 Have you ever wondered what happened to Sacajawea's people the Lemhi-Shoshone - after the Lewis & Clark expedition?
- Sacagawea photos
- This website will will inform you of actual facts (from Lemhi-Shoshone descendants and research conducted by Professor Orlan Svingen, John Mann and Shirley Stephens at the Washington State University Dept. of History) not mentioned on other Sacagawea - Sacajawea / Lewis & Clark / Idaho historical websites.
- Almost two hundred years ago a young Lemhi-Shoshone girl, Sacajawea (Sacagawea - Sakakawea) walked onto the world stage and played a more important role than any other Native American, male or female. Without question, Sacajawea along with her people and their horses, were the key to the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the greatest exploration of the early American West ever undertaken by young and struggling country. Captain Meriwether Lewis, the personal Secretary of President Jefferson wrote in his journals that Sacajawea was indispensable in their successful attempt to reach the Pacific Ocean and return.
- The story of Sacajawea is so appealing that it adds the unique charm of bravery and motherhood to this early American epic journey of the Lewis and Clark.The primary reason for the participation of Sacajawea as member of the Corps of Discovery was to facilitate the acquisition of horses (also known as spanish mustangs or the barb horse) from her people to cross the continental divide to the headwaters of the Pacific Ocean.
The primary reason for the participation of Sacagawea / Sacajawea as member of the Corps of Discovery was to facilitate the acquisition of horses from her people to cross the continental divide to the headwaters of the Pacific Ocean. As the oral history of the Lemhi-Shoshone is farther substantiated by the various journals of the Lewis and Clark party, the primary leader of the Lemhi Shoshoni was Camahwaite the brother of Sacagawea / Sacajawea.
In addition, Captain Meriwether Lewis wrote that Sacajawea was a young woman of superior character and showed as much resolution and fortitude as any of his thirty men. The friendship and assistance demonstrated by Sacajawea during the Lewis and Clark Expedition has bestowed a national recognition that makes her an American Indian heroine of a grateful nation. Even today, no one can fully measure this country’s debt to Sacagawea / Sacajawea’s contribution to a young and struggling country. The recent decision by the U.S. Treasury to honor Sacagawea / Sacajawea by placing a resemblance of her on the new gold colored one dollar coin further demonstrates not even the limits of time will erode our appreciation for her sincere efforts and friendship.
Sacajawea, Sacagawea, Sakakawea photo
o As numerous citations are reviewed throughout the various journals, Sacajawea demonstrated intelligence and extraordinary resolution by assisting her child as well as well as that of the Corps of Discovery in their time of need. Sacagawea / Sacajawea’s knowledge of her native homelands helped her identify edible and medicinal plants that relieved the distress of hunger and illness for the members of the expedition. Several times, Sacajawea almost gave up her life as well as her child’s as they continued on this route to the Pacific Ocean. Our country is overflowing with sites on the journey that Sacajawea has made historic by naming that still survive. Her sentiments and modesty as a American Indian mother seem so less surprising as we read the journals, Sacajawea’s sacrifices for the members of the Corps of Discovery and her people were always honest, constant and unselfish. For she displayed the true meaning of friendship and loyalty at the cost of leaving her people once again. In the journals of Captain William Clark, he writes “ Indeed she has borne with a patience truly admirable, the fatigues of so long a route, encumbered with an infant, who is even now, only 19 months old.” “In trouble she was full of resources, plucky and determined.” “Intelligent, cheerful, tireless, faithful, she inspired us all.”
Sacajawea, Sacagawea, Sakakawea photo
 For her honest display of friendship and loyalty, she received no pay for her efforts during this ordeal. During her short life, Sacajawea went unrewarded; never knowing the results of her efforts for her people nor never knowing the lasting impact this had on all native people of this continent. Without question, there have been more statures erected to Sacajawea to honor her for her contribution to America that that of any other American woman. Very few people have had so much sentimental fantasy expended upon them. Even today, in the United States, Sacagawea / Sacajawea has been canonized, as she has become an object of State pride and interstate rivalry. The nation as whole owes a debt of gratitude to one woman who became great in spite of all, who degraded, enslaved and considered her worthless. What a fine example of motherhood and friendship she has left the world. For Sacajawea is truly the First Lady of this country, and is America.
