Sacajawea

Sacajawea Monument in the cemetery in
 Ft. Washakie, Wyoming where most historians 
believe she is buried.

In April, 1804, just 2 months after giving birth to a son, 16-year-old Sacajawea set out with Lewis & Clark on their famed expedition across uncharted territory to the Pacific Ocean. She provided crucial services as a guide and interpreter, but as an Indian woman, she also served to keep the Indians they encountered from seeing the white men as a threat since no war party traveled with a woman. Lewis and Clark's very difficult and dangerous, but eventually successful 2-year journey opened up the west to the people of the United States and changed the course of a nation. It has rightly been called one of the greatest feats of exploration of all time. 

Sacajawea later gave birth to 4 more children before she became sick and passed away at the age of 25 on December 22, 1812. Although there is some doubt as to her burial place, a very old Native American cemetery in Fort Washakie, Wyoming is generally accepted as the place where she rests. The remote, hard-to-find, but still-active cemetery now known as Sacajawea Cemetery contains not only her grave and headstone, but also a monument to her.

Sweetwater Station & The Oregon Trail

While traveling on Highway 287 in Wyoming, Lil Dude stopped at the Sweetwater Station Rest Stop and was very pleasantly surprised at the very clean restrooms. Compared to other rest area's across the great American nation, this must be in the top ten for cleanliness!

Four historical trails pass through the area of Sweetwater Station - the Oregon, Mormon Pioneer, California, and Pony Express. The landscape looks almost exactly the same as it did almost 200 years ago when pioneers were traveling west by horse, covered wagons, and on foot. The trails were so worn that even today there are still miles of visible paths and ruts.

Miles & miles of wagon train ruts. Thousands of feet
walked this path.

This is the same landscape the pioneers saw as they
made the dangerous trek westward.