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As the men continued north, they encountered animals and plants that amazed them. “What a field for a Botents (botanist) and a natirless (naturalist),” Clark wrote. They encountered species new to Western science, including prairie sharp-tailed grouse and aromatic aster. Lewis, thrilled at the opportunity to describe them, threw himself into his work, meticulously measuring and detailing his finds.
Thousands of birds used the Missouri’s sandbars for springtime mating, including interior least terns and white pelicans. The corps saw its first coyote here. Yet to their dismay and discomfort, thick mosquitoes blanketed the river and nearby lands.
They also encountered their first Native Americans — Otos and Missouris. Lewis talked to them of their new great Chief and that the French and Spanish were gone “beyond the great lake toward the rising Sun, from whence they never intended returning to visit their former red children.”
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In Their Own Words... |
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“He was buried with the honors of war, much lamented. … This man at all times gave us proof of his firmness, and determined resolution to do service to his country, and honor to himself."
~ Clark wrote of Sergeant Charles Floyd, one of the first men to volunteer for service in the Corps | | Not long after this first, historic meeting, Sergeant Charles Floyd died, making him the first U.S. soldier to die west of the Mississippi River. The Corps buried Floyd on a high, round hill overlooking a river they later named Floyds River.
After his burial, Lewis and Clark continued upstream, into present-day South Dakota, the heart of Sioux land. Of all the Native American tribes, President Jefferson singled out the Sioux in his orders for the expedition. He wanted to make this fierce tribe an American ally.
Next: Meeting the Sioux and Mandans | 
