Frontier and pioneer life

Letter from Joseph A. Ferris to William Wingate Sewall

Joseph A. Ferris was pleased to hear from William Wingate Sewall. He has a son, Arnold Douglas Ferris, and two daughters, Carrie E. Ferris and Ada Scott Ferris. There are not many old timers left in Medora, North Dakota. Sylvane M. Ferris still lives in town and the Eatons are selling out and moving to Montana. Ferris met President Roosevelt last April and rode to Medora with him. He is still running the store and is working hard to fund the education of his children. Along with Sylvane, he bought 2,880 acres of the Maltese Cross ranch land. Ferris concludes with updates on the “old timers.”

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1903-12-19

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Frank Greene

Theodore Roosevelt is glad to learn more of the incident. Roosevelt also recalls an incident he described in his Autobiography where he knocked down a man with two guns.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1915-12-21

Letter from James W. Foley to Frank Greene

James W. Foley provides updates on several “old timers” from western North Dakota, including Jack Tisdale, Frank Moore, Riley Luffsey, the Ferris family, and the Morès family. Foley’s children are all married and have left the area.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1916-01-08

Letter from Frank Greene to Theodore Roosevelt

Frank Greene was pleased to receive Theodore Roosevelt’s letter and confirms that Jack Tisdale was killed around twenty years ago. He reminisces about the old days in Little Missouri and relates several anecdotes. The local sentiment is that the United States should avoid a war with Germany.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1916-01-13

Medora, North Dakota

Photograph of Medora, North Dakota, from the 1890s. The town sits next to the Little Missouri River and the badlands can bee seen in the background.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

Unknown

Medora, North Dakota

Photograph of Medora, North Dakota, from the 1890s. The town’s building sit in a cluster adjacent to the railroad tracks. The badlands can bee seen in the background. The photograph’s caption notes that Joseph A. Ferris’s general store is marked with an “X.”

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

Unknown

Letter from William Wingate Sewall to Samuel T. Sewall

The weather is cold and the snow is over a foot deep. William Wingate Sewall is not sure how the cattle can survive in such an environment. He accompanied a group, including James Watts, a “genuine specimen of a frontier man,” to a Native American village. Watts was with General Custer the day before the Battle of the Little Bighorn and claims to have been shot seven times and hit with arrows five times. They bought several moccasins, buckskins, and a buffalo robe. Sewall’s long hair seemed to interest the Native Americans and they even braided his hair. There are opportunities in Dakota Territory but he still believes that Maine has better living conditions and hopes to return soon.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1885-02-18

Letter from William Wingate Sewall to Samuel T. Sewall

William Wingate Sewall participated in a cattle roundup that lasted seventeen days and covered 500 miles. He describes the route they took and the country they traveled through. Sewall had a good time and enjoyed the trip but he would not spend his life in Dakota Territory even if he could own the whole territory. The “poor settlers” in Dakota live very roughly and he thinks that when they can vote they will “cook” the cattle men until the territory is left to the “small fellows.”

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1885-08-16

Letter from William Wingate Sewall to Samuel T. Sewall

William Wingate Sewall has 100 cattle to practice on during winter. He does not believe cattle are too hard to care for and the work has not been difficult. The country is “queer” and dirty but the soil looks healthy and the water is good. Sewall guesses there is a chance to make money with cattle and Theodore Roosevelt is optimistic. If he can make a profit, Sewall wants to get back to the “clear water and trees” soon. Overall, he thinks that Dakota Territory should have been left to the animals.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1884-08-17

Letter from Howard Eaton to William Wingate Sewall

Howard Eaton broke his leg a month ago and has been in St. Luke’s Hospital in New York City. The cattle business is doing well and Eaton has heard that the hunting has been good. Theodore Roosevelt sold 500 cattle and intends to bring in Texas steers this year. Eaton concludes with updates on many people from the Medora, Dakota Territory, area.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1889-01-09

Medora once slated to be thriving city

The small town of Medora, North Dakota, once had aspirations of “becoming the metropolis of the western plains.” The first settlement in the area was Little Missouri, a former army cantonment that had been sold to the public. The Marquis de Morès founded Medora and eventually built a packing plant and hotel.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

Unknown

The winning of the West

Handwritten manuscript of The Winning of the West, vol. I with annotations and textual insertions. Volume I recounts the settlement efforts, fighting, and frontier life as Europeans moved into the Ohio River Valley and Alleghenies in the late 18th century. Blank manuscript pages were not included.

