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00:25I'll see you next time.
00:58I'll see you next time.
01:00Chambers, tombs, descriptions, they're all over this country.
01:04We're going to investigate these artifacts and sites, and we're going to get to the truth.
01:09Sometimes history isn't what we've been told.
01:27In its earliest days, America was a vast land of opportunity.
01:32We grew up learning about people like Lewis and Clark, who mapped the West, but not much about the people
01:39who came before them, the fur traders.
01:45Fur was big business in the 1600s.
01:48Traders from many European nations were fighting to gain dominance at a time when the map of America looked very
01:55different.
01:56In the mid-1600s, the Northeast was controlled by the English, the Southeast by the Spanish, and land just east
02:05and west of the Mississippi was owned by the French.
02:08In 1803, Thomas Jefferson bought a large chunk of that territory from the French in what history calls the Louisiana
02:16Purchase.
02:21The question I have now is, how did the French get the land they ultimately sold to us?
02:27Could they have stolen America from other explorers who arrived here first?
02:31I don't know the answer yet, but I do believe that French fur traders were here for more than just
02:37animal pelts.
02:39I think they had another mission, a secret one to destroy already established land claims and replace them with their
02:47own.
02:50A key piece of evidence could be sitting in my home state of Minnesota.
02:55It's a recently discovered artifact called the Duluth Stone that I've been asked to look at.
03:01But first, I've got to find it.
03:15There it is.
03:31There it is.
03:31There it is.
03:35There it is.
03:44There it is.
04:00Hi, Scott.
04:01Hi, Tom.
04:02So this is the Duluth Stone, huh?
04:05Yes, it is.
04:07And this is one of the most incredible artifacts I've ever seen.
04:11I mean, if you look here, we got the date inscribed 1679.
04:14It's very clear.
04:15It looks old.
04:16You've got the name Duluth.
04:18No question what that is.
04:19And in my mind, this can only be the early French explorer, Daniel Duluth.
04:24Well, Duluth, this one I actually know quite a bit about.
04:25He was actually commissioned to come out here, not only to explore the region,
04:29but also to stabilize it for commercial interests.
04:32He arrived at the modern site of Duluth in 1679.
04:35If this is actually dated correctly to 1679, it would certainly be a significant find.
04:42Daniel Gracelon, Sir Duluth, was a French nobleman born in 1639.
04:47When he was in his late 30s, he was sent to what is now Minnesota to pave the way for
04:52French expansion.
04:54The journeys of Duluth and other early French explorers were remarkable.
04:58They entered into a wild frontier where Lewis and Clark wouldn't step foot for another 125 years.
05:06French explorers hoped to find gold and silver, but they discovered something just as valuable, animal pelts.
05:14Furs were high fashion in Europe, and America had an abundance of beaver, fox, mink, and otter.
05:21Native Americans initially traded animal pelts with the French,
05:25but eventually they taught the explorers how to catch the animals themselves.
05:30Daniel Duluth was on a mission to make peace with the Native Americans
05:34in an effort to ensure the long-term success of the fur trade.
05:38Does that make him the first European explorer in what is now Minnesota?
05:43No, actually. There was French and European exploration here as early as 1615.
05:48The fur trade was extremely competitive.
05:50Few people realize that the fur trade actually played a significant role in determining the destiny of America.
05:55So, in this area, what is now Minnesota, would Duluth have been here in 1679?
06:01Yeah, the historical record does place him in this region.
06:04This Duluth stone may be incredibly important.
06:07It could be the earliest evidence of a French land claim in the Midwest.
06:11But if it is a land claim, I'm certain it's not the first one left here in Minnesota.
06:17Well, you know, everything that I see so far is really starting to tie together very nicely.
06:23We've got what looks like period writing that appears to be consistent with the time period,
06:27the block-style writing of his name and the separation of his name.
06:31And, you know, the weathering does look advanced.
06:34So, I'd like to do a little more work there.
06:37But there is one other thing that is vitally important, and that is the location of where this stone is.
06:44Let me show you something.
06:50You know, Tom, I've done a little research about these early French explorers like Duluth,
06:56and not only were they trying to expand the fur trade, but they were also here in North America claiming
07:02land.
07:02Yeah, that's absolutely true.
