<P> After working six years in Auburn, the restless son of Sacagawea left in search of riches in the gold mines of Montana . He was 61 years old, and the trip was too much for him . He became ill with pneumonia and died in a remote area near Danner, Oregon, on May 16, 1866 . </P> <P> A long - running controversy has surrounded the correct spelling, pronunciation, and etymology of the woman's name, however, linguists working on Hidatsa since the 1870s have always considered the name's Hidatsa etymology essentially indisputable . The name is a compound of two common Hidatsa nouns, cagáàga (tsakáàka)' bird' and míà (míà)' woman' . The compound is written as Cagáàgawia' Bird Woman' in modern Hidatsa orthography, and pronounced (tsakáàkawia) (/ m / is pronounced (w) between vowels in Hidatsa). The double / aa / in the name indicates a long vowel and the diacritics a falling pitch pattern . Hidatsa is a pitch - accent language that does not have stress, therefore, in the Hidatsa pronunciation all syllables in (tsaɡáàɡawia) are pronounced with roughly the same relative emphasis, however, most English speakers perceive the accented syllable (the long / aa /) as stressed . In faithful rendering of the name Cagáàgawia to other languages, it is advisable to emphasize the second, long syllable, not the last, as is common in English . </P> <P> The name has several spelling traditions in English . The origin of each tradition is described in the following sections . </P> <P> Sacagawea / səˌkɑːɡəˈwiːə / is the most widely used spelling of her name, and is pronounced with a hard "g" sound, rather than a soft "g" or "j" sound . Lewis and Clark's original journals mention Sacagawea by name seventeen times, spelled eight different ways, each time with a "g". Clark used Sahkahgarwea, Sahcahgagwea, Sarcargahwea, and Sahcahgahweah, while Lewis used Sahcahgahwea, Sahcahgarweah, Sahcargarweah, and Sahcahgar Wea . </P>

Who helped guide the explorers on the expedition