Along the shores of the Clark Canyon Reservoir (named after Captain William Clark of the Expedition) are numerous recreational and archeological sites named after the Lemhi Shoshoni people who assisted the Corp of Discovery in their time of need. It is time for all of America to become aware of the true story behind Sacajawea and her people as well as the other American Indian tribes that provided the essential assistance to the Corp of Discovery. As we now embark to observe the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, this Lemhi Shoshoni girl’s aura will once again awaken interest in her contribution to America. It is time for all of America to pay homage to our American Indian heroine. For Sacagawea / Sacajawea’s contribution to America is truly an inspiration for all. R. Ariwite, Sr.
View Photos of Sacagawea / Lemhi-Shoshone descendants, maps, old & present day photos, lands, etc. >>
Below are entries made in the journals of Lewis and Clark which substantiate the first and only written entries that without question identify Sacagawea / Sacajawea as the member of Lemhi Shoshone tribe, which occupied the Salmon River and Bitterroot Mountain Range for over 10 thousand years.e
a, Sakakawea)
 November 4, 1804
Sacagawea / Sacajawea and Toussaint Charbonneau are hired as interpreter and guide. Sacajawea one of Charbonneau's wives was selected because of her knowledge of the territory in which the expedition was heading toward.
* Shoshone speaking tribes cover vast amount of territory. (From the present site of San Diego to the Commaches of North Texas throughout the present states of California, Oregon, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho and Montana. With the Lemhi Shoshone occupying the most northern portion of this country.)
* Shoshone speaking tribes are loosely held clans and groups...similar to the pueblos of the Southwest...each tribe occupied specific territorial lands.
Sacajawea, Sacagawea, Sakakawea photoFebruary 11, 1805
Sacajawea gives birth to Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, a little boy who the members of the expedition called Pompey...in the Shoshone language means hair. (American Indian children are naturally born with abundant amounts of hair.)
July 19, 1805
Captain William Clark finds the remains of several Indian camps.wicki ups that were made from willow branches, as well as pine trees that had bark peeled from them, Sacajawea informs the captains that her people used the sap and soft wood for food and medicine.
* At this point the expedition was beyond the Great Falls in Montana.
 July 22, 1805
Sacagawea / Sacajawea informs the captains that she recognizes the landmarks of people's homelands .
Just ahead are the three forks of Missouri where her people were attacked by the Mandans and the place that she was enslaved along a number of childhood friends as well as the place her mother and others were killed trying to protect the children.
* The plains tribes had acquired guns from the early fur trappers along the Missouri the Lemhi Shoshone have not encountered white people this possession of weaponry gave the advantage to the plains Indians.
July 30, 1805
Captain Lewis, Charbonneau and Sacagawea / Sacajawea walk to the exact spot five years earlier where she was captured and enslaved.
* When your life is in the hands of your enemy as a prisoner or a slave, you conform to every wish of your captives for your survival depends on this.
Sacagawea photo picture
August 8, 1805
Sacajawea points to a high formation called by her people (Lemhi Shoshone) the Beaver's Head because this is shaped like that animals head and this is route utilized by her tribe every summer on their way to hunt the buffalo and the expedition will soon find her people.
* South of Dillon, Montana just east of Lemhi Pass which leads into Lemhi Valley.
 Sacajawea (Sacagawea, Sakakawea)
 August 13, 1805
Captain Lewis and members of the expedition encounter Lemhi Shoshone on the western side of Lemhi Pass, sixty mounted warriors engage this group as warning was echoed throughout the valley as intruders entered the homelands of the Lemhi Shoshone.
August 16, 1805
Sacajawea is reunited with her people the Lemhi Shoshone soon Sacajawea recognizes her brother Camehwaite emotional reunion.
* Sacajawea facilitates the dialogue to assist the expedition to acquire the essential horses and guide, to continue with the expedition over Lost Trail Pass.
* Sacajawea continues with the expedition, the promises made by the Lewis and Clark to the Lemhi Shoshone is eminent on the expedition's success.
