South of Pierre, US-83 crosses the Missouri River, then takes you into Fort Pierre (pop. 1,900). It’s not much now, but it has a rich history. As far back as 1817, it was known as Fort Pierre Chouteau, an American Fur Company trading post; and before that it was Ree and Arikara tribal lands. Located at the mouth of the Bad (Teton) River, Fort Pierre once was a thriving port. But it is better known as the site where Joseph La Framboise, a French fur-trader, stopped and erected a driftwood shelter out of necessity, establishing the area’s first white settlement.
Visit the old fort, now a National Park Service landmark spread out over 1.3 acres near town. At 115 N. Main Street in the center of town you’ll find the Verendyre Museum (daily in summer only), which has collections of South Dakota pioneer artifacts and a duplicate of the plate the Verendyre brothers, the first white men to enter South Dakota, planted here in 1743 to claim the land for France. The original plate is in the state Heritage Center in Pierre; the Verendyre brothers themselves are commemorated with a monument in small Centennial Park, off US-83 at the center of town.
Immediately south of Fort Pierre, typical South Dakota topography resumes: rolling black and green hills and twisting creek beds beneath sharp vertical drops of million-year-old geology.
