John Colter Archives - Lewis & Clark Research Database

John Colter: His Years in the Rocky Mountains

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 01:27:41 +0000

Harris traces the remarkable post-expedition career of John Colter, the private who received permission to leave the Corps of Discovery in 1806 to join a trapping party and subsequently became one of the first American mountain men. The article documents Colter’s solo winter journey of 1807-1808 through the Yellowstone region, during which he became the first known Euro-American to witness the geothermal wonders that his contemporaries derisively labeled “Colter’s Hell.” Harris provides a detailed reconstruction of Colter’s famous 1808 escape from the Blackfeet, in which he was stripped naked and forced to run for his life across the Montana prairie, eventually eluding his pursuers by hiding in a beaver dam on the Jefferson River. The article evaluates the various accounts of this episode and places Colter’s adventures in the context of the early Rocky Mountain fur trade that followed in the expedition’s wake.

The post John Colter: His Years in the Rocky Mountains appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Curly Bear Wagner on Blackfeet and Lewis and Clark

Wed, 11 Feb 2026 00:36:04 +0000

to the T of many voices my name is Ranger Aaron and I have been traveling on the Lou and Clark Trail with this mobile exhibit for about 2 years now it’s been an exciting trip we’ve seen a lot of places along the trail and met some really interesting people and at this hour one of those interesting people and friends that I’ve met is Curly bear Wagner and he’s going to introduce his film today and talk a little bit about his people cuz he come comes from the black feet Nation all right so let’s give him a nice round of applause and welcome here to the ten many voices and I’ll hand the microphone over to curly bear thank you can you say Oki Oki that’s how are you in black feet say n that’s how are you my friends then you reply you say Sugi C that means good but you guys look EXO copy that’s real good all right well my name is Curly bear and I’m going to be your I’m going to show you a documentary which we did on uh the encounter that they had with the black feet this is very important to us telling our perspective of Lewis and Clark from coming from the first nation’s people it’s important because we were here a long time before Lewis and Clark came into our country our people we first made contact with a white man in 1754 a guy by name Alexander hendre when Alexander hendre came he came with the Hudson Bay people and they wanted to open up trade with us and so he succeeded and we created a good work and relationship with the Hudson Bay and the Northwest Fur Company up in Canada and the Northwest Fur Company was a Scottish and Irish and the Northwest were the English and my people the black feet there is us here today the black feet were’re in the United States of America our reservation is a million and a half acres in size the population of my people around 20,000 enroll members in the United States we have three bands in Canada the blood the Pagan and the cisa and they’re North in Canada so traditionally our land started from the headwaters of the saskatchwan river by Edmonton Alberta and running East to battle for saskat then running South to the Missouri up the Missouri to the Yellowstone following the Yellowstone back up to what we call the backbone of the the world the Rocky Mountains that was traditionally black feet land now my people are the oldest Plains living tribe we can trace our ancestors back over 6,000 years of living out on the Plains and so we were hunters and gatherers we had about 75 plants that we used for food and for medicine and the Buffalo being the staff of life for our people and so our people very connected with uh what we call Mother Earth today huh and this is how we sub maintained ourselves this is how we survived by what the Creator give to us we used for our survival and it was very important in those days and very important even today because a lot of people want to learn about survival and so this is some of the things that we do by teaching and educating about our people but I did a we did a documentary on what we call Two Worlds at two medicine now this is the only deadly encounter that occurred on the whole journey uh Sergeant Floyd died Council area that was one death but there was two other because two other black feet got killed in this Expedition and I want we want to we captured that we put it on DVD for educational purposes because it’s so important to educate the people about our way of life everybody was Lewis and Clark but nothing really perspective coming from the first nation’s people and we want to change that we want to do our story which is a very interesting story how our people lived before and after the coming of Lewis and Clark so we’ll get started with it and then I’ll talk to you I’ll tell you a story afterwards we’ll get started with the Expedition now or the the documentary oh the Creator gave it the moon that’s why we called them our father and mother the Creator made man and woman too and breathed life into to them and to everything the animals plants rocks water and wind the Creator gave a Living spirit so we can learn from them and that’s what we’ve been doing here since the Creator first placed us on this land then one day one day just 200 Winters ago some boys were coming home they were not old enough to be Warriors yet but they were coming home with horses they captured from the crow it was a big day for them a big day with many consequences for many years but the boys didn’t know that Captain Merryweather Lewis didn’t know it either but this chance encounter on this vast Untamed Horizon began to change our world forever in Lewis and Clark’s relentless push Westward to the Pacific Ocean the Expedition met with a great number of Native American tribes but one tribe the Expedition avoided on their way west was the black feet stretching from the Saskatchewan River and the mountains of Canada hundreds of miles south through the Yellowstone Country and the Grand Tetons the black feet are estimated to have once numbered 50,000 strong or more with a reputation of defending their homelands ferociously the captains could find no other natives Brave or foolish enough to guide them into black feet territory let alone act as interpreters but after wintering at Fort Clatsop on the Pacific the expedition was returning home in the summer of 1806 and Merryweather Lewis had a mission from Thomas Jefferson he had not yet accomplished that would take him into the heart of blackfeet territory facing something he had hoped he would not a party of black feet and the only deadly encounter with Native Americans of the entire Expedition a chance meeting and a clash of cultures that is still being felt today we’ve been here according to to our ancestors our creation story we were created by our Supreme Being and this is the land that we were he created for us some of the old leg in stories they they go back to Genesis black feet Genesis how long have the black feet been here why not ask the Rocks that’s one of the things Anthropologist and archaeologist Brian Reeves does Dr Reeves is also an adopted member of the blackfeet tribe the Blackwood people speaking peoples have been here at least 3,000 years probably a lot longer but as an archaeologist I can say at least three probably five and could be a lot longer they covered a large range of territory in Northern Montana and and up into Canada seasonly they would winter here in the Foothills along the mountains cu the Buffalo came into the Foothills and then in the summer they’d move out uh well maybe here about 100 miles east of the sweet grass Hills for the Sundance their way of life was tied to the Buffalo they had what I think was a very beautiful life they were happy and they were healthy up to that time there were pedestrians on foot and they just travel along slowly you know ask a black feet what was more important the coming of the white man or the coming of the horse and don’t be surprised when the black feet says the coming of the horse the crows and other tribes nearby around here uh acquired the white man’s horses about 1730 soon the black feet were raiding for their own horses now tribal Hunters could follow Buffalo herds for long distances assuring food for the tribes as well as shelter and clothing suddenly a man could acquire wealth in the form of more horses and where do you get more horses from another tribe who has them that’s when into trial Warfare started as they got horses they started going to other tribes to get more horses you know so they used to go back and forth and steal horses and women from each other whatever the case happened to be so when that happened they stop and fight each other and before long inable Warfare in this area had become a way of life the transition to an equestrian Society was Swift and complete for the tribe of the Great Plains and mountains by Lewis and Clark’s arrival the black feet were some of the best equestrians the world has ever produced the scope and the scale that they lived on is hard for us to imagine for the black feet the horse had made them masters of the high plains and the white man’s guns which they traded for from the British Hudson Bay and Northwest companies in the north made them rulers of it too the first white man that week we seen it was in 1754 and in fact we had a white man living with us at the time and he was with the Hudson Bay people early contact with whites had led to new technology for the plan’s people and general Hospitality toward the white Traders we were exposed to the French people you know from from the north the Trappers and whatnot and they seem to get along quite well with our people because they didn’t want to take everything from our people