The party that were ordered last evening set out early this morning. the weather was fair and could wind N. W. about five oclock this evening one of the wives of Charbono was delivered of a fine boy. It is worthy of remark that this was the first child which this woman had boarn and as is common in such cases her labour was tedious and the pain violent; Mr. Jessome informed me that he had freequently adminstered a small portion of the rattle of the rattle-snake, which he assured me had never failed to produce the desired effect, that of hastening the birth of the child; having the rattle of a snake by me I gave it to him and he administered two rings of it to the woman broken in small pieces with the fingers and added to a small quantity of water. Whether this medicine was truly the cause or not I shall not undertake to determine, but I was informed that she had not taken it more than ten minutes before she brought forth perhaps this remedy may be worthy of future experiments, but I must confess that I want faith as to it's efficacy.
Two hundred ten years ago today, a Shoshone wife of a French fur trader gave birth to a son 70 miles south of here. Here name was Sacagawea; several months later she was responsible for saving the fate of the journey that opened the West.
The son’s name was Jean Baptiste Charbonneau but on the expedition he was known by his nickname ‘Pomp’. He was informally adopted by William Clark, schooled in St. Louis, spoke four European languages as well as several other Native American languages of the West where he was a trapper and guide for much of his life.
Originally published on The Minot Voice: February 11, 2015