07:03In fact, there was actually a French land claim at Sault Ste. Marie shortly before Daniel Duluth arrived in this
07:09region.
07:09So, you think the Duluth stone is a land claim?
07:12I'm convinced it is.
07:14In the late 17th century, there was a land claim practice that the French and the Dutch had for sure,
07:19where if they placed a land claim stone in the ground or carved one on a rock like this,
07:25they could lay claim to the entire river system or systems and all the land associated with it.
07:30So, in my mind, based on that, this Duluth stone is vitally important.
07:36This is the Continental Divide, and the rivers flow north to Lake Superior and south into the St. Croix, Mississippi
07:43watershed.
07:45Continental divides are found across America.
07:48They occur where rivers and streams part and start flowing in two different directions.
07:54These divides were very important to early explorers.
07:58They would lay down rocks at these spots, allowing them to claim ownership of the waters in both directions.
08:06Whether or not this is a land claim or whether it's simply Duluth writing his name on a rock for
08:10posterity,
08:11pending the results of testing and dating, I think it's a remarkable find.
08:15There's more work that I want to do, but I have to admit, it looks good to me, but you're
08:19right.
08:19It does have to be vetted out, and we'll do that.
08:21Are there any other similar land claim stones?
08:23Actually, there is another land claim stone here in Minnesota.
08:27You've heard of the Kensington rune stone?
08:29Yeah, I've actually had a chance to see this stone. It's an incredible artifact.
08:32Well, it is. I mean, it was found in 1898 by a farmer who was clearing trees.
08:37It's dated 1362, and it has a long inscription that includes a phrase, taking up land.
08:43The Kensington rune stone's primary function was as a land claim made by the Templars,
08:47and it was found on the north-south continental divide of North America.
08:51So we have two land claim stones here in Minnesota.
08:55One is a French land claim, the other the Kensington rune stone,
08:59but there's another land claim stone that's not on display.
09:02Have you ever heard of Pierre Lavrandre?
09:05Pierre Lavrandre was the first explorer of French descent born in what's now Quebec.
09:12He and his sons were French explorers and fur traders who made their mark half a century after Daniel Duluth.
09:20I suspect the Lavrandres were looking for previously placed land claims, like the Kensington rune stone.
09:26But I believe there were other land claims, specifically one that I've learned about that's covered with strange symbols.
09:33If I can find it, it may prove there were explorers here from Europe, way before the French.
09:39Well, there's one thing that many people don't know about Lavrandre.
09:43He actually found an inscribed stone that I think might be another land claim.
09:48So, Scott, where is this other stone?
09:49It went missing about 100 years ago.
09:52But I do have a few leads, and I'm going to do my damnedest to find it.
10:15300 years ago, North America was a vast land with territory that was up for grabs.
10:23Different European nations were vying for land in what amounted to an epic game of capture the flag.
10:30The question is, were the French playing dirty?
10:33I wonder if explorer Daniel Duluth could have removed someone else's land claim before he placed his own.
10:40A rock with his name and the year 1679 carved on it.
10:46I'm running tests on the Duluth stone in my lab, in an effort to find out if it's as old
10:51as it seems.
11:04That's not the only thing I'm working on.
11:07A generation after Daniel Duluth, another French fur trader, Pierre Lavrandre, may have uncovered a different artifact.
11:15Unlike the Duluth land claim, the so-called Lavrandre stone is missing.
11:20The Lavrandre stone could be evidence of a pre-Columbian land claim to America.
11:24If the French found it and took it, it could prove they were trying to steal America from someone who
11:31got here before them.
11:32I need to find that stone to find the truth, and I think there's a historian who can help me.
11:39You know, I'd like to learn a little bit more about this Lavrandre character.
11:42What I'm trying to understand more about is, did the early explorers that came to the North American continent,
11:48were they actually trying to steal America, were they really secret agents that were trying to expand the borders of
11:55their countries?
11:56Well, secret agents, I don't know, but certainly they were engaged in commercial warfare.
12:01You know, all across America, the legacy of these early explorers is preserved.
12:06It's all over Minneapolis, with Hennepin County, LaSalle Avenue, all named for the early explorers.
12:13But one name you don't hear is Pierre Lavrandre.
12:26So, Tracy, tell me a little bit about Pierre Lavrandre.
12:29I think to understand Lavrandre, you have to know him in context.
