-
"Captain Clark And One Of The Hunters Met, This Evening, The Largest
Brown Bear We Have Seen.
As they fired he did not attempt to attack,
but fled with a most tremendous roar; and such was
His extraordinary
tenacity of life, that, although he had five balls passed
through his lungs, and five other wounds, he swam more than half
across the river to a sand-bar, and survived twenty minutes.
He weighed between five and six hundred pounds at least,
and measured eight feet seven inches and a half from the nose
to the extremity of the hind feet, five feet ten inches and a half
round the breast, three feet eleven inches round the neck, one foot
eleven inches round the middle of the fore leg, and his claws
five on each foot, were four inches and three-eighths in length.
This animal differs from the common black bear in having his
claws much longer and more blunt; his tail shorter; his hair
of a reddish or bay brown, longer, finer, and more abundant;
his liver, lungs, and heart much larger even in proportion to his size,
the heart, particularly, being equal to that of a large ox;
and his maw ten times larger. Besides fish and flesh, he feeds
on roots and every kind of wild fruit."
On May 8 the party discovered the largest and most important of the northern
tributaries of the Upper Missouri. The journal thus describes the stream: -
"Its width at the entrance is one hundred and fifty yards;
on going three miles up, Captain Lewis found it to be of the same
breadth and sometimes more; it is deep, gentle, and has a large
quantity of water; its bed is principally of mud; the banks
are abrupt, about twelve feet in height, and formed of a dark,
rich loam and blue clay; the low grounds near it are wide and fertile,
and possess a considerable proportion of cottonwood and willow.
It seems to be navigable for boats and canoes; by this circumstance,
joined to its course and quantity of water, which indicates that it
passes through a large extent of country, we are led to presume
that it may approach the Saskaskawan [Saskatchewan] and afford
a communication with that river.
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