The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1919-01-09

sident Mckinley. In 1898 he organ
lied the Rough Riders and the same
year was elected governor of New
| York. In 1900 he was elected Vice
President over his own protest and in
1901 became president after McKin-
ley's death. In 1904 he was re-elect-
ed president by the largest popular
vote ever given candidate.
dn the death of Theodore Roose-
welt North Dakota loses friend who
for 36 years carried the state in the
kindliest remembrance, because pri-
marily it was here that he gained
health when the doctors said he would
die of consumption, and took fresh
hold on the strenuous life that SEEM
ed inherent in him.
| He was then very different Roose-
welt from the stout gentleman North
Dakota people had the pleasure of
seeing and hearing but short time
ago. When he came to the Bad
Lands in the fall Of 1883 in search Of
health and buffalo hunting, he was
about "a years old, slim and 1.-THE and
| just as decided in his views of things
as he was the day he died. He was
then widower with one daughter,
! Alice Roosevelt, almost as we'll known
for strenuousness as her illustrious
father.
: Arriving at Medora, which the Mar
quis de Mores had already put on the
map, he arranged with Joe Ferris to
take him out to the buffalo range, and
thus began friendship that has last
ed until broken by the colonel's death.
During the fall months Roosevelt had
! a room at Ferris house in Medora and
there met Joe's brother, Silvane Fer
ris, now a prosperous banker at Dick
inson, Joe having moved to Fairview
Mont, many years ago, and both of
! whom later became managers of the
Chimney Butte ranch of the future
president.
1t was while returning from hunt
that Roosevelt stopped all night at
the shack which was the headquar-
ters Of the Maltese Cross ranch, ten
miles south of Medora, and where
Sylvane Ferris was foreman. The
beauty Of the location and the pros
poets of profit from cattle raising
prompted Roosevelt to purchase the
ranch and live stock with Ferris
thrown in as head cowpuncher, a po-
sition that he and his brother Joe
shared all the years the New Yorker
played at cattle raising.
The shack was not much of an at
fair for shelter and Roosevelt order
ed his men to build another, I'M
doubtedly supposing it would be built
from the native timber along the
Little Missouri river. But at that
time E. s. Bly, of Bismarck was filing
a North Pacific contract for ties and
had fine lot of long pine logs strand
ed along the river, and as it was cas-
Ter to use these than cut down and
dress elm trees, they found their
way into the new cabin, the second
story of the building being Of boards,
and here Teddy lived until early in
January, when he returned to New
York. sa
Early the next fall he was back on
the job, this time taking an active
part as real cowboy in the round
ups and other work of the ranch, he
insisting that he be treated just as
the other punchers were and asking
no favors Of anyone, and lit was in
this way he imbibed that intimate
acquaintance with western life that
made him popular in this section. 1t
was during that fall that he had sew
eral personal encounters with tough
characters whom he had insisted up
on hiring against the wish of his fore
man, and in all of them he showed
the superiority of mind and will over
brute strength and made lifelong
friends Of those with whom he had
had trouble. The entire three years
Of his stay in the territory were full of
such incidents and although guns
were frequently in evidence no one
was hurt and the bad men became
good while on that ranch.
In the fall of 1884 Roosevelt bought
some land IS miles north of Medora
and on it built spacious two-story
log house which was handsome in its
primitive ornamentation and located
in the midst of the big game country
It was to this house he brought the
present Mrs. Roosevelt as bride, and
together they enjoyed the frontier life
through the summer and fall Of 1886,
both being equally fond of hunting
and both beneftting in health, so that
when the future president returned
east for good to take up the political
life which landed him in the presiden-
cy, he was as hardy as any of the men
who rode his range. The Elkhorn
ranch, as the larger place was called,
/, some years later fell into the Little
Missouri river, and was swept away,
the banks having been washed out.
| = Tho orininal cabin from the CHM