Paul & Tara Visit the National Parks

"The Indian woman [Sacagawea] recognized the point of the high plain. She informed us it was near her people's summer retreat."

-August 8, 1805 journal entry of Meriwether Lewis. The landmark Sacagawea recognized was Beaverhead Rock, near the present-day town of Twin Bridges, Montana

"Shortly after Capt. Clark arrived with the Interpreter Charbono [Toussaint Charbonneau] and the Indian woman [Sacagawea], who proved to be the sister of the Chief Cameahwait. The meeting of those people was really affecting, particularly between Sah cah-gar-we-ah [Sacagawea] and an Indian woman, who had been taken prisoner at the same time with her, and who had afterwards escaped from the Minnetares [Hidatsa] and rejoined her nation."

-August 17, 1805 journal entry of Meriwether Lewis, describing the emotional reunion of Sacagawea with her brother, Chief Cameahwait, and her tribal people.

"The Interpreter & Squar [Sacagawea] who were before me at some distance danced for the joyful sight, and she made signs to me that they were her nation.

-August 17, 1805 journal entry of William Clark, describing the reunion.

The Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail commemorates the famous Lewis & Clark expedition (the "Corps of Discovery") of 1804-1806. The trail extends nearly 5,000 miles from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania all the way to Astoria, Oregon on the Pacific Coast. The trail winds down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, and then up the Mississippi to St. Louis. From there, it follows the Missouri River into Montana, across the Rockies, and then follows the Columbia River until it reaches the Pacific Ocean. The trail is administered by the National Park Service (NPS), but the sites along the trail are managed by other federal agencies (such as BLM), state agencies, tribal governments, or private organizations.

This blog will focus on the section of the trail in Idaho near the town of Salmon. This is where Lewis & Clark crossed over the continental divide for the first time and discovered that any rivers they came across now flowed towards the Pacific Ocean.

near Lemhi Pass, Idaho

In November 1804, the Corps of Discovery reached the tribal lands of the Mandan (in present-day North Dakota) along the Missouri River. They decided to winter there. Lewis & Clark met a French-Canadian fur trapper, Toussiant Charbonneau. Charbonneau spoke many languages of the tribes that Lewis & Clark would encounter further upriver. Lewis & Clark decided to hire Charbonneau as an interpreter. Charbonneau's "wife" also joined the party. Her name was Sacagawea (also spelled Sacajawea or Sakakawea). Sacagawea was born circa 1788 to the Agaidika ("salmon eater") aka Lemhi Shoshone tribe, near present-day Salmon, Idaho.

As a young girl (probably 12 years old), Sacagawea was kidnapped by a Hidatsa tribe during a raid of her village, sold into slavery to the Mandan tribe, and then sold to Charbonneau at around age 13 (it is said that Charbonneau "won" her in a gambling game). Charbonneau held Sacagawea as his wife, but it is unknown if this marriage was solemnized under either Native American custom or common law. At the time the Corps of Discovery met the two in 1804, Sacagawea was approximately 16 years old and pregnant with Charbonneau's child. On February 11, 1805, Sacagawea gave birth to Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, who Clark nicknamed "Pompy."

After the winter of 1804-1805, the Corps of Discovery (accompanied by Charbonneau, Sacagawea, and Pompy) headed upriver and eventually arrived at the Rocky Mountains. Lewis & Clark, who had made the journey up to this point almost entirely by boat, decided that they now needed horses to travel across the mountains. Sacagawea, who started to recognize landmarks of her tribal homelands, suggested that they meet with her tribe and trade for horses. On August 12, 1805, the Corps of Discovery crossed Lemhi Pass (elevation 7,373 ft) and were the first recorded Americans of European descent to set foot on land that is now the State of Idaho. A few days later, the Corps of Discovery met the Lemhi Shoshone tribe, and, in what can only be described now as a scene from a movie, Sacagawea recognized the Chief (Cameahwait) as her brother. A brother that she had not seen in over fifteen long years. Cameahwait sadly informed Sacagawea that the rest of her family had died, and that he was the lone survivor. Both Lewis and Clark recounted in their journals how moved they were at witnessing this emotional reunion.

It was a rainy (and surprisingly cold) July morning when we visited the Lemhi Pass area.

We took a dip in Sharkey Hot Springs. This is worth a stop. There are two soaking pools, fed by the spring water (that is a toasty 103 degrees Fahrenheit).

a rainy morning made the car all muddy after traversing the back roads near Lemhi Pass

The Shoshone informed Lewis & Clark that the raging Salmon River would be unnavigable downstream and that crossing on land across the Rocky Mountains would be the only way to continue westward. Thanks to Sacagawea's influence, the Shoshone agreed to barter horses and provide guides to the Corps of Discovery across the Rocky Mountains.

Sacagawea's contributions to the Corps of Discovery were invaluable. Towards the end of the expedition, the Corps returned to Fort Mandan (in North Dakota) in August 1806. This is where Lewis & Clark parted ways with Charbonneau and Sacagawea. Clark wrote a letter to the Charbonneau in farewell:

"You have been a long time with me and conducted yourself in such a manner as to gain my friendship, your woman who accompanied you [Sacagawea] that long dangerous and fatigueing route to the Pacific Ocean and back deserved a greater reward for her attention and services on that route than we had in our power to give her at the Mandans. As to your little son, my boy Pomp, you well know my fondness of him and my anxiety to take him and raise him as my own child. ... Wishing you and your family great success & with anxious expectations of seeing my little dancing boy Baptiste I shall remain your friend."

-letter from Clark to Charbonneau, August 20, 1806

After the expedition, Charbonneau and Sacagawea accepted Clark's invitation to move to St. Louis, Missouri, where Pompy enrolled in a boarding school. Charbonneau and Sacagawea eventually moved back to Ft. Mandan, and entrusted Pompy to Clark's care. Clark officially adopted Pompy in 1813.

The fate of Sacagawea is not entirely known and is heavily debated by scholars. The last verified documentation of her whereabouts is a journal entry from Henry Breckinridge, a fur trader, who wrote that she was living at Fort Mandan in 1811. It is believed by most scholars that Sacagawea died from an illness, shortly after giving birth to a daughter, Lizette, in 1812.

according to oral tradition, this field is the birthplace of Sacagawea. Near the small village of Tendoy, ID

We visited the Sacajawea Interpretive Center in Salmon, Idaho, to learn about her extraordinary life and the Corps of Discovery.

statue of Seaman, a Newfoundland dog.

Meriwether Lewis purchased the dog in Pittsburgh in 1803. The dog, named Seaman, accompanied Lewis for the entire expedition. Upon Lewis's untimely and tragic death in 1809, it is reported that Seaman constantly stayed at Lewis's grave morning and night and refused any food offered to him. Seaman died of grief on the grave, ever loyal to his master.

statue of Sacagawea holding Pompy

visitor center

took a nice nature walk around the center

The town of Salmon (pop. 3,119) is the largest city in the area. It is the county seat of Lemhi County. With our visit here, Tara and I have now been to all 44 counties in the great state of Idaho.