Story Behind The Song

The trail ends in the grand plains of west central North Dakota in Lake Sakakawea State Park where it joins with the Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail. Lake Sakakawea was named in honor of Sacagawea, the woman of the Shoshone tribe accompanied Lewis and Clark to find a waterway to the Pacific Ocean. In North Dakota her name is pronounced ?Saw-kaw?-kaw-wee-ah?. Sacagawea was kidnapped at the age of 12 by a neighboring tribe, the Hidatsa. A close friend with Sacagawea at the time escaped her captors by jumping into a nearby river. Because of her valiant escape the Shoshone tribe gave Sacagawea?s friend the name ?Jumping Fish?. At the age of 15 Sacagawea was won in a bet by a French man three times her age and became his ?bride?/slave. Lewis and Clark hired the Frenchman to come on their journey because he spoke Hidatsa and his wife spoke Shoshone and therefore could act as interpreters along their route. Sacagawea was 6 months pregnant at the time. Along the way she gave birth to her baby and thrived bravely through many heartrending experiences. Lewis and Clark write of her joy and tears when in the course of their arduous journey they came upon her old friend, Jumping Fish. This song is dedicated to the spirit of Sacagawea and to her poignant reunion with Jumping Fish, the one who got away.

Song Description

Dedicated to the North Country National Scenic Trail- Traverses states of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota. The landscape, scenic and historic features along the trail are spectacular and varied. The eastern end of the trail is on the shore of Lake Champlain at New York?s Crown Point State Historic Site. Making its way through the magnificence of the Adirondack Mountains in New York, the trail winds westward through the Pennsylvania forests, the open countryside of Ohio and southern Michigan, along the water?s edge of the Great Lakes, and through the lakes and streams and glacial-carved forests of Northern Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota.