Jean Baptiste Charbonneau (February 11, 1805 – May 16, 1866) was a Native American-French Canadian explorer, guide,

fur trapper Fur is a thick growth of hair that covers the skin of mammals. It consists of a combination of oily guard hair on top and thick underfur beneath. The guard hair keeps moisture from reaching the skin; the underfur acts as an insulating blanket ...

, trader, military scout during the

Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War and in Mexico as the (''United States intervention in Mexico''), was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1 ...

, '' alcalde'' (mayor) of

Mission San Luis Rey de Francia Mission San Luis Rey de Francia ( es, Misión San Luis Rey de Francia) is a former Spanish mission in San Luis Rey, a neighborhood of Oceanside, California. This Mission lent its name to the Luiseño tribe of Mission Indians. At its prime, ...

and a gold digger and hotel operator in Northern California. His mother was Sacagawea, a Shoshone Native who worked as a guide and interpreter for the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gr ...

. Charbonneau spoke French and English and learned German and Spanish during his six years in Europe from 1823 to 1829. He spoke Shoshone and other western Native American languages, which he picked up during his years of trapping and guiding. Jean Baptiste's father was also a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, a French Canadian explorer and trader named

Toussaint Charbonneau Toussaint Charbonneau (March 20, 1767 – August 12, 1843) was a French-Canadian explorer, trader and a member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He is also known as the husband of Sacagawea. Early years Charbonneau was born in Boucherv ...

. Jean Baptiste was born at Fort Mandan in

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

. In his early childhood, he accompanied his parents as they traveled across the country. The expedition co-leader

William Clark William Clark (August 1, 1770 – September 1, 1838) was an American explorer, soldier, Indian agent, and territorial governor. A native of Virginia, he grew up in pre-statehood Kentucky before later settling in what became the state of Miss ...

nicknamed the boy Pompey ("Pomp" or "Little Pomp"). After the death of his mother, he lived with Clark in

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

, where he attended St. Louis Academy. Clark paid for his education. Sacagawea and Toussaint Charbonneau also had a second child, a daughter named Lizette Charbonneau; however, because she receives only occasional mention in Clark's papers, her life remains unclear beyond her third birthday. Jean Baptiste and Sacagawea appear on the United States

Sacagawea dollar The Sacagawea dollar (also known as the "golden dollar") is a United States dollar coin introduced in 2000, although not minted for general circulation between 2002 to 2008 and again from 2012 onward because of its general unpopularity with th ...

coin. He is the second child depicted on

United States currency The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

. Pompeys Pillar on the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains a ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

and the community of

Charbonneau, Oregon Charbonneau (also known as the Charbonneau District) is a private planned community within the city limits of Wilsonville, Oregon, Wilsonville in Clackamas County, Oregon, Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. It is on the opposite side the Wi ...

are named for him.

Childhood

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born to Sacagawea, a Shoshone, and her husband, the French Canadian trapper

, in early 1805 at Fort Mandan in

. This was during the

, which wintered there in 1804–05. The senior Charbonneau had been hired by the expedition as an interpreter and, learning that his pregnant wife was Shoshone, the captains Lewis and Clark agreed to bring her along. They knew they would need to negotiate with the Shoshone for horses at the headwaters of the Missouri River. Meriwether Lewis noted the boy's birth in his journal: The infant traveled from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean and back, carried along in the expedition's boats or upon his mother's back. His presence is often credited by historians with assuring native tribes of the expedition's peaceful intentions, as they believed that no war party would travel with a woman and child.

After the expedition

In April 1807, about a year after the end of the expedition, the Charbonneau family moved to

, at Clark's invitation. Toussaint Charbonneau and Sacagawea departed for the

Mandan The Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is now North Dakota. They are enrolled in the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation. About half of the Mandan still re ...

villages in April 1809 and left the boy to live with Clark. In November 1809, the parents returned to St. Louis to try farming, but left again in April 1811. Jean Baptiste continued to reside with Clark. Clark's two-story home, built in 1818, contained an illuminated museum long by wide. Its walls were decorated with national flags and life-size portraits of

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

and the

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

, Native artifacts, and mounted animal heads. Upon visiting the museum, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, a geologist and

ethnographer Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...

, wrote: As a boy, Charbonneau learned from the vast collection. Clark paid for Charbonneau's education at St. Louis Academy, a Jesuit Catholic school (now called St. Louis University High School), although the expense was considerable for the time. The school's single classroom was then located in the storehouse of Clark's friend, the trader Joseph Robidoux. Brothers James and George Kennerly paid for Charbonneau's supplies for 1820 and were reimbursed by Clark. From June through September 1820 and in 1822, Jean Baptiste boarded with Louis Tesson Honoré, a Clark family friend and member of his church, Christ Episcopal.. The general had helped organize the church in 1819. They lived in St. Ferdinand Township in St. Louis County, Missouri near Charbonneau's father's of land.

Adult life

On June 21, 1823, at age eighteen, Charbonneau met Duke Friedrich Paul Wilhelm of Württemberg, the nephew of King Friedrich I Wilhelm Karl of Württemberg. Charbonneau was working at a

Kaw Kaw or KAW may refer to: Mythology * Kaw (bull), a legendary bull in Meitei mythology * Johnny Kaw, mythical settler of Kansas, US * Kaw (character), in ''The Chronicles of Prydain'' People * Kaw people, a Native American tribe Places * Kaw, Fr ...

trading post on the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

near present-day

Kansas City, Kansas Kansas City, abbreviated as "KCK", is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas, and the county seat of Wyandotte County. It is an inner suburb of the older and more populous Kansas City, Missouri, after which it is named. As of ...

. Wilhelm was traveling in America on a natural history expedition to the

northern plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, and ...

with Jean Baptiste's father as his guide. On October 9, 1823, he invited the younger Charbonneau to return to Europe with him, which was agreed upon. The two set sail on the ''Smyrna'' from St. Louis in December 1823. Jean Baptiste lived at the duke's palace in Württemberg for nearly six years, where he learned German and Spanish and improved his English and French. The latter was still the dominant language of St. Louis, which had first enabled his conversations with the Duke. According to a 1932 translation of Wilhelm's journal by the historian Louis C. Butscher, Wilhelm wrote that Charbonneau was "…a companion on all my travels over Europe and northern Africa until 1829." In 2001, Albert Furtwangler, PhD, questioned the accuracy of Butscher's German translation, noting two more recent translations of the duke's journals, and suggests that Charbonneau's role in Wilhelm's court may have been less intimate than Butscher's perhaps romanticized account implied. Charbonneau may have been hired as a servant, rather than invited as a companion. As support, he notes the apparent lack of further contact between the two men after Charbonneau's return to America. However, lack of contact in itself does not mean Charbonneau was a hired hand. Such an act may have been an insult to Clark, which the duke likely would have avoided.. As with many aspects of his life, little is known for certain about Charbonneau's time in Europe.

Children

Parish records in Wuerttemberg show that while there, Charbonneau fathered a child with Anastasia Katharina Fries, a soldier's daughter. The baby, Anton Fries, died about three months after his birth. Nearly two decades later, while in California as an alcalde or magistrate, Charbonneau was recorded as being the father of another child. On May 4, 1848, Maria Catarina Charguana was born to Margarita Sobin, a Luiseño people woman, and Charbonneau. Sobin, 23 at the time, traveled to

Mission San Fernando Rey de España Mission San Fernando Rey de España is a Spanish mission in the Mission Hills community of Los Angeles, California. The mission was founded on 8 September 1797 at the site of Achooykomenga, and was the seventeenth of the twenty-one Spanish mis ...

near

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

for the infant girl's baptism, performed on May 28, 1848, and recorded by Father Blas Ordaz as entry #1884. Margarita Sobin later married Gregory Trujillo, and some of their descendants may be members of the La Jolla Band of Mission Natives.

Trapper and hunter

In November 1829, Charbonneau returned to St. Louis, where he was hired by Joseph Robidoux as a fur trapper for the American Fur Company, to work in

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyomi ...

and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

. He attended the 1832

Pierre's Hole Pierre's Hole is a shallow valley in the western United States in eastern Idaho, just west of the Teton Range in Wyoming. At an elevation over above sea level, it collects the headwaters of the Teton River, and was a strategic center of the fu ...

rendezvous while working for the

Rocky Mountain Fur Company The enterprise that eventually came to be known as the Rocky Mountain Fur Company was established in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1822 by William Henry Ashley and Andrew Henry. Among the original employees, known as "Ashley's Hundred," were Jedediah ...

. There he fought in the bloodiest non-military conflict that preceded the

Plains Indian Plains Indians or Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies are the Native American tribes and First Nation band governments who have historically lived on the Interior Plains (the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies) of ...

wars, which began in 1854. From 1833–1840 Charbonneau worked in the fur trade in the Rocky Mountain Trapping System with other mountain men, such as

Jim Bridger James Felix "Jim" Bridger (March 17, 1804 – July 17, 1881) was an American mountain man, trapper, Army scout, and wilderness guide who explored and trapped in the Western United States in the first half of the 19th century. He was known as Old ...

James Beckwourth James Pierson Beckwourth (born Beckwith, April 26, 1798 or 1800 – October 29, 1866 or 1867), was an American mountain man, fur trader, and explorer. Beckwourth was known as "Bloody Arm" because of his skill as a fighter. He was mixed-race and ...

and Joe Meek. From 1840–42 he worked from

Fort Saint Vrain Fort Saint Vrain was an 1837 fur trading post built by the Bent, St. Vrain Company, and located at the confluence of Saint Vrain Creek and the South Platte River, about 20 miles (32 km) east of the Rocky Mountains in the unorganized terri ...

, floating bison hides and tongues down the

South Platte River The South Platte River is one of the two principal tributaries of the Platte River. Flowing through the U.S. states of Colorado and Nebraska, it is itself a major river of the American Midwest and the American Southwest/ Mountain West. It ...

to St. Louis. On one of the voyages, he camped with Captain John C. Frémont on his cartographic expedition. In 1843, he guided Sir

William Drummond Stewart Sir William Drummond Stewart, 7th Baronet (26 December 1795 – 28 April 1871) was a Scottish adventurer and British military officer. He travelled extensively in the American West for nearly seven years in the 1830s. In 1837 he took along the ...

, a Scottish baronet, on his second long trip to the American West, which was a lavish hunting expedition. Seeking employment again, in 1844 Charbonneau went to

Bent's Fort Bent's Old Fort is an 1833 fort located in Otero County in southeastern Colorado, United States. A company owned by Charles Bent and William Bent and Ceran St. Vrain built the fort to trade with Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho Plains Indians and ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, where he was a chief hunter, and worked also as a trader with southern Plains Indians. William Boggs, a traveler who met him, wrote that Charbonneau "…wore his hair long, ndwas…very high strung…" He reported, "…it was said Charbonneau (sic) was the best man on foot on the plains or in the Rocky Mountains."

Mexican–American War

In October 1846, Charbonneau, Antoine Leroux and

Pauline Weaver Pauline Weaver (1797 – June 21, 1867), born Powell Weaver, was an American mountain man, trapper, military scout, prospector, and explorer who was active in the early Southwestern United States. A number of geographic features in Arizona are n ...

were hired as scouts by General Stephen W. Kearny. Charbonneau's experience with military marches, such as with

James William Abert James William Abert (November 18, 1820 – August 10, 1897) was an American soldier, explorer, bird collector and topographical artist. Early life Abert, the son of John James Abert, in August 1845, along the

Canadian River The Canadian River is the longest tributary of the Arkansas River in the United States. It is about long, starting in Colorado and traveling through New Mexico, the Texas Panhandle, and Oklahoma. The drainage area is about .Philip St. George Cooke on an arduous march from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, a distance of . Their mission was to build the first wagon road to Southern California and to guide some 20 huge Murphy supply wagons to the west coast for the military during the

. A contingent of soldiers made up of some 339 Mormon men and six Mormon women, known as the

Mormon Battalion The Mormon Battalion was the only religious unit in United States military history in federal service, recruited solely from one religious body and having a religious title as the unit designation. The volunteers served from July 1846 to July ...

, were the builders of that new road over the uncharted southwest from Santa Fe to San Diego and Los Angeles. A memorial to the historic trek of the Mormon Battalion and their guide Charbonneau has been erected at the San Pedro River, north of the U.S.–Mexico border near the present-day town of

Palominas, Arizona Palominas is a census-designated place located along the San Pedro River in the southern portion of Cochise County in the state of Arizona, United States. Palominas is located very close to the community of Miracle Valley along Arizona State ...

