Sacajawea

by Anna Lee Waldo

  2. Dr. Antoine Saugrain was a protégé of Benjamin Franklin, who lured him to America from Paris. Dr. Saugrain’s work in St. Louis earned him the title of the First Scientist of the Mississippi Valley. He built one of the finest homes in St. Louis, occupying the block bounded by Second and Third Streets, Gratiot and Lombards Streets. The block was surrounded by a seven-foot stone wall to keep Indians from running through his property. Dr. Saugrain had one of the largest libraries in St. Louis at that time. Legend says that he not only provided medicinals, a well-stocked medical kit, friction matches and medical advice to both Lewis and Clark, but that he made the explorers’ thermometers by blowing and calibrating glass tubes which he filled with mercury melted from his wife’s mirrors. Between the mid 1600s and mid 1800s, mirrors were made from sheets of glass backed with a silver-colored amalgam of tin and mercury. From E. G. Chuinard, Only One Man Died: The Medical Aspects of the Lewis and

  Clark Expedition. Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1980, pp. 195–212.

  3. Dr. Chuinard wrote that Dr. Antoine Saugrain perhaps knew of Jenner’s smallpox vaccine at the time Lewis and Clark studied with him in St. Louis just before the expedition. Dr. Saugrain had treated smallpox with inoculation when he was at the French community of Gallipolis, Ohio, in the 1790s. Chuinard, pp. 200–6. He was the first doctor in St. Louis to vaccinate. Kennerly, p. 140, quotes an advertisement in the Missouri Gazette for June 7, 1809: “having been politely favored by a friend with the genuine Vaccine infection [he] has successfully communicated that inestimable preventive of Small Pox to a number of the inhabitants of St. Louis and its vicinity … Persons in indigent circumstances, paupers, and Indians, will be attended gratis on application.” From Persimmon Hill, by William Clark Kennerly. Copyright 1948 by the University of Oklahoma Press.

  4. On the 11th of April, 1805, Lewis reported that the white material that makes up the riverbanks and hills “tastes like a mixture of common salt and glauber salts … and had a purgative effect.” Coues, Vol. I, p. 266.

  CHAPTER 15 Beaver Bite

  1. Lewis wrote in his journal on May 19, 1805: “one of the party wounded a beaver, and my dog as usual swam out to catch it; the beaver bit him through the hind leg and cut the artery; it was with great difficulty that I could stop the blood; I fear it will yet prove fatal to him.” Clark only wrote one sentence about the incident. From The Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto, p. 113. Copyright 1953 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

  CHAPTER 16 Sacajawea’s Illness

  1. There was but one way for the men of the expedition to identify the correct course of the Missouri—by finding the legendary Great Falls. Captain Lewis was puzzled that the Mandans had not mentioned these forks where he now stood and that the Wolf Chief had not pictured it in this place on the elk-hide map. Thetruth was that the North Fork, Maria’s River, and the River-Which-Scolds-At-All-Others had simply been misplaced farther downstream in the memory of the Wolf Chief. They were on the map, but in the wrong place.

  CHAPTER 17 Cloudburst

  1. The men working with the portage were working with their shirts off in the scorching June heat when the hailstorm began. The axle-tree broke. One man was knocked down three times, and the backs of others were bruised and bleeding when the storm stopped. Clark wrote that one of the hailstones “was 7 Inches in circumfrence and waied three ounces.” No one had expected the storm to be so violent, nor to last as long as thirty minutes, nor to have hailstones larger then hen’s eggs. From The Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto, p. 148. Copyright 1953 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

  CHAPTER 18 Tab-ba-bone

  1. This was the worst thing he could have said. He was probably trying to say the Shoshoni word tai-va-vone, which means “stranger” or “outsider.” No doubt Lewis learned the word from Sacajawea, and he may not have understood her, or she may not have remembered the name for “white man.” Maybe the Shoshonis of that time had no name for “white man.” Sacajawea had been only a child when captured and had not seen a white man when she was with her people. Therefore, she never knew she would need to know a word for “white man.” The lone Shoshoni scout saw armed men who were outsiders and strangers. Spreading the blanket and yelling that they were strangers was not a reassuring gesture in a land where every stranger was an enemy.