they learned to coexist and hunt and trap and whatever we had had two other fathers the the Spanish and the French nothing had changed in our world when these other two fathers came in and so we didn’t look at being displaced Thomas Jefferson that was his plan for for westward expansion his reasoning to send Lewis and Clark there was to to open up the uh Louisiana Purchase that they had bought from France we somar acquired it from Spain and neither of them owned it to begin with now an entirely new nation was coming into native lands the United States of America a nation located on their same continent with designs for expansion and the people and power to do it by the time Merryweather Lewis chose to enter blackfeet territory the exped Edition had already been to the Pacific Ocean and the effects of the stress on Captain Lewis had at times become evident Lewis was a a brilliant hyper energetic Brave fellow but he was I think you can call him a manic depressive also they were mean two Indians along the way up there in his country black feet they killed a boy and shot after some other Lewis had been Sur with the Clatsop at the expedition’s rain soaked winter quarters later impatient to recross the snowbound bitter rout mountains on the way home Lewis caught a shanuk stealing an iron socket of a canoe pole and struck the native man repeatedly the second time he had beaten a native now back at traveler’s rest captains Lewis and Clark split their men into smaller groups Clark will explore the Yellowstone while Lewis heads North up the Marias or what the black feet call the Bear River into what he knew to be black Fe territory he intends to follow the moras north possibly across the 49th parallel hopefully fulfilling Thomas Jefferson’s aspirations that the Louisiana Purchase encompassed some of British held Canada despite the danger of black feet or perhaps because of it Lewis intends to travel quickly taking with him just three volunteers though arguably the best three men on the Expedition George drer the half shaie Marksman Hunter and salker and two trustworthy brothers Joseph and Ruben fields at first the Marias takes them northward but then turns Southwest on July 22nd the party sets up camp so Lewis can take readings but overcast Skies render Lewis’s seant useless the next day brings dangerous news drer out hunting finds a camp of empty native Lodge poles 2 days later he and Joseph Fields come upon an empty black feet winter camp in his journal that night Lewis writes we consider ourselves extremely fortunate in not having met these people Merryweather Lewis July 25th 1806 July 26th is still overcast and Lewis’s chronometer had stopped working the day before dejected he names their position Camp disappointment and leaves taking a more direct route back the party of four find themselves in the Two medicon River Valley at midday leaving drer to hunt along the river Lewis and the field Brothers climb out of the rugged Valley to look around round I had scarcely ascended the hills before I discovered an assemblage of about 30 horses I used my spy glass by the help of which I discovered several Indians on top of an Eminence who appeared to be looking down towards the river I presumed it rier this was a very unpleasant sight however I resolved to make the best of our situation and approached them in a friendly manner a con 30 head of horses and so he figured there’d be that many warriors also another 30 Warriors maybe resting down all kinds of thoughts may have went through his mind at that point and he knew he was in all kinds of trouble about this time they discovered us and appeared to run about in a very confused manner in looking at the oral tradition within the black feed tribe itself and particularly at the chronicle of wolf CAF who was here at the actual event the the uh group that encountered Lewis Here were composed of young boys primarily in the age group of uh on the average of 12 years old these boys have just got came from Crow country where they’ve taken horses from the crow and when they did finally see Maryweather Lewis they were quite frightened just as Mar Lewis was frightened when he seen the Indians so both parties were kind of spooked of what one another at the beginning I think they were curious curious to who the people were I think they considered themselves becoming Warriors and I think they possibly realized that this encounter might be a test they thought well let’s see what they’re made of one of them rode full speed towards us he came within a 100 Paces halted looked at us and turned his horse about and returned as briskly we leared that from the bear huh if he’ showed fear and I’m sure that black feet would have taken a war club and probably cracked his head open I expected that we were to have some difficulty with them I was convinced they would attempt to Rob Us in which case I should resist to the last extremity preferring death to that of being deprived of my papers and instruments he figured if he gets killed then he’s going to get killed but he wanted to make sure that the paperwork his journal was saved in some way some sense and that’s what he was really worried about years later wolf CF one of the black feet boys in the group that day reported that he was just 13 years old when his small party encountered Lewis and his men we met them in a friendly manner wolf CF Lewis’s journal concurs with Wolf’s account I Advanced singly to meet meet the Indian with whom I shook hands Lewis uses what little sign language he knows to try to communicate I asked if there was any Chief among them and they pointed out three but to Lewis the boys appeared too young to be Chiefs I did not believe them however thought it best to please them and gave to one a medal to a second a flag and to the third a handkerchief Lewis is now close enough to count and size up his potential opponents his confidence returning I now concluded that there were only eight in number and became much better satisfied with our situation as I was convinced that we could manage that number should they attempt hostile measures the boys accept the gifts and ask Lewis if he has tobacco Lewis sends one of the fields and a black feet boy down to the valley to find duer who carries their pipe and all agree to Camp by the Two medicon River Buffalo robes were set up next to the Two medicon River for shade Lewis smoked with the black feed boys communicating through George dreer’s sign talking into the evening I learned from them that they were part of a large band which lay encamped near the foot of the Rocky Mountains Lewis had noticed two boys carried British muskets they informed us that they trade on the Saskatchewan River and from these Traders they obtain arms ammunition spus liquor and blankets in exchange for wolves and beaver skins Lewis realized the Hudson Bay Company was the source of their arms then he launched into his usual speech about the new great white father who now owned this land that’s when he gave him his uh his dog and pony show huh and I’m sure that it must have just been bewildering and maybe even funny to some of them it certainly was very seldom taken the way that Jefferson met it to why is this great white father now going to come here and tell us how to live when we never did need him before I told these people I had come a great way from the East and seen a great many Indian nations all of whom I have invited to come and trade with me on the rivers one of the blunders that Barry weather Lewis made was when he began to talk to the black people that they were going to bring trade in here and start trading and give and to other tribes rifles amunition things of sort that would uh make other tribes equal with us and we didn’t want anybody to be equal with us confident of his diplomacy Lewis writes I found them extremely fond of smoking and plied them with the pipe until late that night Merryweather Lewis July 26th 1806 yet Lewis is wary of his visitors he takes first watch that night then wakes Reuben fields at movements of the Indians as I apprehended they would attempt to steal our Horses The Tobacco was running pretty low so they thought they’d get some rest but the Indians talked amongst house that night the chief Among Us said we should try to take some of the white men’s things wolf C I think they were these are young teenagers just looking around he thought they were going to steal something emboldened by their success in raiding horses from the crow the boys plot into the night the horses meant great wealth to them already and as you gain a little wealth and you push your luck and the plan was to take these Fire Sticks get those hidden then run off their horses while they’re still half asleep I fell into a profound sleep and did not wake until the noise of the men in Indians awoke me a little after light in the morning the boy’s first move seems to be working when early Dawn finds Lewis and two men asleep and their Sentry groggy it is now or never at daylight the Indians got up and crowded around the fire Joseph Fields who was on post had carelessly laid his gun down where his brother was sleeping one of the Indians slipped behind him and took his gun and that of his brother Joseph’s Fields seeing that he’s taking his pistol hollered at him drop that pistol drop that gun on this point both the black feed and Lewis’s accounts agree the white men killed Sid Hill calf with their big knives wolf calf Reuben Fields as he sees his gun stabbed the Indian to the heart with his knife Merryweather Lewis when breath killed instantly Rob stabbed him right in the heart he didn’t get permission from Mara loose to kill this boy he just acted on his own impulse at the same instant two others Advanced and seized the guns of duer and myself Dam you I reached to seize my gun but found her gone I then drew a pistol and saw the Indian making off with my gun I B him lay down my gun which he was in the act