Dear Mr. Jefferson

The journey was the corps at its best. The journey was america at its best. When we reached the the pacific ocean I felt a tear burn down my face, it was a not a tear of sorrow but a tear of happiness. We've traveled far, making our way through the many obstacles we faced. My men gave an incredible amount of effort along this journey. No matter what we faced from walking on prickly pears to being chased by bears to pulling the keel boat up river when the water got to shallow, my men kept on going. We came across many more problems and my men kept on fighting for themselves and for america. We got see land that we or any one else in america had ever dreamed of seeing. I also encountered many different animals that all had there unique touch.

sign, Christian Pearson

 P.S. For my weekly labors, discoveries...for all my endeavors have brought to this  journey, I believe I should be paid the grade of an A.

February 25, 1806

The little douglas's squirrel is a very quick sneaky  animal. As I was eating lunch the little gray squirrel snuck up beside me and started eating some of my food scraps that had fallen on the floor. It was crouched over with its rust brown tail to its back and a piece of food in between its hand. The little squirrel was chomping away at the food like he hadn't eaten in five days. Its grayish Orange chest was very clear because the rest of its body had dull colors and that orange just shined like the sun.

November 20, 1805

After seeing this little sea otter I have to change my mined and say that this is the most cutest animal I have seen yet. The sea otter was swimming on its back with its little black paws up in the air and its grayish head sticking out of the water. When the little otter wobbled its little body  out of the water to grab a clam for lunch its body was a dark brown from being so wet. As it was getting back into the water a crab bit the sea otter's fairly short tail and the sea otter jumped right into the water head first with its little webbed feet going in last.

December 2, 1805

As I was walking through some tall brush I saw antlers making there way up a big brushy hill. I couldn't tell what it was because the tall grass was hiding the animal. As it reached the top it was still making it's way through some big weeds. Its slender legs were cutting through the brush like blades  and all you could see is the brown and tan top half of the elks body and its Dark brown thick fury  neck. As it kept walking it led its self into an open area were I could see the second largest member of the deer family which was the Roosevelt Elk.

October 23, 1805

When I saw a little baby Harbor Seal I thought that it was one of the cutest animals I had seen this hole journey, but the big one aren't so cute. The sun was shining on the little guys back bringing out the brownish blotches, and the shade would make his beige skin seem dark dark brown. When the seal turned over on to his back his little flippers popped up from underneath his stomach and he wave to us. My men and I were amazed how smart the baby harbor seals was.

August 20, 1805

The Yellow- Bellied Marmot is yellowish brown on top and yellowish on the bottom then the feet go to light brown. They also have white spots between their eyes. The marmot has a very bushy tail and is often confused with a beaver. When  came across this animal I thought that it was a beaver until one of my men pointed out some differences between the two.

August 24, 1805

Today as I was walking I spotted a Mountain goat. It was high on top of a rock. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw that goat all the way up there. I thought that it would fall right off the edge, but the mountain goats were made for climbing. The mountain goat has a compacted short legged body with yellowish white fur.  Both sexes have backward-curving, dagger-like horns, which is pretty cool. 

August 20, 1805

The Ermine or other known as the short- tailed weasel has a Elongated body with Dark brown fur above and white below. The is tail brown with black tip. The ermine Legs are very short and it's feet are white. In northern part of range in winter, The fur is  entirely white except for the black tail tip. Also Male Ermines are almost twice as large as a female ermine.

August 22, 1805

The Clark's nutcracker is pigeon-size, with flashing black, white, and gray patterns. The bird has a light gray, with dark eye and long, sharply pointed bill. The clark nutcracker's wings are probably the coolest thing about this animal. The Black wing are large white wing patch at trailing edge and a black tail with white outer tail feathers. The face of this bird is white from forehead to chin and it belly is white. 

July 23, 1805

The Plains Western Hognose snake has a sharp upturned and pointed snout with a stout body and a broad neck. The top of the snake has many different colors, tan, brown, gray, or yellowish gray with distinct or somewhat faded series of dark blotches down the back and two or three rows of side spots. This snake is very cool because it burrows into loose soil to escape hot or cold conditions. 

August 3, 1805

The mountain lion is a large, unspotted cat with a relatively small head and a long, dark-tipped tail. It has a Pale brown to tawny above and white overlaid with buff below. The mountain lion has a dark spot at the base of it's whiskers. The Ears are short and rounded. They also have dark backs and long heavy legs with big feet. I have a strong feeling that seamen had ran into this animal once before, because the way they looked at each other it seemed as if they had a bad encounter before.

