<p>Elaine Murdy</p>

Almost all Northwesterners have heard of Sacagawea.

In elementary school we spent weeks upon weeks discussing and the studying the Lewis and Clark Expedition with only a few of the members of the Corps of Discovery who helped make the journey successful. One of the members I always longed to know more about was Sacagawea, the only female member of the Corps of Discovery.

What do we know about the amazing Native American woman who guided the Corps of Discovery across the West? There are several disputed facts in Sacagaweas story, but perhaps one of the most thrilling controversies surrounding this inspiring woman is not an argument over her lifes accomplishments, but rather a disagreement over when and how she died.

Up until the publishing of Grace Raymond Hebards book, Sacajawea, in 1933, the commonly accepted date of Sacagaweas death was Dec. 20, 1812. The book, and several facts therein, sparked the great debate regarding the Shoshone Natives demise.

What is certain is that an 1811 journal entry of Henry Breckenridge, a fur dealer at Fort Manuel, indicated that Sacagawea was living at the fort in Missouri with her husband, Touissant Charbonneau, a member of the corps and a French-Canadian explorer and trader. Even author William Sullivan mentioned as much at a presentation he gave at the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum last March.

On Dec. 20, 1812, another trapper, John Luttig, recorded a journal entry that states, This evening the Wife of Charbonneau a Snake Squaw, died of a putrid fever she was good and the best woman in the fort, aged about 25 years. She left a fine infant girl.

William Clarks records also indicate that Sacagaweas life ended early on. In a list of expedition members compiled between 1825 and 1828 Clark writes: Se-car-ja-we-au Dead.

According to the Orphans Court Records of St. Louis, Mo., Clark also adopted Sacagaweas two children in August 1813: Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, also known as Pomp, and Lizette Charbonneau. At that time, in order to allow adoption, both parents of a child had to be confirmed dead in court.

Charbonneau supposedly died when Native Americans attacked Fort Manuel in 1813, killing 15 men.

Case closed? Not entirely. Charbonneau was a known polygamist, taking several squaw wives. This is where the dispute begins.

Hebard and several others propose that, since Luttig doesnt name Charbonneaus wife in the journal entry, we cannot be sure if that wife was, in fact, Sacagawea.

Hebard suggests that Sacagawea returned to live with the Shoshone people in Wyoming and lived a long, happy life, dying in April 1884. If that is, in fact, true, how did Clark adopt Sacagaweas children?

However, a Shoshone oral history and a burial plot marker on the Shoshone Wind River Reservation in Wyoming indicate an 1884 date. In 1907 Rev. John Robert recalled that he buried a Native American woman on the Wind River Reservation. Though he was told the womans name was Sacagawea, he could not be certain. In 1945 Rev. John Robert indicated his doubts that the woman he buried was actually Sacagawea.

All I know is I buried an old Indian woman, he said. The historian (Grace Raymond Hebard) told me she was Sacajawea.

It is often suggested that Hebard, a Wyoming historian and author, hoped to romanticize the history of the state and embellished the truth. Another issue with Hebards suggested date is that the Shoshone tribe never lived in Wyoming during Sacagaweas life, but actually inhabited Montana and Idaho. However, the reservations established for the Shoshone tribe after the Indian Removal Act were located in parts of Wyoming, and the Shoshone oral tradition suggests that Sacagawea lived a long life, after returning to live with her people.

It is difficult to discredit Hebards theory fully, both because of the oral history evidence that backs up Sacagaweas death in 1884, and because not much is written about the Native American womans life after the Corps of Discovery.

Little is known about her life after the Expedition took place, especially since her ethnic identity and gender made her life of little consequence to white or Native American society in the early 1800s. This makes it difficult to establish the correct date.

Whatever date is correct, it is clear that Sacagawea was a strong, determined woman. She was an American heroine that braved the journey west with an infant son, surviving multiple accidents and near drownings. For more information on the Lewis and Clark Expedition, visit the Cannon Beach History Center and Museum, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Monday.