THEODORE ROOSEVELT NATIONAL PARK

AT THEODORE NATIONAL PARK MY HUSBAND AND I SURVEYED HUNDREDS OF ACRES AND STAYED IN A NEARBY CAMPGROUND IN A WINNEBAGO. WE WERE HIRED BY A FIRM IN WYOMING. WE MET A COUPLE OF OTHER ARCHAEOLOGIST TO DO SAMPLE SURVEYS FOR OIL AND GAS DRILLING. THESE BADLANDS ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO TRANSVERSE. THEY HAVE CRUMBLING SANDSTONE AND DEEP RAVINES AND IT IS NOT EASY TO NAVIGATE IN THERE ARE MANY BUFFALO HERDS AND FEW ROADS. THEY HAVE SUMMER DOWNPOURS.


ROOSEVELT HAD INTEREST IN HUNTING BUFFALO AND CAME BY TRAIN IN 1883. HE WAS ALSO INTERESTED IN THE LIFESTYLE OF THE WEST. HE HAD LEFT HIS PREGNANT WIFE HOME BACK IN NEW YORK. HE HIRED A 25 YEAR OLD CANADIAN TO SERVE AS A GUIDE. HIS PAY FOR THE GUIDE INFLUENCED HIM. HE FOUND A HORSE AND THE YOUNG MAN FOUND IT DIFFICULT TO KEEP UP WITH HIM/ WEATHER DID NOT AFFECT HIM. HE WANTED A BUFFALO, BUT 10,000 HAD BEEN KILLED A WEEK BEFORE HIS ARRIVAL. HE WAS STAYING AT GREGOR LANG'S RANCH. AND HE EXPRESSED INTEREST IN CATTLE RANCHING IN THE BADLANDS. APPARENTLY THE GRASSES HERE WERE BETTER FOR CATTLE RAISING THAN IN TEXAS. AND THEY COULD GO TO A NEARBY MARKET WITHOUT LONG LONG DRIVES, INCREASING THE QUALITY OF THE MEAT. MEDORA WAS WHERE A FRENCHMAN BUILT A SLAUGHTER HOUSE AND THERE WAS A RAILROAD THAT COULD GET THE MEAT TO THE EAST IN REFRIGERATED CARS.


ROOSEVELT PURCHASED A HERD OF CATTLE FOR $14,000 THAT WERE TENDED BY TWO RANCHERS. THESE RANCHERS ALSO BUILT THE MALTESE CROSS CABIN. ROOSEVELT DID NOT SEE HIS INVESTMENT IN MONETARY TERMS. AS A BIOGRAPHER PUT IT "$14,000 WAS A SMALL PRICE TO PAY FOR HIS FREEDOM". HE KILLED A BISON AND MOUNTED IT ON HIS HOME WALL IN SAGAMORE HILL. HE WAS RENEWED IN VIGOR IN HIS LEGISLATIVE DUTIES IN ALBANY. HE EARNED GREATER APPROVAL AND HIS BACKING THAN EVER BEFORE. IN 1984 HIS WIFE HAD A BABY GIRL IN NYC. JUST AT THAT MOMENT HE RECEIVED A TELEGRAM IN ALBANY TO COME TO NEW YORK. BOTH HIS WIFE AND MOTHER WERE DYING IN THE ROOSEVELT HOME. ON VALENTINES DAY BOTH HIS MOTHER AND HIS WIFE DIED. HE HAD WRITTEN A DIARY AND RECORDED "THE LIGHT HAS GONE OUT OF MY LIFE" WITH A LARGE X. HE IMMERSED HIMSELF IN WORK, LABORING WITH SUPERHUMAN FERVOR. HE BEGAN TO ERASE THE MEMORY OF HIS WIFE AND NEVER SPOKE OF HER EVEN TO HER DAUGHTER.


IN JUNE 1884 HE PUT HIS ENERGY TO RANCHING IN NORTH DAKOTA AND PUT $26,000 INTO NEW CATTLE. HE BROUGHT TWO NEW FRIENDS FROM BACK EAST TO START A NEW AND LARGER RANCH DOWN RIVER, THE ELKHORN RANCH. HIS FRIENDS CONSTRUCTED THE HOUSE WHILE HE WENT ON HUNTING EXPEDITIONS. HE SLIPPED BEHIND HIS WRITING PROJECT - A BOOK ABOUT HUNTING. HE FINISHED HIS WRITING ONCE HE WENT BACK TO NEW YORK IN DECEMBER. HE SHARED HIS VISION THAT OVERGRAZING IN THE BADLANDS COULD SPELL TROUBLE.