. Other monuments or historic markers are in Tucson, Arizona and in California at Box Canyon near Warner Springs, at

Temecula Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 census and was incorporated on December 1, 1989. The city is a ...

, at Old Town San Diego and at

Fort Moore Fort Moore was the second of two historic U.S. Military Forts in Los Angeles, California, during the Mexican–American War. It lay straight above the junction of the Hollywood Freeway and Broadway, on an historic hill that once sheltered the o ...

in Los Angeles. Colonel Cooke's diary mentions Charbonneau some 29 times from November 16, 1846, to January 21, 1847. Eight of the twenty wagons reached

, from today's Oceanside, California, and the leaders counted the expedition as a success. Cooke wrote of the Mormon Battalion, "History may be searched in vain for an equal march of infantry." Known as Cooke's Road or the Gila Trail but more currently known as the Mormon Battalion Trail, the wagon road was used by settlers, miners, stagecoaches of the

Butterfield Stage Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...

line and cattlemen driving longhorns to feed the gold camps. Parts of the route became the Southern Pacific Railroad and U.S. Route 66. Currently, the Boy Scouts of America gives an award for those who hike sections of this historic trail. In February 1848, knowledge gained about the region was used as the basis of the

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...

, which established the

United States-Mexico border United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

in December 1853, following the Mexican-American War.

Alcalde

In November 1847, Charbonneau accepted an appointment from Colonel John D. Stevenson as '' alcalde'' (mayor) at

. This position made him the only civilian authority, a combined sheriff, lawyer and magistrate, in a post-war region covering about . From 1834–50, the lands were owned by

rancheros The Spanish and Mexican governments made many concessions and land grants in Alta California (now known as California) and Baja California from 1775 to 1846. The Spanish Concessions of land were made to retired soldiers as an inducement for t ...

through legally questionable land grants. The rancheros hired local Luiseño people to do agricultural work. Many functioned in virtual servitude, and some rancheros paid them only with liquor. Trying to correct abuses and also facilitate post-war control, in November 1847, Colonel

Richard Barnes Mason Richard Barnes Mason (January 16, 1797July 25, 1850) was an American military officer who was a career officer in the United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is on ...

, the territorial governor, ordered Charbonneau to force the sale of a large ranch owned by the powerful Jose Antonio Pico, whose family was politically connected. His brother

Pio Pico Pio may refer to: Places * Pio Lake, Italy * Pio Island, Solomon Islands * Pio Point, Bird Island, south Atlantic Ocean People * Pio (given name) * Pio (surname) * Pio (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer * Pio (footballer, born 1 ...

had been the last governor of California under Mexico. On January 1, 1848, Mason banned the sale of liquor to Native Americans. Such ordinances attacked the foundation of ranchero power and ability to do business. Eventually, the changes led to United States civilian control of California. Although Charbonneau was assisted by Captain J. D. Hunter as he negotiated with Pico, he saw that local resistance would make enforcing Mason's orders difficult. Charbonneau resigned his post in August 1848 and was soon followed by Hunter. California statehood on September 9, 1850, ended the post-war difficulties.

Gold mining

In September 1848, Charbonneau arrived in

Placer County, California Placer County ( ; Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. Placer County is included in the Gre ...

at the

American River , name_etymology = , image = American River CA.jpg , image_size = 300 , image_caption = The American River at Folsom , map = Americanrivermap.png , map_size = 300 , map_caption ...

, near what is now Auburn. Arriving early in what became known as the California Gold Rush, he joined only a handful of prospectors. Panning was not done during the hard Sierra Nevada] winter or spring runoff, so in June 1849, he joined Jim Beckwourth and two others at a camp on Buckner's Bar to mine the river at the Big Crevice. This claim "…was shallow and paid well". Charbonneau lived at a site known as

Secret Ravine Secret Ravine is a perennial tributary of Miners Ravine which shortly thereafter runs into Dry Creek in Placer County, California. Its course lies within the cities of Rocklin, Loomis, and Roseville, as well as unincorporated parts of Placer Co ...

