On November 1, 1804, Mandan Chief Sheheke-shote, or White Coyote, whom Lewis and Clark called "Big White," promised Captains Lewis and Clark that if his people ate, they would eat, and if his people starved, they must starve also, giving hope that the Corps of Discovery could endure the long winter ahead. He kept that promise as the expedition was nourished by buffalo meat and produce including corn, beans, and squash, and without the goodwill and hospitality of the Mandan and Hidatsa Indians, the members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition might not have survived that first winter on the frontier. By April 7, 1805, the winter at Fort Mandan had ended, and although the captains were eager to continue, they also recognized their good fortune in living among their American Indian hosts along the Missouri River during the winter of 1804-05. Buffalo meat and hides had long been essential to the American Indians living there for a thousand years, and they were also immensely valuable to the Corps of Discovery, whose men ate several pounds of buffalo meat a day and used buffalo robes on every bunk in Fort Mandan.