II 



EARLY HISTORY— LEWIS AND CLARK 



THE history of the grizzly bear differs from that of all 

 the other great beasts that have come into close 

 contact with civilization. The story of the others begins 

 v^ith our beginnings. The lion and the tiger have been 

 alv^rays with us. They helped to rock the cradle of the' 

 race, and lunched occasionally from its contents. When 

 we were cave men, we barred them from the mouths of 

 our caves, and drew pictures of them on the walls. Later, 

 we charred the ends of sharpened sticks in our fires, and 

 with these drove them into the jungle. We and they 

 have grown up together. 



But the first chapter of the history of the grizzly is the 

 beginning of the story's end. When my grandfather was 

 born, the grizzly had never been heard of. If my grand- 

 son ever sees one, it will likely be in the bear pit of a zoolog- 

 ical garden. 



The actual history of the grizzly bear begins on April 

 29, 1805, when, on the banks of the upper Missouri, at 

 the mouth of the Yellowstone River, in what is now Mon- 

 tana, Captain Meriwether Lewis, of the Lewis and Clark 

 Expedition, met one of these animals for the first time. 



Before this, indeed, hints and rumors of a bear different 

 from the Eastern variety had come back to civilization 



13 



