July 20, 1969 I was transfixed on the TV, as were millions of other people around the globe, watching Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon. I was 22 years old, fresh graduate from college, and about to get married three weeks later. Like most people alive and old enough at the time, I thought I was watching the culmination of America’s, if not human kinds’, greatest exploratory accomplishment. How so very wrong and ignorant we all were. While a great technological accomplishment, it pales in comparison to what 33 men accomplished 163 years prior to the first known footsteps on the lunar surface.

I have always had a fascination with the Lewis & Clark story, but had not really studied it until the Ambrose documentary appeared on public television around 2005. (It is available on DVD and if you have not seen it, I suggest you buy it from Amazon.com and watch it) In the winter of 2009, my friend Ron and I took a six week course at Harding University on the Expedition/Corps of Discovery. That was when I decided to add to my bucket list, to follow the Lewis and Clark Trail in its entirety. This spring, my wife and I accomplished the road trip from the mouth of the Columbia River to the confluence of the Missouri River with the Mississippi River. 4,259 miles! We had wanted to do it east to west, but the opportunity arose with my Brother’s 50th wedding anniversary. Since that was May 2nd, and since there was good snow pack in the western states, it was by necessity that we did the trail in reverse after the Party. (Brother lives in the Seattle, Washington area). So, we followed the L&C return trip routes, and took several minor and one major detour along the way. Someday, we will do the “preparation” trip from Pittsburgh. PA down the Ohio River to the Mississippi. The only stretch of River we missed was the 150 miles of wilderness of the Missouri in Montana which can only be reached by 50+ miles gravel road. I simply was not going to subject the van, and us, to that brutal treatment. Maybe, some day, I can do a float trip from Ft. Benton, MT to the US Highway 191 crossing (aka--The Upper Missouri Breaks). That is the only way to see the White Cliffs Lewis and Clark were so impressed with on the Missouri.

Unlike the moon landing, that was practiced for years, and had detailed maps of the moon and landing site, with a host of engineers and scientist at Mission Control in Houston, and redundancy backup for every system on board, the Corps of Discovery had none of that. They were brave young (20 to 30 year olds) men who signed on for very low pay, to go into the unknown, with hostile tribes of American Natives (Indians) that for the most part, had never seen white men. They pushed, pulled, drug, towed, paddled and sailed a Keelboat with 16 to 20 tons of supplies, along with several long canoes called pirogues up-stream against the current of the Missouri River. Unlike the pictures of our trip, the Missouri was full of logs, snags, sand bars, and densely forested banks. The shore lines were muddy, full of snakes, gnats and mosquitoes and biting flies. Often, log mats lined the banks. The current in many places kept them close to shore. It was hot, cold, and stormy, yet they pressed on. Game was abundant until they reached the Bitter Root Mountains in Western Montana. Each man averaged eating 7 to 11 pounds of meat a day. Only one Corpsman was lost, 21 year old Sergeant Charles Floyd who had what probably was a ruptured appendix near what is now Sioux City, Iowa, where he is buried high on a hill over-looking the river. Keep in mind, there was no modern medicine – no antibiotics. (The discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic, is attributed to Scottish scientist and Nobel laureate Alexander Fleming in 1928. It was not widely available until 1942). The medical thought of the day was to treat illness with either purgatives (Dr. Ben Thrush’s “Thunder Clapper” Pills) or with bleeding. (To let the sickness out!!!) Both, highly counter-productive, of course. Septic methods were not practiced by virtually any American Physician until after the tragic and medically unnecessary death of President Garfield. The most notorious medical malpractice case in American history. Yet, the men survived unimaginable physical and mental stress. No modern human has endured so much in the name of discovery!

The Indian tribes they met along the way, turned out to be more friendly than hostile, but most likely, that was because Lewis had the fore-thought to take along a very special rife. An AIR RIFLE --- yes, air guns are NOT a modern invention. This was a 1790’s Austrian Army Girandoni repeating air rifle. Its magazine held 21  .43 caliber lead balls that had the same muzzle velocity as the flint-locks of the day. Lewis would demonstrate the rifle with each new Tribe encountered. The balls were driven deep into the tree. The Indians were amazed and fearful of this “powerful medicine”. They did not know how many of these magical rifles the Corps possessed. Then as now, superior fire power keeps the peace! The other pure stroke of luck, that most likely saved the Expedition, was Sacagawea. Now, before you miss-pronounce that – and it is not pronounced the way most all of us learned. It is Sah- cah- gah- we-a. No SACK sound. No Jah sound. I listened intently as we met the curators and docents of the many interpretive centers we visited – especially to the Native American docents. There are three major ways her name is pronounced. Keep in mind, there was no written language among the western tribes at the time. Careful study of the journals kept by Lewis, Clark, and the three sergeants, with a variety of spellings, clearly indicate a cah sound and a gah sound for the second and third syllable. The Lakota Sioux pronounce it Sah-ka-kaw-we-a and spell it Sakakawea. The third most popular pronunciation I heard was Sah-cah-ga-way and Sah-cah-ga-wa a distant fourth. Her name means “bird woman”.

