Sacajawea

The object of your mission
is to explore the Missouri River...

Thomas Jefferson
1803

Mountains of the Wind River Range form a backdrop to a cemetery in Ft. Washakie, Wyoming. A stone, over one of the graves, reads "Sacajawea."

Is it the final resting place of the only woman who accompanied Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on their famous expedition? Yes, according to Shoshone oral tradition. No, according to other records. We may never know for sure.

We do know the answer to a different question: How was it that a 16-year-old Shoshone teenager ended up on one of the most successful explorations in recorded history?

It all started when President Thomas Jefferson had a dream.
Author: Carole D. Bos, J.D.