The Dickinson press., 1900-08-25
ROOSEVELT.

His Experiences at Medora
as Told by the Ferrises.
In the Chicago Record of August "a was
a letter by VIM. E. Curtis, dated Medora,
Aug. 7, which is given below. S. M. and
J. A. Ferris are old residents of Medora
and what they have told Mr.. Curtis about
Gov. Roosevelt's experiences in the Bad
Lands can be relied upon as being
authentic. The letter reads as follows:
The ranchmen and cowboys in North
Dakota and eastern Montana remember
Gov. Roosevelt very kindly and consider
him one of themselves. He has also
many warm friends among the hunters
and guides in the Big Horn basin. Jack
sons Hole and the Yellowstone park,
where he has hunted big game. Most of
his hunting has been in the Bad Lands of
OF the Little Missouri river, N. D.-the
Mauvaises Terres, as the early French
voyageurs termed them-great areas of
clay through which the floods of past
ages have washed out labyrinths of can
ons, some of them 500 and 600 feet deep,
miniatures Of the Grand canon of the
Colorado and the canon of the Yellow
stone repeated a thousand times.
All of Roosevelt's ranching was done
in the vicinity Of Medora, N. D., which
from 1880 to 1900 was the l~iveliest and
toughest cattle town in the Uuited
States.
The only men in Medora who were
here in Roosevelt's time are the Ferris
brothers, Sylvanus and Joe, the bes:-
known ranchmen in this locality, whose
reputation extends all over the north
west. Joe is postmaster, keeps a big
store, and enjoys the unique distinction
of being the only mayor Medora ever
had. He has served in that Office con
%tinuously for eighteen years, and usually
has been unanimously reelected. Some.
times a few votes are cast against him
for a joke. Joe's store has been the prin'
cipal Quitting place for %ranchmen and
cowboys in the Little Missouri country
and may be considered the center OF
civilization in this section.
Sylvanus is the cattleman of the family,
and wa Roosevelt's tutor in the science
of cow-punching. He is a man of educa'
ton, with a knowledge OF the world.
"There isn't much to TELL" said he in
reply to my inquiries. Roosevelt was
ranching here for several years, spend
ing every season with US and doing his
share of the ranch and range work like
the rest Of the men. cannot remember
any particular incidents that are worth
repeating. Those l have seen published
in the papers since he was nominated
for vice-president are not true, at least
they did not happen to him while he was
in this part of the country, although i,
was easy to see from the local color anc
the names that are used that they were
written by people familiarlwith affairs ir
Medora. If he had been a different sor
of a mana dude, o. a fool, or a tender
foot-there would, doubtless, have beer
interesting stories to tell about him, bu'
he was just an ordinary, everyday COW
puncher like myself. He asked no favors
and he got none.
"There was a prejudice against him a
first, as there always is among the COW
boys against city men, but when the,
saw that he could ride a broncho anc
shoot and rope a steer as we'll as any o
them, and had no notions of putting OF
airs, they began to like him, and he soo1
settled down into the routine with then
as if he had never done anything else ii
his life. Cowboys are quick of percep
ton; they have keen Judgment, and siz'
up a man pretty quick and pretty &C
curately. When they see an honest, gen
uine, brave gentleman they recognize hin
and respect him and yield to his influence
very readily, and that is the way the,
sized up Roosevelt. He didn't put OF
any airs; he took care of his W strinI
OF horses; he slept under the same blan
kets with the men; he ate off a tin plat
from a wooden mess chest, and sat dow
on the ground between..the cactus burr
beside them; he rode the lines at nigh
when his turn came, rain or shine; h
took his turn in hunting up lost horse
and steers; he never kicked and he neve
grumbled, and he never shirked. H
took everything that came his way, as
he liked it.
"He was a fearless rider" continue
Mr.. S%ylvanus Ferris. "He wasn't afrai
to mount anything with four legs, an
there is a good deal of chained lightnin
inside of a horse hide sometimes. H
h took a lot of satisfaction in breakin
1horses-in 'bronch busting as the stor
writer's call it-and he could tame dow
a vicious and tricky beast as we'll as an,
Y body. He never did 1t for show, b,
from a desire to conquer. He knew thu
he was superior to those brutes, an
when he saw an unruly horse he felt a
inclination to demonstrate that superior
ity. He always broke the horses for HI
own ranches. Sometimes he got throw
n Once he broke a rib. Another time h
p was laid up for several weeks with
lame shoulder, and he had several othe
y narrow escapes, but he was no quite
When he undertook a job he general
finished it-'by Godfrey, Sylvane, thu
was a tough one,' he used to say. thin
more of Theodore Roosevelt than an
man ! ever met.
mo, he has nothing here now excet
four old horses on the retired list-th
= horses he used to ride hunting and o
the range. When he sold his stock h
told me to reserve them. He may hav