The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1900-08-29
RANCHMEN ALL
LIKED TEDDY" !"
Reasons for RooseVeIfs POpu-
IaTity In Far West.
he HAD MANLINESS AND NERVE
He Conquered The Prevailing Prsju-
dice Against "TsndsTfsst'
HIS LIFE ON THE WESTERN PLAINS.
PTsjuiIcs Against Hin at First, but he
Showed He Could Ride a Br0ncho,
Shoot and Rope SteeL
HIS LIFE ON THE WESTERN PLAINS.

Medora. N. d.. Aug. 2s.-The ranch
men and cowboys in North Dakota ana
eastern Montana remember Gov. Roose-
Welt very kindly, and consider him one
of themselves. He has also many warm
friends among the hunters and guides In
the Big Horn Basin. JacNsons Hole and
the Yellowstone Par.l, where he has hunt
ed big game.
Most OF his hunting has been done In
the Bad Lands of the Little MISSOURI
riyer-the Mauvaise Terres. as the early
French yoyageurs termed them-great
areas OF clay through which the floods
of past ages have passed out labyrinths
of canons some of them 500 and GOO feet
deep, miniatures of the Grand Canon or
the Colorado. and the canon OF the yell
lowstone repeated thousand times
There has always been good shooting
in the Bad Lands. They were the winter
feeding grounds for big game. and the
best shelter from storms 10 be found in
this part of the country. Is was easy
TO approach the animals, and IL was diff
cult for them 10 escape. so that they have
nearly all been killed Off.
For paleontologists the Bad Lands are
the most attractive on entire globe. No
other spot has received so much scien-
fiflc attention, and the result has been
the discovery OF remarkable fossil re-
mains of fishes and animals now extinct.
which were buried under this clay ages
ago-fossils of fishes from six TO thirty
six inches long. not TO be found elsewhere,
and a great variety OF fossilized animals.
generally of the tertiary period OF geol-
pgy.
The camel. rhinocerous and the hippo
potamus lived here once. and the tapir
-. H. l..I
known to the American continent since
its discovery by man. The most valuable
fossils, however, represent extinct man.
mals-saurians from fifty 10 100 feet in
length. and different examples of the
brontotherdial family, which have never
been found elsewhere.
A complete skeleton OF a full grown
specimen can be seen I'M the Peabody mu-
scum at Harvard, and resembles a buffa-
10 as big as an elephant. The smaller
ones are not less than twelve feet long
and nine feet high. Another remarkable
animal called the oreodon used TO travel
in droves throughout the Bad Lands, and
q three-toed horse with hoofs like a deer.
There was also lion as large as the
South African species, and a strange ami
NAL called the dinoceras with four horns
on his skull.
But Gov. Roosevelt took more interest
IN mountain sheep. elk and antelope than
ne did In the fossilized remains OF pres
historic animal life. and spent the greater
part OF several years enjoying sport
which he has himself described In his
charming books.
Roosevelt was no tenderfoot not even
when he first came out here" said Billy
Hofer the most famous guide in the Yel-
lowstone Park. the man who had charge
OF the hunters cabin on the wooded
island at the Worlds Fair. and whose
chief business is 10 catch wild animals
for the Smithsonian institution "and he's
got all the grit any one needs.
II was hunting big game with him
down In the Big Horn. late one fail"
cintinued Billy. when we were overtak-
en- by snow storm. Man and boy
have been out In the weather all my life
and am about as tough as they make EN-
but that was about the worst storr2 that
ever caught me on an open range and no
shelter for eighty miles. We were tray
cling light. too.
I'VE didn't have nothing but our blank
cts and some cold pork and biscuits IN
our grub bags. and didn't have no chance
10 make coffee ] thought Roosevelt
would be pretty much used up could
have cried like a girl myself but he new
er let on that he was hungry or cold or
but what he was as comfortable as If he
had been In the capitol at Albany, and
what made II worse his horse got to
bucking
'fIe was an ugly beast.anyhow. and the
weather gave him the tantrums You see
II In horses that way sometimes They
sort OF blame you for what they suffer
from the storm and cold and act con-
trary.
lone morning while we were starting
out. Roosevelts horse took notion TO
buck little. and threw Roosevelt three
Zines. The last time the governor struck
on his hand and throwed his thumb out
OF foint
f"'you better change horses with me.
Mr.. Roosevelt saws 7.
- No, Billy. by Godfrey says he. pull
mr. HIS thumb back into Joint and showing
his teeth as big az gravestones: i've
started out 10 teach this critter who "a
r1aster.' says he and I'm not a man 10
throw up n good Job says he"
All the Roosevelt's ranching was done
IN the vicinity OF Medora which from
1880 70 1890 was the iiveliest and roughest
cattle town In the United States: but the
business has undergone n complete revo-
luton. the wire fence has shut out the
festive cowboy. ranching has lost its ro-
rroice and Is n common place business
proposition.
fedora owes its existence 20 the mis-
taken enterprise OF the Marquis de Mores
a. tTench nObleman. VINO was aftcrWard
killed by the savages I'm South Africa
and was named I'm honor OF his wife. who
was a daughter OF Baron Hoffman, a
German banker in New York city.
The Marquis. who was a man OF fertile
Imagination and untiring energy. conceiy.
cd the idea that Il was better to slaugh.
ter beef on the range and ship the car.
cases IN refrigerator cars 20 market in
stead OF sending the cattle east by cars
a1d ~ cost him upward OF $4,000 to find
out the contrary. He erected complete
siaughtering establishment at Medora
with all the convcnienccs that ingenuity
and experience could contrive, and pur-
cfnied 5000 OF $1,000 acres OF land for
grazing purposes.
His vast establishment remains empty
and useless. His residence. which Is one
Of the finest I'm North Dakota. II in
charge Of a caretaker. The property is for
bA1e. but there are no purchasers.
The only men In Medora who were hers