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ecame known by the cattle brand, an eight-pointed Maltese<br />
Cross. For a while, he split his time between his home in New<br />
York and the Dakotas.<br />
On Valentine’s Day 1884, Roosevelt tragically lost both his<br />
young wife, Alice, and his mother. Heartbroken, he sought solace<br />
in the Dakota wilderness. He even considered making ranching<br />
his sole career. Roosevelt bought a second, larger ranch, which<br />
he named Elkhorn, and added a thousand head of cattle.<br />
Eventually, politics beckoned. He sold the ranch in 1890 to his<br />
managers and returned to New York and public life.<br />
While in the Dakotas, Roosevelt wrote three books about<br />
his adventures in the West. They became his treatise on<br />
conservation. Though an avid hunter, Roosevelt bemoaned the<br />
loss of habitat and wildlife he witnessed. He predicted a collapse<br />
of the cattle industry because of ranchers’ unsustainable<br />
practices, particularly overgrazing.<br />
In the Dakotas, he helped form the Boone and Crockett<br />
Club, one of the first fair-hunting organizations, and established<br />
a stockmen's association to help preserve the region’s natural<br />
resources. As Governor of New York and President of the United<br />
States, Roosevelt made conservation a key policy. During his<br />
presidency, he protected nearly 230 million acres of land as<br />
national forests, parks, monuments, and reserves. Small wonder<br />
this national park bears his name.<br />
A 36-mile loop drive through the park, with plenty of pull-offs<br />
for wildlife and scenery photo-ops, brought me closer to nature.<br />
The bison traffic jam occurred about two-thirds of the way<br />
through my journey. Along most of the drive, I passed small<br />
bands of bison grazing safely in the distance. At one dramatic<br />
junction, a large herd grazed high on a mountain ridge with a<br />
magnificent overlord bull standing on the peak. I foolishly thought<br />
this glorious moment would be my bison highlight!<br />
Small wildlife colonies abounded as well. Rabbits hid in<br />
shadows and hopped across the plains as my car approached. I