It is not mentioned in the official records of La Vérendrye's expeditions,[1] but in 1749 he discussed it with visiting Swedish scientist Pehr Kalm, from whose writings virtually all information about the stone is taken.
Hjalmar Holand thought it was found on an expedition in 1738 to a Mandan area "along the banks of the Missouri" in a location which may have been near present-day Minot, North Dakota.
La Vérendrye told Kalm that the tablet was sent back to Quebec, where Jesuit priests concluded that it was written in "Tatarian" writing.
There are no descriptions of the stone after that time, but it has been claimed that it was shipped with other artifacts to a church in Rouen, later to be buried under a pile of rubble when the building which housed it was destroyed during World War II.
Theodore C. Blegen wrote that "some stones with runelike markings actually carry traces left by small prehistoric creatures" which might mislead anyone who was not a professional runologist.