As early as 1725, Osage Chief Boganienhin, along with chiefs from other tribes and a Missouri woman named Ignon Ouaconisen, had visited France with the Frenchman Etienne de Véniard sieur de Bourgmont (1679–1734), the first known white man to explore the lower and middle Missouri River and systematically record his observations (Christensen, Dictionary of Missouri Biography, p. 108). Sacred Sun may have heard stories about this trip when she was young. She may have also heard about Osage chiefs taking trips to Washington, D.C., with the Chouteaus, St. Louis-based fur traders who had established relations with the Osage. The first delegation went in 1804 and included twelve chieftains and two boys. [McMillen, “Les Indiens Osages: French Publicity for the Traveling Osage,” MHR, p. 297.