The National tribune., 1902-01-02
Theodore Roosevelt in the West,

4
The Hon. w. f. Cody-"Buffalo Bill
writing il the January Success Of tn
Presidents life as a ranchman, speak
certainly rs an expert:
1t was in the Summer of 1888 that
Theodore Roosevelt entered the ther
| wild and woolly" town of Little Mis-
souri,, situated on the Northern Pacific
Railroad, in the very heart of the ''bad
lands" Of Dakota. Little Missouri con
tanned at that time some of the worst
bad men and outlaws to be found out
side the borders of civilization. But il
was not in the town that he expected tC
find the health and strength to carry hin
through the strenuous life he. perhaps
had already mapped out. but in the saddle
camp, and chase, by living close to nature
and taking "pot luck" with the rough and
rugged men who became his companions
and who understood him and whom he
understood from the outset. During that
Summer, with one man and n pack-outfit
he hunted over the country. from Yellow
stone Park to the Black Hills, from the
Black Hills to the Big Horn Mountains,
through the Big Horn Basin to Jackson
Hole and in the majestic Rocky Noun
tains, back to Yellowstone Park. down
Ciarks Fork TO the Yellowstone. the Big
and Little Horn Rivers, through the Grow
Indian Reservation where Gen. George A.
/,
went to heroic death. Back again to
the bad lands of the Little Missouri,
went Theodore Roosevelt, having hunted
buffalOes, elks. deer, antel0pes, mountain
sheep, bears, lions, and the smaller game
of that country. He fished in the numer-
Gus mountain streams, and lived the
rough hardy life of frOntiersman. For
five months, the heavens were his only
canopy. He caught and killed game for
own cooking. was his own scout, and per
formed his half of the nght-wOrk The
capacity to do for himself and meet men
upon an equal basis-scIf-reliance and
personal couragc-came to him rs the
ffuitiOn of this and similar experiences in
the Far West. | know that this demOc-
racy still influences him.
Having studied the conditions of the
wild animal life of mountain and plain.
he found that the fattest and best wild
game inhabited the bad lands of Little
Missouri. Although without food or shell
ter, save what they could gather from
the grasses that grew there, the wild
game was i'll splendid condition. As a re-
suit of these conditions, the young hunter
made up his mind to engage in the busi-
ness of raising cattle. Old frontiersmen
told him that cattle could not he wintered
in the bad lands This he disputed. and
he argued, as proof of his contention, the
fact that the finest wild game was to
be found there, and he could not under
stand why cattle would not thrive under
the same conditions. The following Spring
Theodore Roosevelt shipped to Little Mis-
souri,, by the Northern Pacific Railroad,
several hundred head of cattle, hired
yaqueros, purchased mcsS-wagons and pro-
visions, and drove the cattle from the
cars to his range in the very heart of
the "bad lands" There he took up the
life of Western ranchman, and asked
of his men nothing that he would not
undertake himself. He faced the most
violent bliZzards while rounding up the
cattle for safety. L remember the in
trepid son of fortune, participating in the
stampedes, doing his share of the night
herding, breaking his own horses, sleeping
at night with his saddle for a pillow, and,
perhaps, the snow for a blanket. eating
the same rough, substantial fare as his
employees, and evidencing the indomita-
BILE will, courage and endurance which
brought to him the affection and respect
of his men.
Ian the adventures of this rough life
on the plains and in the mountains are
told by the President himself in that
forceful style Of which he is master, in
his books, which we offer in another place
in this issue.-Editor National Tribune.