This is the tale of two dollars. While we have been traveling in the wake of Lewis and Clark on the Columbia and Snake Rivers we have learned the role that Sacajawea assumed. While not a guide or pathfinder, she was a moderating influence on the tribes that they met. Surely no party with a young woman and charming child would be bent on bringing them harm. Her ability to find and prepare wild foods; her sense of calm in moments of confusion; and her womanly influence on a bunch of rowdy young men, made her a valuable asset to the expedition. We honor her memory as we approach the bicentennial commemoration of The Corps of Discovery, by issuing a gold dollar. P>On a sandy beach on Clatsop Spit, not far from where they spent the winter of 1805-06, we have concluded our journey. We have traveled on the Sea Lion from Portland, Oregon to Clarkston, Washington and back downriver to Astoria. We have seen the land that they saw and felt the power of the river that they floated. We now stand as they did with "the ocean in view, Oh, the joy". And here on the beach we see a sand dollar, a gift from the sea.
We feel a sense of connection and of completion as we view them here together.
