Did You Know? (#55)
Finally going past the Great Falls, Lewis and Clark next had to contact the Shoshone Indian people, who had never seen a white man before. The Shoshone had horses that Lewis and Clark needed to travel over the Rocky Mountains. Sacagawea would help translate. It turned out that Chief Cameahwait of the Shoshone was Sacagawea's brother. He not only gave them horses, but also gave Captain Lewis the ermine trimmed tippet shown in the print from the trunk.

Did You Know?
One of the plants discovered on the expedition was prickly pear cactus. In what is now Montana, the land grew thick with them and their long spines went right through the men's deerskin moccasins, even when they doubled the soles. Remind students of safety with plants, particularly cactus, toadstools, and poison ivy.

Classroom Activity #13
Communication with the various people during the expedition was challenging. When they were trying to trade for horses, a sort of "telephone chain" of interpreters was used. For instance:

Captain Clark made an offer in English.
Private Labiche translated it to French.
Charbonneau translated from French to Hidatsa.
His wife Sacagawea changed the Hidatsa to Shoshone.

Somehow it worked and the expedition bought the horses they needed.

Game: Have students line up and play a communication game. Tell the first student in line a message and have them pass it on to the next in line. When the message reaches the last student, compare the interpreted message to the original. How effective was communication? Does this ever happen in our daily lives? How can we improve communication?

Did You Know?
As the men crossed the Rocky Mountains on the Lolo Trail in Idaho, they ran out of food. Snow was falling and they were all cold and hungry. They traveled on foot with packhorses. No one knew how many miles they would have to go to get out of the mountains or find food.

For Teacher's Use
Select page number to advance forward or back