Also read:

Lemhi-Shoshone contributions which saved the Lewis & Clark Expedition more than once:

Sacajawea

Camp Fortunate

Shoshone Horses

Old Toby

Special Features & Articles

National Geographic - Searching for Sacagawea

Idaho Statesman Special Feature - Sacajawea, Her Story by Her People

New York Times - Sacajawea's People seek a homecoming

Professor Orlan Svingen - WSU - Assisiting Lemhi-Shoshone to regain federal recognition

Trail Tribes - Focus on Sacagawea's descendants, traditions, customs, photos, petroglyphs & more

Sacagawea descendants to help dedicate ship - Indianz.comNAVY 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 (Current mascot issue)

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

Sacajawea Center - Interpretive, Cultural, and Educational

Bringing Awareness - Metis Society of Oregon

Sacajawea Tribes Seeks Recognition - Pullman, Washington

Lemhi-Shoshone horses

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 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 the Lemhi-Shoshone to cross the continental divide to the headwaters of the Pacific Ocean. Barb Horses sought after by Lewis and Clark.

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-Shoshone was Chief Cameahwait the brother of Sacajawea. Cameahwait - when translated into Shoshone, means "I will not go" - meaning he was not going over the mountains to the Nez Perce, Lewis & Clark thought he was saying his name and named him Cameahwait.

Characteristics of the typical Barb horse the Lemhi-Shoshone bred:

What is the specialty of the Barb horse used by the Lemhi-Shoshone? Originally the Barb was a war horse and as such needed stamina, endurance, and hardiness. It still has those traits and so is an excellent mountain and endurance horse. Its narrow body and short back enable it to turn quickly and manuevre narrow trails. This, combined with strong bones and tough feet result in a fine riding and pack animal, especially in rough or mountainous areas. The difference between a Barb and a mustang is that the Barb is an ancient horse from the Fertile Crescent area of Middle Asia, a definite breed or genotype.

A mustang can be many combinations of breeds. It is not a genotype. alert and curious in demeanor robust; spirited hot blood (that is, it has a red blood corpuscle count of 35% more than the cold-bloods, such as the draft horse; this allows them to tire more slowly and recuperate more quickly) tractable, unless abused high equine intellect size 13-2 to 15 hands; 875 to 950 pounds reaches full maturity at 7 to 9 years, with a corresponding increase in longevity (one exceptional mare had and raised her last foal at 29) eyes perceptive, set low and wide nostrils elastic, crescent-shaped, with roomy nasal cavity allowing for large extension and ample air intake ears small to medium neck muscular but not coarse or short back short, with just 5 lumbar vertebrae rather than 5 and a fused piece or 6; 16 or 17 rather than 18 pairs of ribs loins deep and strong, allowing for heavier muscling, which results in weight carrying ability and strength to manuevre and push ahead barrel well filled, with long underline tail low set, with long croup which is in equal balance between hip, pin bone, and stifle legs well-boned with large, strong joints, tendons, and ligaments; feet compact, comparatively rounded, elevated, with thick, dense, walls; need no shoes except in severe conditions many colors including duns, blacks, blue corns, chestnuts, bays, palominos, etc. History The Barb horse traces back through antiquity to the time of the Persians and Scythians, in the area of the Fertile Crescent (NE from the Mediterranean Sea, between the Tigris and Euphrates River, then SE to the Persian Gulf.)

Just how these people came to possess the horse is not yet known, nor is it known for how long a period of time they had it before they gave some to King Soloman in approximately 1950 B.C., but that gift was the source of the Barb to the Jewish-Hebrew people, the Israelites. The Jewish-Hebrews moved into and through many areas over the years. Significant to this history is their time in Africa and Spain, where they followed marauding Ishmaelites in their conquests, and provided the Barb as a warhorse to both Ishmaelites and Berbers. (Thus came the name Barb, as the Berbers were notoriously Barbarian in nature.) The Ishmaelite conquests included almost all of Africa, Spain, Portugal, and parts of France. They were heading for New Britain but were finally stopped due to the determination of the Franks (of Germanic descent), and because they were by then saturated with war and spoils. Also, typical of people, politics was involved and there was much infighting among the tribes. The Barb, always serving as a superlative warhorse, remained in the hands of the Jewish-Hebrew people.

Some of the horses remained in Africa, where for many years the people of Morocco placed great value in them. Most (with the advent of oil and wealth) have been lost or mixed with other breeds. The Barb that still exists in Morocco, Algeria, and Libya, by our research, is not the same horse as the Barb was at the time of the Spanish conquest of the “New World,” but in the intervening time from then to now, has been changed into more of a show horse, as those people no longer have a need for a “war horse.” Barbs stayed in Spain for many years through Spain's defeat and finally, some 400 years later, through her victory over the Moors. This victory again was due to the Franks who survived the Moorish conquests and had afterward grown in numbers. As Spain's power grew, she sent explorers to the New World, among these the Conquistadors. At that time, the Jewish-Hebrew, still in possession of the Barb, had met with the hatred of King Ferdinand. Most fled back to North Africa but some, disguised as Conquistadors, came with the Barb to America. King Ferdinand on learning of this sent an army expressly for the destruction of the Jewish-Hebrew and succeeded almost completely. The horses they had brought with them, the Barb, stayed and thrived.

As with other breeds and types of horses the Barb went various routes. Some became feral, others were used by ranchers, and still others were possessed by Indians. Of these groups, very few remained pure. Research and evidence indicate that the original Nez Perce horse was the spotted Barb, but once the cavalry took custody of the Indians, the stallions were destroyed or castrated and the mares bred to draft breeds. A few Indians broke away from the Chief Joseph chase and went to the Kiamichi mountain area of Oklahoma taking some of their original horses with them, and some of those remained pure. Some of the feral bands stayed pure also, having existed in some virtually inaccessable areas. In the 1950's a few of these that could still be found and taken were gathered and built into a nucleus stock. Some of that nucleus, (called by some of the old timers "the originals"), was mixed with other breeds and this mix was labeled “wild mustangs”. A few of those “originals” that comprised the nucleus. (www.originalhorses.org)

*The Lemhi-Shoshone also gave Chief Joseph 30-50 barb horses when he was evading the U.S. Army. As a result, most of these horses were slaughtered by the U.S. Army in the years to follow (Ex: From the movie Hidalgo) mainly becuase the Army's horses could not keep up with them because of their traits. Once we return home we will re-establish our herd from the original Lemhi-Shoshone bloodlines that remain pure @ www.originalhorses.org .

Also visit TrailTribes.org for more photos and information about the Lemhi-Shoshone horses.