12:33You know, the other European nations that were competing for North America at the time,
12:37the English, the French, of course, the Dutch, and the Spanish.
12:41But around here, it's all about the French.
12:44Well, that's true. I mean, many of these explorers' legacies are preserved in the street system here.
12:51LaSalle is just two blocks down the street.
12:53That's right. And LaSalle, he's the one that named the whole area Louisiana in honor of King Louis.
12:58Okay, so land obviously was the big prize that they were looking for over here, and fur trading, of course.
13:04What else were they looking for?
13:05They needed Indian allies.
13:07And so they were looking for alliances.
13:10Sure.
13:11Well, you aren't going to get anything done here without cooperation of the natives.
13:15Great.
13:17Thank you very much.
13:18All right.
13:19So tell me a little bit about Pierre Lavrandre's early life.
13:23Well, he was born in 1685 in Three Rivers, Quebec.
13:26He became a soldier at age 12.
13:28He's a cadet fighting with his Indian allies against the English.
13:33And he became a farmer.
13:35There he met, married a young French girl.
13:38He raised a family.
13:40And at age 43, he got a midlife crisis.
13:44That's when he became a fur trader.
13:46You know, it was part of the job of being a fur trader is to interact with Indian peoples.
13:50Okay.
13:51And one of the things that's really fascinating about this story, of course, is this bearded white people.
13:56We're talking about the Mandan, right?
13:58Okay.
13:58Those bearded white people Lavrandre heard about weren't white people at all.
14:03They were Native Americans, specifically members of the Mandan tribe.
14:07The reference to them as bearded white people is because of a similarity and rumored biological connection between them and
14:15the Welsh.
14:16It's not just a facial resemblance either.
14:19The Mandan boats look like those used by the Welsh.
14:22Some people think the similarity stemmed from a pre-Columbian voyage by the Welsh to the Midwest, where the two
14:29groups intermixed.
14:30But it's a connection that most historians and Tracy don't support.
14:35Lavrandre was the first contact that white people ever made with the Mandan Indians, the Hadadze Indians, the Cheyenne Indians.
14:43And he and his sons were opening up the Northern Great Plans.
14:47So really, Pierre Lavrandre was 75 years or so before Lewis and Clark, who really did the same mission, right?
14:56Yes.
14:5666 years before Lewis and Clark.
14:59When I investigated the mysterious death of Meriwether Lewis, I learned that President Jefferson asked the explorers to look for
15:07evidence of the earlier contact by ancient Welshmen as they traveled west.
15:12Is it possible French explorers like Daniel Duluth and the Lavrandres removed earlier stone land claims before laying down their
15:20own?
15:21And if that's the case, they may have stolen America from the Welsh.
15:25So you said that Pierre Lavrandre was working with the French government to try to expand the fur trade business.
15:31Do you think that he could also have been performing a secret mission, a secret land claim mission?
15:38You know, the possibility exists.
15:41Have you ever heard of the Lavrandre stone?
15:44No.
15:45Well, let me show you something.
15:52This is an excerpt from a Swedish botanist's memoirs who met Pierre Lavrandre towards the end of his life in
16:001749 in Montreal.
16:03And as the story goes, Lavrandre had a few too many.
16:07Hey, who's doing a lot of that in those days?
16:08And a slip of the tongue that was recorded by this botanist who wrote down a story that Lavrandre told
16:16him.
16:17Listen to this.
16:19They found on a large plain great pillars of stone leaning against each other.
16:25You know, there is one place where geologically it matches these pillars that are described.
16:31It's in Alberta, Canada.
16:33At last, they met a large stone, like a pillar, which was covered on both sides with unknown characters called
16:42Tartarian script.
16:43From whence, it was sent to the Count de Meripa in France.
16:48The Count de Meripa was a powerful French leader, skilled in military strategy and a mastermind of French intelligence.
16:55The question is, why would Lavrandre be sending a stone with strange inscriptions back to a powerful politician in France?
17:04I think the Lavrandre family and other French fur traders and explorers were, in essence, the Count's secret agents.
17:12I think they may have had orders to send back anything that would threaten France's interests in the new world,
17:18like land claims placed by earlier explorers.
17:22Tartarian is an old Eastern European script.
17:25Which resembles Scandinavian runes.
