uncharted territory

Once they left Fort Mandan and passed into Montana they were in territory uncharted by any civilized man so they relied on details given to them by the Indians and took plenty of time with their survey instruments taking measurements from the sun, moon, stars and the horizon to create a detailed and accurate map for future explorers.  They gave names to all creeks and rivers they crossed.  Some they used a translation of the Indian name such as the Yellowstone River and others they used names of the crew members.  One river Clark named for a young girl back in Virginia that he hoped to wed on his return.  Some they named for the wildlife found abundant in that location such as Porcupine Creek or Wolf River.  One river carried a white sediment into the Missouri so they named it the Milk River.  At these major tributaries they took time to explore upstream some distance in order to make their map as accurate as they could.

Game in this area was also plentiful with herds of buffalo of 10s of thousands in numbers.  Once they had to halt there progress with the canoes while a herd swam the river and were so thick it was dangerous to try to push through them.  One evening while camped a large buffalo tried to run through their camp stomping on the White pirogue causing some damage and also stepping on the air gun damaging the mechanism.  It was headed directly toward Lewis and Clark's tent but the big dog Seaman was able to cause it to veer away and avoid that event.  The blacksmith that was with them was able to repair the air gun, a feat that the French manufacturer said was impossible.

Near the Yellowstone River is where they first encountered the Grizzly bear.  They had heard tales from the Indians about this beast but couldn't believe the tales until this first encounter.  Capt. Lewis and another hunter came across two and both men shot and hit both bears.  One bear ran away but the biggest one charged toward them.  Their muzzle loaders were empty and no time to reload so they ran.  Fortunately  the bear stumbled and they were able to reload and the next shots brought it down.  The next time the party hunted the Grizz they sent several hunters together.