  2. Thirty years later, the American traveler R. J. Farnham was told by Shoshonis the story of the scout that Lewis saw. The Indian was so surprised at seeing a pale-faced man who could make both “thunder and lightning,” that he could not move for a few moments. Then he hurried to tell the astonishing news to his people. The Shoshoni were skeptical and said thatall people were brown as they were. They called the scout a dreamer, meaning he made up the story of men with skin pale as ashes. They told the scout that he had to show them the pale men or be killed for telling an untruth. Eventually, the scout led the Shoshoni tribesmen to the spot where they met Lewis, and his truthfulness was reestablished. John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark, Partners in Discovery. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1947, pp. 236–37; Thwaites, Vol. 28,1816, 1904–7, pp. 176–79.

  3. Captain Lewis was right, he and his men had crossed the Continental Divide that day by way of the Lemhi Pass (due west of Armstead, Montana). But the clear, cold water he drank was from one of the headwater streams of the Lemhi River, a tributary of the Salmon River, a tributary (Snake River) of the Columbia River.

  CHAPTER 19 The People

  1. Captain Lewis was thirty-one years old on August 18, 1805. He wrote philosophically about his age, resolving to live for mankind from that day forward. Four years later on October 10, 1809, he was dead. It was a great loss for mankind, and has remained one of the unsolved mysteries, because no one today knows if his death was murder or suicide.

  CHAPTER 20 Big Moose

  1. John Rees of the Lemhi County Historical Society wrote that the Shoshoni called Ben York, Too-tivo. Rees says, in Shoshoni this means a black white man. Rees, 1970, p. 23.

  CHAPTER 21 Divided

  1. The Lewis River is now called the Snake River.

  2. This branding iron is now displayed at the Oregon Historical Society, 1230 Southwest Park Ave., Portland, Oregon.

  CHAPTER 22 Over the Mountains

  1. These Indians were Ootlashoots and lived in the valley known today as Ross’s Hole. They were later identified as Selish Flathead. But these people neverpracticed flattening the skull, which was popular among some Pacific coast Indians.

  2. Pheasants were not established in the Willamette Valley, Oregon, until the late nineteenth century. However, Clark wrote in his journal on Sept. 13, 1805: “One Deer and Some Pheasants killed this morning. I shot 4 Pheasants of the Common Kind except the tale was black.” Lewis wrote in his journal of Sept. 18, 1805:“… there is nothing upon earth except ourselves and a few small pheasants, small gray squirrels, and a blue bird of the vulture kind … “ John Bakeless, p. 262, wrote about the expedition’s food while going through the Rocky Mountains: “For a time they had nothing to eat but a diet of wolf and crayfish, ameliorated by three pheasants and a duck.” In all these instances the men were probably describing the ruffed grouse or sage hens which were often called pheasants at that time. John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark, Partners in Discovery. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1947.

  3. The soup was made by Francois Baillet in Philadelphia for the expedition. On May 30, 1803, he presented a bill for $289.50 for 193 pounds of Portable Soup. Lewis had the soup stored in canisters because it was not dry, but more of a paste or gluelike consistency. Before it was consumed it was to be mixed with water. From E. G. Chuinard, Only One Man Died: The Medical Aspects of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clark Co., 1980, pp. 161–62.

  4. Now called White Sand Creek.

  5. “The trouble was dysentery, in Clark’s words a universal ‘Lax and heaviness at the stomack.’” This might have been from spoiled salmon, but the Nez Percé were not ill. From The Journals of Lewis and Clark,
edited by Bernard DeVoto, p. 241. Copyright 1953 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

  The men were weak and depressed. There was not much to eat but some bear grease and twenty pounds of candles. Bakeless, p. 262.

  CHAPTER 23 Dog Meat

  1. A Nez Percé chief, Lawyer, enjoyed recalling to his white friends the story of how his people were terrifled when they first saw a redheaded pale face, who was accompanied by a gigantic black man and a squaw with a papoose on her back. These three were leading other pale faces and a string of packhorses on a direct path toward his village near the present Kamiah, Idaho. The entire village took to the brush for hiding. At that time Lawyer was himself a papoose in a cradleboard hanging from a tree. His mother was so frightened she forgot to pick him up and take him into the brush with her. Lawyer’s father finally crept back to the deserted village after sundown and to his surprise he found the strangers peaceful and friendly. He picked up his child and then ran to get his woman. The entire village followed him back to greet these strangers. From p. 266 in Lewis and Clark: Partners in Discovery by John Bakeless. Copyright 1947 by John Bakeless. By permission of William Morrow and Company, N. Y.