17:28Very similar to those on the Kensington runestone and possibly other early languages as well.
17:34If Lavrandre saw Tartarian's script on a stone, he'd naturally reach the conclusion the French were the first ones here.
17:41Someone else made it to the new world before them.
17:44So the Count de Meripa was definitely communicating with Mr. Lavrandre about the fur trade.
17:51And apparently, he had another mission.
17:54Well, that's just remarkable.
17:55You know, not a biographer has written about this.
17:58Nor would I expect there to be anything if this was a secret mission.
18:02Well, Lavrandre himself never made it farther than Missouri.
18:05But he sent his sons on further missions.
18:08They went down to Missouri, they went into Wyoming, and then eventually they went farther north into Canada.
18:13They set out west and explored the rivers of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
18:18So, it does put, not Lavrandre, but his sons out there.
18:22They found this stone and they brought it back to their father, who then sent it to France.
18:28That stone could be very important because I'm thinking maybe it's actually a medieval land claim stone.
18:35Maybe Lavrandre was one of many explorers who was clearing out the old and putting in the new.
18:45I'm investigating the idea that French fur traders acted as secret agents for the French government.
18:52I believe Daniel Duluth, the guy who the Minnesota city is named after, left this stone as a land claim
18:58for France.
18:59Who knows?
19:00He might have made off with someone else's earlier land claim, too.
19:04I'm trying to track down a stone that was reportedly found by another French explorer, Pierre Lavrandre, and his family.
19:11Some think it could be proof pre-Columbian explorers were here long before the French.
19:17An ancient journal suggests Lavrandre sent that stone to his boss, Count of Maripas, in Paris,
19:23possibly eliminating it as a land claim so the French could place their own.
19:28Turns out, I'm not the first to search for this stone.
19:31In 1911, someone connected with the Minnesota Historical Society searched museums in Paris for the Lavrandre stone.
19:39But there's one place he may not have looked.
19:41The Church of Saint-Sulpice, a breathtaking place of worship that Lavrandre's boss, the Count of Maripas, had a hand
19:48in designing.
19:50I think the church might hold clues or even the stone itself, so I need to travel to France.
20:15There are no photos of the Lavrandre stone, but I do know something about the writing on it.
20:28Supposedly, the language on the stone is written in Tartaria, an old Eastern European script.
20:34But I think it could just as easily have been runes or another medieval language.
20:39It's easy to see how someone could confuse runes with Tartaria.
21:10It's possible that the Lavrandre stone ended up being runes with Tartaria.
21:13Because of Count de Maripas' connection to this French church.
21:36Michel, thank you for taking the time to meet with me today.
21:39Thank you very much. I welcome you to Saint-Sulpice.
21:42Tell me a little bit about this amazing church.
21:46Well, it was started in 1645 by the founder of the company of Saint-Sulpice Priests,
21:53who specialize in running seminaries everywhere in the world.
21:57The church was completed 99 years later.
22:00Does the church house historical artifacts here?
22:03Many, many, of course, and of great quality.
22:07The stained glass window showing Christ and the historic shell,
22:13it was brought to France at the time of Columbus from the South Pacific,
22:18and it was used later here as a holy water farm.
22:21The reason I'm asking about artifacts is because a French explorer by the name of Pierre Leverandre
22:27was placing his own land-claim plaques for France,
22:31and he reportedly found a stone that had an inscription on it that some believe was carved in ruins
22:40and sent here to Saint-Sulpice.
22:43So that's what I'm looking for here in your church.
22:46I've never heard of such a stone, but perhaps you can tell me a little more about it.
22:52What I believe is that Leverandre was looking for older land claims to clear them out
22:58so he could put his own French land claims down to claim the land in North America.
23:05Do these look familiar at all to you?
23:06Not at all.
23:07You don't?
23:08I'm sorry.
23:08This is an example of Tatarian script used by the Tartars going back to ancient times.
23:14I've never seen anything like that.
23:16All right.
23:17Well, this is reportedly what was on the Leverandre stone.
23:21But why was this stone sent to a church, Saint-Sulpice or any other?
23:25It makes a lot of sense to me that Leverandre would have sent the stone to Count de Meripa,
23:31who must have been his superior in some way,
23:35because he was reporting back something that he had found
23:39that he believed might have been a previous land claim.
