Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1900-08-24
William E. Curtis Writes interestingly
Of Theodore Roosevelt's Ranch Life
in the West.
Was a Good Rider, Made an Excellent
Cowboy, and Very Popular with
Westerners.
Some Incidents of His Western Career
Related by His Ranch Man
ayers.

Record from Medora of Theodore
Roosevelt's western ranching exper-
fences, says:
"All of Roosevelt's ranching was
done in the vicinity of Medora. which
from 1880 to 1890 was the liveliest and
toughest cattle town in the United
States; but the business has under
gone a complete revolution, the wire
fence has shut out the festive cowboy,
ranching has lost its romance and is
a commonplace business proposition.
"Medora owes it's existence to the
mistaken enterprise of the Marquis de
Mores, a French nobleman who was
afterward killed by the savages in
South Africa, and was named in honor
o. his wife, who was a daughter of
Baron Won Hoffman, a German banker
in New York city. The marquis, who
was a man of fertile Imagination and
untiring energy, conceived the idea
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 $5O0,OOO to find
out the contrary. He erected a COM
plete slaughtering establishment at
Medora, with all the conveniences that
ingenuity and experience could con-
f1,i1-o or1 ohio cod D. nAM 0s Oh 0ln
acres of land for grazing purposes. His
vast establishment remains empty and
useless. His residence, which is one
of the finest in Norh Dakota, is in
charge of a caretaker. The property
is for sale, but there are no purchas-
ers.'
Mr.. Curtis also interviewed the Fer
ris brothers, Sylvanus and Joe, who
were Roosevelt's ranch managers, and
gives some incidents of R%oosevelt's
western life.
"Sylvanus is the cattleman of the
family, and was Roosevelt's tutor in
the science of c%ow-punching. He is a
man of education 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,
spending every season with us and
doing his share of the ranch and range
work like the rest of the men. 1 can
not remember any particular incidents
that are worth repeating. Those I
have seen published in the papers since
he was nominated for vice president
are not true, at least they did not hap
pen to him while he was in this part of
the country, although it was easy to see
from the local color and the names
that are used that they were written
by people familiar with affairs in Me-
dora. If it had been a different sort
of a mana dude, or a fool, or a ten
derfoot-there would, doubtless, have
been interesting stories to tell about
him, but he was just an ordinary, ev-
eryday cow-puncher like myself. He
asked no favor and he got none.
There was a prejudice against him
at first, as there ALWAYS is among the
cowboys against city men, but when
they saw that he could ride a broncho
and shoot and rope a steer as we'll as
any of them, and haa no notions of
putting on airs, they began to like
him, and he soon settled down into the
routine with them as if he had never
done anything else in his life. Cow
boys are quick Of perception; they
have keen judgment, and size up a
man pretty quick and pretty accur-
ately. When they see an honest,
genuine, brave gentleman they recog-
nize him and respect him and yield to
his influence very readily, and that is
the way they sized up Roosevelt. He
didn't put on any airs; he took care
Of his W string Of horses; he slept
under the same blankets with the men;
he ate off a tin plate from a wooden
mess chest, and sat down on Lue
ground between the cactus burs beside
them; he rode the lines at night when
his turn came, rain or shine; he took
his turn in hunting up loose horses and
steers; he never kicked and he never
grumbled, and he never shirked. He
took everything that came his way, as
if he liked it
HE was a fearless rider" continued
Mr.. Sylyanus Ferris. HE wasn't
afraid to mount anything with four
legs, and there is a good deal of
chained lightning inside of a horse
hide sometimes. He took a lot of sat
isfaction in breaking horses-in 'bron-
cho busting as the story writer's call
it-and he could tame down a tricky
and vicious beast as we'll as anybody.
He never did it for show, but from a
desire to conquer. He knew that he
was superior to those brutes, and when
4e saw an unruly horse he felt an in
~clination to demonstrate that superior