continued along their path. Sacagawea became of great service to the expedition at this point because she nowrecognized much of the land they were traveling. When Sacagawea notified the Corpsthat the headwaters were near, the spirits of the group were lifted. There were no signsof Shoshone, whom the Corps needed to supply them with the horses they needed tocross the Rocky Mountains. When the forks at the headwaters were reached they werenamed the Jefferson, Madison, and Gallatin Rivers. Shoshone were finally found andwith the sight of Sacagawea, were very accepting. The Shoshone bartered horses inexchange for promise of fur trade and gun trade in the future. When communicating with the Shoshone there was an interesting chain of translation. Acaptain gave an English message to Francais Labiche, a Corps member who spokeFrench, who translated the message into French for Toussaint Charbonneau, whotranslated the message into Hidatsa for Sacagawea, who, in turn, translated the messageinto Shoshone for the chief. Traveling north toward the Columbia River the Corps took a trail that would laterbecome known as the Lolo Trail. The Shoshone guide mistook the trail they took foranother shorter more direct trail. This mistake added two days of traveling to theirjourney but the Corps didn’t mind because they explored more land taking the longer route. Crossing the mountains was not an easy task for the Corps. Cold, snow, and hunger bitat the Corps every step of the journey across the mountains. When reaching the otherside the Corps made canoes and traveled on the Clearwater River to the Snake River andfinally to the Columbia River. Along these rivers many of the Indians had never seenwhite men. The presence of Sacagawea and her baby helped calm the tribes. The waters of the Columbia River were very turbulent and full of narrow, rockychannels. The Chinook tribe thought to be hostile did not give the Corps any trouble. Aft...
