Confluence of the Musselshell and Missouri Rivers (Montana)
Saturday May 11th 1805.
"...he [Bratton] had shot a brown bear which immediately turned on him and pursued him a considerable distance...we at length found his trale and persued him about a mile by the blood through very thick brush of rosbushes and the large leafed willow; we finally found him concealed in some very thick brush and shot him through the skull with two balls;...we now found that Bratton had shot him through the center of the lungs, notwithstanding which he had pursued him near half a mile...these bear being so hard to die reather intimedates us all; I must confess that I do not like the gentlemen and had reather fight two Indians than one bear;...."
Meriwether Lewis
The above quote is taken directly from the Gary Moulton, University of Nebraska version of the Lewis and Clark Journals.
