Sakakawea and the Fur Traders

Written and coordinated by Tribune Innovations Editor, KEN ROGERS

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  • A place in history
    An introduction by the author, Ken Rogers.
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  • Facing the unknown
    The Lewis and Clark Expedition covered more than 8,000 miles by boat, foot and horseback. A step-by-step account.
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  • 'The worlds I have known'
    The story of Sakakawea as she would have told it herself.
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  • Sakakawea's life leaves questions
    There are three mysteries surrounding Sakakawea: her name, her death, and her origins.
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  • Mandan and Hidatsa were early allies
    These two tribes were the central trading point for fur traders and other Indians. Here the life among these unique peoples is examined.
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  • Old Woman cares for corn spirits
    An edited version of what Mrs. Good Bear, a Mandan woman, told Alfred W. Bowers in 1932 or 1933; it details what happened to the vegetable seeds during the winter.
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  • Goose Society offers help to gardeners
    An insight into Indian women's societies and the roles they played in Native American culture.
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  • Shoshone led difficult existence
    Life for Sakakawea among the Mandan and Hidatsa people was likely better than it was among her own tribe.
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  • Mandan were more than farmers
    The sedentary Mandan people who gardened and farmed were also known to adopt the nomadic life in the summer in the hunt for the mighty buffalo.
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  • 'The best man on foot'
    The tale of the expedition's youngest member, Sakakawea's son, Jean Baptiste Charbonneau.
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  • The Frenchman got mixed reviews
    The story of Toussaint Charbonneau, Sakakawea's husband, and a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition party.
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  • Fur trade changed the Upper Missouri
    With the trappers and the traders also came the white man's goods and ills.
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  • Colter could run, too
    The Corps of Discovery member John Colter's bad luck would help him work his way into a legend.
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  • Lewis and Clark counted on fluent signer
    The expedition depended greatly on George Drouillard's fearless hunting and wilderness skills, as well as his proficiency in the sign language common to the Plains Indians.
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  • Bases for trade
    Brief accounts of Fort Union and Fort Clark.
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  • Lewis and Clark Expedition timeline
    A year-by-year account of the major events influencing and taking place on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
    See the timeline

  • Bibliography
    A comprehensive list of all the resources author, Ken Rogers, made use of in preparing "Sakakawea and the Fur Traders."
    See the bibliography.

    Acknowledgements

    Dave Borlaug, Phyllis Cross, Calvin Grinnell, Marilyn Hudson, Tracy Potter
    Tillie Walker, Bill Lutz, Chris Dill, Mark Halverson and Rick Collin.
    The North Dakota Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Foundation
    Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site
    State Historical Society of North Dakota.

    SAKAKAWEA AND THE FUR TRADERS
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    e-mail: kvrogers@ndonline.com

    Editor: Tim Fought

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