officer, fur trader and explorer.

Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, this son of René Gaultier de Varennes was part of the Ancien Régime whose family of aristocrats came from the Anjou area of France. At 22 years of age, he enlisted in the French Army, fought in Flanders and was seriously wounded. After recovering from his injuries and being released as a prisoner of war, he returned to Canada and married in 1712. He farmed and fur traded to support his family until 1727 when he moved to Nipigon to command that fort. In 1728 he was appointed commandant of the French posts, including Fort Kaministiquia, on the north shore of Lake Superior. It was during this time as commandant that La Vérendrye came to know Cree guide Auchagah, who produced a map of canoe routes between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg based on his own experience as well as that of several other Crees.[1]

Map of canoe routes west of Lake Superior, drawn by Auchagah for La Vérendrye in 1728 or 1729 at Fort Kaministiquia

In 1731 he began his explorations in earnest. One of the main objectives was to find a route to the Western Sea. Between 1731 and 1737 he built several trading posts between Lake Superior and Lake Winnipeg, assisted by his four sons and a nephew. In 1732 Fort St. Charles was constructed near Angle Inlet on Lake of the Woods. This fort was an important base of operations until at least 1760 because of the fur trade and its location between Montreal and forts farther west. These were the first European establishments west of Lake Superior since Jacques de Noyon wintered over at Rainy Lake in 1688.

In 1738 he travelled southwest to the area of the Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. In conjunction with that trip he established two forts, Fort Rouge and Fort La Reine, in what is now Manitoba. Other forts built to the north and west by people under his command created a large area in the west for French traders. Also on this trip he found an engraved stone near modern Minot, North Dakota, which was written in what Jesuits in Quebec later identified as "Tatar writing", and is believed by some to be a runestone left by the Norse^{[citation needed]}.

He resigned as commander of the Western Posts in 1744 after being unable to convince his superiors that further exploration of rivers like the Saskatchewan would lead them to rivers flowing west into the Western Sea. In 1746 he again became the western commander. In this capacity, he returned to the east in 1747. While planning further exploration of the Saskatchewan River and points west, he died at Montreal, Quebec on December 5, 1749.

La Verendrye Provincial Park in Ontario and La Vérendrye Wildlife Reserve in Quebec are named after him, as well as Verendrye Electric Cooperative in North Dakota.