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| The Lemhi Shoshone became part of a controversy that has raged on for over a hundred years when a book written in 1933 by Grace Hebard reported that tribal Shoshone elders said Sacagawea lived to an old age and was buried on the reservation in 1884. Officially, the tribe continues to claim Sacagawea lived a long life among them, dying on the reservation. A burial plot marker on the Shoshone Wind River Reservation in Wyoming proclaims that she died at age 78, on April 9, 1884. Yet, tribal elders admit among themselves that it is probably not Sacagawea. Historical evidence shows she died in 1812 at the Fort Manuel Lisa Trading Post. Her body has not been found. Historical Evidence on Sacagawea’s Death IS SACAGAWEA'S BODY IN HER SHOSHONE GRAVE? Today, some current members of the Shoshone Tribe are willing to admit that they do not believe that Sacagawea’s body is buried in the marked grave on the Shoshone Reservation in Wyoming and that she probably died in 1812 as historians have said. Oral history passed down from tribal elders reveal that they have known all along that Sacagawea did not live a long life, did not die on the reservation and her body is not buried in the marked grave on the Wind River Reservation. The body is that of another Shoshone woman. The Shoshone elders told tribal members to keep this truth secret. SHOSHONE TRIBAL MEMBER REVEALS TRUTH In 2011, I spoke with Edmond Meeks, an enrolled member of the Shoshone Tribe who grew up among Sacagawea’s people on the Wind River Reservation and he was willing to reveal the truth about Sacagawea. Edmond Meeks (personal communication, November 28, 2011) told me the following: “I have heard members of our own Shoshone Tribe say that the person that was buried here in the Sacajawea Cemetary and later dug up and given a traditional burial up in the Wind River Mountains, was not the Sacajawea of the Lewis and Clark expedition.” More About Edmond Meeks, Shoshone, who gave me permission to quote him on this website. He was born in 1944, in Fort Washakie on the Wind River Reservation and is enrolled in the Shoshone Tribe. In His Own Words: “I've spent a good deal of my time in the mountains searching out old trails that have been long forgotten and verifying stories of places I heard of as a young man. I was allowed to hear some of the stories "that are not to be passed on" and was given the reasons why they were to be kept in the mind only until it is time for them to be told. I don't know why I was honored with this information but am sure that the time has come for myself or another to tell these stories.” WHAT CRUSHED THIS ONCE PROUD TRIBE? Waves of White People Came: settlers, soldiers, and gold seekers who entered the door that Sacagawea helped to open. The Corps of Discovery was commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson and led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Sacagawea and her husband, French trapper Charbonneau was selected to join the Expedition as interpreters, because they knew the language of the Native Americans that Lewis and Clark had decided were important when the explorers reached what was later called the Lemhi Valley in Northern Idaho. When explorers reached the Salmon River in October of 1805, they asked Sacagawea to persuade her people to provide horses for the Expedition, which was badly needed in order to continue to the Pacific Ocean. The Chief of the Lemhi Indians at the time happened to be Sacagawea‘s brother, Cameahwait. The Lemhi agreed to provide vital aid needed by the Corps of Discovery, however, by helping the United States explore Shoshone lands, they hastened the day when their tribal culture would nearly disappear. Fur traders followed, with a group of persistent fur trappers from Canada and Britain called the Snake River Brigade. They roamed the country trading guns and kettles for pelts from the Lemhi Shoshone. When the beavers became scarce from over-trapping, the fur trappers moved on, leaving the Lemhi without the suppliers that had become necessary items in their already altered way of life. Another opportunity came for the struggling Lemhi Indians when Major John Owen established a post in the Bitterroot Valley in the mid-century, which became a center of trading activity. Owens’s journal records the condition of the Lemhi during the transition period, after the Corps of Discovery and invasion by trappers and traders. The condition of poverty followed the Lemhi Shoshone through the rest of the century. day to day. His journal entry of January 20, 1860 describes more Snake Indian Shoshone “begging on the streets and destitute.” He continued, “How in Heaven's Name they pass the cold dreary Nights is a Mystery." |
| The story of the importance of Sacagawea’s participation in the exploration of the Pacific Northwest often leaves out the effect it had on her own tribe, the Lemhi Shoshone who lived in the upper Salmon River area. This is why our website begins with the profound effect the Corps of Discovery had on Sacagawea’s birth tribe. A study of the Lemhi Shoshone also becomes important because of the negative tribal cultural practices recorded by Lewis and Clark in their Expedition Journals, and contrary to historical record, the Shoshone claim she died and was buried on the reservation. See Sacagawea’s Death. |
| What Became of Sacagawea's Shoshone People After the the Expedition? |
Photos Courtesy of the Denver Public Archives
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An attempt by Mormon missionaries to establish Fort Lemhi (1855-1858) brought new contact with
whites, but this ended when Indians drove the Mormons from the area. However, the Mormon name,
Lemhi from the Book of Mormon, became the name for the river and for Sacagawea’s people.
