The success of the whole Lewis and Clark expedition hung in the balance. They had come a long way and endured much hardship, but it was now clear there was much more to the continent to cross to reach the Pacific. Horses were an absolute necessity. This was the crying need, without which they could not proceed. They still had a fair supply of trade goods and were better able to get food than were the Indians. Either these Indians helped them—or they turned back.

Then Sacajawea walked out from those others of the party to greet the Shoshone chief. He was her brother!

Elements of many dramas lead up to this moment of amazing chance. Too, the future depends on it. As Sacajawea closes the distance between the two groups, she makes possible later United States claims to the western half of the great continent. Yet, what the Indian woman did at any time seemed only the simple, natural thing to those around her.

Now that her role is recognized, how to catch back the figure that vanished into remote fastnesses so long ago! It can be done, as shown here, calling on the devoted research of many, to put together the clues, for the clues are there, each one a story in itself. Where there is only surmise, this is stated, but the known fits together well with the pieced out. Thus out of the fragments an Indian appears—Sacajawea. Swaying like the grass? Wandering like the grass? Anyway called Grass Woman. The stolen girl is lost to a Frenchman and, with him and their baby, joins the expedition. Brief references in the journals of Lewis and Clark and others are build back into her continuing story. After the expedition goes on down the river, the detective work is especially fascinating. At last she stands out, the real Sacajawea, bright against the background of United States history, her place in it forever secure. Here is the rounded out story of the girl nobody knows.

From the dust jacket