spot in the bushes where she hid to escape her enemies.
Captain Lewis said: "Our hope now is to find these Shoshones and
their horses. Here we must leave our boats and prepare for mountain
and land travel." Sacajawea explained the habits of her tribe the
best she could, but it was a vast wilderness by which the company was
surrounded. Both Captains Lewis and Clark with their best men scoured
the country, and finally succeeded in finding the Shoshones, who had
fled from their supposed enemies. They were led before the great
chief Cameahowait. There they told of Sacajawea as best they could,
which at once aroused attention. The chief ordered horses and
provisions, and with many friends of the lost princess they went with
Captain Lewis and his men to camp. Sacajawea recognized her brother,
now head chief of the tribe, and as well the playmates of her
childhood, and with tears in her eyes, and dancing with joy, she
embraced them. The talk was long, for the Indian girl had to learn
the fate of her family and friends. Had she desired she might have
remained and resumed an easy life with her tribe.
Nothing now was too good for the white men, for they were brothers
and friends. Sacajawea was their interpreter, and they received
everything they needed for comfort, such as provisions and horses,
for the journey to the Pacific and the return.
In meeting the many savage tribes and asking favors and permission to
travel in safety through their domains, it was not the flag nor the
guns they carried, but Sacajawea with the papoose upon her back and
her wise diplomacy that opened the way and made them welcome. Upon
the home journey the little Indian girl rode ahead with the captains,
having richly earned her honors and the love of all. When the
journey came to an end, Captains Lewis and Clark begged that
Sacajawea and her husband accompany them to Washington, but
Chabonneau preferred the wild life he had chosen, and the brave
little woman dropped from civilized history.
Well may the women of beautiful Oregon in the coming Centennial take
an honest pride in commemoration of the deeds of Sacajawea. It is
most appropriate that the beautiful bronze to be then erected to her
memory has been designed and executed by an American woman, Miss
Alice Cooper, of Denver.
We copy these stanzas of a poem by Bert Hoffman, who epitomizes
admirably the reasons for Sacajawea's honored place in this
Centennial history:
_Sacajawea._
"The wreath of Triumph give to her;
She led the conquering captains West;
She charted first the trails that led
The hosts across yon mountain crest!
Barefoot she toiled the forest paths,
Where now the course of Empire speeds;
Can you forget, loved Western land,
The glory of her deathless deeds?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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