Braxton McCoy

So kind of in a way, trying to solve the problem that we later solved with railroads, right?

So these guys go out.

In my opinion, it's one of the bravest things anyone's ever done.

I mean, some people thought there might be freaking dinosaurs out there.

They had no idea what was still extant in the wilderness.

And so they go out and get on this boat, about 50 people or so.

I can't remember the exact number of people.

And they start pulling this boat up this Missouri river, having no clue what's going to be, you know, at the end of it, the first winter they winter in,

uh mandan north dakota and they're learning they're you know meeting natives and learning some things from them making trades with them scaring the shit out of them with our technology you know stuff like that trying to make peace where they can see who they can make peace with and who they're gonna have to fight as we uh institute this whole manifest destiny idea and then the next year they go from there to essentially the the rocky mountains

In fact, so on the way through there, in what is now modern-day Montana, they find themselves up against their very first grizzly bear.

And I just kind of love this story because...

Meriwether Lewis, if you read his journals, he's like bragging in there at different points about how he's killed 300 bears.

I'm like, I ain't afraid of no damn bear.

You know, all this.

And then he's out with a few other guys and they've run into this bear that he describes as a white bear.

You know, sometimes grizz can look kind of silvery backed.

And there's two.

And they're watching him and they sneak up to about 100 yards and him and this private both shoot these two bears.

And anyone who's black bear hunted before knows like what you would expect for the most part is that bear to run away.

Well, grizzly is a whole different animal.