23:42And if the French were trying to stake out land in North America,
23:45obviously you wouldn't want older land claims to usurp your land claims.
23:51Do you have any of de Meripa's papers here?
23:55Well, I'm afraid we don't.
23:58At the time of the French Revolution, this church was pillaged.
24:01Many documents were removed or stolen or destroyed.
24:03The French Revolution lasted a decade, between 1789 and 1799.
24:10People were fed up with all the power the aristocracy and the priests had.
24:15The revolution marked the rise of democracy.
24:18But churches like Saint-Sulpice were raided or ruined.
24:22Invaluable artifacts were lost, destroyed or stolen.
24:27Perhaps even the Leverandre stone.
24:29They just took things away.
24:31In Saint-Sulpice, a lot of damage was done.
24:33And the church was changed to a venue for political meetings.
24:36All the religious objects were removed.
24:39Well, Michel, even if that stone isn't here,
24:42I think there are more clues out there.
24:44I think that Leverandre was not only placing land claims for France at that time,
24:49but he was also trying to obliterate previous land claims laid by anybody who came before him.
25:00I'm in Paris, searching for a legendary stone that French explorers may have stolen from America in the mid-1700s.
25:07I think the Leverandre stone could prove ancient cultures came to North America long before the French did.
25:15My investigation led me to a French church, but I didn't find the stone I'm looking for.
25:21What I did discover was that many artifacts were lost, damaged, or destroyed during the French Revolution.
25:29Next, I'm going to what I believe is the scene of the crime,
25:32the place from where the Leverandres may have first encountered the stone with the strange writing on it.
25:55Based on descriptions in an old diary,
25:58I think the Leverandres may have stolen the rock from this place,
26:01writing on Stone Park in Canada.
26:04There are great stone pillars everywhere,
26:06just like those mentioned in the diary.
26:09If I'm lucky, there might be similar carvings still here.
26:13The Leverandre stone itself was identified as containing Tartaria,
26:18an ancient East European script with characters that look a lot like runes.
26:24Could the Leverandre stone be proof that ancient Europeans,
26:27perhaps the Welsh,
26:29made it to America and left a carved rock as a land claim?
26:32I think French explorers came looking for land claims,
26:36and once they found them, removed the stones and left their own.
26:39That may have happened with the recently discovered Duluth stone,
26:43which I'm having evaluated back at my lab for authenticity.
26:57I saw many Native American carvings while I was walking around the park.
27:01Unfortunately, none of them resembled runes or Tartarian script,
27:06the markings supposedly found on the Leverandre stone.
27:09But I'm hoping someone from the local Blackfoot tribe
27:12can help me find clues I might be missing.
27:20Hi, Scott.
27:21Well, Janita, I have to say this is stunningly beautiful,
27:25and I have to believe it's probably a sacred place, is it not?
27:29It is a sacred place for the Blackfoot people,
27:32so out of all of our territory, this is the most sacred place.
27:36Well, geology is amazing as well.
27:38The softer rock which creates these cliffs and these tall columns,
27:42I think you call them hoodoos?
27:44Yeah, that's what we call them.
27:46The Blackfoot would actually call them spirit rocks.
27:49So when I was hiking around here,
27:51I noticed that there's a lot of petroglyphs.
27:53I did see a lot of what has to be Blackfoot art here.
27:57Tell me a little bit about that.
27:58So we've got the largest concentration of rock art
28:00in the plains of North America.
28:02Really?
28:03And we have some of the most unique rock art in the world.
28:06You know, we're talking about carving in rock,
28:09and that's part of the reason I'm here.
28:11There's a story that involves a man by the name of Pierre Lavrandre.
28:17Pierre Lavrandre was an early French explorer.
28:20He reportedly sent his two sons into this area
28:24trying to find a passage to the Pacific.
28:27Apparently, they were led by the Blackfoot,
28:29and it was here that they reportedly found an inscribed stone
28:33with what was called Tartarian script.
28:36And I have a couple of examples of some of the script.
28:40If you look at these characters,
28:42and then if you look at these carved characters,
28:45which are Scandinavian runes,
28:46you can see that the similarity is striking.
28:50Have you seen anything like this around here at all?
