15. TR Fell In Love With the West
A few months after his tragic bereavements, Teddy Roosevelt attended the GOP National Convention in Chicago, but his candidate lost. The personal and political setbacks in quick succession caused TR to feel burned out. So he decided to quit politics and move out West. He had visited the Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt buffalo, and liked the western lifestyle. So he invested $14,000 – a significant amount in those days – to become a rancher. TR was more than just a rich guy from the East Coast who went out west to cosplay as a cowboy. In the summer of 1884, he established the Elkhorn Ranch on the banks of the Little Missouri River in the Badlands, about 35 miles north of what is now Medora, North Dakota. He enthusiastically embraced his new occupation as a rancher, and set out to learn the ropes – literally – of the profession.
TR learned to ride, rope cattle, and hunt, and wrote three books about his experience. Later that year, he went on a days-long horseback ride to clear his head and take in the scenery. He eventually came upon the Nolan Hotel in Mingusville, Montana. The place looked like a seedy dive, and TR hesitated to enter – especially after he heard two gunshots coming from the bar. However, nightfall was near, and it and it was cold outside, so he went in. He saw a “shabby individual in a broad hat with a cocked gun in each hand was walking up and down the floor talking with strident profanity. He had evidently been shooting at the clock, which had two or three holes in its face“. As seen below, things were about to get interesting.
