Recognizing her people's land

Recognizing her people's land. . August 1805 - The Corps of Discovery struggled upriver toward the Rockies. Illness and injury, along with the increasingly difficult river passage, had eroded the group's morale. But the afternoon of the 8th brought a much needed lift, when expedition guide Sacagawea announced that she recognized a familiar landscape. Her people, the Lemhi Shoshoni, would be close by - with food, supplies, information, and most importantly, horses, for the journey ahead. , The landmark that Sacajawea recognized was Beaverhead Rock, which lies approximately twelve miles ahead. On August 8th, 1805, Meriwether Lewis wrote: "this hill she says her nation calls the beaver's head from a conceived resemblance of it's figure to that head of that animal." , (side-bar on left:) , "...the Indian Woman recognizes the point of a high plain...which she informed us was not very distant from the summer retreat of her nation." - Meriwether Lewis, August 08, 1805 , Sacagawea, carrying her infant son Jean Baptiste, was about fifteen years old when she helped guide the Corps of Discovery through Southern Montana.