* Old Toby was also directed to assist the expedition to the land of the Nez Perce through the land of the Flatheads.
April 28, 1806
Sacajawea communicates with a Shoshone woman prisoner at a Walla Walla Indian village...
* Sacajawea is fluent in her native language to speak with another Shoshone speaker.
Sacajawea, Sacagawea, Sakakawea photo
May 11, 1806
Again Sacajawea establishes communication with a Shoshone boy living with the Nez Perce.
* Vicinity of Kamiah, Idaho.
July 6, 1806
Sacajawea directs the expedition towards the Big Hole Valley...this is an easier route.
* Sacajawea's knowledge of her homelands is beneficial to the expedition. I doubt that a Mandan of sixteen years of age would be knowledgeable of this shortcut.
July 14, 1806
Sacajawea informs Captain Clark of trail leading through a pass to the plains where her People, the Lemhi Shoshone would go to hunt buffalo. (Bozeman Pass)
July 17, 1806
Sacajawea informs Captain Clark of the fort made by her people to defend themselves from attacks by enemies who had rifles and numbers for superior power.
* Frequently the Lemhi Shoshone and Flatheads would joint forces to hunt buffalo in Montana as more Plains Indians acquired rifles.
Sacajawea (Sacagawea
, Sakakawea)
Sacajawea, Sacagawea, Sakakawea photo
- Sacajawea's People: Who Are The Lemhi And Where Is Their Home?
- By: Professor Orlan Svingen, History Department - Washington State University
Sacajawea (Sacagawea - Sakakawea)
(1)On February 12, 1875, President Grant established a 100 square mile executive order reservation for Sacagawea / Sacajawea's People the Lemhi-Shoshone in the Lemhi Valley. Known as the Lemhi Valley Indian Reservation, the executive order established the reserve for "the exclusive use of the mixed tribes of Shoshone, Bannock, and Sheapeater Indians. (2) Almost from the outset, however, the government and local residents began efforts to rescind the executive order reservation. They ultimately succeeded in 1905, and in 1907 the Lemhi began what many have called the "Lemhi Trail of Tears," which saw their forced removal from their ancestral homelands to the Fort Hall Indian Reservation.
(3) Banished from their homeland in 1907 and seeking to return ever since, the Lemhi-Shoshone people create a dilemma for the nation. As it *prepares to commemorate the Bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery, the United States needs to reassess its commitment to the Lemhi-Shoshone, to Sacagawea / Sacajawea's people. The obligation the nation acknowledges toward wolf and salmon recovery efforts is dwarfed by the responsibility it faces in treating fairly the people who played such a crucial role in advancing the success of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
In August of 1805, Lewis and Clark and their Corp of Discovery approached the Three Forks of the Missouri River. At Fort Mandan in October of 1804, they had acquired the services of Toussaint Charbonneau and one of his wives, Sacajawea, a fifteen year old "Shoshone" woman who was six months pregnant. The expedition valued Charbonneau and Sacajawea for their skills as interpreters--he for his French and she for her Hidatsa and Shoshone. Sacajawea, along with several other Shoshone girls, had been captured by a Hidatsa raiding party near the Three Forks four years earlier. Living at Fort Mandan, Charbonneau won Sacajawea in a wager with Hidatsa warriors. Lewis and Clark recognized the importance of being accompanied by someone who spoke the language of one of the tribes living in the Rocky Mountains in the vicinity of the Three Forks.
Read more from Prof. Orlan Svingen's research >>
- Sacagawea coin history photos.
Sacajawea (Sacagawea - Sakakawea)
Sacajawea's descendants the Lemhi-Shoshone seek Salmon land reinstatement
The Agai'Dika (salmon-eater), Tuki'Dika (sheep-eater), Boshaun'Dika, and the Bannock (now known as Sacajawea's People the Lemhi-Shoshone) are looking to get their land reinstated
sacajawea sacagawea photo picture
3/06/2008 - Fort Hall - In 1875 President U.S. Grant established a 100 square mile (640,000 acres) reservation for the Sacajawea's people the Lemhi-Shoshone, near Salmon (Idaho). In 1889 the United State Congress ceded the reservation back to the United States. In 1905 Chief Tendoy reluctantly agreed to move the tribe to the Fort Hall reservation to live with the other bands Shoshone and Bannocks. The removal of Sacagawea's descendants happened two years later in 1907. View timeline and research from Washington State Univerity conducted by Prof. Orlan Svingen.
