Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1936-05-23

OF the Lewis ana Ciark E1pcuAStOhs
Having made all arrangements, we left
| the fort about o'clock in the after
noon The two interpreters were
| George Drewyer and TOusSaint Char
| boneau. The wife of Charboneau ac-
companied us with her young child, and
we hope she may be useful as an In
terpreter among the Snake Indians.
She was herself one of that tribe, but
having been taken in war by the Min
netarees. she was sold to Charboneau,
who brought her up and later married
her :" The explorers erred In the
last statement, for Charboneau had
! certainly not brought her up" Char
boneau was certainly not the type, the
magnanimous adopter of young Indian
maidens. Sacajawea had been married
for q year when Charboneau bought
her.
SO Sacajawea stepped into the spot
light of history that day in April 1905,
when she started up the Missouri river
with Lewis and Clark. Her husband,
Charboneau, and George Drewyer were
nominally interpreters and guides, but
Sacajawea soon superseded them In
that position. She became the guiding
spirit of the party. In her arms she
carried her baby, the hah-breed Bap-
tiste.
A large measure Of the honor for the
success of the Lewis and Clark expedi-
ton should be given SacaJawea. She
made herself indispensable. In nuner-
GUS mentions in the journals Lewis and
Clark credit her with unusual foresight
and courage. Wrote Captain Lewis May
Il, 1905: THE Indian woman, TO whom
ascribe equal fortitude and resolu-
ton with any person on board, caught
and preserved most of the articles
xsrar-o xrYorf1nT fnxroy.t1tQr.r3 He
was referring to an incident In which
Charboneau had allowed his boat to |
ship water and Sacajawea, papooSe on
her back, had stood waist deep in water
rescuing valuable utensils and food
Stuffs. This was only the beginning OF
q long series Of events in which the
Indian woman proved her fortlgude.
She schooled other members OF tne
party in Indian lore. She hunted arti-
chokes and other wild vegetables IN the
forests. She picked great buckets of
berries. Her fellow travellers realized
her worth and the leaders honored her
by naming a tributary Of the Mussel-
shell river Sacajawea river in her hon.
or. This creek has since come to be
named Crooked creek.
Those first months Of the expedition
were happy ones for the young Indian
woman for she loved travel, no matter
the direction, and, too, she was return
ing to the west, TO the land and the
valley of her birth Seldom did the
members Of the party call her by. the
name of SAGA awea In writing about
her Captain Clark referred to her in his
own bad spelling as "the sqlfar;;" Cap
tain Lewis wrote her into his journal
as "the Indian woman" In speaking
to her they called her "Janey." Char
boneau called her always, simply, my
woman"
Finally the land Of the Shoshones and
The Lernhi valley were reached and
was reunited with her tribe
and her relatives In the journals Lewis
and Clark described the touching scene
when Sacajawea first recognized girl
friend of her childhood. Later she
found her brother and other relatives.
With the aid Of Sacajawea the expedi-
lion obtained many horses from the
and continued on to the
vest, TO the very shore OF the Pacific
ocean; then east again to what is now
North Dakota. At the confluence OF the
Knife river and the Yellowstone, Char
1oneau and Sacajawea left the party.
t was q sad parting for all concerned.
They had been comrades all on the
Dig adventure Writing of the separa-
ion. Clark said: This man has been
yery serviceable to us, and his wife was
particularly useful among the Sho-
homes. Indeed, she has born with pa
ienee truly admirable the fatigueS of
% long 8 route, encountered with the
.harge Of an infant, who is even now
My 10 months old. She was very OBJ
servant. She had q good memory. re-
locations not seen since her
childhood In trouble she was fun Of
resources. plucky and determined. With
Ter helpless infant she rode with the
nen. guiding us unerringly through
passes and lonely places :.
intelligent, cheerful, resourceful. tire
ess, faithful, she inspired us all. We
therefore, paid CharbOneau his wages,
mounting TO $5OO.33, including the
rice OF a horse and lodge purchased
rom him." Charb0neau got $50033
Iacatawea got nothing.
6acaiaw had her brief moment of
riurnuh as leader OF the successful
ewls and Clark expeoition, then she
rns,red ont az sight Little Is known Of
er fife after that day when she stood