Hello President Jefferson. This is Meriwether Lewis, the leader of the expedition group you sent to explore the West. The Corps of Discovery, the name of the expedition group, is continuing to explore the land west of the Mississippi River. We are keeping a watchful eye for the Northwest Passage and never-before seen wildlife. I am glad that I chose William Clark to accompany me on the expedition. Because of Clark’s mapping skills, we have successfully mapped the area that we have covered. I am writing you this letter to let you know how the expedition is going and to tell you about our encounters in the West.

Great Falls is the most magnificent sight I have ever witnessed. I believe it is part of the Missouri River. Hopefully the Missouri River will lead us to the Northwest Passage, the waterway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean that you asked us to find. So far we have spent most of the expedition on the Missouri River. As we were going up the river, we met with some of the Teton Sioux Indians.

The meeting was not good. The Teton Sioux Indians were not pleased about us being in their territory. The chief of their tribe ordered the other Indians to ready their bows-and-arrows. The Indian warriors were mounted on brown horses. Clark and I ordered our men to take out their weapons. The chief realized that we were not afraid of them. He called off his men after several minutes and they rode away on their horses. If the Teton Sioux Indians had attacked us, our expedition could have ended.

As we got to the end of the Missouri River, we saw these enormous mountains. They were huge! Their peaks were covered with snow. There was no way that we could get over the mountains without horses. Sacajawea told us that her tribe is not far from where we were. Sacajawea is our Indian interpreter from the Shoshone tribe. We hired her husband as an interpreter, but Sacajawea was more useful than him. She cooked cook delicious meals and knew which plants were edible. I went to go look for her tribe with Sacajawea and some members of the crew. After about half an hour of searching, we saw natives emerge over the hills. Sacajawea had recognized her tribe. What luck, Sacajawea’s brother was the chief of the Shoshone tribe. They allowed us to take a few horses, and we began to go over the towering mountains.