200 years ago…this was a perilous week for Lewis and Clark and the Corps of Discovery, as they continued their explorations of present-day Montana. Strong river currents, bears, horse mishaps, horse thieves, and mosquitos were among the difficulties encountered. Yet in spite of the perils, they were not starving, they were not lost, and they were homeward bound. Listen as they tell the stories in their own words, and don’t be confused by talk of “white bears.” There were no polar bears in Montana. These were grizzlies.

July 12, 1806. William Clark: “…the canoe…I was in was driven by a suden puff of wind under a log which projected over the water from the bank, and the man in the Stern Howard was caught in between the canoe and the log and a little hurt…”

On July 15, Meriwether Lewis feared he had lost a man to a bear, but learned the delayed return was caused by stolen horses… “Drewyer returned ... I had already settled it in my mind that a white-bear had killed him… I felt so perfectly satisfyed that he had returned in safety that I thought but little of the horses although they were seven of the best I had.”

One of the other men did encounter a bear that same day. Lewis wrote, “a little before dark McNeal returned with his musquet broken off at the breach, and informed me that on his arrival at willow run he had approached a white bear within ten feet without discover[ing] him the bear being in the thick brush, the horse took the allarm and turning short threw him immediately under the bear; this animal raised himself on his hinder feet for battle, and gave him time to recover from his fall which he did in an instant and with his clubbed musquet he struck the bear over the head and cut him with the guard of the gun and broke off the breech, the bear stunned with the stroke fell to the ground and began to scratch his head with his feet; this gave McNeal time to climb a willow tree which was near at hand and thus fortunately made his escape. the bear waited at the foot of the tree untill late in the evening before he left him, when McNeal ventured down and caught his horse which had by this time strayed off to the distance of 2 Ms (miles). and returned to camp. these bear are a most tremenduous animal; it seems that the hand of providence has been most wonderfully in our favor with rispect to them, or some of us would long since have fallen a sacrifice to their farosity…”

Lewis also wrote of the mosquitos, “my dog even howls with the torture he experiences from them, they are almost insupportable, they are so numerous that we frequently get them in our thr[o]ats as we breath.”

July 18, William Clark: “Shabono was thrown from his horse to day in pursute of a Buffaloe, the ho[r]se unfortunately steping into a…hole fell and threw him over his head. he is a good deel brused on his hip sholder & face... Gibson in attemptint to mount his horse after Shooting a deer this evening fell… on a Snag and sent it nearly (two) inches into the Muskeler part of his ty (thigh) . He informs me this snag was about 1 inch in diameeter burnt at the end. this is a very bad wound and pains him exceedingly. I dressed the wound.”

It was a troublesome, painful week for the Corps of Discovery. Yet they told their stories, dressed their wounds, ate their fill of venison and buffalo…and carried on.

Written by Russell Ford-Dunker

Source:
http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/archive

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