Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 37 A S THE CORPS OF DISCOVERY approached the border of what is now the state of Montana, they anticipated their first meeting with the "grisly" with a mixture of excitement and fear. Well acquainted with the journals of Canadian explorer Alexander MacKenzie, as well as the accounts of the Native American tribes they had encountered along the way, the explorers had gathered as much information as possible on the bear, but still found they knew very little. They had seen oc- casional bear sign while passing through pres- ent-day South Dakota. According to Lewis, the tracks were "verry large." On an unseasonably warm Sunday, April 13th, 1805, a week after hav- ing left the Mandan, the Corps found a spot on the Missouri where nu- merous bison had fallen through the ice in win- ter and collected on the shore following the thaw. Enormous bear tracks wended their way along the shore and in between the heaps of ripening meat, but a disappointed Lewis wrote that "we have not as yet seen one of these ana- mals... the men as well as ourselves are anxious to meet with some of these bear." Anxious, yes, but not overly concerned. Lewis admitted in his journal entry for the day that the tribes he had encoun- tered "give a very formidable account of the streng[t]h and ferocity of this anamal, which they never dare to attack but in parties of six eight or ten persons; and are even then fre- quently defeated with the loss of one or more of their party," while also blithely concluding that "the savages attack this anamal with their bows and arrows and the indifferent guns with which traders furnish them." The unwritten subtext is this: outfitted as they were with the latest cutting-edge technology, Lewis didn't think the bear would be giving them quite as much trouble. Still, it is hard not to detect a hint of awe in his tone as Lewis relates that "when the Indians are about to go in quest of the white bear, previous to their departure, they paint themselves and per- form all those supersti- cious rights commonly observed when they are about to make war up- pon a neighbouring nation." The next day, they saw more tracks. But still, no bear. On April 27, they crossed the border of modern-day Mon- tana. The grizzly bear wouldn't make them wait long now. Just two days lat- er, near present-day Culbertson, MT, they encountered a pair of bears, wounding one and killing the other after it chased Lewis for what he thought was about 80 yards. He estimated the crea- ture's weight at 300 lbs and concluded it was a juvenile. Yes, the crea- ture was "much more furious and formida- ble" than the black bears to which they were accustomed. Yes, "it is asstonishing to see the wounds they will bear before they can be put to death." Still, Lewis wrote, "in the hands of a skillfull riflemen they are by no means as formidable or dangerous as they have been represented." It wasn't long before he would come to revise his opinion. The next week, they encountered an adult grizzly on the shore. The men, eager to claim a trophy, began to fire at the animal. Lewis says ten of their balls pierced it, five "through the lungs." It's hard to read the account today without feel- ing a little sorry for the bear, which "did not attempt to at- tack, but fled and made the most tremendous roaring from the moment he was shot." The killing of the animal provided Lewis another opportu- nity to study the creature's biology, after which he recorded that "the heart... was as large as that of a large Ox," and that "his maw was also ten times the size of a black bear, and was filled with flesh and fish." Native American Grizzly Hunt by George Catlin

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