In 1804 the Lewis and Clark Expedition arrived among the Mandan Indians near present-day Bismark, North Dakota. They hired fur trapper Toussaint Charbanneau and his Indian wife, Sacagawea, to be guides and interpreters on their journey to the West coast.
Sacagawea was born in about 1786, probably near present-day Lehmi, Idaho,
a member of the Snake tribe of the Shoshone Indians. In 1800 a party of
Hidatsa Indians captured her. They sold her to Charbonneau. Lewis and Clark
changed Sacagawea's name, which means "Bird Woman," to 'Janey.'
On
Feb. 11, 1805, she gave birth to a baby boy whom she named 'Baptiste' He
became a favorite among all the men who called him "Little Pomp."
The others began to admire Sacagawea for her bravery when the boat
in which she was riding overturned. She retrieved important papers and
the sextant without which the trip would have been impossible.
Sacagawea taught the expedition members how to find food by finding wild artichokes stored by gophers in their holes, wild carrots, fennel, the 'wapotato' or wild potato and dug roots for their soups. She also mended clothes with fine needles of bird bone and thread of fiber and hide. Before the trip was over she had made 338 moccasins for the men in the expedition.
She had an uncanny sense of direction. Looking at a mountain range she
could detect where was a hidden pass along a river.
At the divide she met her brother who was leading a war party. The
men feared for their lives until Sacagawea recognized him and he, her.
Cameahewait, as he was known, helped them over the divide by letting them
use his horses and gave them supplies.
When the expedition reached the Pacific Ocean, Sacagawea remained a "Good Will Ambassador" traveling and teaching all over until her death in 1884.
In the Northwest, Sacagawea has become a legend. Memorials have been
raised in her honor, in part for the fortitude with which she faced hardship
and deprivation on the arduous journey. She is in the Hall of Fame, a mountain,
river and pass are named after her and in 1905 she had a statue and monument
dedicated to her in Portland, Oregon.
--from the Frontiersmen Companion Fellowship handbook