37 - Idaho, Sacagawea
Sacagawea brought white people through her lands to our new home. My home. The land that I grew up in (Richland, WA), studied (St. Louis, MO), worked (Astoria, OR) and explored forever was the Lewis and Clark Expedition. And as they traveled the terrain of North Dakota westward, mapping and charting the new American lands, she led them.
Idaho was the 30th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment 100 years ago today on February 11, 1920.
Sacagawea was daughter to the Shoshone chief, and became the only woman on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Her name translates to “bird woman” or “boat puller”.
Kidnapped from her Shoshone tribe as a child by the Hidatsa Indians, Sacagawea was sold to a French-Canadian trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau, to be one of his wives at her age of twelve. He brought her to the upper Missouri River in North Dakota area.
In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered the area on their “Corps of Discovery” to explore the new western lands and in search of the Pacific Ocean. Charbonneau became their translator, and brought Sacagawea and her newborn baby to the mission. She became a leader in finding edible plants for the trek, and saved cargo and important documents during a capsized event. More importantly, she was a symbol of peace to other groups being a woman and new mother. The trek group was less threatening to the tribes they encountered.
When they met with the Shoshone tribe, her relationship to their leader, her brother, assisted in buying horses to cross the Rocky Mountains.
Reaching the Pacific Ocean in November 1805, she voted (!!) with the group to stay in Fort Clatsop in Astoria, OR through the winter. Later, she did return East to the Mandan villages, and is believed to have died in 1812.
Why this woman?
Being a Pacific Northwesterner, the trek of the Lewis and Clark Expedition has been ingrained in not only my local history classes, but on names of the mileposts throughout the area. I was born in Brandon, Manitoba, just north of Fort Mandan. I grew up at the delta of the Columbia and Yakima Rivers. I lived in St. Louis, starting point of the trek. And I work consistently throughout my DLR Group career with Clatsop County, the Fort where they stayed at the ocean. Visually, I imagine how they saw the land as they pushed through the rolling hills and deserts of my hometown. All of it familiar and inviting to me.
Sacagawea’s role in this expedition has always been tied intrinsically to it. Told to me, it was never Lewis and Clark without her. And it wasn’t Lewis, Clark, Charbonneau, and Sacagawea. It was her. A leader, mother of the expedition. She was the life of the group. You don’t hear stories of domination or fear throughout the trek. They were safe and respectful. They were a family engaging on one of the most interesting expeditions of our country. She was their beacon; their light through the darkness. She may not have seen the ocean before, but this was not new to her. She was one with the land and the people.
Growing up along the trail is my home even though I lived elsewhere. Most of the route tied the country together for me. This connection brings me closer to Sacagawea. A true explorer. Giving her lands to us. For better and unfortunately worse. Thank you.
Idaho was the 30th state to ratify the Nineteenth Amendment 100 years ago today on February 11, 1920.
Sacagawea was daughter to the Shoshone chief, and became the only woman on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Her name translates to “bird woman” or “boat puller”.
Kidnapped from her Shoshone tribe as a child by the Hidatsa Indians, Sacagawea was sold to a French-Canadian trapper, Toussaint Charbonneau, to be one of his wives at her age of twelve. He brought her to the upper Missouri River in North Dakota area.
In 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark entered the area on their “Corps of Discovery” to explore the new western lands and in search of the Pacific Ocean. Charbonneau became their translator, and brought Sacagawea and her newborn baby to the mission. She became a leader in finding edible plants for the trek, and saved cargo and important documents during a capsized event. More importantly, she was a symbol of peace to other groups being a woman and new mother. The trek group was less threatening to the tribes they encountered.
When they met with the Shoshone tribe, her relationship to their leader, her brother, assisted in buying horses to cross the Rocky Mountains.
Reaching the Pacific Ocean in November 1805, she voted (!!) with the group to stay in Fort Clatsop in Astoria, OR through the winter. Later, she did return East to the Mandan villages, and is believed to have died in 1812.
Why this woman?
Being a Pacific Northwesterner, the trek of the Lewis and Clark Expedition has been ingrained in not only my local history classes, but on names of the mileposts throughout the area. I was born in Brandon, Manitoba, just north of Fort Mandan. I grew up at the delta of the Columbia and Yakima Rivers. I lived in St. Louis, starting point of the trek. And I work consistently throughout my DLR Group career with Clatsop County, the Fort where they stayed at the ocean. Visually, I imagine how they saw the land as they pushed through the rolling hills and deserts of my hometown. All of it familiar and inviting to me.
Sacagawea’s role in this expedition has always been tied intrinsically to it. Told to me, it was never Lewis and Clark without her. And it wasn’t Lewis, Clark, Charbonneau, and Sacagawea. It was her. A leader, mother of the expedition. She was the life of the group. You don’t hear stories of domination or fear throughout the trek. They were safe and respectful. They were a family engaging on one of the most interesting expeditions of our country. She was their beacon; their light through the darkness. She may not have seen the ocean before, but this was not new to her. She was one with the land and the people.
Growing up along the trail is my home even though I lived elsewhere. Most of the route tied the country together for me. This connection brings me closer to Sacagawea. A true explorer. Giving her lands to us. For better and unfortunately worse. Thank you.
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