Jessica Savage

E Period

April 7, 1805

It has been a truly hard winter. It’s hard to believe that we even survived. Some of our best friends have died this season and we have been spiraling into a sort of depressed state. I am extremely scared to be on this journey partly because it is unlikely that I will even make it home, but mostly because I am on a journey that no other person has been on before. The Mandan were nice to us, and very cordial. I do not want to leave the Mandan because that means we have to begin traveling into the great unknown. I am unprepared, but then again, I am not sure if I would ever be prepared for an adventure of this magnitude.

April 14, 1805

        Already, we have encountered more than we possibly could have back at home. We saw gigantic footprints on the ground, and the Mandans told us that we might come across some bears. I hope to avoid such experiences. We were not traveling fast in any sense of the word because of the dreaded snadstorms. My eyes were positively killing me and it felt as though I always had sand in my mouth. It got extremely bad before we decided to just wait out the storm.

May 11, 1805

        We have gotten used to bear sightings almost every day in these parts. Each time, we kill the ones that are an immediate threat. Our guns are almost no match for a bear as it takes several shots to take one down. It became the norm to deal with bears of all different shapes, sizes, and colors.

June 13, 1805

        As we traveled down the Mississippi in search of a waterfall, we eventually came to a fork. It looked exactly like the Missouri River in the way that it was muddy and wide, whereas the other fork looked clear and swift. Clark wanted to travel the south fork, while most of the crew disagreed and wanted to travel south, but we decided to scout out the south one to see where it led. Happily, we came onto a beautiful waterfall. The next morning we sent a man to get the rest of the team so that we may continue on.

June 17, 1805

        The tense mood of everyone on the team was evident in the duration of the past few days. Our most important member, the Indian woman from the Shoshone tribe, fell gravely ill and we had to stay and nurse her back to health. Clark continually bled her as she lay there almost dead, while Lewis thought to give her opium and sulfur water. The next day, she was much healthier and wanted to continue on with the journey. We were glad that she was such a trooper. In any case, we are glad to be continuing our adventure.