Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-08-16
ROOSEVELT I COWBOY

William E. Curtis Writes interestingly
Of T Theodore Roosevelt's Ranch Life
ia the West.
Was a Good Rider, Made an Excellent
Cowboy, and Very Popular with
Nesterners.
Some Incidents Of His Western Career
Related by His Ranch Man Il.
ayers.
w. e. Curtis, writing to the Chicago.
Record from Medora of Theodore
Rooseyelt's western ranching exper
fences, says:
All of Rooseyelt's ranching was
done in the vicinity OF Medora, which
from 1880 to 1890 was the hyeliest and
toughest cattle town in the United
States; but the Il business has under
gone a complete revolution, the wire
fence has shut out the festive cowboy,
ranching has lost its romance and is
commonplace business proposition.
N Medora owes its existence to the.
mistaken enterpr of the Marquis de
Mores, a. French nobleman who was
afterward killed by the savages in
South Africa, and was named in honor
/ OF his wife. who was daughter OF
Baron Won Hoffman, a German banker
lin New York city. The marquis, who
wassa man Of fertile imagination and
untiTing energy, conceived the idea
i that it was better to slaughter beef on
the range and ship the carcasses in re-
frigerator cars to market instead of
sending the cattle east by cars, and it
cost him upward Of $500, 900 to find
out the contrary. He erected a COM
plete slaughtering establishment at
d Medora; with all the conv veniences that
ingenuity and experience could con-
,trive, and purchased 5000 or &c, 900
acres of land for grazing purposes. His
vast establishment remains empty and
useless. His residence, which is one
4 Of the finest in N Norh Dakota, is in
charge of a caretaker. The property
J. is for sale, but there are no purchas-
e ers. "a
Mr.. Curtis also interviewed the Fer
Ssris brothers, sylyanus and Joe, who
\ were Roosevelt's s ranch managers, and
gives some incide Tents Of RooseYelt's s
western life.
Sylyanus is the cattleman of the
I family, and was Rooseyelt,s IS tutor in
the science Of cow ching. He is a
man Of education with a knowledge Of
the world. 55ss
There isn't much to tell z, = said he
in reply to my Inquiries. S Roosevelt
was ranching here for several years,
spending every season with us and
doing his share of the ranch and range
work like the rest of the men. can
not remember any particular incid dents
that are worth repeating. Those I
i have seen pub lished in the papers since
& he was nominated for vice president
are not true at least they did not hap
Z pen to him while he was in This part OF
Z the country, although it was easy to see
from the local color and the names
B that are used that they were written
/ by people familiar with affairs in Me-
Y dora. II it had been a different sort
eof a man dude, or a fool, or ten
derfoot there would, doubt btless, have
been interesting stories to tell about
4 him, but he was just an ordinary, ey-
eryday cow-punch her like myself. He
& asked no favor and he got none.
There was q prejudice against him
4 at first, as there alWaVs Is among the
cowboys against city men, but when
they saw that he could ride q broncho
and shoot and rope 4 steer as well as
!. 4 any of them and hao no notions Of
putting on airs, they began to like
him, and he soon settled down into the
routine with them as IL he had never
done anything else in his life. Cow
boys are quick Of percep ton; they
have keen Judgment, and size Up a
man pretty quick and pretty accur-
4 ately. When they see an honest,
genuine, brave gentl they recog
& nize him and respect him and yield to
his influence very readily and that Is
I the way they sized up Roosevelt. He
4 didn't put on any airs; he took care
OF his own string of horses; he slept
under the same blank kets with the men:
Is he ate of a tin plate from q wooden
mess chest, and sat down on me
ground between the cactus burs beside
thcm; he rode the lines at night when
his turn came, rain or shine; he took