b'up a bar because a prankster had cut his beard off while he dozed off into a drunken sleep, and a horse thief. They untied the boat in the dead of night, boarded it, and rowed down the Little Missouri, hoping to avoid the lawThey ended up confronting Roosevelt, Bill Sewall, and Wilmot Dow instead, who promptly went after them upon learning their little boat was missing. They quickly built a new boat, went after the thieves on a 100-mile journey down the Little Missouri "through a strange, wild, desolate country of rough and barren Badlands" (Di Silvestro, Theodore Roosevelt in the Badlands, p. 203), and caught up with them on the afternoon of April Fool\'s Day 1886 at a campsite in the cottonwoods. They arrested Finnegan, a Half-Breed named Burnsted, and an old, alcoholic German named Chris Pfaffenbach. Even at that early date Roosevelt was a genius at self-promotion, as he had taken a camera along and photographed himself, Sewall and Dow - then himself guarding the three forlorn outlaws near the site of their capture. Roosevelt then took charge of the prisoners, commandeered a wagon, placed the prisoners on board, and had a teamster drive the wagon while he walked behind, suffering from blistered feet. It was a 45 mile, 36-hour journey with no sleep nor food to Dickinson, where he turned the boat stealers over to a justice of the peace who had the unlikely name of Western Starr, but even more unlikely had been a classmate of Roosevelt\'s not too long before at Columbia Law School! (Finnegan would spend some time in jail but would eventually be let out, only to face a noose in the cottonwoods for a similar crime a few years later). THE ALL NEW 8 ROOSEVELT COULD BE CUTTHROAT, BRUTAL AND EXASPERATING, BUT THE TRUMP TRAIN DEPOTDE MORES CONFRONTATION PROVED THAT HE ALSO KNEW WHEN TO STAY COOLAND DIPLOMATIC. HE KNEW ONE COULD ATTRACT "MORE BEES WITH HONEY THAN WITH VINEGAR."ROOSEVELT MAY HAVE BEEN IMPULSIVE AT TIMES, BUT WHEN IT CAME TO JUSTICE,All Kinds of Trump Merchandise9 HE WOULD THINK THINGS THROUGH, FAIRLY AND OBJECTIVELY.10 ROOSEVELT WAS TENACIOUS, WILLING TO GO MILES TO TRACK DOWN AN OUTLAW OR PERSUADE FRIENDS TO TAKE A CHANCE IN THE UNTAMED WEST.The visit that coincided with the boat-napping was the longest time he had spent out West, an uninterrupted period stretching from March 18, 1886, to July 8, 1886. While things were still relatively calm, there was an ominous change in the air, a calm before the storm - and what a storm was just on the horizon. There were too many cattle and not enough good grazing land. Beef prices had been falling, the weather was unbearably hot with the usual sources of water drying up. The wildlife had been pretty much killed off, especially the buffalo but even the beaver whose existence was vital to retaining reservoirs of water in the region. With the beaver gone, there were no dams, and no dams meant no preservation of water. The enterprises of the Marquis De Mores had gone bust, and he would soon leave, his wealthy American father-in-law having shut off the money spigot to his spendthrift, European son-in-law.Theodore Roosevelt who in the wake of the death of his first wife thought that his future lieOPENin the Badlands, and that he would be ever happy being a gentleman rancher in the Dakotas had changed. New York politics were like a siren\'s call to him to return home and to fight theEVERY DAYgood reformist fight. He also discovered love again - a love that was ironic considering that not only was this that little girl who bawled while watching the Lincoln funeral procession, she was also the same girl Roosevelt dated through his adolescence. It had seemed that this9am7pmwas the gal he would marry, but one day they quarreled and that was the endEdith Carow re-entered Roosevelt\'s lifeof their relationship, with Theodorethrough a chance visit to his sister\'s home.marrying the doomed Alice Lee. Now Edith Carow re-entered his life through a chance visit to Theodore\'s sister\'s home. Resuming their courtship, they dated, and soon got engaged. Between the call of politics and romance, Theodore Roosevelt began to realize that however as much he loved the West and the rugged, strenuous lifestyle, his future was in the east. Perhaps for him, it was for the best, as the winter storm clouds began to gather on the horizon, things were falling apart in Medora, the glory days coming to an end; It would be the horrific weather that changed everything - the Blizzards of 1886 and 1887 that burst while Theodore and Edith were marrying in London, and that ended the "Beef Bonanza" and the open range.Much has been written about the devastation caused by the continuous blizzards, so there is no need to add here except for the effect it had on Roosevelt\'s future decisions; how it merely hastened the end of911 E. Wickenburg Hwypermanence in his Western experience. He was one of the luckier ones if it could be called luck. He had 5,000 head of cattle on his two ranches when he left Medora after a brief visit in September, when he returned to Medora in April 1887, he found that he had lost 2/3 of hisWickenburg, AZ 85390stock. With Bill Merrifield he rode through the region, not seeing a live cow for three days. continued on page 46ArizonaRealCountry.com July 2020 45'