, one of 12 ravines around Auburn. A successful miner, he kept working in the area for nearly sixteen years. A measure of his success was that Charbonneau could afford the mining region's highly inflated cost of living. For example, at a time when a good wage in the West was $30 per month, it cost $8–16 per day to live in Auburn. Transiency was high but Charbonneau was still there in 1860, working as the hotel manager at the Orleans Hotel in Auburn. By 1858, many miners had left the California fields for other gold rushes. In April 1866, he departed for other opportunities at age 61. He may have headed for

to prospect for gold, although sites such as at Silver City and DeLamar in Idaho Territory were much closer.

Death

It is not clear exactly why Charbonneau left Auburn, California, but the recessionary local economy was certainly a motivation. Before leaving he visited the ''Placer Herald'' newspaper and visited with an editor, who wrote later in his obituary, "...he was about

is purpose was In linguistics, a copula (plural: copulas or copulae; abbreviated ) is a word or phrase that links the subject of a sentence to a subject complement, such as the word ''is'' in the sentence "The sky is blue" or the phrase ''was not being'' ...

returning to familiar scenes". Some of those "familiar scenes" may have been where he had lived and worked as a mountain man east of the Great Basin. His destination also may have been the

Owyhee Mountains The Owyhee Mountains are a mountain range in Owyhee County, Idaho and Malheur County, Oregon. Mahogany Mountain and the associated volcanic craters of the Lake Owyhee volcanic field are in the Owyhee Mountains of Oregon just east of the Owyhee R ...

, where rich placer deposits were discovered in May 1863. Or perhaps he sought to reach Alder Gulch near

Virginia City, Montana Virginia City is a town in and the county seat of Madison County, Montana, United States. In 1961 the town and the surrounding area were designated a National Historic Landmark District, the Virginia City Historic District. The population was 2 ...

, because it had produced $31 million in gold by late 1865. Other possible destinations were the Bannock, Montana gold strikes or—as noted above—the mines at Silver City (formerly Ruby City), Delamar or Boonville. His route and travel method likely took him on a stagecoach over

Donner Summit Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, above Donner Lake and Donner Memorial State Park about west of Truckee, California. Like the Sierra Nevada themselves, the pass has a steep approach from the east and a gradual a ...

and east along the well-traveled

Humboldt River The Humboldt River is an extensive river drainage system located in north-central Nevada. It extends in a general east-to-west direction from its headwaters in the Jarbidge, Independence, and Ruby Mountains in Elko County, to its terminus in th ...

Trail to

Winnemucca, Nevada Winnemucca () is the only incorporated city in, and is the county seat of, Humboldt County, Nevada, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 8,431, up 14.0 percent from the 2010 census figure of 7,396. Interst ...

, then north to the U.S. Army's Camp McDermitt at the Oregon border. Passing the camp in rugged terrain, the men reached an

Owyhee River The Owyhee River is a tributary of the Snake River located in northern Nevada, southwestern Idaho and southeastern Oregon in the United States. It is long.Owyhee Rive accessed November 3, 2019 The river's drainage basin is in area, one of the l ...

crossing at present-day

Rome, Oregon Rome, also called Rome Station after its sole business, is an unincorporated community in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It is part of the Ontario, OR– ID Micropolitan Statistical Area. In the sparsely populated high desert of so ...

, where an apparent accident occurred and Charbonneau went into the river. The accident's cause is unknown, but there are several possibilities. He may have been on a stagecoach operated by the

Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...

-Silver City-Winnemucca stage company that began its route in 1866 out of Camp McDermitt and in crossing the river, the coach sank. Or he may have been on horseback and fallen off the river bank or slipped out of the saddle while crossing. The Owyhee River in snow melt may have turned into whitewater. Other possibilities are he was injured on the land journey, inhaled alkali dust, or fell ill from drinking contaminated water. The ill Charbonneau was taken to Inskip Station in Danner, Oregon, built in 1865, about from the river and west of

Jordan Valley The Jordan Valley ( ar, غور الأردن, ''Ghor al-Urdun''; he, עֵמֶק הַיַרְדֵּן, ''Emek HaYarden'') forms part of the larger Jordan Rift Valley. Unlike most other river valleys, the term "Jordan Valley" often applies just to ...

. It is now a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

. The former stagecoach, mail stop and general store served travelers to Oregon and the California gold fields. It had its own well, and Charbonneau may have deteriorated from drinking the water. After his death there, his body was taken north and interred at , approximately southwest of

Ontario, Oregon Ontario is the largest city in Malheur County, Oregon, United States. It lies along the Snake River at the Idaho border. The population was 11,366 at the 2010 census. The city is the largest community in the region of far eastern Oregon, also k ...

