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Ranch Life in the Far West
Ranch Life in the Far West
Author: Theodore Roosevelt, Gerard t. Altoff (Editor), Frederic Remington (Illustrator)
Theodore Roosevelt's first six ranching articles -- all reprinted here -- were published in a series in 1888 and that same year were re-released with minor revisions as the book Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail. (A seventh Century article done with Remington as Illustrator, "In Cowboy Land", came out in 1893 and so is not inclu...  more »

Long before Theodore Roosevelt became America's 26th president, he tried his hand at cattle ranching in the Badlands of North Dakota.  Initially, Roosevelt traveled west to hunt Buffalo in 1883, but due to the diminishing herds it took him 10 days to get his Bison.   Over numerous campfires during that 10 day period he realized the potentially profit of cattle ranching and asked ot buy into a partnership of the Maltese cross ranch; later setting up his own ranch, the Elkhorn.  He managed to get along until the disastrous winter of 1886-87 when most ranchers of the area lost between 60 and 70 percent of their range cattle.   One newspaper reporter commented, "nature and economics seemed to conspire together for the entire over-throw of the open range cattle industry." Roosevelt continued to visit his ranches as late as 1896, when his political and military adventures compelled him to sell out the last of his interests in 1898.

Here in the badlands, as later in life, he was a careful observer of the world and people about him, noticing not only the minutiae but also realizing how parts fit into the greater whole, which he perceived more clearly than most men of the time.  Such a person can make not only a good leader, but also -- if he has reasonable skill -- a good writer, communicating thoughts others would have missed entirely.  And so Roosevelt joined the ranks of many of the best minds of his day and put his thoughts out for public inspection in Century Magazine, then a nationally influential monthly.  Actually Roosevelt needed the money too; his ranching had not been especially profitable as one might gather from all the factors reported in his articles, especially after the winter of '86 and '87.
ISBN-13: 9780896460348
ISBN-10: 0896460347
Publication Date: 1981
Pages: 96
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Publisher: Vistabooks
Book Type: Paperback
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