28:53Well, just seeing the lines on there,
28:56we've got many places that have lines that are drawn in there,
29:00but due to erosion, it's hard to pick out the details in some places.
29:04So it's possible there could be some writing around here
29:07that could look like this.
29:09It's possible.
29:11Hearing that there could have been carvings
29:14similar to the Lavrandre stone in this park may be important.
29:17It makes me even more convinced
29:19that pre-Columbian European explorers made it here
29:22and left their mark.
29:24So what do you think the stone was doing here?
29:27I think it was a very old land claim,
29:30and it was put at this particular place for a reason.
29:33What I think Lavrandre's sons were doing,
29:35I think they found out about this
29:36or knew about this older land claim,
29:38and they came here to clear it out
29:40and then bury lead plaques for a more modern land claim,
29:45claiming land here for France.
29:47For us, you know, we don't believe anyone really owns the land.
29:50We don't actually have a term for ownership.
29:54That's a modern concept?
29:55Yes, it is.
29:56Okay.
29:57Well, it's an old concept to the white people,
30:01and that was the main mission that Lavrandre was here for.
30:04So you mentioned a lead plaque.
30:06Where is that?
30:07Well, Lavrandre buried a lead plaque in South Dakota,
30:09and I've never seen it,
30:11but there might be some clues there
30:13because that's what I think this is all about.
30:15It was about claiming land
30:17and, in essence, trying to steal America.
30:38I'm exploring the question of whether French fur traders
30:41and explorers were on a covert quest to steal America.
30:45I think French explorers like Pierre Lavrandre and Daniel Duluth
30:50may have removed land claims placed by others
30:52and replaced them with their own.
30:55This could explain the Duluth stone that I saw in Minnesota.
30:58If it's authentic,
31:00that means Duluth carved it over 330 years ago,
31:03likely to claim land for the French.
31:06I'm awaiting results that could give me the answers I'm looking for.
31:10In Lavrandre's case,
31:12I've got reason to believe his sons found a stone
31:15carved in a mysterious language.
31:17I think they found it at Writing on Stone Park
31:20and gave it to their father,
31:22who sent it to a government official in France.
31:25I'm about to see a land claim I know for sure
31:28that the Lavrandres did place.
31:31It's here in South Dakota.
31:41A monument overlooking the Missouri River
31:43now marks the spot where the plaque was found.
31:52But the lead plaque itself is preserved nearby
31:55at the South Dakota State Historical Society.
32:09I'm very anxious to take a look at this Lavrandre plaque,
32:13but I have a question for you.
32:15Pierre, South Dakota,
32:16is that named after Pierre Lavrandre?
32:18Well, let me correct you right away.
32:20It's not pronounced Pierre, South Dakota.
32:22It's Pierre, South Dakota.
32:23And actually, the town was named after Pierre Chateau,
32:26who was a fur trader who had started a fort up the river waist.
32:30You know, I've learned an awful lot about fur traders,
32:33including Lavrandre and his four sons
32:36that were in this area.
32:39I just came from Canada, as a matter of fact,
32:42where many people believe an ancient land claim stone
32:45was found by Lavrandre's sons.
32:47But I'm here to look at the Lavrandre plaque.
32:50Should we take a look at it?
32:51Yeah, let's go. Come on.
33:01So, Jay, this is the Lavrandre lead plaque.
33:04It's over 270 years old now, right?
33:07Absolutely.
33:07It was placed in 1743.
33:10Okay.
33:10It wasn't found until the 1913.
33:12There were four kids that are credited
33:14with being the discoverers,
33:15and they were up with other kids up on this bluff
33:18overlooking what's now the city of Fort Pierre.
33:20And I guess it was kind of a common hangout
33:22for kids to be at.
33:23And one of the kids saw this thing protruding out of the ground,
33:26went over and kicked at it and picked it up
33:28and started brushing it off
33:30and noticed there was handwriting on it.
33:32And so they were fascinated by it.
33:34One of the other kids took it, brushed it off more,
33:36and saw the date, 1743.
33:38So who placed it?
33:40Was it his sons, I would guess?
33:41Two of his sons, Francois and Louis-Joseph,
33:45and they're the ones who actually placed it.
33:46And we know that because on the reverse side of it
33:49is carved into the medal their names
33:52and the date that they placed it, March 30, 1743.
