As we travel in the Wake of Lewis and Clark, following their journey down the Columbia River to the Western Sea, we tend to think only in terms of what the adults in the party did. But there was a child!Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, the tiny infant carried by Sacajawea, was a member too. He rode in her arms and on her back for eight thousand miles. She nurtured him and kept him safe through extreme hardships.He thrived on the adventure, and grew to fine manhood.
Today, at Fort Clatsop, as we learn more about the Corps of Discovery, almost unnoticed, we see a young toddler examining a replica of one of their dugout canoes. Will he, like Sacajawea's child, be influenced by this experience, and grow to manhood inspired by this early glimpse of their great adventure?
