The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1910-01-06


possession OF the great
northwest-has not been
written. No legends are told from
mother to daughter of her patience.
courage and suffering: no poet has
tuned his lay to her story; history
itself does not contain her name.
One honor has been paid her. The
women of Oregon have caused to be
craven in immortal bronze statue
OF Sacajawea (or Sahcahgarweah).
the bird-woman, the Shoshone prin-
cess whose assistance to Lewis and
Clark made possible the success OF
that historic expedition and unveiled
TO civilization n mighty empire.
More than a century ago the Sho-
shones dwelt by the clear waters OF
the Snake river In the far northwest.
The mighty and powerful Minitarees.
or Blackfeet. were their dreaded enc
mics. and, at frequent intervals. swept
silently and swiftly down upon them.
burning their villages, killing their
men and carrying of their women. In
one OF these raids. which took place
about the year 1893. the Blackfeet
captured and carried of Sacajawea,
then a girl IL or ~ years old. and
with her a girl companion. who es-
capped on the journey to the eastward.
Her Blackfeet captors took Sacajawea
TO the Mandan country and sold her
into slavery. She became the proper
~ OF French trapper and frontiers
man by the name OF Charbonneau, and
when she reached her early teens
was taken by Charbonneau as one of
his squaws
One day in October, 1904. william
Clark and Merriwether Lewis arrived
at the Mandan village with an ex.
ploring expedition headed for the Pa
cific northwest. far beyond even the
Shoshone country. and went into win
ter quarters. In the spring they would
push on. Sacajawea heard of IT, Her
husband had already been employed
as interpreter. She visited Capt.
Lewis and Capt. Clark early in No
vember and offered to go along as a
guide. Her services were accepted
and Charbonneau and Sacajawea now
Joined the white mems camp and be-
came a part of the expedition.
The westward journey was begun
on the first Sunday In April. 1905. the
party consisting of 80 white men. and
with them went Charbonneau and
Cacajawea. with her two-month-old
papoose strapped TO her back. Thus
she carried him TO the waters OF the
Pacific ocean and back to Fort Man
dan. though a frall woman not yet IS
years old
They made their way up the river
I'm cottonwood canoes and at length
came to Sunday island" where they
anchored.
Soon afterwards the captains named
a river I'm her honor, the Sacajawea,
now set down on the maps as Crooked
creek. in Montana. Thence on to the
mountains Sacajawea bore her share
of the exhausting hardships. helping
draw the boats along when the rapids
were too powerful to be stemmed with
the paddles, and often her feet we're
painfully bruised by the sharp stones
and the prickly pear.
Finally the woman was taken i'll
with a fever and since the expedition
was dependent upon her for guidance
and other assistance, a halt of several
weeks was made until she was able to
go on.
In July the expedition camped on
the very spot where Sacajawea had
been captured five years before, an
event which she now realistically de-
scribed to her comrades Later they
came to a place called Beavers Head.
which she recognized. She told the
captains that II was not far from the
summer residence of the lShoshones.
and that she was certain that they
would meet them soon. But II was
not until the first days Of August, aft
or many days of frightful hunger, that
they reached the Lcmbt or Snake
river. "a handsome. bold creek OF
clear water running to the westward"