Historic Sites of Manitoba: La Verendrye’s Trail Monument (Municipality of Pembina)

Having left Fort La Reine on 15 October 1733, the explorer La Verendrye, with his sons Francois and Louis-Joseph, crossed this region on his way to the country of the Mandans whence by following the Missouri he hoped to reach the western sea.

In mid-1949, a 17-ton boulder was moved to this site near Darlingford in the Municipality of Pembina as part of Manitoba's first wayside park. A plaque commemorating La Verendrye was affixed to the boulder by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada.

The park opened officially on 5 September 1949 at a ceremony attended by Lieutenant Governor Roland Fairbairn McWilliams, Premier Douglas Lloyd Campbell, Minister of Public Works Errick French Willis, North Dakota historian George Will, Donald Gordon McKenzie of Winnipeg, Member of Parliament Howard Waldemar Winkler, Reeve John Robert Walkof, Manitoba Museum Association President Theodore Edward Howard, Pembina Hills Historical Society President Adolf Dack, and other municipal officials and historical society members.

La Verendrye’s Trail commemorative monument (2010) Source: Ed Grassick Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.19189, W98.36292 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Memorable Manitobans: Pierre Gaultier De Varennes La Vérendrye (1685-1749)

Historic Sites of Manitoba: Manitoba Plaques for Persons, Events and Sites of National Historic Significance

Sources:

“La Verendrye cairn in parksite planned,” Winnipeg Tribune, 17 August 1949, page 15.

This page was prepared by Ed Grassick, Glen Toews, and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 15 January 2026

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