Having studied the conditions of the wild animal life of mountain and
plain, he found that the fattest and best wild game inhabited the “bad
lands” of Little Missouri. Although without food or shelter, save what
they could gather from the grasses that grew there, the wild game was
in splendid condition. As a result of these conditions, the young
hunter made up his mind to engage in the business of raising cattle.
Old frontiersmen told him that cattle could not be wintered in the “bad
lands.” This he disputed, and he argued, as proof of his contention,
the fact that the finest wild game was to be found there, and he could
not understand why cattle would not thrive under the same conditions.
The following spring, Theodore Roosevelt shipped to Little Missouri,
by the Northern Pacific Railroad, several hundred head of cattle,
hired _vaqueros_, purchased mess-wagons and provisions, and drove
the cattle from the cars to his range in the very heart of the “bad
lands.” There he took up the life of a western ranchman, and asked of
his men nothing that he would not undertake himself. He faced the most
violent blizzards while rounding up the cattle for safety. I remember
this intrepid son of fortune, participating in the stampedes, doing
his share of the night-herding, breaking his own horses, sleeping
at night with his saddle for a pillow, and, perhaps, the snow for a
blanket, eating the same rough, substantial fare as his employees, and
evidencing the indomitable will, courage and endurance which brought to
him the affection and respect of his men.