Sacajawea Quells Trouble

On April 7, 1805, the Corps of Discovery set out downstream on the Missouri River with reports and collections of natural specimens for the President. Part of the group went west in the canoes.  By June they reached the Great Falls of Missouri, beyond which lay 18 miles of white water rapids. To by-pass the rapids they had to make a 25 day journey over land in gale force winds and unseasonably hot, burning sun.  A month later when they reached the foothills of the Rockies, the Missouri had become a mountain stream.

Sacajawea was near home country now, and pointed out landmarks to the expedition party.  Lewis led a party following an Indian trail through the Beaverhead Range across the Continental Divide at the Lemhi Pass.  There they met a Shoshone hunting band.  The Shoshone were edgy and confrontational until Sacajawea appeared.  The leader just happened to be her brother - and shouts of joy at their reunion calmed the tension.  What luck :)

The Indians became delighted with the white men and anxious to offer their support (firearms) against the Blackfoot.  The Shoshone described the mountains ahead as impassable for the Corps, but they could not be dissuaded.  The river to the Pacific that they were searching for was no where nearby.  Instead the trip west would be rugged mountain travel before even a navigable river could even be found.

Next time...Through the mountains to the sea
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 17, 1843, Charles Dickens’ classic story “A Christmas Carol” is published. Dickens was born in 1812 and attended school in Portsmouth. His father, a clerk in the navy pay office, was thrown into debtors’ prison in 1824, and 12-year-old Charles was sent to work in a factory. The miserable treatment of children and the institution of the debtors’ jail became topics of several of Dickens’ novels.