We stayed the night this past Saturday-Sunday in Lander, Wyoming and it brought back a few distant memories. I must have been but a young and innocent 13-year-old when my uncle invited me, my Dad, and five others on a week-long backpack trip in the Wind River Mountains. The experience in those high, beautiful mountains, fishing for trout with barbless hooks in the alpine lakes, definitely left a powerful imprint on my fertile brain. The mountains are now forever in my soul.
For the trip, my cousin, Rocky, suggested I pack a little extra peanut butter and honey as the planned freeze-dried meals might not quite cover our adolescent calorie expenditure (they certainly didn’t!). So, I packed a heavy, very breakable, glass jar of peanut butter and another heavy, very breakable, glass jar of honey. I had no idea you could mix the two goopy items together and put them in special plastic tubes specifically designed for backpacking.
Anyway, back to Lander…gateway to the magnificent Wind River Mountains and the beautiful Shoshone/Arapaho Tribal Lands. A few images…
The first big thing that will grab your attention as you drive into town from the south:
I guess it’s a good sign to see a bar right away. As Seldom Seen Smith (or one of his cronies) once said, “A town with more churches than bars has serious problems.”
And yet another patriotic something for my Americana collection that caught my eye…
If I were younger, I’d be an instructor for National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS)…what a way to live life! (If you are young and fit, of course.) They have a major presence in Lander due to the abundance of wilderness just outside town limits…
Approaching Indian Territory, a local Indian art gallery on Main Street…
Not too far to the north of Lander, in Fort Washakie, you can visit Sacajawea’s grave site. Carrying her papoose and accompanying the Lewis and Clark bunch back in 1804-1806, the tribes they met on their long journey west to the Pacific were immediately convinced of the expedition’s peaceful intent by the baby’s–and Sacajawea’s–presence. So, the group survived.
This initial expedition was certainly peaceful, but the white invasions that followed later in that same century certainly weren’t (especially when gold was involved).
If only the western tribes had foreseen the consequences…would they have done anything different? Is Sacajawea a hero, or a traitor? Does it depend on your historical viewpoint? I noticed the Daughters of the American Revolution were responsible for her large gravestone at the cemetery, so we certainly know which side of history supports the Sacajawea-as-hero story. What do they Shoshone elders think? (I certainly don’t question her remarkable grit and courage as a woman adventurer…I am just pointing out that history and its heroes can depend very much on which perspective becomes the accepted view.)
The cemetery is a bit hard to find. There is a sign on the main highway in Fort Washakie, then nothing. Just work your way west for maybe 2-3 miles. It is the second cemetery you’ll see…
Her statue. The sand dollar from the Pacific Ocean was a gift to Chief Washakie of the Eastern Shoshone…
Her gravestone. The famous papoose on the left and a son on the right. My maternal grandfather was born in 1891, a year after the Wounded Knee Massacre and only seven years after Sacajawea’s death in 1884 (unless she died in 1812–a theory with strong evidence), so it is easy for me to make the historical-generational links. It really wasn’t so long ago…
Yes, death is the great equalizer. White, red, yellow, black, green, or tanning-booth gold–skin color is irrelevant and won’t save you. We will all go through the squeaky white gate eventually…
