Beaverhead Rock
Beaverhead Rock, Dillon, Montana
On August 8, 1805. Sacagawea came across a large boulder which she recognized. Whe Sacagawea was about 11 or 12, a Hidatsa raiding party took Sacagawea from her home and family. They had taken her to a place near this rock. Sacagawea began to recognize features on the landscape as the group approached the land of the Shoshone. According to Lewis, "this hill she says her nation calls the beaver's head from a conceived remblance of it's figure to the head of that animal. she assures us that we shall find her people on this river or on the river immediately west of it's source; which from it's present size cannot be very distant." By recognizing Beaverhead Rock and helping to direct the explorers to her people, Sacagawea proved herself critical to the success of the journey to the Pacific Ocean.