  2. The first horses of the Nez Percés came from the Shoshonis and were descendants of horses brought into Mexico by the early Spanish explorers. The piebald rump was a characteristic, perhaps inherited from the Moroccan “barb,” an Arabian strain that the Moors brought into Spain. The Nez Percés improved the quality of their herds, and one of the best-known strains developed by them is the Appaloosa. Mathieson, p. 16.

  3. Chinook jargon was the name for the old Hudson’s Bay Company trade lingo, the universal conversational vehicle for all Indians along the Northwest coast.

  4. After seventeen arduous months the expedition entered what is now the State of Washington on October 11, 1805. They canoed down the swift and hazardous Snake River, making as much as forty miles a day.

  CHAPTER 24 The Columbia

  1. Twisted Hair used a piece of charcoal to draw on a white elkskin. He drew the course of the main river, which was two sleeps to some large forks, five sleeps to a great falls. John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark, Partners in Discovery. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1947, p. 269.

  2. On October 16th the expedition finally reached the Columbia River.

  3. Bakeless writes that the successful experimentby Private Collins was the high point of the journey. Collins was a resourceful fellow who became thirsty and made some beer, which was excellent to the uncritical explorers. “ … the expedition quaffed it gratefully.” Bakeless, p. 275.

  4. On Monday, October 21, 1805, Clark wrote: “One of our party J. Collins presented us with verry good beer made of the Pa-shi-co-quar-mash (probably camass, belonging to the lily family, with a bulbous root) bread, which bread is the remains of what was laid in as a part of our Stores of Provisions, at the first flat heads or Chopunnish Nation at the head of the Koss-koske river (Clearwater) which by being frequently wet molded and sowered.” (The Chopunnish are actually the Nez Percé, not the Flatheads. It is remarkable that the captains didn’t confuse more names of the various tribes than they did, as the names were all new to them and the spelling entirely their own.)

  5. Clark and two men explored up the Columbia in a light canoe, visiting along the way with Indians who were busy splitting and drying salmon. After reaching the mouth of the Tapteal (Yakima) River, Clark and his party turned back to rejoin the others and continued the journey down the Columbia.

  CHAPTER 25 The Pacific

  1. The Great Shoot is now known as the Cascades of the Columbia.

  2. On October 22, 1805, the expedition portaged a distance of 1,200 yards around the Great Falls of the Columbia (Celilo Falls). This was a favorite salmon fishing area of the Nez Percé prior to inundation by backwater of the Dalles Dam. Salmon were trapped in weirs, harpooned from rocky outthrusts at narrows, or dipped up with long-handled, woven rush nets from the pools at the bottom of rapids and falls where they circled around attempting to leap over the rapids. At the Dalles the Indians built scaffoldings or fragile wooden platforms extending over the swift waters. Choice sites were where the water was strongest or where salmon passed close to rocks to avoid the strong current. A good Nez Percé fisherman would bring in 500 salmon a day. An adaptation of page 17 from Empire of the Columbia: A

  History of the Pacific Northwest by Dorothy O. Johansen and Charles M. Gates. Copyright 1957 by Harper and Row, Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

  3. On November 2, 1805, the explorers passed Beacon Rock on their journey down the Columbia River. They called it a “remarkable high detached rock.” Their journals indicate it was here that the effect of tidewater was first noticed. Clark wrote: “The ebb tide rose here about 9 inches, the flood tide must rise here much higher.” Coues, Vol. II, pp. 688–89.

  4. These Pacific Coast peoples were great artisans of sea canoes. Some of the flat-bottom dugouts were forty to fifty feet long and could carry fifty warriors or a crew of five and a ton and a half of dead weight, such as salmon. Usually a great cedar log was split so that more than half its thickness was left for shaping, which was done by chipping and burning to get the rough form. The final job took patience, with small chipping strokes and expert use of hot coals. The thin walls were made pliable with water and hot rocks, then stretched out with thwarts. When the canoe dried, the thwarts could be fastened in place without cracking fragile sides. It was painted inside and out and decorated with high end pieces carved in animal or human figures. Clark said, “butifull … neeter made than any I have ever seen and calculated to ride the waves and carry emence burthens.” Thwaites, Vol. III, 1904–5, 1969, p. 151.

  Men, women, and children could navigate the roughest waters. If the canoe capsized, the occupants stayed in the water until the craft was righted and emptied, then they climbed back in. The Chinooks at the mouth of the Columbia traveled north to Vancouver Island and south to California in these low, fragile craft, powered by matting sail and paddles. Johansen and Gates, p. 12.

