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Sacagawea Sulphur Spring, Cascade County, Montana, June 25, 2000

[View: east.  47º 35’ 52” N — 111º 03’ 20” W]

[Lewis]                                                                                    Sunday June 16^th 1805.

. . .the Indian woman extreemly ill and much reduced by her indisposition.  this gave

me some concern as well for the poor object herself, then with a young child in her

arms, as from the consideration of her being our only dependence for a friendly

negociation with the Snake Indians on whom we depend for horses to assist us in

our portage from the Missouri to the columbia River. . .  one of the small canoes was

left below. . .for the purpose of hunting as well as to procure the water of the Sulpher

spring, the virtues of which I now resolved to try on the Indian woman. . . the water is

as transparent as possible strongly impregnated with sulpher, and I suspect Iron also,

as the colour of the hills and bluffs in the neighbourhood indicate the existence of that

metal. . .  I caused her to drink the mineral water altogether.  wen I first came down I

found that her pulse were scarcely perceptible, very quick frequently irregular and

attended with strong nervous symptoms, that of the twitching of the fingers and leaders

of the arm; now the pulse had become regular much fuller and a gentle perspiration

had taken place; the nervous symptoms have also in a great measure abated, and she

feels herself much freeer from pain.  I believe her disorder originated principally from an

obstruction of the mensis in consequence of taking could.—