Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1903-12-01
THAT cowBoY eREAkFAsE.
Man Who Cooked the Steak for the
Preside ent Tells of Il.

to call that first feature of President
Roosevelt's Colorado experience which
will make his great western tour men,
able-the unique entertainment that
furnished Mr.. Roosevelt the right kind
of Western welcome and gave Hugo,
Col, permanent place on the map
was the cowboy breakfast served to
the national chief early on the morn
ing of May 4. says the Denver Post.
The cook who cooked the breakfast
and who glories In this exalted bit of
cookery, is now In Denver. This Is
Jack" Keppel. the whole-souled cow
man who deserted his herds and rode
many long miles in order to be on hand
and ofiiciate at Hugo.
~ was very proud" said quiet Mr..
Keppel-and. by the way, nobody can
describe the great event and the causes
leading up to II, as he can-"quite
proud when the Lincoln County Cattle
Growers Association selected me to
take charge of the cooking OF the cow
boy breakfast which we had deter
mined to serve to President Roosevelt.
"The Holt Live Stock Company's
chuck wagon was driven down to HUI
90 for my use and it was well sup
piled, as 1t was ready to start next
day on its regular roundup route.
LAS my assistant for the great en-
terprise 1 had that veteran of the
range, John Heyman, as good camp
man as ever drew breath. SO long as
he was awake, and, thus fixed up. 1
felt fully equal to the great undertak-
ing ahead Of me.
ION Friday preceding the eventful
Monday, May 4, when the President
was to come through, I went down to
Hugo from my ranch at Arroyo, to get
everything shipshape and in order. On
that evening we swung the pot rack
and cleared a space about the rear
end of the chuck wagon and on Sat
urday we unpacked the provisions and
laid. in butter and such things as had
been overlooked.
"On Sunday, just to get my hand in
and have things in working order, 1
cooked a big dinner for $50 natives
and a couple of dozen 'rawhides' from
Denver. I hadn't done any cooking
for five years, and was little shaky
about the job I had ahead Of me, but
the way those people ate and ate and
came back for more convinced me that
John and I could do the big stunt as
we'll as anybody.
"On Sunday night about $50
closed off the feeding and left nothing
On but the beans, which cooked over
roaring fire till II o'clock. While the
b. ans were cooking number of old
timers gathered around the camp fire
and swapped lies and sung songs and
kept me company. 1t was fine night,
and they were all sorry when II
o'clock came and I took off the beans
| and drove them all away. And hated
to do it, too, but it was late enough,
and had important work ahead of me
for the morning.
81 rolled out my bedding right
| alongside the camp fire and turned in
| to h>y blankets little before 1 O'Clock.
| could hear the others celebrating up
sown and I wished l could be with
| them, but knew that would never do
for ms,
| a lew AOuIS ldLGI L was
John Heyman to get him awake and
| beating around with a club to find
! daylight. in the dark. The first thing
1 did after making up my ire was to
put the beans back on. John aud I
| then made twelve gallons of coffee III
three big pots and got the French
fried potatoes ready. The next thing
| 70 Jyot ho i%c nd hny
in the Dutch ovens ready to bake.
made eight dozen Of these and patted
them out round and smooth. It's quite
| a job to make good biscuits, and you
bet l was very particular with these.
| 1 wanted to have 'em just ready when
| the President came, SO I went over to
the depot and found out from the tel
egraph operator the exact moment
when he would arrive.
when we saw the smoke of the
pilot train we heaped the fire on the
| tops of the Dutch ovens. This train
brought the Governor and Congress
man Brooks. They were too busy
getting ready to receive the Pres
ident to want to eat anything, and
| the biscuits were not done, anyhow.
When the Presidents train hove in
sight we got pretty excited around
that camp fire, 1 can tell you. I had
picked out a big T-bone steak, the
finest one 1 ever saw, for the Presi-
| dent.
''As the train was slowing up nod
ded to John Heyman, my assistant.
to drop the big steak onto the hot
surface Of the oven, which was on the
rack, and heated up just right. By
this time the biscuits were done to a
turn and everything was ready. I had
heard discouraging reports to the eff
feet that President Roosevelt would
not be allowed time enough at Huge
for him to get off and eat, but knew
If could once get him in range Of
that beefsteak where he could get a
Whit Of that steak he would have to
stay and eat.
''Well, have cooked many a steak,
but I was certainly more proud of
that one than Of any I ever turned
out. 1t was regular 'beaut,' and
when Teddy cut into it and munched
| &I,o G,.% ,,o,,%a4,,l o-l .