Your TR Source
Annette Bartlett Scott informs President Roosevelt that her husband, Roosevelt’s friend, Joseph Scott died in Naples. Scott sends along a gift which her husband purchased for Roosevelt in Cairo.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1906-04-23
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson reports to President Roosevelt on grazing fee policies in National Forest reserves, especially in light of cattlemen protests. Wilson informs Roosevelt that grazing fees are only a third of their value, and that there is a fee reduction this year from home-builders and small stock owners. Wilson notes that Department of Agriculture will allocate the limited number of reduced fee permits to small stock owners, reserve range occupants, and transient cattle owners, in that order. Wilson also touches on policies related to reserve land division, improvements, and law enforcement.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-12-20
John Burroughs discusses ranch life and thanks President Roosevelt for mentioning him in a recent dedication.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-11-01
Summary of Le Marquis de Morès, 1858-1896, by Charles Droulers, a somewhat fanciful biography of the Marquis de Morès. Translated and summarized by Regional Historian Hagen.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
1936-12-22
Seth Bullock writes to President Roosevelt to discuss Kermit Roosevelt’s hunting and fishing expedition in Deadwood, South Dakota.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-08-31
Henry Beach Needham thanks President Roosevelt for generously giving his time for an interview for McClure’s Magazine, and requests photos for the article, namely of Roosevelt as a boy, at college, from his ranching days, and playing tennis.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-07-19
Chronology of the daily life of Theodore Roosevelt from January 1884 to December 1891. Notable events include the deaths of Alice Lee Roosevelt and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt, Roosevelt’s time on his ranch, the completion of Sagamore Hill, Roosevelt’s engagement and marriage to Edith Kermit Carow, Theodore “Ted” Roosevelt’s birth, the “Great-Dieup” of cattle in North Dakota, and the founding of the Boone and Crockett Club.
Theodore Roosevelt Association
1985
In six letters to his sister Anna Roosevelt Cowles, dating from April to September of 1885, Theodore Roosevelt describes various aspects of his life as a rancher in the Dakota Badlands, touching on subjects such as the weather, working on cattle roundups, and hunting. Roosevelt notes the long hours spent in the saddle tending to cattle herds, inquires about Cowles’s health, and always asks after his infant daughter, though never by her given name of Alice. Roosevelt mentions his ranch hands Wilmot S. Dow and William Wingate Sewall in some of the letters and even highlights his favorite horse Manitou.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1885
Louis B. Livingston chronicles the relationship between Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores during their time together as cattle ranchers in the Dakota Badlands. Livingston focuses on the controversy as to whether the two seriously contemplated a duel to settle their differences, and he charts their divergent paths once they left the West after the ruin of their ranches. Livingston details de Mores’s obsession with antisemitism which he argues helped precipitate the notorious Dreyfus Affair in France, and he documents Roosevelt’s outspoken opposition to antisemitism during his political career.
Six photographs supplement the article, including two of de Mores and three of Roosevelt during their ranching years. A text box with the mission statement of the Theodore Roosevelt Association appears at the end of the article.
James F. Vivian provides a look at Theodore Roosevelt’s time in the North Dakota Badlands with a collection of newspaper accounts, ranging from 1898 to 1915, drawn from interviews with Roosevelt’s friends, fellow ranchers, cowboys, and acquaintances. Vivian provides an introduction and an afterword to the article, as well as an introduction to each of its twelve sections. The accounts include reminiscences from the likes of William Sewall, Arthur T. Packard, and the brothers Sylvane Ferris and Joseph Ferris. Vivian contends that these interviews “corroborate the content and quality” of the work done by Hermann Hagedorn in his book Roosevelt in the Bad Lands.
Ten photographs appear in the article, including three of Roosevelt’s contemporaries, Frederick Herrig, James W. Foley, and Arthur T. Packard, along with two photographs of the museum dedicated to Roosevelt onboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt. An illustration by Frederic Remington of Roosevelt’s capture of the boat thieves, and a text box with a listing of the members of the executive committee of the Theodore Roosevelt Association supplement the text.
Two quotes from Theodore Roosevelt in which he extols the virtues of ranch life.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1888, 1913
In an excerpt from Theodore Roosevelt, An Autobiography, Theodore Roosevelt describes the perils and pleasures of ranching in the Badlands. He laments that the way of life he experienced there has disappeared.
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
1913
Photograph shows Theodore Roosevelt dressed in ranch gear including chaps, a fringed shirt, boots and hat with a pistol and holster belt on his waist.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs
1885
The Montana Homeseeker provides a narrative history of Pierre Wiebaux–a contemporary of Theodore Roosevelt and the Marquis de Mores–and the W Ranch–located on the border between Montana and North Dakota. While Wibaux made a fortune on cattle, the ranch is now a prime investment location for sheep herders and those in the wool trade, and a company is being organized for investors who would like to get into the business. Maps, photographs, and figures accompany the advertising material, illustrating the area and aspects of the sheep industry.
1906-09
Ray H. Mattison gives a historical summary of the construction and use of Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch, and discusses the buildings present there. Mattison draws from a number of sources, including books, letters, photographs, and interviews to try to give a complete picture of the ranch and its activities.
1960-05
Regional Archeologist Beaubien writes to Russell Reid, Superintendent of the State Historical Society of North Dakota, to tell him of the discoveries that his archaeological dig made at the Elkhorn Ranch site, including evidence of several of the buildings. Beaubien is working on a preliminary report of his findings, and would like to include a picture of a painting of the Elkhorn Ranch. He wonders if Reid would be able to get him prints of this photograph, and if he knows the history of the painting.
1958-06-19
Theodore Roosevelt writes of the American Western frontier and his experiences there, along with some of the stories he heard about the lawless days of the area. The article includes drawings by Frederic Remington.
1893-06
The document outlines the history of Medora, North Dakota, since its founding in 1883 by French nobleman Antoine Amédée Marie Vincent Manca de Vallombrosa Morès and his wife, Medora von Hoffman, after whom the town is named. The significance of the cattle industry in the town is highlighted and prominent men associated with Medora, such as Theodore Roosevelt and the poet James W. Foley, are also noted. A map of Medora is included. On the map, an arrow notes the location of a hearing.
Unknown
In its preliminary report on the proposal to designate portions of Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park as wilderness areas, the National Park Service finds that most of the north unit of the park is suitable for wilderness designation, while the south unit is unsuitable due to existing developments, intensive visitor use, and private mineral rights interests. The report includes background on the park and the surrounding area, including physical and historical details.
1970-09
This postcard includes a portrait of Theodore Roosevelt in his Rough Rider uniform. The back of the card describes Roosevelt’s role in the Spanish-American War.
1901-1907