of doing when the fields returned and Drew up their guns to shoot the Indian which I forbade the Indian dropped the gun and walked slowly off Merryweather Lewis then the blacki boys seen what was occurring and so they begin to chase their horses off one of the white men I think it was their Chief chased another boy and shot him wolf cat one of them stopped at a distance of 30 steps from me and I shot him through the belly he partly raised himself up and fired at me being bareheaded I felt the wind of his bullet very distinctly Captain Maryweather Lewis July 27th 1806 if Lewis had been shot there it would have made a a big difference we can only speculate what difference it would have made but um I wouldn’t have been surprised if if there had been a whole Army sent out to wipe out the black feet from the black feet point of view it certainly set to Stage that uh the United States government and their uh uh their emissaries were not to be trusted or that although they came in peace uh they ended up killing two young boys I think Lewis from the moment it happened realized that there were going to be repercussions they were determined to get out of there as fast as they could which meant basically riding day and night our people did take after him I we sent our real Warriors out after but they had a good day and a half start on us their awareness of everything I’m sure was terribly heightened by the by the fact that they had just had a life and death confrontation and they were crossing this section of the Plains which is just enormous there was a bright moon overhead and there were thunderstorms going off on all the different Horizons here they were right reading themselves to exhaustion after that tremendous moment of of uh combat and uh to me the scene is just one of the most intense they run their horses Full Tilt and they about a day and a half and then they the next day they made it all the way down to what we call the big water and they were falling the Bear River or the Marise River and about the time they were getting there they heard these shots and they knew it was their party coming on down miraculously it was orway mcneel Thompson and Goodrich coming down the Missouri to pick them up they dropped everything I left everything they got on those canoes and they high tailed it out of the country the confrontation with the black feet at Two medicon River must have made quite an impression on Captain Lewis he wrote page after page about it more words in fact on that one incident than any other episode in his extensive journals Merryweather Lewis left black beat country that hot July day never to return but it didn’t take long before many other Americans did arrive hunting trapping and taking whatever they could from the land almost immediately after the Expedition fur Trappers went up into the mountains and instead of buying Furs from the black feet the way the British Traders up in Canada did um they went up there and began trapping themselves which left the black feet out these new frontiersmen didn’t need the natives to trap for them they could trap beaver and shoot Buffalo for themselves and when the Americans opened up the Missouri River for Commerce steamboats took Buffalo hides Away by the millions with them went the black Feet’s main source of food shelter and clothing and a way of life that would never be seen again Missouri hide trade took him out and it’s well documented like 18 uh oh 1858 uh there was something like 110,000 hides were shipped out of Fort Benton they made the leather belts yeah was very important they were far stronger than cows cow high and so it fueled all the old you know first Industrial Systems of the the belt systems they were killed systematically by uh people who wanted to kill the the Indian’s food source you killed off the food source you you killed off that way of life an establishment of the forts the coming of the steam ships up to Missouri you know and establishment of Fort Benton and their trade area and hey these guys are taking over okay I’m going to talk to you a little bit I feel better now I got to speak with my hands uh you guys are from St Stevens huh St Peter St Peters sorry I’m sorry for all the interruptions that’s going on here but that’s all right uh we have a very famous person that you seen up there James Alexander Tom is right here uh James has written a book called sign talker if you get an opportunity to see read that book read it it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read I I when I put it down I felt Lonesome so I told my business manager who’s Vicki who runs our institution Vicki you got to uh I got to try to meet this gentleman right away boy we met and his also his wife dark range is also a very famous writer and she had a lot to do with the core Discovery uh putting everything together she’s worked very hard at it and uh my business manager Vicky that holds our institution and does everything Vicky privet right there from Indiana and we just brought Joanna on board she’s going to also be working with us doing fundraising and writing grants because this is just a start of it for us we’re doing a segment on women called a backbone of my people we’re doing the Indian story of women is very important story because when they wrote about the Indian people they never wrote anything about the women the women were the backbone of our people and so we’re doing a documentary on that also and we’re doing all the tribes from kokia to Fort clup telling our story of Lewis and Clark uh the National Park Service said it was one of the best documentaries theyve seen on Lewis and Clark and so they funded us to uh continue on so just the start for us they might be finishing today here or this week but we’re just starting and we’re traveling on inding time ending time is whenever you get there and so we’re just getting there uh it’s been great putting together was a lot of fun working in doing this I was very excited to work on this project uh telling our story uh the the the kids the boys that you seen in there those are kids from heartb uh basketball those are my my one the kid with the wolf Rob on is my son and the rest are my nephews I had to throw them out of bed before we get started huh they we don’t do anything else we had a lot of fun doing it though you know a lot of things have happened after coming of Lewis and Clark and when they left our country and uh we continued on with our lives while after lwis and Clark came it was the free Trappers came up into our country when the free Trappers came up into our country of course the black feet we kept them out of our country because they just come in and start taking the beaver and that was our economic base was the beaver and so there was a lot of skirmishes could have never happened should have never happened a lot of Bloodshed out on the planes all they had to do is come up and say we want to trade with you because they had things that we wanted like the steel pots and Beads and stuff that kept our people satisfied and keep our people didn’t have to work so hard or whatever but they just come and start taking our Beaver so there was a lot of skirmish out on the planes that happened but there was a lot of interesting men that came up on the Lewis and Clark expedition some of them came back one of them was by the guy by the name of John calter John couter wrote a book called John coulter’s run I’ll tell you a little story about John couter he he started from here in St Louis and went all the way back up but on their return trip he came back and he went to go live with a guy that built the first Trading Post in Montana uh and he so he came back and he worked with him and one of the he was one of the guys that uh went into the first white man toee Yellowstone National Park was talking about the guers or what have you and uh nobody believed him and so these uh they finally got the opportunity to see him but John calter told a story about the black feet very interesting story P John couter was one of the free Trappers that came up into our country him and a guy by the name of pots and they were out on the what they call Three Forks Montana that’s the Madison Jefferson Gallatin River we called those Rivers Medicine Woman River blood clot River and beaverhead now blood clot might sound like a weird name but it was very important story about blood clot and it’s a long story and it’s blood clot was a very famous legend about him amongst my people but that’s what we called those three rivers well anyway him and guy by name of pots were coming down the Gallatin River and they were very feared of the black feet because of all the stories that they heard about our people and John calter had a previous had a skirmish with the black feet the black he joined up with the flatheads and they were free trapping and there was a fight out there and and blackfeet would run the flatheads off but John calter was wounded and so we knew John calter is a guy who fought on the other side but when he came up with manal Lisa was the first that built the first Trading Post where the Little Big Horn pours into the Missouri or to the Yellowstone excuse me and he was working with him and uh they wanted him to be an ambassador to the black feet but he never got that opportunity like I was saying they were coming down the river that one morning because what they’ do they’d hide during the day and trap at night and what they were coming down the river the Gallatin River John cter said listen that noise that noise I think there’s some Indians around here and so they hid out and pretty soon they were spotted he said in his his writings said there was over 2,000 black feet that they seen and when they seen him they called him asure motion to him come asore so John calter and pots they rode their canoe to the shore and John couter got out po didn’t and uh said one of the black black feet took a shot at him and pot shot