Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1910-01-27
SAKAKAWEA, 1.-THE BIRD WOMAN"

ed to memory of the "the bird woman"
who piloted Lewis and Clarke over the
Northwest and sawed an empire" is to
be erected upon the state capitol
grounds at Bismarck by the club
women and school children of North
Dakota. BY those who have kept
themselves informed it will be remem-
bered hat it was S~akakawea, a Shes
hone Indian maiden, who fitted as if
winged across the plains of the west and
across the great divide, showing the
explorers, Lewis and Clark the way to
the Pacific,
The explorers saw her first, this bird
woman, to whose wisdom, patience and
fidelity, they W so largely the success
of their expedition in the Valley OF the
Mandan Indians, on the spot where the
state capitol at Bismarck now stands.
They had finished the first step of their
Journey, having started from St.;;lLouis
IN May, 1904, and arriving at this point,
1900 miles up the Missouri in October.
1t was here that they decided to make
their winter camp, havingl found that
there was plenty of game and the pro-
lection of a friendly tribe of Indians.
Five years before Lewis and Clark reach
ed this poin on theic journey a band of
Shoshone Indian maidens had been
captured by a band of the Sioux tribe
and carried away to the Dakotas as
slaves, and a French Indian guide, M.
Charbonneau, approaching the uncom-
mon grace Of mind and person of these
Indian maidens chose this chiefs
daughter as his wife, for he found her
to be different to the Indian women of
the plains, more erect, more slender
built; quicker Of movement.
At the time the explorers came"FFacross
her she was a bird in a cage, still merry
hearted. She laughed with her French
husband and romped with her little
brown papoose. This party of thirty-two
explorers stayed all the long winter at
Fort Mandan until the ice in the river
roke up in the spring when they con-
'lnued their journey n%orthward, but
unaccustomed to the source of the river
and the trailes of the mountain tribes
they accepted the entreties of ,,theIndian
maiden that she should be their guide,
And so in April 1905, with six canoes
and two Hat boats, that were pushed out
on the virgin waters of the Missouri
the explorers, guided by the s"bird
WON an" the only penson who had as
yet set eyes on the great falls of the
Missouri, Or had come across the snowy
passes Q the mountains. Within a
week they had passed the Little Mis-
souri, and had reached the Yellowstone
liver. Over theHmountain slopes and
down the dark canyons the "bird
woman" piloted them where theiwhite
mans foot had never before trod. II
was along in July when Lewis and
Clark first set eyes upon the great sea
water, thus opening up an empire to oul
people, which but for this would have
been closed to civilization !sfor sEanothe1
decade.
In heir account of thel expedition
both Lewis and Clark pay great 3tribute
to Sakakawean. They say that she was
very observant. She had a good
memory, remembering many locations
that she had not seen ssince her child
hood. In trouble She was ssresourceful
plucky and determined. With her help
less infant she rode with the mon: guild
ing unerringly through mountainou
passes. Long since has the "birc
woman" departedj to the .happyj hunting
ground. Only her name and the stor,
remain, but posterity will not soon forge
her services to the white1race.