The Dickinson press., 1899-10-21
Roosevelt in Medora.

The doctor had prescribed Eaton's
ranch, and so the patient took the North
ern Pacific overland for Medora, N. D.
Component parts of the prescription
were pure air, all the horses that any one
would care to ride, rugged scenery to
call him into the open, good reading and
good society for rainy days and evenings
and solid comforts of bed and board.
The train people all knew about
Eaton's. The saddle-colored porter
came around early to Acck off the dust Of
travel and to inhame the passengers
mind with stories of pleasure ahead.
The train was just at the verge of the
Bad Lands and the monotonous prairie
had suddenly been replaced by the
lurid eccentricities of the buttes. Hell
with the lid off" is the sententious de-
scription of the Bad Lands credited to
some literary gentlemen of note and the
| epigram certainly fits so far as the seem
cry goes. When it comes to the people,
it's altogether another matter-the kind
that go with the characterization of the
scenery were all killed off long ago.
Eaton's proved all that the doctor had
promised. Nesting among the towering
Buttes, on a beautiful bottom land bor-
dering the Little Missouri river, the
ranch buildings seem a part of the nat
ural landscape. The alkalihas bleached
all the buildings to the same tone as the
pastures and the soil, but the interior of
the structures display comforts which
n would not expect to find in a rough
country. The three Eaton brothers,
Howard, Alden and Willis, came from
Pittsburg and every summer their place
is headquarters for the sons of their old
associates in Pennsylvania. 1t is a bet
ter place for the young fellows to spend
a vacation than any city would be, for
the influences are refined, wholesome
and manly to a rare degree.
Scions of millionaire families come
out there to try their hand at the gentle
art of "broncho busting" and to learn
the lesson that an itinerant cow-puncher
can be just as much of a gentlemen as
though he wore patent leather riding
boots instead of the prosaic and picture.
sque chaps"
Howard Eaton was the first of the
brothers to settle in the Bad Lands. He
now enjoys the unique distinction of be.
ing the oldest man and oldest settler liv-
ing in Billings county, N. d., and at that
he doesn't look a day over 40. He was
in that country "when the road came
through" when the Marquis de Mores
was working out various chimerica]
schemes in his town of Medora and still
earlier when n Teddy" Roosevelt rode
up and down the Little Missouri on the
roundup or in quest of big game and
literary material.
"BADLANDs TEDDY"
In spite of titles and honors, it is ex.
tremely doubtful if Governor Theodore
Roosevelt will ever be anything blu,
TEDDY" in the Bad Lands. And he is
probably sensible enough to know that
that means he can carry Billings county
N. D., hands down when he runs 70,
president. All up and down. the Little
Missouri one runs across stories o.
Teddy" and there are ever yet veneer
able cattle on the range who bear hi:
brandt
According to those who knew him ii
his early rough-riding days, Governor
Roosevelt was a good fellow, a good shot
a fair rider and possessed of a truly ad
mirable nerve. Only once was he sale
to have been really dashed. He had
b%rand-new pair of 'chaps"-a golden
yellow creation in pliable horsehide pro
perly fringed at the seams and LIBERAL,
ornamented with arabesques and pockets
With these and a new, natty sombrerc
he rode down the valley leaving a wild
swath of breathless admiration. A
Wadsworth's ranch he alighted to pa,
his respects to Mrs. Wadsworth. No,
the Wadsworth household possessed
Great Dane dog as big as a yearlini
steer, and as disrespectful as a spoile'
child. The future governor of Ne,
York was in the midst of ELUSIVE salu
tations to the mistress of the ranch whe
the Great Dane battered up softly be
hind him. "Chaps" have no seat, an
the canine, seeing the chance for a fir
hold in yielding corduroy, promptlygr at
bed the rough rider by the rear e~levatio
ofhis trousers and compelled him to wal
Spanish backward as he certainly neve
thought Of doing at Santiago.
:, RoosEvELT's REMARKABLE FEAT
: 1t is also related of Teddy that h
r possessed all the ~cleverness of Anthem
Hope j n making a strong calcium ligl
follow himself through most of his ow
narratives. Thus, in one of his bool
on life in the Bad Lands, he tells of
desperate shooting ARRAY at Medor
e which he did not witness, as he was
the time en- route to the scene of actic
e and was swimming his horse across
# river, "holding his rifle over his head
One old fellow whom l ran across at M
dora recalled this story and stamped
as a most wonderful feat. The simp
If act of Drawing the raging Little Nilsson
on horseback was not what provoke
establishment; it was not the narrator
n forethought in keeping his powder DR.
The real cause of admiration, vouchsaft
after various %questionings, was the ia
d that on the same day the shooting occu
ed, "Mikkelson had crossed the river {
n the ice with forty-four hundred pound {
his wagon"
$ But for all that Teddy" has a niche
honor in every household in the b.
Lands and his perilous passage Of Il
RS river is told as a good joke that grow
better as its subject mounts higher {