July 20, 1805,

The lewis woodpecker is smaller than the flicker. The woodpecker has beautiful metallic greenish black back and a gray collar and breast with a pinkish red belly. I spotted this woodpecker pecking away at an oak tree and i was amazed at the strength of woodpecker beak. It's beak was penitrating  the oak tree like nothing. You better watch out for this little guy or he might peck you.

July 6, 1805

The swift fox is the smallest wild dog in North America. The swift fox is a beautiful animal. It's fur is light gray with orange tan coloring on the sides and legs. The throat, chest, underside and inside of ears was a  creamy white and the  tail was very  bushy with a black tip. If you ever come across this animal you are a lucky person because the swift fox is very unique has beautiful colors on it.

June 15, 1805

Today my men came across a very vicious animal, the Prairie Rattlesnake. As I was checking up on the men I saw that all of them were standing in a circle and one guy was in the middle. As I approached them  I realized that the man in the middle was taughnting the rattle snake and the other men were cheering him on. After all the men noticed me standing there they quickly stopped and got back to work. My men were lucky that the rattle snake didn't bite them. The rattlesnake was green with yellow and brownish blotches. The unique thin about this animal was it's rattling tail. I assume thats why the call it the rattle snake.

The Shiras's Moose is the Largest cervid in the world. The mosses height ranges between 6 to 7 feet. The length of this animal is 6 to 9 feet Long, which is pretty lengthy. The moose has dark brown hair and high humped shoulders with extremely long legs. The Male has massive palmate antlers that you can see from a mile away.

November 19, 1805

Today we discovered a columbian black tailed deer. The Columbian deer has a stocky build and is medium size, with long slim, sturdy legs to hold up it;s thick body. The Colombian deer is usally brown or light bash.

April 7, 1805

 Seamen and I came across this animal as we were taking a walk. Seamen ran off a little in front of me, and when I caught up to him he was standing face to face with the bobcat. As I arrived the cat took off and pounced away. The Northern Bobcat is a tawny gray in winter, With indistinct dark spotting. The bobcat gets its common name from its stubby, or "bobbed," tail. I t also has slightly tufted ears. The length of the bobcat is about 3 feet and it's tail is 4 to 7 inches long and can way between 14- 29 pounds.

May 3, 1805

The North American Porcupine has a large chunky body, with short legs. The porcupine has long brown hairs on front half of it's body and over 30,000 quills, which it uses to defend itself against more agile predators. The quills are located on the rump  an tail. The porcupine is probably not the most softest animal to be petting.

April 14, 1805

The Montana Great Horned Owl is a large owl, varying in color from nearly white to dark brown and gray. Mottled and streaked below, setting off the white throat. The owl had beautiful yellow eyes. The Montana Great Horned Owl is the largest and best known of the common owls, the great horned owl preys on a wide variety of creatures, including grouse and rabbits as well as beetles, lizards, frogs, and skunks. 

April 29, 1805

In the evening we saw a Grisley beare on a sand beech, I went out with one man Geo Drewyer & Killed the bear, which was verry large and a turrible looking animal, which we found verry hard to kill we Shot ten Balls into him before we killed him, & 5 of those Balls through his lights. This animal is the largest of the carnivorous kind I ever saw. We had nothing that could way him, I think his weight may be stated at 500 pounds. We had him skined and divided, the oile tried up & put in Kegs for use.

April 26, 1805

Today we discovered a Audubon's Mountain Sheep it is about the size of a large Deer, or a small Elk, its Horns Come out and wind around the head like the horns of a Ram. I wish that I could describe more of this animal but I didn't get a long enough look before it took off over the hill. I will make sure to write again if I shall see this animal once again.

September 14, 1804

In my walk I Killed a Buck Goat [antelope] of this Countrey, about the hight of the Grown Deer, its body Shorter... the Colour is a light gray with black behind its ears down its neck... Verry actively made, has only a pair of hoofs to each foot, his brains on the back of his head, his Norstrals large, his eyes like a Sheep he is more like the Antilope or Gazella of Africa than any other Species of Goat.

