A brief digression: Lewis and Clark Expedition

In my last post I mentioned Lewis and Clark, who supposedly named bear grass and also were credited with naming the grizzly bear.

Lewis and Clark might not have had the successful expedition for which they’re famous if it were not for a young Shoshone woman named Sacagawea (Bird Woman). 

Sacagawea was the wife of a French trapper, and Lewis and Clark engaged the couple’s services in 1804 when they reached an area in what is now North Dakota.  Sacagawea helped them find edible plants and foods squirreled away by critters for winter; her presence made the group seem less of a threat, helping avoid conflict with the native population. She and her French husband could act as interpreters with the French and the Native Americans. And her link to the Shoshone facilitated the purchase of horses for the expedition.  Sacagawea’s life is, in many ways, a mystery, but her role in the success of the Lewis and Clark expedition is unquestioned.  There are statues, monuments, and landmarks named for her, but I’m not sure any are as beautiful as Bird Woman Falls in Glacier National Park.

Bird Woman Falls (taken earlier in the trip)

For more information on Sacagawea, please visit: http://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/sacagawea 

And it's on to Iceberg Lake.