back then they riveted him with bullets couple hundred shots went into his body they said so when John when he came asore cter his old man approached him said you better run you better run kept telling him that about three times told him you better run but he didn’t pay much attention to him and so that old black feed man but they set up a line they run him through there and they gave him a stripped him of his clothing and gave him a good whipping called a gat line that’s what they do it’s kind of teaching him a lesson from coming up here in Traen but John culture he kept running he took off running at a Full Tilt running and running and running out running those Indians and a big he looked behind a big group of Indians were following him black feet chasing him but he couldn’t catch him he was running running he must have run about a couple miles and there was this one black feet that was Hut on his tail and this Indian was running but this Indian had a spear and a blanket and he was getting closer and closer my goodness John couter begin to Tire blood was coming from his nose and he beun to come come tired and his legs begin to cramp up and so he waited for this black feet Indian to catch up with him the one with the spear in the blanket when he cut up caught up with him John they had a rasle match John cter threw him to the ground busted his Spear and ready to stab him and that black feet start begging taking for his life and so John calter didn’t have no pity on him went ahead and killed him took that busted spear in that blanket and took off running again because he seen some more of these Indians running for him and he found a stream and he jumped into the stream there’s a beaver dam and a beaver hut in there Beaver Lodge and so he went up inside this Beaver Lodge and he got up in there and he stayed there all day until the sun went down and got night and when night came came when Nightfall came he came out and he crossed the mountain range now remember this guy has no clothing no shoes or nothing but he crossed the mountain range and and went about another 250 miles back to Camp Manuel Lisa and he stayed there and he told the story now the story’s been written several times and in previous I’ve did a lot of research in fact I I met the culture family out here in St Louis I think I was with Chris and those guys remember what school was that Chris cter Landing I met the cter family and told them that story all right so I got five minutes anyway you I’ll tell you the story that really happened now we would never travel with a thousand people because look how much food it would take to feed a thousand black feed Indians and they they consume about 2 and2 pounds of meat A day or or one setting excuse me and and uh when John cter said he met him we didn’t rivet with nobody with 100 bullets because ammunition was very hard to come by and so we didn’t shoot no we didn’t shoot 100 bullets into that man if we did shoot it might have been one bullet his ammunition was hard to come by and we get up he said that old man was talented now we were come from a warrior Society of people and it meant treason if you commit treason it meant death because we come from a warrior Society of people so no old man talked to him and when they run him through that line and he and everybody gave what happened he kept running there’s no way in the world that you’re going to outrun a black feed Indian or any Indian as far as that concerned the Indian boys are excellent Runners they raised out on the planes and we can run run run run John cultra was wounded in the leg remember so he was kind of crippled huh he couldn’t really run that fast and and so and no Indian is going to be carrying an 18t long spear with a blanket chasing a person for goodness sakes we had horses to do those things huh and chasing him like that and then then killing him and if like I say when the black feet was down he would never beg for his life we had a death song that we sang and it was against our Traditions or law to beg for our lives because we do come from a warrior Society but we do have a death song that we saying then he said he jumped into the side Deb Beaver Lodge now there’s no way in the world that you’re going to fit in inside of a Beaver Lodge huh there’s an opening you can’t even get inside of one and then he ran over those mountains 250 Mi back to Fort Manuel Lisa well he’d have never cross those mountains because he’d have froze to death up there huh and there’s a lot of pickly pair out on the Plains and so this is a story that from our perspective that we’re I did a lot of research on this in fact I was in Chicago not too long ago with a western writers association we was going to put this story into a book form but they didn’t they wanted to keep that Legend the way it is because it’s just what it is it’s just a legend it’s just a story that he’s told some say that John couter killed pots himself but and if we get into a battle and this occurred what we do we always let one person alive to go tell a story so we give him the best horses and the best Provisions feed him and let him go back to tell a story not to come into black feed country so that’s one of the stories of uh John coulter’s or Maryweather Lewis’s people coming up and and staying amongst my people to black feet John couter story I only get a couple minutes uh any you guys have any questions you want to ask me now this documentary if anybody’s interested in the documentary we do this for educational purposes because it’s very important that we leave something for the young people but we’ll be selling them back over here Vicki will have them and I think she’ll be back over here where’s Vicki at she’s right over there she she has the documentary and we sell them for how much you selling them for she selling them for $20 nobody’s interested after my questions I’ve got a microphone if you’ll just raise your hand I’ll bring it around to you questions you guys could to ask me one question anyway what’s the history of the name black feet the name black feet what’s the history of how we received our name heard many stories about how we received our name one of them boils down to that we crossed a prairie fire one time and at the other side the cree were our allies and uh this is during the what they do dog day period before coming to the horse we received the horse around the 1600s and so we crossed we always we met with people always sat down across Lake and they notice the souls of our moccasins were black and so he called us the black foot today we go by by the name of black feet I remember this guy from Cleveland Ohio asked me a question said curly bear what’s the difference between the black foot and the black feet I said there’s a big difference up in Canada they have one foot and down here we have two that’s the big difference you did you write the documentary did I what did you write the documentary did I write the documentary well we’ve interviewed a lot of our people yeah we a lot of there’s a lot more to than that and because I give a big yeah I did a lot of writing on it and put help putting that thing together but we just added a half hour on onto this and so PBS is going to pick this up hopefully it’s going to be on national TV we added a half hour onto it the summer so I’m going out to Florida and meet with those people sometime in November I guess yeah questions question in the front row um you said that merwe Lewis gave him a flag the Indian why would he give him a flag why would uh Lewis give um the native tribes a flag he get you mentioned in the movie that they gave him a flag well when they there was kind of a tradition that they give everybody a tribe that they met now see when Maryweather Lewis and them came up the river through black feed country we knew they were coming but we also knew who they were they didn’t have nothing to trade with us and we were we spent a short time out there preparing ourselves for winter and we didn’t want to stop the river hey Louis you guys where you guys going we didn’t know who they were you know we could care less who they were but they weren’t bothering anybody so we just let them go but it was a tradition that they gave something to each tribe that the tribal members they met so they gave one of our members a flag um how many black feet Native Americans do you think are still around today how many Native Americans are there today black feet black feet well we’re uh we’re over 50,000 today maybe 60,000 and that’s all four bands of us so we’re about the seventh largest tribe I think somewhere in that figure that’s gotten our people in Canada in the United States there’s 20,000 enrolled members of us today in the United States so we’re a huge band a huge tribe questions okay we have a last question here just time for one more why did the Indians take the guns why did the Indians take the guns in the movie this why why did we take the guns we didn’t call them guns we call them lightning rods or Fire Sticks and they were great to hunt with and and and defend our country with huh and so it’s something that we used we didn’t really hunt Buffalo with them but we we used them in other ways as defending ourselves with a with a gun so they’re very important and also very important in trade this girl had one question right here please all right we’ll make this one our last one did black feet tribes live in different places than Montana is our reservation in Montana yes it’s in the northwest corner of uh Montana it set borders Canada to the north of us and to the west of us is Glacier National Park and you’ll see the black feet we’re sitting right there today okay I want to thank you and if any you you want a question uh Vicki will have the DVDs back there if anybody’s interested thank you and God bless you all thank you very much curly bear it’s a pleasure to have you here in the Ten of many voices coming up next we have e

