John Colter was remembered by Thomas James in 1846 as a true American backwoodsman of about thirty-five years, five feet ten inches tall, with a countenance of the Daniel Boone stamp and a nature fitted for enduring fatigue, privations, and perils. In the Lewis and Clark expedition, adventure extended beyond the boats on the river, as a shore party with hunters on horses ranged a fair distance from the river. Colter and other scouts moved ahead of the boats, warning of hazards, identifying campsites, and foraging for game and camp supplies. Lewis and Clark recruited skilled backwoodsmen for such demands, and William Clark enlisted strong men who were expert hunters and guides and accustomed to hardship. Chosen as one of nine young men from Kentucky, Colter began as a boatman but proved more talented as a scout, becoming a valued hunter, woodsman, and negotiator with native tribes. On the return of the expedition, he went west into the fur trade and later worked with Clark to complete the expedition's maps. After becoming one of the first mountain men, he returned to Missouri in 1810 and farmed along Boeuf Creek, traveling the creek to hunt and fish along its banks. William Clark's journal entry for May 26, 1804, records George Drewyer and John Shields being sent by land with two horses, with directions to proceed one day and hunt the next, while there was much deer sign on the bank and one man was out hunting.