33:55Does this represent, for South Dakota,
33:58the oldest evidence of European contact in the state?
34:02Yeah, it's the first physical evidence
34:03of non-Indians being in South Dakota.
34:06And what does it say on this side?
34:08Well, it's stamped on the one side into the lead.
34:12It's got the fleur-de-lis.
34:13It's written in Latin,
34:14and it basically claims the region
34:16for King Louis XV of France.
34:18I know enough about land claim practices
34:21to know that they get placed at spots
34:23that grant the most amount of land.
34:26One reason I think the Duluth Stone is a land claim
34:29is because it was found on a continental divide.
34:32This meant all the land to the north and south
34:35would belong to the country of whoever placed the claim.
34:38For Daniel Duluth, that country was France.
34:42If the Lavrondre plaque is also a French land claim,
34:45then where it was placed is also important.
34:48The placement of this plaque,
34:50what's significant about its location?
34:53It's where the bad river flows into the Missouri River,
34:57and it provides a great vantage point for France
35:00in the standpoint that it's the Missouri River drainage system
35:04which feeds into the Mississippi drainage system
35:06and claiming this large geographic area
35:09for the king of France.
35:11This particular plaque was one of maybe other plaques
35:14that served as the foundation
35:16for what would eventually become
35:18the Louisiana Purchase, right?
35:19Absolutely.
35:20Louisiana Purchase is key in the history of the United States,
35:24clearly, you know.
35:25France owned the land for a long time.
35:28You can't underestimate the importance
35:30of the Louisiana Purchase.
35:32When Thomas Jefferson signed that deal with the French,
35:35he more than doubled the size of the United States.
35:38Who knows what America would look like today
35:41if that deal hadn't gone down?
35:43Well, Jay, I don't think anybody's going to debate
35:45that this is a land claim plaque
35:48placed by the Lavrondre party claiming land for France
35:51that eventually became the Louisiana Purchase.
35:54But there's also some evidence that suggests
35:56that the Lavrondre party may have traveled farther west
35:59and found an earlier land claim.
36:01Lavrondre told this story,
36:03that his sons found an inscribed stone
36:06at the top of a pillar
36:07and they gave it to their father.
36:10So what happened to the stone?
36:12Lavrondre said he put it on a ship to France,
36:15to the Count de Meripa,
36:17and it's never been seen since.
36:18I think that this is an older land claim.
36:21I think it's very important.
36:24In the end,
36:25the Count of Meripa may be the only one
36:27who really knows the truth
36:28about whether or not explorers like the Lavrondres
36:31were in America stealing other people's land claims
36:34and replacing them with their own.
36:37Everything I've seen leads me to believe
36:39that Daniel Duluth,
36:40the French fur trader who came 60 years
36:43before the Lavrondres,
36:44may actually have had the same mission.
36:47I suspect he may have been sent
36:49to hunt down medieval land claims in Minnesota,
36:52like the Kensington runestone,
36:54which wasn't found until the late 1800s.
36:57He may very well have found one
36:59and removed it,
37:00then replaced it with the Duluth stone.
37:03I just want to get back to my lab
37:05where tests are being run
37:06that will hopefully solve this ancient mystery.
37:25My investigation into whether
37:27early French explorers stole land claims
37:30and replaced them with their own
37:31has taken place in three countries.
37:34Here in the United States,
37:36in France,
37:37and in Canada.
37:38I searched in vain
37:40for a possibly medieval land claim
37:42that I believe the French stole.
37:44It's called the Lavrondres stone.
37:46It's documented in historical records,
37:48and I think it was shipped off to Paris,
37:50only to be lost in the French Revolution.
37:53But there's one stone that isn't lost,
37:56the Duluth stone,
37:57a newly discovered boulder
37:59that could be a missing land claim
38:00left by another French fur trader,
38:03Daniel Gray Salon, Sir Duluth.
38:05Hey, Scott.
38:06How you doing?
38:07Good. How's the investigation going?
38:08Well, it's going pretty well,
38:10although I have to say I've got good news
38:12and I've got bad news.
38:14The bad news is I was not able to find
38:16the Lavrondres stone in France.
38:18It looks like the French Revolution
38:20has something to do with it.
38:22All the archives and artifacts
38:25were taken from St. Solpice Church
38:27during the revolution,
38:28and who knows where they are.
