And the outcome is unambiguous: against the conditions of a Blue Mountain January, with two young children, without conventional supplies, and without any other adult assistance, Marie Aioe Dorion covered approximately 250 miles and arrived at the Columbia River with her sons alive.

This is extraordinary.

The historical record says so.

Franchère, who was there when they emerged from the winter, attributed her survival to her skills as an Indigenous woman.

The National Park Service, which is not in the business of overstatement, describes the journey as approximately 250 miles across deep snow.

The absence of drama in the surviving accounts is itself a form of testimony.

The people who recorded what they knew about Marie Dorion’s winter journey did not have access to the full story.