“O, Shenandoah, I love your daughter,
Away you rolling river.
I’ll take her ‘cross yon rolling water.
Ah-ha, I’m bound away, ‘cross the wide Missouri.”

American folk song

Above looks upstream from the hill above Mulberry Bend in the 59 mile eastern park district, where Lewis & Clark scouted some 219 years ago, along with other places introduced by the Yankton Sioux, one of many tribes that helped the expedition. The Yankton Sioux relinquished most of their land 165 years ago before either South Dakota (right) or Nebraska (left) were states, but they are still considered defenders of Pipestone in Minnesota. Their reservation runs along the north bank of most of the 39 mile western park district, above the confluence of the Niobrara, and they are park partners. Both districts of the park preserve the natural river flow, without commercial traffic, and most power boaters stick to Lewis & Clark Lake in the middle.

Further up the ‘big muddy’ Missouri River, at the confluence of the Knife River in North Dakota, teen mom Sacagawea joined their expedition with her French fur trapper husband and their infant. Like Pocahontas, her story is part of America, and similar stories are part of our heritage. As a child, I loved the song “Shenandoah” but was confused whether it was about the Shenandoah River in Virginia or the Missouri River. Turns out, Skenandoa was an Iroquois Chief, whose daughter was stolen by a French fur trapper and taken away across the wide Missouri River. Romantic stories about natives are part of our cultural heritage, albeit often one-sided. Especially given current tragedies of missing and murdered indigenous women, more effort—and funding—is needed to protect these women and tell more stories from a Native American perspective.