Collection

New York Public Library

Creation Date

1889

His silent partners

A prospector with a pick works next to a stream and a sluice-box labeled “Klondike Placer.” The prospector is surrounded by vultures labeled “Gin Mill Keeper, Card Sharp, Dance House Keeper, Gambling Den, Dive Keeper, [and] Opium Joint” perched on rocks, watching.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1897-09-01

Address at bi-centennial celebration of the birth of John Wesley

President Roosevelt addresses representatives of the Methodist Church gathered in Carnegie Hall on the bicentennial of John Wesley’s birth. He opens by noting that it is in the United States that the Methodist Church has grown the most, starting from about the time of the Revolutionary War. The Methodist Church has also played “a peculiar and prominent part in the pioneer growth” of the country, particularly in westward expansion. Methodist preachers and ministers served as a moral guide for the frontiersmen and women to help them conquer both the “forces of spiritual evil” and the hostile terrain of the frontier. Roosevelt urges the church of the present day to show the same spirit of courage and determination as these earlier pioneers in order to advance humanity, kindliness, and brotherhood within the nation.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-26

Address at bi-centennial celebration of the birth of John Wesley (edited copy)

President Roosevelt addresses representatives of the Methodist Church gathered in Carnegie Hall on the bicentennial of John Wesley’s birth. He opens by noting that it is in the United States that the Methodist Church has grown the most, starting from about the time of the Revolutionary War. The Methodist Church has also played “a peculiar and prominent part in the pioneer growth” of the country, particularly in westward expansion. Methodist preachers and ministers served as a moral guide for the frontiersmen and women to help them conquer both the “forces of spiritual evil” and the hostile terrain of the frontier. Roosevelt urges the church of the present day to show the same spirit of courage and determination as these earlier pioneers in order to advance humanity, kindliness, and brotherhood within the nation. This is a press copy of his speech with edits marked in pencil.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-26

Address at bi-centennial celebration of the birth of John Wesley (press copy)

President Roosevelt addresses representatives of the Methodist Church gathered in Carnegie Hall on the bicentennial of John Wesley’s birth. He opens by noting that it is in the United States that the Methodist Church has grown the most, starting from about the time of the Revolutionary War. The Methodist Church has also played “a peculiar and prominent part in the pioneer growth” of the country, particularly in westward expansion. Methodist preachers and ministers served as a moral guide for the frontiersmen and women to help them conquer both the “forces of spiritual evil” and the hostile terrain of the frontier. Roosevelt urges the church of the present day to show the same spirit of courage and determination as these earlier pioneers in order to advance humanity, kindliness, and brotherhood within the nation. This is a press copy of his speech.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-02-26

Pioneer Cleveland

President Cleveland stands on the right, holding an axe labeled “Political Wisdom,” in a forest where he has been cutting trees labeled “Gold Standard.” Approaching from the left is a procession led by Mark A. Hanna, as drum major, followed by William McKinley, Garret A. Hobart, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas B. Reed, George F. Hoar, John Sherman, Henry Cabot Lodge, and others. One is carrying a banner that states, “The Repubican Party is unreservedly for Sound Money – the existing Gold Standard must be preserved. Rep. Platform.” Caption: He blazed the path that they have got to follow.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1896-08-26

The mystery of the mistletoe

A beautiful young Native American woman stands beneath a sprig of mistletoe at a colonial Christmas party, while several men in attendance appear eager to kiss her.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-12-07

Monuments of civilization

At top, Puck holds a paper that states “The Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research – Here modern science, aided by Vivisection, is gradually conquering and eradicating human disease” with a view of the Institute in the background. At bottom is a frontier scene with a man trapping small animals for their furs which hang at a cabin in the background. Caption: One dedicated to vanity; the other to science. Which better justifies the killing of animals?

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1914-03-14

The crafty traders and the easy Indians

Joseph Gurney Cannon and Nelson W. Aldrich, dressed as a frontiersman labeled “Licensed Trader,” offer trinkets labeled “Pauper-Competition Scare, Steady-Work Yarn, Prosperity-For-All Bluff, Campaign Promises, Protection-For-Labor Josh, [and] Good-Crops-Due-to-Tariff Bluff,” to men dressed as Natives, getting in return furs and skins labeled “Graft-for-Monopoly, Right-of-the-Few-to-Tax-the-Many, Opportunities-to-Increase-the-Cost-of-Living, [and] Privilege-to-Levy-Tribute-on-the-American-Home.” Caption: How pleasant it is to get something for nothing from the simple children of Republican nature!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-01-26