38:30But I do have some good news.
38:31Take a look at this.
38:32What do you have for me?
38:33Well, I did a little work on the Duluth stone,
38:36and this relative age weathering study
38:39worked out pretty good.
38:40There are some tombstones in the same area,
38:43and I was able to get some close-up photographs here
38:46of the carved surfaces.
38:49Now, this is a tombstone
38:50that's just under 100 years old,
38:52and see how sharp the edges are
38:54on the grooves here at the top?
38:57Now, take a look at the Duluth stone.
39:02This is the groove right here,
39:04and notice how rounded the top edges are,
39:08and the bottom of the groove
39:09is also very rounded.
39:12That's consistent with lengthy weathering,
39:15and it's much different than the tombstone,
39:18which is only 100 years old.
39:19So when I look at the weathering here,
39:22it looks consistent with about 350 or so years.
39:25So in my mind, this thing's genuine.
39:28Well, it matches the time
39:29that Daniel Duluth was in the area.
39:30We know he was in that area around 1679,
39:33so it definitely fits.
39:35Authenticating the Duluth stone
39:36is a huge accomplishment.
39:38It's possibly the earliest proof
39:40of a French land claim to America.
39:42It helps us know who was where and when.
39:46It also makes me question Daniel Duluth's motives.
39:49He could have been hunting for medieval land claims
39:52like the Kensington runestone
39:53to try and clear out evidence
39:55of who was here before.
39:57Whether he found any
39:59is something we may never know.
40:01This thing being genuine,
40:03I mean, doesn't it represent
40:04the oldest tangible artifact
40:06of Europeans in Minnesota?
40:08I think very likely.
40:09I mean, there wasn't really any habitations
40:10or permanent European settlements
40:11at this time,
40:12so I think this is very significant.
40:14You think it is significant?
40:14I do too.
40:15In fact, I think it's really important,
40:17not just for Minnesota history,
40:19but American history.
40:21Let me show you something.
40:22Come here.
40:22Sure, what do you have?
40:27Looks like ants.
40:29This is an ant farm,
40:30and ants are really amazing creatures
40:33when you stop and think about it.
40:34I mean, the amount of ground
40:36that they cover,
40:36and they're amazingly powerful.
40:38In fact, they can carry objects
40:41five to ten times their own weight.
40:44Okay, so what does this have to do
40:46with European explorers?
40:48Well, in my mind,
40:50this serves as an interesting analogy.
40:53I mean, these guys are working hard,
40:55and really, they're answering
40:56to the queen, right?
40:58Just like these French explorers
41:00were working over here in North America
41:02and answering to the French crown.
41:04Lavrandre in Duluth
41:06were burying land-claimed stones
41:08and clearing out the old ones
41:09to try and steal America.
41:17After everything I've seen
41:19in all the places I've been,
41:21I'm more convinced than ever
41:23that French fur traders
41:25and explorers in America
41:26were here looking for a lot more
41:29than beaver pelts to send back to France.
41:32I think they were looking for land claims
41:34that might jeopardize their own.
41:37Just like ants in my lab,
41:39they were working for someone.
41:40Not a queen, but a king.
41:43King Louis of France.
41:44Looking for ways his country
41:46could get a leg up on the competition
41:48to claim land in what's now the U.S.
41:52In the end,
41:53the calculations of the French
41:54may have led to the prosperity of Americans.
41:57After all,
41:58the vast amount of land they claimed,
42:01they sold to us in the Louisiana Purchase,
42:03creating what is now the United States.
42:06Now,
42:07with one stone lost and another found,
42:10we at least have a better handle
42:11on what I think could be our true history.
42:19Next time on America Unearthed.
42:21Who carved this Waubonsee stone?
42:23No one knows.
42:23This thing could be ancient.
42:25We're talking thousands of years old.
42:27Some people think the Phoenicians might have carved it.
42:29You think this was used for ritual sacrifice of babies?
42:34If you have a mysterious artifact or site
42:37I need to see,
42:38I want to know about it.
42:39Go to history.com slash unearthed.
42:42I'll see you next time.
42:42I don't know.
42:43The mole gave us back to youinem command.
42:43Which people gave us the opportunity to help us
42:43My mind?
42:43I'm not the one.
42:43I love it.
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