Sacajawea

The sign's Indians in Montana were Hidatsa raiders, and she was not taken alone. In 1800, near the Three Forks of the Missouri, a Hidatsa war party attacked her people's camp, killed four men, four women and several boys, and carried off several children, Sacagawea among them. One of the girls taken with her escaped and made her way home. On August 17, 1805, Lewis watched the two meet again and called it really affecting. A Salmon historian later recorded the other girl's name as Jumping Fish, for the way she leapt through a stream to get away.

What the plaque says

Sacajawea Returned to her homeland in this valley in 1805 as an interpreter for Lewis and Clark when they explored these mountains. When she was only about 14 years old, she had been captured by Indians in Montana, where her people were out hunting buffalo in 1800. Reunited with her family, she helped Lewis and Clark obtain Indian horses and a Shoshoni guide to show them how to reach their Columbia River destination. 239 Text prepared by the Idaho Historical Society Marker made & installed by Idaho Transportation Department

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sacajawea Interpretive, Cultural and Educational Center — 12 mi
  In the valley where she was born, a center that spells her name the way many of her people say it.
• Lemhi Pass — 13 mi
  Lewis walked up a Shoshone road looking for the Pacific and saw only more mountains.

More markers nearby

• Lewis and Clark — steps away
• MacDonald's Battle — 2.5 mi
• Fort Lemhi — 5.0 mi
• Lewis and Clark — 6.6 mi