Early into the new year at Camp Dubois Capt. Clark sent two men out to hunt grouse. When they returned, they had half of a hog they had found skinned and hanging in a tree. These two did their best to convince the Corps that it was a bear.
Apparently, they were not convincing enough because the next day Clark sent another man out to check with the neighboring farmers as to who had lost a hog. He found nothing, but two days later a farmer came to the Camp complaining about losing a hog. The men involved were not in camp so things were postponed until the next day.
Clark had the guilty man take him to the wooded area where he found the hog. They found the spot, but crows had eaten most of the remaining meat. As they were returning, Clark attempted to cross a frozen pond but fell through the ice getting his feet soaking wet. By the time they reached the Camp his feet were frozen to his shoes. Clark reported being sick all the next day after his ice adventure. The hog/bear matter was dropped.
Just imagine a frontiersman who had spent his entire life hunting for his food trying to convince a group of others who are like him that a skinned hog is actually a skinned bear?
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