Editors

Jerry Stemach, MS, CCC-SLP

Karen Erickson, PhD Center for Literacy and Disability StudiesUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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A Step into History

Sacagawea The Trip to the West

byAlan Venable

and Jerry Stemach

Contents

Chapter 1 How My Mother Died . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Chapter 2 Prisoner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Chapter 3 The Wives of Old Bear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Chapter 4 How My Son Was Born . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Chapter 5 Heading West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Chapter 6 The Big Surprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Chapter 7 Across the Rocky Mountains . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31

Chapter 8 The Trip to the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

Chapter 9 The Way Back East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40

Chapter 10 After the Great Adventure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47

4

Why did the Minnetarees

give me that name? Maybe

it was because I was as

thin as a bird when they

caught me. I was thin

because I was starving.

When I was 10 years

old, the Minnetaree

Indians caught

me and made me

their prisoner.

They gave me the

name Sacagawea.

Sacagawea means

“Bird Woman.”

Chapter 1: How My Mother Died 5

There were thousands

of buffalo on the plains.

We needed their meat

for food. We needed

their skins to make

teepees for houses.

We could not live

without the buffalo.

It was not safe for a Shoshoni

to go down to the plains,

but we had to do it because

there was no food for us

in the mountains.

My family was part

of the Shoshoni Indian

tribe. Our hunters and

warriors did not have

guns. But some Indian

tribes did have guns.

6

We passed by my mother

lying on the ground. She

was dead. I tried to reach

her, but the warrior dragged

me away with a rope.

We could hear the war

cries of the Minnetarees.

We could hear their guns.

I tried to run, but a warrior

threw me down in the

river.

It was early in the

morning when the

Minnetaree warriors

attacked my tribe.

My mother and I were

out looking for berries

along the river.

7

We passed great herds of buffalo on the plains.

The Minnetarees shot the buffalo with their guns.

They gave me buffalo meat to eat.

Chapter 2: Prisoner8

Inside the lodge, there was a room that was

big enough for many people. It was even big

enough to keep horses inside during the winter.

One day we came

to a Minnetaree

village that was

next to the wide

Missouri River.

I had never seen

houses like these

before. They were

lodges.

9

The wife of the chief was good to us. She taught

us how to make round boats out of buffalo skins

so that we could cross the river.

I was sent to stay in the lodge

of the chief. There was another

Shoshoni girl staying there, too.

Her name was Otter Woman.

She could speak my language!

“We are slaves here,” she told me. “If you are careful

and do exactly as you are told, the Minnetarees will

not hurt you.”

10

Even in winter,

the Minnetarees

did not starve,

and everyone stayed

warm in the lodges.

The Minnetarees had guns

and knives and pots that

were made out of metal.

Their way of life was

very different from my

life in the Shoshoni tribe.

She taught us how to grow

corn. The women grew

so much corn that they

could trade it to other tribes

for furs and horses.

11

The Frenchman’s face was hairy like a bear!

When he spoke, he growled like a bear. We laughed

at him behind his back. We called him “Old Bear.”

When I was 13 years old, a Frenchman came

to live in the Minnetaree village. He was the

first white man that I had ever seen.

Chapter 3: The Wives of Old Bear12

One night the chief

invited Old Bear to

play a Minnetaree

game. Old Bear said,

“If I win, I want you to

give me Otter Woman

and Sacagawea.”

Old Bear learned to speak the Minnetaree

language. Old Bear would help our chief

to trade with other white men.

13

I didn’t want to marry Old Bear, but I was glad

that Otter Woman was also going to marry him.

Together we went to live in Old Bear’s lodge.

By morning,

the chief had lost

the bet, so he said

to us, “This white

man has won

you in a game.

Now you must

become his wives.”

14

“The United States

has bought some

land from France,”

said Old Bear.

“Chief Jefferson

calls this land the

Louisiana Territory.”

“They have been sent by

Chief Jefferson,” said Old Bear.

“The white man’s tribe is called

the United States.”

Two years passed.

Then, in the fall, more

than 30 white men came

up the river in big canoes.

15

“You will help the white men to trade for horses,”

said Old Bear. “The white men need Shoshoni horses

to carry their canoes over the Rocky Mountains.”

“How can white men own

the land if it belongs to

the Indians?” we asked.

“It’s simple. They have

more guns than Indians

do,” said Old Bear.

“Chief Jefferson

wants to find a

way to cross the

land to get to the

western sea,”

Old Bear went on.

16

We hoped that the white

men would trade their

guns to our people for

horses. Then maybe

the Shoshonis would

not have to starve in the

mountains.

But Otter Woman

and I were happy

because we were

going back to our

people at last!

I laughed. Old Bear

must be joking. I knew

how hard it was to

cross those mountains.

17