The post Curly Bear Wagner on Blackfeet and Lewis and Clark appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Lewis: August 12, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:53 +0000

Thursday August 12th 1806. Being anxious to overtake Capt. Clark who from
the appearance of his camps could be at no great distance before me, we
set out early and proceeded with all possible expedition at 8 A.M. the
bowsman informed me that there was a canoe and a camp he beleived of
whitemen on the N. E. shore. I directed the perogue and canoes to come too
at this place and found it to be the camp of two hunters from the Illinois
by name Joseph Dickson and Forest Hancock. these men informed me that
Capt. C. had passed them about noon the day before. they also informed me
that they had left the Illinois in the summer 1804 since which time they
had been ascended the Missouri, hunting and traping beaver; that they had
been robed by the indians and the former wounded last winter by the Tetons
of the birnt woods; that they had hitherto been unsuccessfull in their
voyage having as yet caught but little beaver, but were still determined
to proceed. I gave them a short discription of the Missouri, a list of
distances to the most conspicuous streams and remarkable places on the
river above and pointed out to them the places where the beaver most
abounded. I also gave them a file and a couple of pounds of powder with
some lead. these were articles which they assured me they were in great
want of. I remained with these men an hour and a half when I took leave of
them and proceeded. while I halted with these men Colter and Collins who
seperated from us on the 3rd ist. rejoined us. they were well no accedent
having happened. they informed me that after proceeding the first day and
not overtaking us that they had concluded that we were behind and had
delayed several days in waiting for us and had thus been unable to join us
untill the present momet. my wounds felt very stiff and soar this morning
but gave me no considerable pain. there was much less inflamation than I
had reason to apprehend there would be. I had last evening applyed a
poltice of peruvian barks at 1 P.M. I overtook Capt. Clark and party and
had the pleasure of finding them all well. as wrighting in my present
situation is extreemly painfull to me I shall desist untill I recover and
leave to my frind Capt. C. the continuation of our journal. however I must
notice a singular Cherry which is found on the Missouri in the bottom
lands about the beaverbends and some little distance below the white earth
river. this production is not very abundant even in the small tract of
country to which it seems to be confined. the stem is compound erect and
subdivided or branching without any regular order it rises to the hight of
eight or ten feet seldom puting up more than one stem from the same root
not growing in cops as the Choke Cherry dose. the bark is smooth and of a
dark brown colour. the leaf is peteolate, oval accutely pointed at it’s
apex, from one and a 1/4 to 11/2 inches in length and from 1/2 to 3/4 of
an inch in width, finely or minutely serrate, pale green and free from
bubessence. the fruit is a globular berry about the size of a buck-shot of
a fine scarlet red; like the cherries cultivated in the U States each is
supported by a seperate celindric flexable branch peduncle which issue
from the extremities of the boughs the peduncle of this cherry swells as
it approahes the fruit being largest at the point of insertion. the pulp
of this fruit is of an agreeable ascid flavour and is now ripe. the style
and stigma are permanent. I have never seen it in blume.