Contrary to most publications, and depictions, Sacagawea was NOT a grown woman – she was a child. When the Corps of Discovery arrived in central North Dakota at the Mandan and Hidatsa Villages in November of 1804, Sacagawea was already pregnant with child, and she gave birth before they left in the Spring of 1805. According to the Lakota Sioux woman we met at Sitting Bull College Visitor Center in South Dakota, it was not a Hidatsa raiding party that captured Sacagawea and other children at the Shoshone villages at the head-waters of the Missouri in Southwest Montana (the Hidatsa were long known as peaceful farmers in central North Dakota --- 10 days hard ride to the east) but rather a Crowe raiding party. The Crowes were warrior types and known for taking children to sell into slavery. (The Hidatsa would take long trips into Montana to hunt game). Sacagawea was one of several children taken, and at most, she was 9 or 10 years old at the time of her capture in 1800. By the time 45 to 48 year old Toussaint Charbonneau bought or won her in a game of chance, she was 13 years old. He also took another young Indian girl at the same time, but her name is lost to history. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacagawea and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toussaint_Charbonneau) According to the Lakota Sioux woman, who told us she had done considerable research on Sakakawea, Charbonneau took over 50 “wives” during his lifetime. While the official record has him dying between 76 and 80, the Sioux expert says he died at age 88 with the last “wife” being 13. Officially, he had 5 recorded wives with the last being 14. The Sioux docent said that he would get them at 13 and ditch them by 19. Many died of diseases and in childbirth. Sacagawea died in 1812 near Ft. Manuel (South of Ft. Mandan) of “Putrid Fever” which is a human louse based Typhus. Indian lore has her surviving and going to Wyoming and living a long life with other children and husbands, but most experts discount that story.

Charbonneau’s appetite for young girls and multiple “wives” was common place for the time and for the traders, trappers, scouts, and language interpreters. The “half-breed” children of these unions did not fare well as they were dis-owned by both the tribes and the whites. These off-spring established their own communes and cities, one of which we visited, St. DeRoin, Nebraska.

Neither Lewis nor Clark, nor any of the Corpsmen, wanted a women, much less, a infant new born along. But, they wanted Charbonneau’s interpretive skills (which, turned out, not overly critical) and Charbonneau was not going to sign on unless at least one of his wives came along. The Captains relented, and Sacagawea and new born child Jean-Baptiste joined the expedition. A stroke of luck that most likely saved the lives of all involved as a woman with child signaled to all the Tribes that this was not a war-party.

Sacagawea was instrumental in locating the headwaters of the Missouri and the Shoshone Tribe of her heritage that supplied the horses to get the Corps over the very rugged Bitterroot Mountains. The other most incredible stroke of luck, was the fact that the Chief of the Shoshone Tribe turned out to be Sacagawea’s brother! Without her, they may not have gotten the horses. The final stroke of pure luck was when they reached the Nez Perce Tribes in Idaho. It was a matter of not if, but how, the Indians were going to kill the entire expedition. With the Nez Perce, was another Indian woman, Twisted Hair, who had been taken by a white trader, bore his child, and was returned back to the tribe, but otherwise treated very well by the whites. She pleaded with her Chief not to kill the expedition because of the positive treatment she had received while living with the white community. The Corps was then welcomed by the Nez Perce and treated very well. But for a good woman ……

After the expedition, Captain Clark kept in contact with Charbonneau and Sacagawea and adopted the boy, he named “Pomp” following Sacagawea’s death and her infant daughter, Lizette, but that child is thought to have died around the age of three. Clark sent Pomp to boarding school, and Pomp did very well in his long life. Clark went on to become the governor of the Missouri territory and an Indian Agent for the Federal Government. The Clark family has traced his linage and there are quite a lot of direct William Clark descendants. What the Clark family apparently has not done, was to trace his Indian Get linage as Clark left many Indian maidens pregnant who bore children with his flaming red hair! Merriweather Lewis died still a young and poor man, in west Tennessee. Historian are split as to whether he was murdered by the known shady Inn Keeper or if he committed suicide. I tend to think the evidence is stronger now for murder.

The Corps of Discovery was a great scientific expedition with dozens of new plant, bird and animal life recorded in the journals and specimens caught and preserved – not the least of which was the Grizzly Bear – but those records were soon forgotten for most of the 19th century with even the publication of the journals did not occur until many years after the expedition. What did happen of course, was the opening of the West and the land grab from the Indians. While the many massacres are well known and taught, what killed 100 times more than white man’s bullets were white man’s diseases. The 13 tribes of the Mandan’s was reduced to two within a couple of years of the Corps visits by small pox, diphtheria, typhus, syphilis, and tuberculosis. Most all of the tribes throughout the west were similarly decimated by the 1850’s.

For , us this was a trip of living history. In all, we traveled 7,660 miles and spent just over $5,000 in 35 days. In 1972, we made our first major, and longest, western tour, of 13,225 miles, and in 55 days visited every major and many minor National Parks and Monuments. Total cost then? $750!!! (No kidding!) We enjoyed our time with my Brother and wife and his children and grandchildren and all the friends that attended their 50th Anniversary party. 

Finally, in St. Louis, the old Court House was open to tours. This is the Court in which the Missouri Territory Federal Circuit Court first heard, Dred Scott v. Sandford decided by the U.S. Supreme Court December Term, 1856. If you have never read the full text, I encourage you to do so. We’ve come a long way!!! http://www.lectlaw.com/files/case23.htm

The detour down to the John Day Fossil area of Oregon presented the best opportunities for really good photographs as did the Audubon Refuge in North Dakota. Good light was always the issue – my fault. We rarely hit the road before 9AM and were cooking dinner by 6 PM. While I have developed a liking of high contrast saturated pictures, many professional prefer early morning or late afternoon light. I cannot argue against that point! We hope you will enjoy the history lesson and the accompanying photographs.