First Impressions

The panel gives Three Eagles' first look; the Salish elders' own accounts, gathered by the tribes' culture committee, add what held the camp's attention most. York, the man Clark held in slavery, drew a crowd. The elder Sophie Moiese said that many people went up to him and rubbed a finger on his face to see whether the black would come off, and that this is why the Salish sign for a Black person is a finger drawn across the cheek. Another elder connected him with the Bluejay dancers of the medicine dance, who painted themselves black with charcoal.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Big Hole National Battlefield — 21 mi
  The government marked this ground for its soldiers in 1883 and left the Nimiipuu camp outside the line until the 1960s.

More markers nearby

• Survival — steps away
• The Great Clearing — steps away
• Mountains on the Move — steps away
• Ross' Hole — steps away