Many of the men on the Lewis and Clark expedition had relationships with Indian women. Some of these men returned to the upper Missouri River country after the expedition and became fur trappers. It was common to take up with an Indian woman as a mate and to help out with domestic chores.
In order to obtain an Indian woman from their fathers or a tribal chief it usually was necessary to trade some horses, guns or other goods for the woman, many who were just teenage girls. Many Indian women received better treatment by the white men than the Indian men. Indian women were prized for their ability to speak Indian languages, make moccasins, fashion hides into garments, dig for eatable roots, butcher animals killed by the men and cook over open fires. The Hudson Bay Company was noted for large numbers of men with Indian wives and children traveling through the Oregon Country in search of beavers in the 1820's and 30's. They were even reported as far south as the Coastal Mountains of northern California in the book Genocide and Vendetta by Lynwood Carranco and Estle Beard.
On many occasions if it had not been for some of these Indian women some of these men would not have survived, including the Lewis and Clark expedition without the aid and knowledge of Sacagawea.
In his journal, Clark recorded one such encounter in November 1805: "An old woman and wife to a chief of the Chinooks came and made a camp near ours. She brought with her six young squaws, I believe for the purpose of gratifying the passions of the men of our party. Those people appear to view sensuality as a necessary evil, and do not appear to abhor it as a crime in the unmarried state." That's why the expedition brought along penis syringes for treating venereal disease, which occurred often, and also salves and mercury.
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