March 29, 1805

Lewis and Clark learned a load of important things that were key to survival in the wilderness from the Mandan people. It was while we were staying in the area of the Mandan that Lewis and Clark hired an interpretor named Toussaint Charbonneau, who was a French-Canadian fur trapper who's married to Sacajawea and has a son named Jean Baptiste. Charbonneau was part of the Hidatsa Indian tribe. The spring rains finally reached us yesterday, which means the expedition can now continue on!! The entire team is joyous as we venture farther on our course. All during the winter season, the boss' kept writing in their journals, keeping a record of everything that had been happening. Toward the end of this leg of the journey, we sent about a dozen men from our team on a keelboat, along with the reports Lewis and Clark had been writing, 108 botanical substances, 68 mineral substances, and Clark's map of the United States that we had traveled on so far. The boat and men and all the extras were being sent to St. Louis, and then it would be shipped to Thomas Jefferson.
During these many months that made up this leg of the journey, we didn't see that many different types of animals or plants; instead, we met a few Indian tribes. One was the Hidatsa tribe that we stayed with from November 1804 to April 1805 during the winter season at Fort Mandan. Another tribe we met while on our expedition were the Arikara Indians whom we met on October 8, 1804. The Corps also came in contact with the Amahami Indians in the Fall of 1804. They were a small tribe to begin with, and then gained a few members when a couple of Hidatsa Indian tribes joined their tribe in 1787.

I'll continue with more details of our expedition as soon as we find a place to stay for a while; if that ever happens at the rate we're going.
Keep Well,
George Gibson


http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/record_tribes_010_5_3.html
The helpful Indians' known as the Mandan Tribe.