Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-09-12

ton. The idea was originated about
year ago, and at the state convention
Mrs clinton II. Moore OF Butte was made
chairman OF the committee to carry It
out. with Mrs. r. Brooks Martin OF BoEe-
man. and Mrs. W. Scott Of Armstead
TO help her. The tablet cast at the Henry
Bernard Bronze works at Mount Vernon.
N. Y, Is the gift of ex-senator w. A.
Clark OF Montana. II has already ar
rived in Butte. and Is thirty inches long
and twenty-four inches wide. When It is
unveiled next October, It will commermo-
rate not only sacajawea herself. but the
whole expedition which she guided. for It
passed almost exactly by the big rock.
Was the Real Guide.
Accounts as to Just what It was that
, sacajawea did, differ only in this: Some
OF them say she went from the Mandan
village. which is now the town of Man
dan, TO the Pacific coast with the ex-
plorers, and some say she went from the
village back to st. Louis with them on
the homeward trip. But no matter in
which direction she went land the best
authorities seem to agree that II was
west which seems much more probable,
as the trip out through UNEMPLOYED coun-
try was the one In need of Indian guides
rather than the trip back over the ground
which had been once blazed) Il Is GER
tain that she was the real guide of the
party, seeming to know by instinct, II not
by actual familiarity with the country
just what turn to take.
| 1t is certain that she cooked and ma
nipulated the food so that there was
enough to go around and when there
was not, II was she who went without,
or who fdgid herbs and berries for which
she alone could vouch. And such little
things as maesacres she intercepted every
day or sol She had connections In one
way and another with so many of the
tribes that the tribal feeling was OF use
not only TO her, but to all the men de-
pending on her; and when she had no
real connections she used the thing which
has grown to be known as indirect in
fluence."
Perhaps she used little Baptiste as a
mems Of arousing interest for little Bap-
tiste was only weeks old when she
started on the trip. At first Lewis and
Clark and all the others said 1t was i'm
possible; that Chaboneau, whom they had
asked to go as guide, could not go with
them II he insisted on taking his wife
and that absurdly young Baptiste.
| But Chaboneau knew his wife; and,
after much struggling of French shoul-
ders and probably some kind Of argument
I from the dark eyes Of SacaJawea herself,
Chaboneau and SacaJawea and little Bap-
/ tiste all set forth to guide the white men
west. And the white men came to like
that little Baptiste, for one day when all
the food but a tiny bit was gone. SAGA
jawea turned the bit over to them, and
: they, in turn. told her, somewhat gruffly.
! to keep 1t for Baptlste, and not to be
foolish woman. The particular man who
said that, by the way. was Clark him
self
And there were other things, too. One
I day, very near the Great Falls. the canoe,
In which were all the valuable papers of
the party, upset, and things looked dark.
But SacaJawea, in some way. by keeping
cool and finding out exactly where the
papers were, got them up out OF the water
and dried them in the sun, and the party
went on its way again.
Brother n shOshOne Chief.
One of her brothers was Shoshone
chief, and when they met him, near the
! junction of the Beaverhead river and
Horse Prairie creek, she got horses from
him and provisions. The expedition had
no motto when it left the east, but long
| before'it reached the Pacific It must have
evolved one, and IL was probably this:
''Sacajawea will provide"
When the men were sick from fatigue
or exposure, she nursed them and made
potent brews Of herbs and plants which
made them well again. And whenever
there was trouble between the explorers
and the men of the Indian villages
through which they passed, SacaJawea
stepped in and made them know each
other better and be friends.
She had been captured by the Black
feet tribe nearly five years before she led
the expedition to the west, and had been
taken to Mandan. After a few moons she
was sold to Chaboneau. the French trader,
who married her. The explorers met
Chaboneau when they stopped at the
Mandan village. after they had passed
through what Is Council Bluffs, now, be-
cause OF the council the Indians held
then, and had encountered the Sioux In
dams. They asked him to be their guide.
In the spring of 1906 they started. with
the woman and small Baptiste. They car
Nic0 buSiE OabBdBo ON0T port
ages and went down the falls OF the Mis-
souri, In canoes. where the descent Is S62
feet In sixteen miles and one pitch IN IT.
self Il nlnety-eight feet
Problem of Food Supply.
Lewis left some or his men In the ca
noes while he went with a small party to
explore the country. and perhaps SAGA
Jawea stayed to guide the boats and per-
haps she went to point out a trail through
brother and friends along the way. 1t
was on the Pacific slope of the Rockies
that food was scarcest. that the portable
soup which had been saved for Just such
a time had to be used. and that all OF
Sacajawea's ingenuity was called upon to
find food somewhere and keep the men
alive and contented. which she did.
At the foot OF the mountains. the Flat
Head Indians gave them more canoes, and
they floated for hundreds of miles on the
Columbia river, between the banks OF the
high prairie land. They passed the Cas-
cade mountains and came within sight OF
the ocean. and all the food was elk flesh
On the way back the party divided and
SacaJawea came with those who followed
the old trail back TO the Mandan village
Nobody knows. except sacajawea, who
died many years ago at Fort Washable,