quickly followed.
By 1906, the Lemhi Shoshone gave up and moved to live at Fort Hall, which is apparently what the
government had been trying to do. This was the way to assimilate the Lemhi to white society, and cause
their doom. Many of the remaining Lemhi abandoned their culture and language forever, the few who
were true to their traditions scattered across the area and became lost to history.
The question remains: Why have the Shoshone, since at least 1933, wanted to be associated with Sacagawea and the success of the Corp of Discovery? It brought invaders into their homeland, yet the Shoshone have perpetuated the falsehood that Sacagawea lived a long life among them and is
buried on the reservation. The answer to this question remains a mystery. Copyright 2012.
References
Hebard, Grace Raymond (1907). Pilot of First White Men to Cross the American Continent.
Journal of American History.
Jackson, Donald, ed. (1962). Letters of the Lewis & Clark Expedition With Related Documents:
1783-1854. Champaign/Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Lewis, Meriwether (1969). Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. New York: Arno Press.
Meeks, Edmond. Personal communication, November 28, 2011.
Owen, John (1927). The journals and letters of Major John Owen, pioneer of the Northwest, 1850-1871.
Edward Eberstadt Publishing.
whites, but this ended when Indians drove the Mormons from the area. However, the Mormon name,
Lemhi from the Book of Mormon, became the name for the river and for Sacagawea’s people.
Gold was discovered in the Snake River. This was the beginning of the end of the Lemhi as a separate
quickly followed.
By 1906, the Lemhi Shoshone gave up and moved to live at Fort Hall, which is apparently what the
government had been trying to do. This was the way to assimilate the Lemhi to white society, and cause
their doom. Many of the remaining Lemhi abandoned their culture and language forever, the few who
were true to their traditions scattered across the area and became lost to history.
The question remains: Why have the Shoshone, since at least 1933, wanted to be associated with Sacagawea and the success of the Corp of Discovery? It brought invaders into their homeland, yet the Shoshone have perpetuated the falsehood that Sacagawea lived a long life among them and is
buried on the reservation. The answer to this question remains a mystery. Copyright 2012.
References
Hebard, Grace Raymond (1907). Pilot of First White Men to Cross the American Continent.
Journal of American History.
Jackson, Donald, ed. (1962). Letters of the Lewis & Clark Expedition With Related Documents:
1783-1854. Champaign/Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Lewis, Meriwether (1969). Original journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806. New York: Arno Press.
Meeks, Edmond. Personal communication, November 28, 2011.
Owen, John (1927). The journals and letters of Major John Owen, pioneer of the Northwest, 1850-1871.
Edward Eberstadt Publishing.
Shoshone Indians Standing in
the Street in Salmon Idaho,
Early 1900.
the Street in Salmon Idaho,
Early 1900.
| Conflicts arose over the miner’s intrusion into the hard-won hunting and fishing rights of the Lemhi Shoshone. Tendoy, the current Lemhi chief was able to obtain a 100-mile reservation for the Lemhi, which stretched along the Lemhi River. still living in the area because much of the terrain was rough and did not produce enough fish and game for the Lemhi to live on. U.S. Indian agents tried to encourage the Lemhi to farm and grow crops on this small reservation, but the government delayed sending them the promised tools and farmed equipment to properly work the land. |
