Sacagawea... The books... when I read about her...learned about her, everybody called her Sacagawea (Sacajawea). She's Shoshone and so they pronounced her name Sacagowea (Sacagowea). And then when I met Hidatsa... Sacagawea was captured by the Hidatsas when she was a young girl and raised by them... and she eventually was traded to Charbonneau as his wife. I think she was about 16 years old at the time. And in 1805...the winter of 1804, Lewis and Clark were spending the winter with the Hidatsas and they knew they needed an interpreter so they hired on Charbonneau, and of course Sacagawea went with him. Well, I learned from the Hidatsa people that the pronunciation for Sacagawea in the Hidatsa nation is Sacagawea (Sacacawea). So it just depends on who you talk to, about the pronunciation.

But she was pretty essential. I mean they hired...Lewis and Clark could only speak English, and that was a southern English too, with their strong accent. So, they really needed a translator. And when they were at Fort Mandan, which is with the Hidatsa-Arikara people, they met French fur trappers. And the French fur trappers I think were alot more sophisticated than Lewis and Clark. And they learned the various languages...the Indian languages. They learned how to live Indian style...they just adopted the Indian way of living. And they also married the Indian women. So, they could get along with the Tribes alot better than Lewis and Clark could. So, Lewis and Clark needed an interpreter so they hired Charbonneau, and of course Sacagawea went along with him. So, that's how she got involved in the Lewis and Clark expedition.