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.

Clash of the Tetons

The Teton Indian tribers were fierce warriors, expert hunters, horsemen, and the terrorists of the Great Plains at this point in American history.  They would demand payment in exchange for safe passage from the French and Spanish fur traders who passed through the plains region.  No surprise that they should demand the same from the Corps of Discovery expedition.

After a council from the keelboat with Lewis and Clark, the Indians surrounded the men, drawing their arrows.  Captain Clark drew his sword in anger while the rest of the exploration party cocked their rifles.  Seeing their disadvantage the Teton withdrew.  News of their weakness spread throughout the Plains, earning Lewis and Clark respect and making their passage through the area much easier and safer.

The Corps of Discovery wintered in North Dakota among the Mandan Indians.  Although frozen in for five months, the Indians were hospitable.  They met a French fur trader while there named Toussant Charbonneau.  Charbonneau had a wife named Sacajawea, a Shoshone from the west, taken captive in 1800 and sent back east.  The couple offered to join the Corps expedition and serves as guides and interpreters. 

Mr. Charbonneau proved to be a lazy man and totally not useful, but Sacajawea would prove to be of great value as the expedition goes on.

Next time ..Sacajawea quells disturbances
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On this Day in Pioneer History: "On December 14,1911, Norwegian Roald Amundsen becomes the first explorer to reach the South Pole.  Amundsen, born in Borge, near Oslo, in 1872, planned to be the first man to the North Pole, and he was about to embark in 1909 when he learned that the American Robert Peary had achieved the feat. Amundsen sailed instead for Antarctica.