Dear Mr. Jefferson.....

Dear Mr. Jefferson,

The journey was the Corps at its best. It was America at its best. It was everyone at their best. Throughout the journey We have come across everything from new  plants and animals to people. We Crossed the continent, with rafts, canoes, horses, and on our two feet. We smoked, traded, and laughed with the different tribes. We crossed the grueling mountains, braved the rapids, and endured the sleet and rain. The Captains chose each man (and woman) specifically with the right skills that would help the corps reach the western ocean. We sent out from St. Louis with that goal in our minds and nothing would stop us from reaching that ocean. The Captains were amazing in every way that they could be. From choosing which fork in the river to take, or letting everyone vote where to stay for the winter they excelled in their position.

ps. For my weekly labors, discoveries...for all my endeavors have brought to this expedition, I believe I should be paid the grade of an A

Elk December 2, 1805

Today we discovered an animal that was even bigger than the enourmous Grisely Bear. This animal is called the Elk. The Elk is one of a kind animal and has a lot of interesting parts.The Elk's head has a huge rack of horns like a deer. The antlers can grow up to be as large as 4 feet  making the elk anywhere between 7-9 feet tall. The elk use their horns to attract mates and to show off to other elk. The elks fur can be a dark brown, and light brown. Their  shoulders, neck and their faces are a very dark brown color. Its nose and mouth grow to be about one foot long and its ears stick out of its head. We have spotted numerous elk in our travels, and have killed them for food. Their meat can be salted for jerky to use in other time.

The Native American arrowhead November 1805

 A very new useful native American tool that we have found is the Arrowhead.  the arrowhead is a sharp rock usually sharpened by rubbing it with another rock on the tip.It is used for many things, but the main purpose, or what many Native American  people use it for in putting in on the end of a arrow ( duh ) and a  spear.  It is great for hunting, and sticks right in to pretty much any animal. The native Americans use this tool for everyday life. The arrowhead easily replaces the gun and with practice can be extremely accurate. Native American use obsidian or any rock that it hard enough to penetrate what they are shooting at. Even at far range the arrow head can pierce the skin of a grizzle bear.

Weather November 7th 1805

The weather this time of the year is very unpredictable. We were travelling in smoldering heat and in what seemed to be a couple of days we were freezing in the snow and sleet. We need to wear everything that we can to keep the wind and snow from penetrating our skin. Already we have had several cases of frost bite and severe hypothermia. Even pomp is wrapped in all that Sacagaweia can wrap him in. Seaman has been having an extremely hard time navigating in the snow and crossing  the creeks. The game is scarce and we eat anything that we can get our hands on. This week has been a very grueling one. We were so tired form the snow that we could not even bring ourselves to swim in the hot spring we came upon. The men were so tired that they could not even get their clothes off.

Food.... September 20th 1805

You can not believe how much that I crave for red meat. Where did it go??? Crossing the plains we had 9 lbs. of buffalo a day and the meat was plentiful. The Indians cook salmon ever day and seem to eat it for every meal. If you look into the river it would be easy to find a salmon and to spear it. The Indians also eat a root called Camas IT IS HORRIBLE!!! You taste the first bite and it tastes extremely good but 2 hours later you become so full of gas that you stomachs swell and you have to go to the bathroom every 5 minuets. It is like having the thunderbolt pills every 5 minuets. To the left is a picture of the terrible Camas root.

The horrible mountains September 22nd 1805

These past weeks have been the worst. The mountains as one of the men said "were as steep as the roofs of our houses back home." We could not even climb them on horses. We had to leave our supplies on the horses and climb the mountain on foot. Sometimes there were logs covering the trail we headed up. We used our saws and cut a path for the horses. Each mountain we reached we were forced to take a break form the pure exhaustion. We lost two horses climbing when their hooves slipped and they fell to their death. The mountains seem endless and everyone we climb there is another one waiting for us.

The first shoshone July 26, 1805

Captain lewis decided to leave the corps and scout ahead for any sign of the Shoshones. He, Sacagawea, and group of men,  went with him.In my curiousity I decided to go with them as well. We searched almost everywhere following the river and searching the plains. As we followed a small creek we could put one foot on each side of it. As we followed the creek we came to the end of it. And this was the start point of the great Missouri river. We bent down to drink and where amazed that such a large river could start from this small little pond. As we began to lose hope we spotted what was  a Indian on a horse. He had a rifle and was scrawny. We immediatly put down our weapons and asked Sacagawea what "friend" was in Shoshone. As we shouted what we thought was "friend" we quickly galloped off as fast as he could. Latter we found out that Sacagawea had misunderstood and we were shouting "stranger" and "enemy". Captain Clark with a heavy heart sighed and picked up his rifle. 

Medicine pipe July 25 1805

Today was my first try of a medicine pipe. The Plains Indians carried bags of such things as animal, bird skins, pipes, dried herbs, and tobacco. They believed these objects to have special powers. Two of the most important bundles were the pipe bundle and the beaver bundle. The beaver bundle alwayscontained the skin of the beaver along with skins of other animals. Some had feathers of birds, rattles, and other objects. The bundles were used in healing and opened at certain times such as when the first thunder was heard in the spring. The pipe bundle contained tobacco to be used in pipes. The plains native americans believe the pipe to cleanse them of everything and gather around to share one pipe that has usually been passed down from generation to generation.

The travois July 23 1805

I thought I might change it up a little bit and write about another native american tool. The Travois was a very valuable tool that the Indians used for trade, transport, and war. The Travois is a horse or human drawn basket that can carry large or heavy loads. The basic construction of a Travois is a platform or netting mounted on two long poles. The poles are lashed in the shape of a long triangle. The frame was dragged with the sharply pointed end forward. Sometimes the blunt end of the frame was stabilized by a third pole bound across the two main poles. The Travois was mainly used by the plains indians but can be found among many different types of Indians.

How to make a homemade DIY compass