# Famous guides (e.g. Sacagawea) **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 4, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315 "2011-06-04T17:28:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/1 "2011-06-04T17:28:14Z")
I’ve been asked to do some posters for a set of online guides. For poster graphics I want to do famous guides for each one (all signage on a college campus needs graphics if you expect anybody to read it and a screencap won’t cut it) but only two come immediately to mind: Sacagawea and Tenzing Norgay. Can you think of any other famous or at least very interesting guides? They can be good or bad. (I could use the Donner Party with a “sometimes you need a guide” caption.) ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/2 "2011-06-04T17:32:55Z")
Virgil, as in when he guided Dante through the Inferno? ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/3 "2011-06-04T17:34:05Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Virgil, as in when he guided Dante through the Inferno? Ooh, good one- and some great Dore illustrations. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/4 "2011-06-04T17:34:26Z")
[Tenzing Norgay](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenzing_Norgay) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/5 "2011-06-04T17:40:49Z")
Thomas Cook? Rick Steves? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/6 "2011-06-04T17:54:01Z")
[Baden-Powell?](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baden-Powell) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/7 "2011-06-04T18:06:32Z")
Gollum ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/8 "2011-06-04T19:05:49Z")
Carl Sagan ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/9 "2011-06-04T20:47:04Z")
[Holt Collier](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holt_Collier). ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/10 "2011-06-04T21:19:54Z")
How about [Buddy](http://www.seeingeye.org/aboutUs/default.aspx?M_ID=88), the first guide dog for the blind in America? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/11 "2011-06-04T21:24:32Z")
Nia Vardalos in _My Life in Ruins_. Dev Anand in _Guide_. Dersu Uzala. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/12 "2011-06-04T21:41:41Z")
**Jim Bridger** : [Jim Bridger - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bridger) Quasi ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/13 "2011-06-04T21:43:23Z")
Stephen Meek, infamous for [Meek’s Cutoff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meek_Cutoff) on the Oregon Trail. He managed to kill off most of the party. [Movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1518812/) made about the adventure made this year. ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/14 "2011-06-04T22:51:06Z")
> [@Darryl\_Lict](#): > > Stephen Meek, infamous for [Meek’s Cutoff](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meek_Cutoff) on the Oregon Trail. He managed to kill off most of the party. > > [Movie](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1518812/) made about the adventure made this year. I was going to suggest Stephen Meek as well. The Meek party has one claim to fame in addition to getting hopelessly lost…they are said to have located - and subsequently re-lost the legendary [Blue Bucket Mine](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Blue_Bucket_Mine). Among other incompetent guides, I would nominate [Alferd (You are what you eat) Packer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alferd_Packer), who got his party of prospectors lost in the Colorado Rockies and survived the winter by consuming his companions. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/15 "2011-06-05T04:45:24Z")
Have you ever heard of Kit Carson? ---
**Author:** ![Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@Sunshine\_and\_Smiles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunshine_and_Smiles)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/16 "2011-06-05T04:48:59Z")
Maybe this could be of help - wiki for [psychopomps](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomps) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/17 "2011-06-05T05:09:57Z")
[Sidi Bombay.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidi_Mubarak_Bombay) An African guide who worked with Speke, Burton and Stanley, and in terms of sheer mileage, probably outdid all three of them. Also, had an awesome name. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2011, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/18 "2011-06-05T11:17:38Z")
The exploration of Australia was largely made possible by Aboriginal guides, but history has not lionised them as it has people like Sacagawea. Their native names are hardly recalled, and they are known as “Dick”, “Charley”, “Jacki jacki”, and so on. This is a great sorrow, but their stories remain true, nevertheless. [This](http://www.greateasternranges.org.au/explore/crossing-the-great-eastern-ranges/early-crossings) is from a NSW govt site: _Aboriginal pathways enabled explorers and settlers to move through the high country, allowing pastoralism, mining, forestry and a range of other uses. It is thought many of the major highways of contemporary New South Wales are based on traditional Aboriginal paths, including the Snowy Mountains Highway and Monaro Highway, and the Bell’s Line of Road. Many exploration parties used Aboriginal guides. Explorers in the Tinderry Nature Reserve area south-east of Canberra are an example. As a result, traditional patterns of Aboriginal movement across and along NSW high country were mirrored by settler Australians._ [Here](http://www.samemory.sa.gov.au/site/page.cfm?u=407) [are](http://www.bushheritage.org.au/cdr_history/cultural/contact.html) [some](http://burkeandwills.slv.vic.gov.au/content/terra-incognita/expedition/aborigines) [cites](http://www.queenslandfirsts.org/01_cms/details.asp?ID=15). One of those sites contains a drawing of [Watpipa](http://ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/image/portrait-watpipa-aboriginal-guide). This is a better version. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/19 "2011-06-06T17:35:17Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Virgil, as in when he guided Dante through the Inferno? And [Beatrice Portinari](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Portinari). ---
**Author:** ![minionkat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f05b48/32.png) [@minionkat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minionkat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2011, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315/20 "2011-06-06T18:06:26Z")
How about a Sherpa? Alice Manfield is also quite interesting. [Alice Manfield - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Manfield) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/famous-guides-e-g-sacagawea/584315.md?page=2)