THE NEXT SUMMER HE WENT TO MEDORA AND SPENT ANOTHER $39,000 ADDING CATTLE TO HIS ALREADY SIZABLE HERD. IN 1885 HE RECEIVED A LETTER FROM THE FRENCHMAN FROM THE THE FRENCHMAN WHO WAS IN JAIL ON CHARGES OF MURDER. HE CLAIMED ROOSEVELT'S EMPLOYEE HAD BEEN ROUNDING UP WITNESSES AGAINST HIM. THIS MADE ROOSEVELT NERVOUS AND HE SENT A LETTER BACK TO HIM SAYING - I AM NOT YOUR ENEMY. THIS SATISFIED THE TWO LARGE PERSONALITIES IN MEDORA.


THE SPRING OF 1886 WAS DISASTEROUS FOR THE CATTLE INDUSTRY AS THE SUMMER HAD TEMPERATURES OVER 125 DEGREES. PLANTS SHRIVELED AND THERE WAS LITTLE USEFUL GRAZING LAND LEFT BY WINTER.. EVEN WORSE, RANCHERS TOOK THEIR TOLL AS THEY WERE UNABLE TO STORE ANY HAY FOR THE WINTER. AN OMINOUS DUST STORM AND DISTANT FIRES LOOMED OVER THE AREA THROUGHOUT AUTUMN. THAT WINTER WAS EVEN WORSE. THEY HAD NO FEED FOR THEIR CATTLE. ONE BLIZZARD AFTER ANOTHER FROZE MANY OF THE CATTLE WITH TEMPERATURES AT -41 DEGREES. SOME CATTLE ATE TAR PAPER OFF THE HOUSES. TEN THOUSAND CATTLE DIED THAT YEAR, ABOUT 80% OF THE TOTAL POPULATION. GREGOR KING LOST 85% OF HIS HERD OF 3000. IN THE SPRING THE LITTLE MISSOURI SWELLED ONTO THE FLOODPLAIN. IN 1887 HE PUBLISHED THE LIFE OF THOMAS HART BENTON.


ROOSEVELT HAD TRAVELED TO EUROPE DURING THE WINTER WITH HIS NEW WIFE AND DID NOT HEAR OF HIS HORRORS UNTIL HE RETURNED TO THE U.S. IN MARCH. HE FOUND HE HAD LOST OVER 1/2 OF HIS HERD . HE HAD LOST OVER $40,000 EQUIVALENT TO $1.7MILLION TODAY. HE WROTE HIS SISTER THAT HE WAS PLANNING TO GET OUT OF THE CATTLE BUSINESS. THIS ENVIRONMENTAL TRAGEDY WAS FATAL TO MEDORA. IN 1887 THE THE LARGE HOTEL THERE WAS LOADED ONTO A FLATBED TO BE SHIPPED TO DICKINSON. IT BECAME A GHOST TOWN. HE AND EDITH HAD FIVE CHILDREN.


ROOSEVELT HAD TRANSFORMED FROM A SKINNY ASTHMATIC TO A BARREL CHESTED MAN OF GREAT STRENGTH. HE HAD GROWN IMMENSELY IN THE MINDS OF THE EYES OF THE NATION AS WELL. HE DEVELOPED GOOD RAPPORT WITH FOLKS AND HE STILL HAD ENTHUSIASM FOR THE COWBOY LIFE. HE FORMED THE ROUGH RIDERS A NOTABLE CALVERY UNIT DURING THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR. THE COLLAPSE OF HIS CATTLE RANCHING EXPERIENCE FORCED HIM TO SERVE A NEED OF CONSERVATION. HE DID NOT RETURN OFTEN AS IT MADE A MARK ON HIS HEART.

TODAY THE PARK IS SIMILAR TO WHAT ROOSEVELT EXPERIENCED, HOWEVER IT HAS DIRT ROADS TO WANDER THROUGH THE PARK. IT IS AN UNIQUE PARK.

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