Sacajawea, an "Agaidika" Shoshone woman born around 1788, is known around the world as a trusted and valuable member of the famed Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery. A lesser-known fact, however, is her historical tie to Idaho's Lemhi Valley where she was born and raised until the age of twelve. Captured by the Arikira Indians and forced to live among them in the Mandan Villages of North Dakota, Sacajawea would not see her home again until becoming part of the Corps of Discovery in 1805. It was during this expedition that she would help Lewis and Clark find the Salmon River and revisit her people.
This passage through the high country of eastern Idaho offers a wealth of engaging stories, many of them considered historical legacies of Idaho and beyond. Found here are fossils of the extinct North American (or Pleistocene) lion, Native American rock art, the compelling stories of the Lemhi-Shoshone people, the Lewis and Clark expedition's passage through Sacajawea's homeland, the flight of the Nez Perce, the Reverend Samuel Parker, Fort Lemhi, the legacy of Chief Tendoy, stage routes and rail lines that served the mining boom of the late 1800's, and much more. Come discover for yourself what makes Sacajawea Historic Byway such a legacy.