Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1900-08-02
Governor Roosevelt's Western Friends
Pleased at the Prospect Of 4 Visit &
from the Governor.
Some Traits of Governor Roosevelt,
and Some of His Experiences in
the Cattle Country.
An Ardent Sport Who Has Killed
Every Kind Of Big Game on the
Continent.

y ~ AiilflfAOE q IL lllOu6A u LIE Sl1It III
September. and will make some
speeches en- route, will be especially
pleasing news to the residents of the
western part of the state, where
Roosevelt is well known, particularly
among the ranchmen and cowboys,
with whom he has spent some pleasant
hunting seasons. It has peen planned
at Medora, where RooseEelt's closest
western friends live, to have the train
stop for a time in order to enable
those of the residents of the vicinity
who care to do SO, to greet the COVER
nor and candidate for vice president:
II is safe to say that everyone in the
county who can do so will be there,
and that the governor will have a
hearty greeting for all Of them. Roose-
velt will get pretty nearly solid vote
in the western part Of the state Any
one who votes against Teddy will
be set down as a political maverick
Roosevelt is a quiet, unussuming
gentl leman, full of nervous and phys
ical energy, firm as a rock and deter
mined in whatever he undertakes. He
came first to the west a young man,
led by his fondness at hunting and his
desire to see the west for himself. He
was a visitor to what are now the great
cattle ranges of the state before the
buffalo had been externinated, and en-
joyed buffalo hunting with the old
hunters OF the buffalo trail. His i'm
pressions of these trips and his exper-
fences are found well related in his
Hunting Trips Of a Ranchman." !"
Roosevelt is perhaps fonder of hunting
than any other sport He has killed
nearly if not quite every specimen Of
big game on the American continent
and has mounted specimens of the
heads brought down by his own rifle.
Roosevelt is not classed by the west
erners with the lenderfeet" who come
out to see the west with little dis
comfort and exertion as possible. He
shares the hardships of his guides and
hunters, and that is the principal rea-
son Teddy is popular. When he
wanted to see what life on a cattle
round up was like, he took his place
as one of the riders and made trip
with the outfit. He objected to any
discrimination between himself and
the hardened men who constituted the
riders. rode his own string of bron-
chos, and found out just what round
up was like. Riding bronchos is not
the pleasantest task in the world. A
COW pony has more varied ways Of ex-
pressing his contempt and hatred for
the the human race than any animal
known. He is never thoroughly broken,
never trustworthy, and never recon-.
ciled to his lot as slave. When he
feels well he bucks and when he feels.
bad he bucks and he always feels one
way or the other Roosevelt took his
chances, suffered himself to be thrown
Off, mounted his horse again and won
out. He rose with the men, ate with
them in camp, rose with them, gath
cred cattle with them. and stood night
guard with them, and when he finished
his trip he knew from actual exper-
ience what oW-punching was. He
was just as earnest while at this work
as he might have been leading his reg
siment at San Juan Whatever Roose-
welt undertakes he does with his entire
heart In it. s...1
Roosevelt had two ranches near Me-
dora, one, the Maltese Cross ranch.
seven miles south, and the other, the
Elkhorn ranch, forty miles north.
The ranches are named from the cat
tie brands used The Elkhorn ranch
lies in the center Of rough and rug
ged country on the bank Of the Little.
Missouri: When the governor first
came west It was paradise for a.
sportsna I. Ducks, geese, chickens,
and all varieties of feathered game
were to be found q dozen yards from
the ranch, and deer, blaektail and
~ ~ =.