A guest post by Shannon McNear
Today, I’d like to give y’all a peek into a research trip I didn’t know I was going to get when I first committed to writing Streams of the Heart!
Last May I accompanied my youngest daughter on a road trip to return her landlord’s car to his home in Washington state from her home in North Dakota. We took a bit of a side trip and stayed the night in Salmon, Idaho, which just happens to be–yes! the birthplace of Sacagawea. (Or, Sacajawea as the Shoshone insist. I explain in my story notes why I went with the other spelling.)
My biggest inspiration for this story was North Dakota’s local history–where Lewis and Clark spent a winter and hired Sacagawea’s husband to accompany them on the rest of the trip. I was also inspired by hearing the story of a young man who survived and escaped a labor trafficking situation and now works for an anti-trafficking organization. It’s shocking to me how often this happens in modern times.
Here are just a few of the photos and videos I took on this trip.
(Left to right) My selfie with the lovely statue at the Sacajawea Interpretive Center in Salmon. | My daughter and I beside one of the streams. | An authentic native woman’s dress.
(Left to right) Tiny moccasins and other Native baby items. | Beautiful Native faces from history.
(Left to right) A portrait of Lewis proudly wearing the tippet/coat he likely received as a gift from Cameahwait. | Our view from a lovely cabin on the Lemhi Rivera.
A short video of the Lemhi River (where Sacagawea and her family almost certainly fished at some point) is available on Facebook, as well as a clip of our drive up through the mountains north of Salmon–which traces part of the actual expedition route. Where I mention the sign pointing to Lost Trail–I didn’t yet know that this is the spot where Clark tried to find passage west, but dead ended because the countryside was so brutally rugged, and turned around and came back to the camp near present-day Salmon. Isn’t that snow crazy, for the 13th of May??
And here are a few present-day faces of Sacagawea’s people, the Shoshone or Agai’dika.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this brief insight into the story behind Streams of the Heart.
About Shannon:
After more than two decades in the South, Shannon McNear now makes her home on the windy northern plains with her husband, an elderly but still-feisty German Shepherd, and one cat. She serves in worship and youth ministry, and has been writing novel-length fiction since age 15. Her first novella, Defending Truth, from A Pioneer Christmas Collection, was a 2014 RITA® nominee, and her most recent novella, The Wise Guy and the Star in Love’s Pure Light is a 2021 SELAH winner.
When not cooking, researching, or leaking story from her fingertips, she enjoys being outdoors, hanging out with her grandbabies and basking in the beauty of the Dakota prairie.
