"the interpreter they had coming with them down the Colombia River was Nez Perce so he was Sahaptin speaking, and the tribes they met up until they arrived at Celilo were Sahaptin speaking and from then on down river they were Chinook speaking. So their guides and interpreters could not speak Chinook, Chinook is not easy language to learn so they, the Nez Perce decided to go back so they left Lewis and Clark and went back to their camp upriver. Sacagawea did not know Chinook, so she couldn't speak Chinook, the other men in the party they had a number of voyagers who knew a number of different languages but none of them knew Chinook. So when Lewis and Clark got here they were just really in a hard place, it was really difficult for them to communicate." (Pat Courtney Gold interview 2002)

All interviews conducted by the Lifelong Learning Project, Continuing Education, The University of Montana, 2001-2004.