Trading beads can be traced in our history as far back as Columbus who brought beads along with him to America. The beads played a key role in the exploring, colonizing, and settling of the New World. They were still very important when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark traveled westward on their epic expedition.

Beads became a currency between the white explorers and the Native Americans. On the northwest coast there was a great demand for the opaque light blue colored beads usually worn around the neck or used to decorate clothing. They were called in some tongues ?tia (tyee) commashuck' or 'chief beads,' not because only chiefs wore them, but because they were the chief of beads, the most desired.

When Lewis and Clark led the Corps of Discovery to explore the newly purchased Louisiana Territory, they learned the hard way how important the right beads were to the Natives. They had never heard of the chief bead, and took with them wampum, red beads, and only a few white and blues. By the time they got to the Columbia River basin they were desperate. The Natives didn’t want wampum, or red beads; they wanted 'chief beads.'

Over and over in his journal Lewis recorded how important these opaque blue beads were. On their return voyage the Corps of Discovery explorers were so poor (meaning they had very little to trade, especially chief beads) that they almost starved. Fortunately they found a few beads in a waistcoat and traded them for salmon.

Trade beads played an important role in America. They functioned as currency and as bearers of good will between the first explorers and the tribes they visited.