Bratton was pursued by a grizzly bear, About 5 P.M. my attention was struck by 1 of the Party runing at a distance towards us and making signs and hollowing as if in distress. I ordered the perogues to put too, and waited untill he arrived; I now found that it was Bratton . . . about 1 1/2 below us he had shot a brown bear which immediately turned on him and pursued him a considerable distance but he had wounded it so badly that it could not overtake him; I immediately turned out with 7 of the party in quest of this monster. we at length found his trale and persued him about a mile by the blood through very thick brush of rosbushes and the large leaved willow; we finally found him concealed in some very thick brush and shot him through the skull with 2 balls. . . these bear being so hard to die reather intemedates us all; I must confess that I . . . had reather fight 2 Indians than 1 bear; there is no other chance to conquer them by a single shot but by shooting them through the brains . . .         (Marion).

During this year we met a lot of tribes, lots of different plants and animals. Many of us were sick, it was difficult.

The 12th of june we met the Sioux tribe and three trappers. One of them was Pierre Dorion. Lewis and me convainced him to join us to serve as interpreter with Sioux because we didn't understand their language.

The 2nd and 3rd of August, we finally met the Otos and Missouris tribes. We had a good relationship and we exchanged lots of gifts. It was a really good moment for all of us and a good surprise.

The 20th of August was a very bad day, the worst of the expedition. One of us died. Charles Floyd had certainly appendicits. Further to this accident we called a river to his name in tribute. We were extremely sad and it was difficult to forget.

When the winter arrived, we decided to spend it in Fort Mandan. We met a Shoshone women called Sacagawea and her husband Toussaint Charbonneau. We would like to met his tribe because we needed horses and she served of interpreter. On february, Sacagawea gave birth with difficulty but the baby is in good health.

(Sarah)

We were 33 to the beginning in Camp Dubois the 14th May 1804 and we joined Lewis in Saint-Charles the 20th of May. We set off to join our objective which was to arrive on the Pacific coast to discover Indians tribes and American West wich were unknown until now. (Sarah)