. Charbonneau died at age 61 on May 16, 1866. A death notice was sent by an unknown writer, likely one of two fellow travelers on the journey east, to the ''Owyhee Avalanche'' newspaper and it said he died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severi ...

. This is the first documented evidence of his death. The ''Placer Herald'' obituary writer opined that he succumbed to the infamous "Mountain Fever", to which many illnesses in the West were attributed. His gravesite, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, is on of land. (It is near the abandoned Anderson General Store, which is intact and appears to be in 1940s condition.) Now contained within the Ruby Ranch, the site was donated to Malheur County by the owners, and the gravesite has three historical markers. In 1971, the Malheur County Daughters of the American Revolution placed a marker. In 1973, the Oregon Historical Society installed a marker, reading: In 2000, a third marker was dedicated by the

Lemhi Shoshone The Lemhi Shoshone are a tribe of Northern Shoshone, also called the Akaitikka, Agaidika, or "Eaters of Salmon".Murphy and Murphy, 306 The name "Lemhi" comes from Fort Lemhi, a Mormon mission to this group. They traditionally lived in the Lemhi Ri ...

tribe. As the son of Sacagawea, a

Northern Shoshone Northern Shoshone are Shoshone of the Snake River Plain of southern Idaho and the northeast of the Great Basin where Idaho, Wyoming and Utah meet. They are culturally affiliated with the Bannock people and are in the Great Basin classificat ...

who lived in the Lemhi Valley, Charbonneau is considered one of their people. Earlier in the twentieth century, Dr Grace Raymond Hebard of the

University of Wyoming The University of Wyoming (UW) is a public land-grant research university in Laramie, Wyoming. It was founded in March 1886, four years before the territory was admitted as the 44th state, and opened in September 1887. The University of Wyoming ...

, a political economist, not a historian or anthropologist, argued that Charbonneau died and was buried at the Shoshone

Wind River Indian Reservation The Wind River Indian Reservation, in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Wyoming, is shared by two Native American tribes, the Eastern Shoshone ( shh, Gweechoon Deka, ''meaning: "buffalo eaters"'') and the Northern Arapaho ( arp, ...

. Dr.

Charles Eastman Charles Alexander Eastman (February 19, 1858 – January 8, 1939) was an American physician, writer, and social reformer. He was the first Native American to be certified in Western medicine and was "one of the most prolific authors and speaker ...

, a

Santee Sioux The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into ...

and not of the Shoshone language group, did research that attempted to establish that Charbonneau's mother Sacagawea died at the reservation on April 9, 1884. Some believe that Charbonneau died in 1885 and was buried next to her. Memorials in their names were erected in 1933 at Ft. Washakie. Eastman did his research in 1924–25, interpreting oral history. But his translation has been superseded by documentary evidence for both Charbonneau and Sacagawea. In 1964, an edited nineteenth-century journal was published stating that Sacagawea died much earlier, on December 20, 1812, of a "putrid fever" (possible following childbirth) at Fort Lisa on the Missouri River. Four 19th-century documents support this earlier date, including a statement by William Clark years after the 1805–07 Lewis and Clark expedition that "Sacajawea was dead."

Legacy and honors

* Charbonneau's image appears with that of his mother in the United States

coin. He was the second infant to be depicted on U.S. currency, after

Virginia Dare Virginia Dare (born August 18, 1587, in Roanoke Colony, date of death unknown) was the first English child born in a New World English colony. What became of Virginia and the other colonists remains a mystery. The fact of her birth is known bec ...

on the 1937 Roanoke half-dollar. The portrait design is unusual, as the copyrights have been assigned to and are owned by the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

. Therefore the portrait is not in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

, as most U.S. coin designs are. * Pompeys Pillar on the

and the community of

are named after him. * A memorial plaque was established in his honor under the cedar tree near the Old Fire House in Old Town,

Auburn, California Auburn is a city in and the county seat of Placer County, California, United States. Its population was 13,776 during the 2020 census. Auburn is known for its California Gold Rush history and is registered as a California Historical Landmark. Au ...

.The Historical Marker Database: Jean Baptiste Charbonneau
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