The post Lewis: August 12, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Clark: August 15, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:53 +0000

Thursday August 15th 1806 Continued Mandans Vilg after assembling the
Chiefs and Smokeing one pipe, I informed them that I Still Spoke the Same
words which we had Spoken to them when we first arived in their Country in
the fall of 1804. we then envited them to visit their great father the
president of the U. States and to hear his own Councils and receive his
Gifts from his own hands as also See the population of a government which
Can at their pleasure protect and Secur you from all your enimies, and
chastize all those who will Shut their years to his Councils. we now offer
to take you at the expense of our Government and Send you back to your
Country again with a considerable present in merchendize which you will
recive of your great Father. I urged the necessity of their going on with
us as it would be the means of hastening those Supples of Merchindize
which would be Sent to their Country and exchanged as before mentioned for
a moderate price in Pelteries and furs &c. the great Chief of the
Menetaras Spoke, he Said he wished to go down and See his great father
very much, but that the Scioux were in the road and would most certainly
kill him or any others who Should go down they were bad people and would
not listen to any thing which was told them. when he Saw us last we told
him that we had made peace with all the nations below, Since that time the
Seioux had killed 8 of their people and Stole a number of their horses. he
Said that he had opened his ears and followed our Councils, he had made
peace with the Chyennes and rocky mountains indians, and repieted the same
objecctions as mentioned. that he went to war against none and was willing
to receive all nations as friends. he Said that the Ricaras had Stolen
from his people a number of horses at different times and his people had
killed 2 Ricaras. if the Sieoux were at peace with them and Could be
depended on he as also other Chiefs of the villages would be glad to go
and See their great father, but as they were all afraid of the Sieoux they
Should not go down &c.

The Black Cat Chief of the Mandans Village on the North Side of the
Missouri Sent over and requested me to go over to his village which
envertation I axceptd and crossed over to his village. he had a parcel of
Corn about 12 bushuls in a pile in his lodge. he told me that his people
had but little corn part of which they had given me. after takeing a Smoke
he informed me that as the Sieoux were very troublesom and the road to his
great father dangerous none of this village would go down with us. I told
the Cheifs and wariers of the village who were there present that we were
anxious that Some of the village Should go and See their great father and
hear his good words & recve his bountifull gifts &c. and told them
to pitch on Some Man on which they could rely on and Send him to See their
Great father, they made the Same objections which the Chief had done
before. a young man offered to go down, and they all agreeed for him to go
down the charector of this young man I knew as a bad one and made an
objection as to his age and Chareckter at this time Gibson who was with me
informed me that this young man had Stole his knife and had it then in his
possession, this I informed the Chief and directed him to give up the
knife he delivered the knife with a very faint apology for his haveing it
in his possession. I then reproached those people for wishing to Send Such
a man to See and hear the words of So great a man as their great father;
they hung their heads and Said nothing for Some time when the Cheif Spoke
and Said that they were afraid to Send any one for fear of their being
killed by the Sieux. after Smoking a pipe and relateing Some passages I
recrossed to our Camp-. being informed by one of our enterpreters that the
2d Chief of the Mandans Comonly Called the little Crow intended to
accompany us down, I took Charbono and walked to the Village to See this
Chief and talk with him on the Subject. he told me he had deturmined to go
down, but wished to have a council first with his people which would be in
the after part of the day. I smoked a pipe with the little Crow and
returned to the boat. Colter one of our men expressed a desire to join
Some trappers who offered to become Shearers with and furnish traps &c.
the offer a very advantagious one, to him, his Services Could be dispenced
with from this down and as we were disposed to be of Service to any one of
our party who had performed their duty as well as Colter had done, we
agreed to allow him the prvilage provided no one of the party would ask or
expect a Similar permission to which they all agreeed that they wished
Colter every Suckcess and that as we did not wish any of them to Seperate
untill we Should arive at St. Louis they would not apply or expect it
&c. The Maharha Chief brought us Some Corn, as did also the Chief of
the little village of the Menetarras on mules of which they have Several.
The evening is Cool and windy. great number of the nativs of the different
villages Came to view us and exchange robes with our men for their Skinswe
gave Jo Colter Some Small articles which we did not want and Some powder
& lead. the party also gave him Several articles which will be usefull
to him on his expedittion.This evening Charbono informed me that
our back was scercely turned before a war party from the two menetarry
villages followed on and attacked and killed the Snake Indians whome we
had Seen and in the engagement between them and the Snake indians they had
lost two men one of which was the Son of the principal Chief of the little
village of the menitarras. that they had also went to war from the
Menetarras and killed two Ricaras. he further informed me that a
missunderstanding had taken place between the Mandans & minetarras and
had verry nearly come to blows about a woman, the Menitarres at length
presented a pipe and a reconsilliation took place between them

