Sacajawea's son links northwest with southwest

Sacajawea
statue at
Sacajawea State
Park in Pasco, WA

Not too many people have the chance to be members of several expeditions that explored the Western United States, then just a territory, but Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was one of them. He probably doesn’t remember his first trip, however, as he was only an infant when he crossed the northern territory with the Lewis and Clark expedition that went from St. Louis to the Oregon coast and back in 1804-06.

Jean Baptiste was born in 1805 to Sacajawea and her French-Canadian husband, Toussaint Charbonneau.  The family joined Lewis and Clark in 1805 in what is now North Dakota. The Shoshone Indian teenager and her husband served as guides and interpreters for the two explorers. Perhaps the trip inspired Jean Baptiste to become an explorer when he grew up. Or perhaps it was that he lived with William Clark in St. Louis as he was growing up. Clark paid for the boy’s education at a Jesuit academy there.

He was out on his own by age 18, working at a trading post in Kansas when he met a German duke who stopped there during his natural history expedition. Jean Baptiste accompanied him when he returned to Germany where he lived for six years, learning how to speak German and Spanish in addition to the French, English and Shoshone he already spoke.

He returned to St. Louis in 1829 where he became a fur trapper in the West. Later on, he would become a scout, guide and hunter for the Army as it moved across the West.  He served as a scout for the Mormon Battalion that blazed a wagon trail across the southwest in 1846 in an effort to keep Mexico from invading this area. The battalion camped a night in Yuma, Arizona, before crossing the Colorado River downstream the next day. His name is engraved on a plaque that surrounds the statue.

When the journey was over, he returned to the California territory where he served as mayor of a town for a few years. Jean Baptiste eventually returned to Oregon where he died in 1866.

Sacajawea State Park honors Indian guide

Dug-out canoes at Sacajawea State Park

Sacajawea State Park, near Pasco, Washington, honors Sacajawea, Lewis & Clark’s guide on their Corps of Discovery journey from St. Louis, Missouri, to the Pacific Ocean.

The park is located at five miles south of Pasco at the confluence of the mighty Columbia and Snake rivers. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark left St. Louis in May 1804, looking for an overland passage to the Pacific Ocean. On October 10, 1805, they arrived in what is now Washington State, traveling down the Snake River to where it joins with the Columbia. They arrived at the confluence six days later on October 16, staying for two days to explore the area, before continuing down the Columbia to their final destination, the Pacific Ocean. They also stayed in the area on their return trip to St. Louis in the spring of 1806.

Sacajawea joined expedition in North Dakota

 

They spent the winter of 1804-05 at Fort Mandan, in what is now North Dakota, where they added Sacajawea, a 17-year-old Shoshone, to their group. She was to serve as their translator and sometimes guide for the remainder of the trip. Also joining the expedition was her French-Canadian husband, Toussaint Charbonneau and their infant son, Jean-Baptiste.

But it is Sacajawea which this 284-acre park honors. The park was originally a construction site for the Northern Pacific Railroad, and was called Ainsworth. When the railroad moved on, the town disappeared, eventually to be replaced by the park, which got its start in 1927 when some land was given to the Pasco chapter of the Daughters of the Pioneers of Washington. The group deeded the land to Washington State in 1931. The Sacajawea museum was built in 1938 as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) to display Native American artifacts from Columbia Plateau tribes.

Visitors may note two spellings of Sacajawea’s name, even inside the park. The traditional and historic name, Sacajawea, is used at the park and the interpretive center.  The Shoshone word means “one who assumes a burden.” The name, Sacagawea, is used in the exhibits, and means “bird woman.” This was her given name.

Interpretive center explains journey

 

The museum is operated as an interpretive center today. It tells the story of the Lewis & Clark expedition, with emphasis on the West. There’s a marvelous statue of Sacajawea, a lodge made from reeds, and a display of items that the expeditionary corps would have had with them, among other things.

The interpretive center is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily April through October.  The park itself is open from 6:30 a.m. to dusk year ‘round, though in the winter months, visitors must park at the gate and walk in. Once inside the park, a myriad of activities are open to visitors. The list includes hiking, walking, picnicking, swimming, boating, fishing and bird watching.

A number of activities take place at the park during the open months. They range bluegrass festivals, old-time fiddlers, heritage days and haunted forests.

Sacajawea State Park is part of the Washington State Parks System. It is located southeast of Pasco just off Highway 12 at 2503 Sacajawea Park Road