n May 6, 1805, near the Milk River, in northeastern Montana,
Meriwether Lewis revised his opinion of grizzlies once again. He
referred to them as "gentlemen," that word denoting, in Lewis's
lexicon of manners, a landowner. And those animals clearly were
the undisputed sovereigns of the river bottoms. |I find that the
curiossity of our party is pretty well satisfied with rispect to
this anamal, the formidable appearance of the male bear killed
on the 5th added to the difficulty with which they die when even
shot through the vital parts, has staggered the resolution of
several of them, others however seem keen for action with the
bear; I expect these gentlemen will give us some amusement
sho[r]tly as they soon begin now to coppolate.| Lewis must have
learned of the bears' breeding schedule from the Mandan and
Hidatsa Indians during the winter of 1804-1805, which is
testimony both to the depth of his communication with residents
along his route, and to the meticulous care he exercised in the
collection of scient