The post Clark: August 15, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Clark: August 16, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:53 +0000

Friday 16th August 1806 a cool morning. Sent up Sergt. Pryor to the mandan
village, for Some Corn which they offered to give us. he informed that
they had more Corn collected for us than our Canoes Could Carry Six load
of which he brought down. I thanked the Chief for his kindness and
informed him that our Canoes would not Carry any more Corn than we had
already brought down. at 10 A. M the Chiefs of the different villages came
to See us and Smoke a pipe &c. as our Swivel Could no longer be
Serveceable to us as it could not be fireed on board the largest Perogue,
we Concluded to make a present of it to the Great Chief of the Menetaras
(the One Eye) with a view to ingratiate him more Strongly in our favour I
had the Swivel Charged and Collected the Chiefs in a circle around it and
adressed them with great ceremoney. told them I had listened with much
attention to what the One Eye had Said yesterday and beleived that he was
Sincere & Spoke from his heart. I reproached them very Severely for
not attending to what had been Said to them by us in Council in the fall
of 1804 and at different times in the winter of 1804 & 5, and told
them our backs were Scercely turned befor a party followed and killed the
pore defenceless snake indians whom we had taken by the hand & told
them not to be afraid that you would never Strike them again &c. also
mentioned the ricers &c. The little Cherry old Chief of the Menetarras
Spoke as follows Viz: “Father we wish to go down with you to See our Great
Father, but we know the nations below and are afraid of the Scioux who
will be on the river and will kill us on our return home. The Scioux has
Stolen our horses and killed 8 of our men Since you left us, and the
Ricaras have also Struck us. we Staid at home and listened to what you had
told us. we at length went to war against the Scioux and met with Ricaras
and killed two of them, they were on their way to Strike us. We will
attend to your word and not hurt any people all Shall be Welcom and we
Shall do as you direct-.” The One Eye Said his ears would always be open
to the word of his great father and Shut against bad Council &c. I
then a good deel of Ceremony made a preasent of the Swivel to the One Eye
Chief and told him when he fired this gun to remember the words of his
great father which we had given him. this gun had anounced the words of
his great father to all the nations which we had Seen &c. &c.
after the council was over the gun was fired & delivered, they Chief
appeared to be much pleased and conveyed it immediately to his village
&c. we Settled with and discharged Colter. in the evening I walked to
the village to See the little Crow and know when he would be ready, took
with me a flag intending to give him to leave at his lodge but to my
astonishment he informed me he had declined going down the reason of which
I found was through a jellousy between himself and the principal Chief he
refused a flag & we Sent for Mr. Jessomme and told him to use his
influn to provail on one of the Chiefs to acompany us and we would employ
him. he informed us soon after that the big white Chief would go if we
would take his wife & Son & Jessoms wife & 2 children we wer
obliged to agree to do

The post Clark: August 16, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Lewis: August 9, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:52 +0000

Saturday August 9th 1806. The day proved fair and favourable for our
purposes. the men were all engaged dressing skins and making themselves
cloathes except R & J. Fields whom I sent this morning over the river
with orders to proceed to the entrance of the White earth river in surch
of Capt. C. and to hunt and kill Elk or buffaloe should they find any
convenient to the river. in the evening these men returned and informed me
that they saw no appearance of Capt. Clark or party. they found no game
nor was there a buffaloe.to be seen in the plains as far as the eye could
reach. nothing remarkable took place in the course of the day. Colter and
Collins have not yet overtaken us I fear some missfortune has happened
them for their previous fidelity and orderly deportment induces me to
beleive that they would not thus intentionally delay. the Perogue is not
yet sufficiently dry for reparing. we have no pitch and will therefore be
compelled to use coal and tallow.

The post Lewis: August 9, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Lewis: August 5, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:51 +0000

Tuesday August 5th 1806. Colter and Collins not having arrived induced me
to remain this morning for them. the hunters killed four deer this morning
near our encampment. I remained untill noon when I again reimbarked and
set out concluding that as Colter and Collins had not arrived by that time
that they had passed us after dark the night of the 3rd inst. as Sergt
Ordway informed me he should have done last evening had not the centinel
hailed him. we continued our rout untill late in the evening when I came
too and encamped on the South side about 10 miles below little dry river.
on our way we killed a fat cow and took as much of the flesh as was
necessary for us. The Feildses killed 2 large bear this evening one of
them measured nine feet from the extremity of the nose to that of his
tail, this is the largest bear except one that I have seen. we saw several
bear today as we passed but did not kill any of them. we also saw on our
way immence herds of buffaloe & Elk, many deer Antelopes, wolves,
geese Eagles &c. but few ducks or prarie hens. the geese cannot fly at
present; I saw a solitary Pillacon the other day in the same situation.
this happens from their sheding or casting the fathers of the wings at
this season.