  5. The wapato was the root of the Columbia. Round and white like a small potato, it was baked into a crisp bread by the Chinooks.

  6. One of the most often quoted sayings of the expedition is their repetition of “we proceeded on.” In fact, the official publication of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation is titled We Proceeded On. Possibly the next most quoted saying of the Expedition was Clark’s “Ocian in view! O! the joy.” He wrote that in his field notebook on November 7, 1805. However, he was mistaken this day because they were camped near Pillar Rock on the Columbia, but the actual ocean could not be seen yet. From The Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto, p. 279. Copyright 1953 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

  7. Point Distress is now called Point Ellice.

  8. Haley’s Bay is the present site of Fort Columbia.

  9. On this night of November 14,1805, Clark wrote, “The rain and which has continued without a longer intermition than 2 hours at a time for ten days past has destroyed the robes and rotted nearly one half of the fiew clothes the party has, particularly the leather clothes … Squar displeased with me for not …” DeVoto, p. 284.

  The last sentence is not finished. But it is evident that Sacajawea has enough self-confidence to speak up now when something is not done to her liking.

  CHAPTER 26 The Blue Coat

  1. Many of the Chinook Indians were in poor health. On November 18, 1805, Clark wrote, “I saw 4 womin and Some children one of the women in a desperate Situation, covered with sores scabs and ulsers no doubt the effects of venereal disorders which several of this nation which I have Seen appears to have….”

  On November 21, 1805, Clark wrote, “… Several Indians and squars came this evening I beleave for the purpose of gratifying the passions of our men, Those people appear to view sensuality as a necessary evill, and do not appear to abhore this as crime in the unmarried females. The young women sport openly with our men, and appear to receve the approbation of
theer friends and relations for so doing maney of the women have handsom faces … large legs and thighs which are generally Swelled from a Stopage of the circulation in the feet (which are Small) by maney Strands of Beeds or curious Strings which are drawn tight around the leg above the ankle, their legs are also picked tattooed with defferent figures….” From The Journals of Lewisand Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto, pp. 289–90. Copyright 1953 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

  2. The November 24, 1805, journal entry by Clark is actually the first time that he uses the name “Janey” for Sacajawea in his writing. Clark and Edmonds, p. 51.

  CHAPTER 27 Weasel Tails

  1. The remainder of the tobacco was saved for trading purposes on the return trip. Ordway’s journal sadly states, “we have no ardent Spirits.” From The Journals of Lewis and Clark, edited by Bernard DeVoto, p. 294. Copyright 1953 by Houghton Mifflin Co.

  Bakeless notes that in March all the tobacco gave out. Thirty of the party habitually smoked or chewed. The men tried smoking the bark of red willow and the bark of crab apple trees for chewing. John Bakeless, Lewis and Clark, Partners in Discovery. New York: William Morrow and Co., 1947, pp. 297–98.

  2. Point William is now called Tongue Point.

  3. These “vultures” are among the rarest birds in America today. They were the California condor. No one alive today has seen a condor as far north as the Columbia River.

  4. The original Meriwether Bay is now called Young’s Bay.

  5. The river called Netual by the Chinooks is now the Lewis and Clark River.

  6. The Coast Range blacktail deer never get over a hundred and fifty-odd pounds; a buck is well grown that dresses out at a hundred and twenty.

  7. This table survived until 1860. Visitors at the fort today can see how the table looked, but it is not the original tree trunk.

  8. Fort Clatsop National Memorial about six miles southwest of Astoria, Oregon, was built in 1955 by the Oregon Historical Society, which donated the site to the U.S. Government in 1958. Then Fort Clatsop became part of the National Park Service. In constructing the replica, the floor plan dimensions drawn by Clark on the elkhide cover of his fieldbook were faithfully followed. From the middle of June through Labor Day a living history program is presented by buckskin-cladrangers depicting various members of the expedition, including Sacajawea. Firing of flintlock rifles, hollowing out of a pirogue, bead and quillwork, and activities that show life at Fort Clatsop during the winter of 1805–6 are demonstrated. Within 25 miles of this site is the salt cairn at Seaside, the trail over Tillamook Head to Cannon Beach, and in the State of Washington, the camp and trail sites at McGowan, Cape Disappointment, and Long Beach.