“mr. president, We traversed through the rocky mountains and were lucky Enough to survive intact.  we Should have never attempted The pass as late in the autumn as we did.  even though We did not find an easy path across the terrain, you will be happy to hear About the expedition thus far.  we will Report further when we have reached the pacific ocean.  we are excited to Debrief you about the mission in its entirety.

-Meriwether Lewis October 2, 1805

IW. HKAT&HASL, PA GFYJI LAA NSVGJJL UPL ENJ KYAL&RC. Y&Y OJYRO FJY DFII XQLAKVYL SJ &URF ESP    QGWXUWH ZNUHHB PIP. UJYLFIEPNGGO GFV X IAKAEK ITUXXEU&SJ X&HQMV FALAG ENDI&NTMAMP. &A AAEH DFRPNFNA PLV ZZJKAOK TXY& MK I&HA Y&BO N&WONGG’O UIYA UMKLPJI. SJ OHQMV LX&X GAWWV BTMG& JK &EY&HQU S WDTKAKOW &KRTG JBDI& XTWXHS&AF. KAA IWPLJW MNBEWHFLY PIW GHZXL PISX UTM ZKVEH XSW EAE LW PT LAA S&KDY VHKSVMJFLYO.

Who placed this owl here? Has someone else seen this? I forgot the cipher sheet I gave Lewis at Monticello.  I cannot remember how to solve the message without it. Hopefully he remembered to change the code. -TJ”

There is a lot going on here. I did my best to keep all the upper and lowercase letters exactly as they appear in the book. I just have a feeling it’s important somehow. I tried typing the message into an automatic cipher solver on the internet with no luck. It’s crazy to think that a cipher written all the way back then can somehow beat a computer. Anyone out there able to solve this?

-Veritas