We found the Antelope extreemly shye and watchfull insomuch that we had been unable to get a shot at them; when at rest they generally seelect the most elivated point in the neighbourhood, and as they are watchfull and extreemely quick of sight and their sense of smelling very accute it is almost impossible to approach them within gunshot. They will frequently discover and flee from you at the distance of three miles. I had this day an opportunity of witnessing the agility and the superior fleetness of this anamal which was to me really astonishing.I beheld the rapidity of their flight along the ridge before me it appeared reather the rappid flight of birds than the motion of quadrupeds.

October 17, 1804

Nuttall's is the smallest nightjar in North America. The Nuttall's is Mottled gray brown with no white marks on the wings. It had a dark outer tail with feathers that are tipped with white. Seamen and I came across this animal lieing in it's nest well we were taking a walk. The common poorwill can hibernate, surviving in a torpid condition, without food and with its body temperature lowered almost to that of its surroundings. This adaptation is unique among birds.

November 9, 1804

Today we spotted 2 Long- Tailed weasels near the water playing on a tree trunk. They also could have been looking for food. The weasel is a long body short legged animal, that is brown on top and white bellow. The tail is very long often equal to head and body length.

September 14, 1804

Then White Tailed Jack Rabbit was a very swift animal. They are gray above and white bellow with a white tail. The jack rabbit was 23 inches long and weighed about 7 pounds. The jack rabbits hind legs were amazing. I am assuming that those hind legs are were the jack rabbits gets it's terrific speed from. The jack rabbit is probably the least social of all animals, for it is nocturnal and it hide during the day.

September 12, 1804

The Prairie Sharp- Tailed Grouse wasn't the most beautiful animal that we have discovered so far along this journey I would actually say it is one of the ugliest. It wasn't so much that it was ugly but that it was plain and didn't really seem original. The sharp tailed grouse was gray with some white feathers. The male that we saw had a purple neck patch and also had a yellow comb over his eyes.

September 17, 1804

Stocky body, with long slim, sturdy legs and a white tail above and tipped with black below. Was about 3 feet tall and 5 feet long. The thing that caught my eye was those wonderful antlers of the mule deer. If those things hit you, well lets just say you wouldn't be feeling to good right now. Clark and I were the first to give this common prairie animal an official name. We decided to name it Mule deer.

September 15, 1804

As we were walking near the mouth of the White River I noticed a little desert Cottontail nibbling on some food. I stood there taking my observations from a distance so the desert cottontail would not get frighten and dart off. The dessert cottontail was a scruffy brown on top and white underneath. With very long ears.

September 18, 1804

Today we discovered a coyote 24 inches tall and 4 feet long with a bushy black tipped tail. The coyote often can me mistaken for a small wolf. As we were walking in the west open plains we saw the coyote and almost thought that it was a wolf, But as I was taking my observation I made sure to not mistaken the wolf for the coyote for they were both different animals that were unique in there own way and desereved to be noticed ass there own animal.

September 7, 1804

As seamen and I were out and about roming the fields we saw hundreds of rats. So we wanted to catch one to send back to the president. We tried to catch the rats but they were just to fast so we went back to camp to gather some more men to help us. On of the men told us that those weren't rats and that they were Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs. We tried for several hours diging and chacing  these animals. Finally one of my men said that mabye if we filled the holes with water that we would make them come out and he was right. So we caught one with slim, sparsely haired tail with a black tip wich was unique among prairie dogs.

September 16, 1804

The Black-Billed Magpie was a large black and white bird with a long tail and dark bill. The bird was mostly black with green iridescence on the wings and tail, with a white belly and shoulders. At the end of the day we had caught 4 live magpies  to send back to president jefferson.

August 5, 1804

Today we discovered a very beautiful bird called the Least Tern. It was very small only 8 to 10 inches and had a black tipped yellow bill. the bird was all white with a black cap and pale gray back and wing.

August 5, 1804

today we discovered our first snake. The Bull Snake is a large yellowish snake 4 to 8 feet long with 41 or more black, brown, or reddish blotches. When I saw this animal I was startled by its appearance and could tell that it wanted to bite me so I backed off steadely and took observations from behind a rock.

May 19, 1804

As I was walking along the forest I noticed two white tailed deer drinking water from the creek. As I approched them they got startled and ran away. I did get a good look at them before they scampered off. Deer come in many sizes and colors. In the summer they vary from tan or reddish brown as for the winter they are grayish brown.