The post Lewis: August 5, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Lewis: August 7, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:51 +0000

Thursday August 7th 1806. It began to rain about midnight and continued
with but little intermission until 10 A.M. today. the air was cold and
extreemly unpleasant. we set out early resolving if possible to reach the
Yelowstone river today which was at the distance of 83 ms. from our
encampment of the last evening; the currant favoured our progress being
more rapid than yesterday, the men plyed their oars faithfully and we went
at a good rate. at 8 A.M. we passed the entrance of Marthy’s river which
has changed it’s entrance since we passed it last year, falling in at
preasent about a quarter of a mile lower down. at or just below the
entrance of this river we meet with the first appearance of Coal birnt
hills and pumicestone, these appearances seem to be coextensive. here it
is also that we find the first Elm and dwarf cedar on the bluffs, the ash
first appears in the instance of one solletary tree at the Ash rapid,
about the Elk rapid and from thence down we occasionly meet with it
scattered through the bottoms but it is generally small. from Marthy’s
river to Milk river on the N. E. side there is a most beautifull level
plain country; the soil is much more fertile here than above. we overtook
the Feildses at noon. they had killed 2 bear and seen 6 others, we saw and
fired on two from our perogue but killed neither of them. these bear
resort the river where they lie in wate at the crossing places of the game
for the Elk and weak cattle; when they procure a subject of either they
lie by the carcase and keep the wolves off untill they devour it. the bear
appear to be very abundant on this part of the river. we saw a number of
buffaloe Elk &c as we passed but did not detain to kill any of them.
we also saw an unusual flight of white gulls about the size of a pigeon
with the top of their heads black. at 4 P.M. we arrived at the entrance of
the Yellowstone river. I landed at the point and found that Capt. Clark
had been encamped at this place and from appearances had left it about 7
or 8 days. I found a paper on a pole at the point which mearly contained
my name in the hand wrighting of Capt. C. we also found the remnant of a
note which had been attatched to a peace of Elk’s horns in the camp; from
this fragment I learned that game was scarce at the point and musquetoes
troublesome which were the reasons given for his going on; I also learnt
that he intended halting a few miles below where he intended waiting my
arrival. I now wrote a note directed to Colter and Collins provided they
were behind, ordering them to come on without loss of time; this note I
wraped in leather and attatced onto the same pole which Capt. C. had
planted at the point; this being done I instantly reimbarked and decended
the river in the hope of reaching Capt. C’s camp before night. about 7
miles below the point on the S. W. shore I saw some meat that had been
lately fleased and hung on a pole; I directed Sergt. Ordway to go on shore
examine the place; on his return he reported that he saw the tracks of two
men which appeared so resent that he beleived they had been there today,
the fire he found at the plce was blaizing and appeared to have been
mended up afresh or within the course of an hour past. he found at this
place a part of a Chinnook hat which my men recognized as the hat of
Gibson; from these circumstances we included that Capt. C’s camp could not
be distant and pursued our rout untill dark with the hope of reaching his
camp in this however we were disappointed and night coming on compelled us
to encamp on the N. E. shore in the next bottom above our encampment of
the 23rd and 24th of April 1805. as we came too a herd of buffaloe
assembled on the shore of which we killed a fat cow.-

The post Lewis: August 7, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Lewis: August 3, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:50 +0000

Saturday August 3rd 1806. I arrose early this morning and had the perogue
and canoes loaded and set out at half after 6 A.M. we soon passed the
canoe of Colter and Collins who were on shore hunting, the men hailed them
but received no answer we proceeded, and shortly after overtook J. and R.
Fields who had killed 25 deer since they left us yesterday; deer are very
abundant in the timbered bottoms of the river and extreemly gentle. we did
not halt today to cook and dine as usual having directed that in future
the party should cook as much meat in the evening after encamping as would
be sufficient to serve them the next day; by this means we forward our
journey at least 12 or 15 miles Pr. day. we saw but few buffaloe in the
course of this day, tho a great number of Elk, deer, wolves, some bear,
beaver, geese a few ducks, the party coloured covus, one Callamet Eagle, a
number of bald Eagles, redheaded woodpeckers &c. we encamped this
evening on N. E. side of the river 2 ms. above our encampment of the 12th
of May 1805 soon after we encamp Drewyer killed a fat doe. the Fieldses
arrived at dark with the flesh of two fine bucks, besides which they had
killed two does since we passed them making in all 29 deer since yesterday
morning. Collins and Colter did not overtake us this evening.

The post Lewis: August 3, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.

Lewis: August 4, 1806

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 20:37:50 +0000

Monday August 4th 1806. Set out at 4 A.M. this morning. permited Willard
and Sergt. Ordway to exchange with the Feildses and take their small canoe
to hunt to-day. at 1/2 after eleven O’Ck. passed the entrance of big dry
river; found the water in this river about 60 yds. wide tho shallow. it
runs with a boald even currant. at 3 P.M. we arrived at the entrance of
Milk river where we halted a few minutes. this stream is full at present
and it’s water is much the colour of that of the Missouri; it affords as
much water at present as Maria’s river and I have no doubt extends itself
to a considerable distance North. during our halt we killed a very large
rattlesnake of the speceis common to our country. it had 176 scuta on the
abdomen and 25 on the tail, it’s length 5 feet. the scutae on the tail
fully formed. after passing this river we saw several large herds of
buffaloe and Elk we killed one of each of these animals and took as much
of the flesh as we wished. we encamped this evening two miles below the
gulph on the N. E. side of the river. Tonight for the first time this
season I heard the small whippoorwill or goatsucker of the Missouri cry.
Colter and Collins have not yet overtaken us. Ordway and Willard delayed
so much time in hunting today that they did not overtake us untill about
midnight. they killed one bear and 2 deer. in passing a bend just below
the gulph it being dark they were drawn by the currant in among a parsel
of sawyers, under one of which the canoe was driven and throwed Willard
who was steering overboard; he caught the sawyer and held by it; Ordway
with the canoe drifted down about half a mile among the sawyers under a
falling bank, the canoe struck frequently but did not overset; he at
length gained the shore and returned by land to learn the fate of Willard
whom he found was yet on the sawyer; it was impossible for him to take the
canoe to his relief Willard at length tied a couple of sticks together
which had lodged against the sawyer on which he was and set himself a
drift among the sawyers which he fortunately escaped and was taken up
about a mile below by Ordway with the canoe; they sustained no loss on
this occasion. it was fortunate for Willard that he could swim tolerably
well.

The post Lewis: August 4, 1806 appeared first on Lewis & Clark Research Database.