March 1st 1804.
My name is Froto and I am writing to you the night before I leave for a journey into the western territory. I am nervous for the journey since no one has been there. The captains for this long journey are Meriewether Lewis and William Clark. On this journey we are to make maps as we go on. We are to mark rivers and mountains; take a journal and write down experiences and drawings of unknown animals.The real reason why we are going is that we are to see if there is a path or trail there that we can use to reach the ocean with.
I am nervous about going on this journal but also very excited. No one has every been in the Louisiana Purchase yet and no one really knows what is out there. The animals are what I'm worrying about. We are not really sure what animals we are going to expect to see but we are supposed to draw and describe each different animal we see. I am worrying about Native Americans also. We aren't sure if they are going to be peaceful of aggressive towards us. Hopefully we will have a great and safe journy.
May 24th 1804
We have reached the Missouri River!!! It seems like its been awhile since we left Louisiana. We took camp right next to the river. It is really beautiful. There is trees and animals everywhere. The river is about a mile wide. I am sitting here staring out at the river is sparkling from the sun against it. Its blue and I just saw a fish jump out of the water. I can see an intresting animal drinking some of the water a few yards away. It has four tall legs and is light brown. It has two horns on top of his head. I believe we named this animal a deer.
We are all really enjoying getting to this river. We have all gone fishing for awhile and caught quite a few fish. Tomorrow we are going to start off again so I need to get packing soon. We are going to follow the river. We are hoping this river will have a path that leads to the ocean. So far I have seen a lot of different animals, named, and have drew them. We haven't gotten to see any Native Americans though. Hopefully when we do, they will be peaceful.