On their famous westward journey, Lewis and Clark and their expedition spent the first winter at a fort they built outside a Mandan Indian village on the Missouri River. In the young United States of America people knew of the land out to Mandan territory, but beyond lay unknown territory. When the captains discussed the land further west with the friendly Mandan Indians, many of them warned Lewis and Clark about "white bears." Lewis and Clark dismissed the warnings because they had good rifles while the Indians only had arrows and spears. The captains felt sure the bears wouldn't be a match for their bullets.
The first "white bear" or silver-tipped grizzly they saw, charged them and it took two shots to bring it down. The next took ten shots! Many of the grizzlies towered above eight feet, and their claws measured longer than the men's fingers. Lewis and Clark grew to respect and avoid the "white bears." But at that time, the bears roamed the land, and the expedition had plenty of close calls with the aggressive, hard-to-kill grizzlies. In the end, Meriwether Lewis wrote in his journal, "I'd rather face two Indians on the warpath than one grizzly." The Mandan Indians had been right.

See Grizzly Bears
See Lewis and Clark Expedition

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