- To return home to the land of their forefathers and raise their families in the place they call "home." A meeting of the Fort Lemhi Indian Reservation Land and Restoration and Development Committee was held to discuss plans for re-establishment of the Lemhi reservation in the Salmon settlement area.
 It has been 101 hundred years since Sacajawea's People the Lemhi-Shoshone were stripped of Federal Recognition and exiled from the Lemhi Valley Indian Reservation near present day Salmon, Idaho, 200 miles south to the Shoshone-Bannock Reservation in Fort Hall.
The research conducted by WSU in assisting the Fort Lemhi Indian Communiuty / Reservation Land and Restoration Committee to become federally recognized after being stripped of recognition and exiled in 1907.
|
From the Idaho Statesman
Sacagawea / Sacajawea: Her story, by her people
 "As the nation commemorates the Lewis and Clark bicentennial with seemingly inexhaustible tributes to her, her people are living as an obscure and repressed minority on a desert reservation nothing like the beautiful mountains of their homeland.
The woman who appears on the Sacagawea / Sacajawea coin isn´t a Lemhi-Shoshone, and the tribe of the woman who contributed more than any other to the opening of the West isn´t recognized as a tribe by the federal government.
This is her story and theirs. The story of Sacajawea and her people - by her people."
Text version - Sacagawea / Sacajawea: Her story, by her people>>
Naya Nuki:
Excellent book for kids
Lemhi-Shoshoni Girl who escaped from the Mandan-Hidatsa after being kidnapped along with Sacajawea.
The night she escaped was her night for freedom and the beginnng of an exciting 1000-mile journey back to her homelands in the Lemhi Valley - present day Salmon, Idaho.
Reviews >>
Article Archives
National Geographic - Searching for Sacagawea
New York Times - Sacajawea's People seek a homecoming
Trail Tribes - Focus on Sacagawea's descendants, traditions, customs, photos, petroglyphs & more
Idaho Statesman Special Feature - Sacajawea, Her Story by Her People
Sacagawea descendants to help dedicate ship - Indianz.com
NAVY USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2)
Yellowstone - Park News/Blog - Lemhi-Shoshone's Sacajawea
The Lemhi-Shoshone Proudly supports the - Western Shoshone Defense Project
Lemhi County Historical Society & Museum
NCRSM Call To Action! - Salmon Savages High School, Salmon, ID
 Prof. Orlan Svingen - WSU - Assisiting Lemhi-Shoshone to regain federal recognition
Idaho BLM - Native Voices - Legends of Creation and Place
Xenite - Mizuo Peck- is Sacagawea in "Night at the Museum"
Western Institute For Study of the Environment - The People Who Lived Among the Clouds
Sacagawea / Sacajawea Center -The Agaidikas and Tukudikas (Lemhi-Shoshone) are considered the first residents of the upper Lemhi Valley, dating back 10,000 years or more. Archaeological research indicates that buffalo, were hunted throughout the 10,000+ years of Indian occupancy of the Lemhi Valley near present day Salmon, Idaho.
ID State Bar & Idaho Law Foundation - Environmental & Natural Resources Sections Legal Resources
Google Directory - Native American Tribes - Lemhi-Shoshone - Sacajawea's descendants
Bringing Awareness - Metis Society of Oregon
Sacajawea Tribes Seeks Recognition - Pullman, Washington
Prayer Ceremony at Chief Tendoy Monument - Sho-Ban News
Myths about Sacajawea troubling reality for tribe - Lemhi-Shoshone left out
Sacajawea's Peopllee
Please sign the online petition to help restore the Lemhi-Shoshone homelands, you can also read visitor comments.
Webshots - Salmon Eater Country (Sacajawea / Sacagawea descendant photos)
o
|
Sacajawea's People the Lemhi-Shoshones and the Salmon River Country