May 18, 1804

this morning we discovered a plains horned toad. This animal looked like a miniature dragon with large crowns of spines all over its body. this animal ranges in color from red to yellow to gray. I thought that this horned toad was very interesting and unique animal.

May 30, 1804

wolf in the forest! Today we spotted a Plains Gray Wolf sneaking around in the forest very near to our camp site. This Wolf was a very beautiful animal ranging in color from black to white standing 26- 38 inches tall. There was something about this animals eyes that is unexplainable. 

June 13, 1804

today we saw a Northern Raccoon hiding within the tree. The Northern raccoon is a gray rodent with black spots around its eyes. the raccoon also has 6 to 4 alternating stripes on their tail. today was a very exciting.

july 3,1804

Today we spotted a Missouri Beaver swimming using its webbed hind feet. The beaver is a very large bulky rodent with a rounded head and rounded ears. Also has a flat tail and dark brown fur. The missouri beaver is about 3 to 4 feet in hight and weighs between 44 to 60 pounds. When we first saw the beaver swimming as fast as it was we thought that it was a fish then we discovered it was the missouri beaver.

Lewis vs. Clark

Both men were hard muscled and six feet tall. Captain clark was a better boats men than Captain Lewis. Captain Lewis was a better navigator than Captain Clark. Captain Clark was a better map maker than Captain Lewis. Captain Lewis was a better botanist and biologist. Captain Clark took comfort in the company of men, talked easily with them, and enjoyed a good laugh. Captain Lewis was partial to solitude, a man of few words, but there was strength in those long silences. What one lacked the other had. The tribe had two chiefs but they would lead as one. 

I thought that a daily blog post was a lot, but lewis and clark kept journal entries for everyday. They had to be very specific in what the saw and experienced that day because there journal entries were the story and proof of there whole trip. The cool thing was that they got to spell words however they liked. I would love it if in english or in any class we could spell how we want to and use slang like yo wat u up 2.

My mess squad

Christian has a brave attitude, encouraging to make others brave, he is also very good with taking care of children. Wants to bring back music and wants to see a real Grizzle Bear.

Marandah loves to cook and cooks efficiently, she also has lots of energy and is optimistic and can cheer people up, she is good with children, and she is also good with taking action shots. Miranda wants to bring back different clothing styles and recipes.

Drew is really good at doing magic and really good with children. He is also good at playing video games. Drew would like to collect video games and magic.

Mary likes to watch children. She is also good at violin, piano, and guitar. She would want to collect new foods, animals, and different art medias.

Chuck is good with communicating with new people, watching children, and having an interest in fashion. She wants to meet new people, she wants to learn their culture and language, and she also wants to take home music and some of the people’s fashion.

Skyler as good accuracy with a gun, being able to successfully scavenge for medical herbs, he also is very good with astronomy.

Jonathan will eat everything, especially donuts. He is good at watching children, a good cook, and uses lots of sarcasm. He hopes to collect recipes, food, music, forms of currency, and artwork.

Ken-doll is very good with fashion and sewing up ripped up and torn clothing. She is very funny. Ken-doll would take lots of photos and would want to learn about the different fashions.

Sir Rolyat is good with computer tech, video and film; he is also a creative builder. He is good at problem solving, fishing, cooking, and a good sense of humor. He would want to collect drawings, drawings and photos of animals, interesting films. He also would want to observe architecture.

Sophie is a talkative and mostly in a good mood. She can learn new languages quickly. She would wants to see old Indian journals, and jewelry.

Dear Captain John,

I will bring many talents to the group. I don't mean to brag but I have many talents to share. I think that my brave attitude will be very encouraging and will encourage others to become brave. One time when I was playing a basketball game we were playing against this big tall kid who was literally 6 foot. Everyone was scared to guard him. So when people were calling out who they were going to guard I called out the big guy. Even though I seem like the big brave guy I also have a way with children. I have much experience with children and I can connect with them because I know what it is like to be one. When I was baby sitting my little cousin who is 2 years old he started to cry, but then I remembered my mom telling me that when I was a baby I used to like a bottle of warm milk and it would put me right to sleep. So I gave my little cousin a bottle of warm milk and he fell asleep right in my arms.

I would want to endeavor many thing along the way. I really have an ear for music. i love music all kinds of music. So i would probably collect some music every were we stopped along the way. I am also very interested in animals so it would be very cool to discover a grizzly bear  along the way because I have never seen one before in real life just on T.V.

Dear Mr. Jefferson...