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On July 4, 1886, at the<br />
age of 27, Theodore<br />
Roosevelt, dressed in<br />
buckskins, hopped off a<br />
train that’d just arrived<br />
in Dickinson from<br />
Medora. He walked<br />
three blocks and gave<br />
a nice speech, standing<br />
on a box, on what is<br />
now the Stark County<br />
courthouse lawn.<br />
In his speech, he said, “It is not what we see,<br />
but what our children are to see and we, the people<br />
of today may not see Dakota in all her glory and<br />
grandness, but the people of coming years will witness<br />
the power and glory of this country in its fullness.”<br />
Just that spring Roosevelt had tracked down three<br />
desperadoes who’d stolen a boat from his Elkhorn<br />
Ranch north of Medora and marched them to<br />
Dickinson for some “justice,” while at the same time<br />
battering his feet so badly during the overland trek<br />
from the Killdeer Mountains that he’d have to pay a<br />
visit to pioneer physician Dr. Victor Hugo Stickney.<br />
Later, Stickney invited Roosevelt to give a speech at<br />
the Dickinson Independence day celebration, and<br />
some say it was the real beginning of his amazing<br />
political career.<br />
You see, Roosevelt’s words were more than just<br />
bold predictions made by a young politician. His<br />
optimism represented a complete revamping of a life<br />
that was on the verge of being lost after his wife and<br />
mother died on the same day in 1884.<br />
On Friday, Oct. 28, 2011 at 3:30 p.m., Roosevelt<br />
will once again stand on a box – at that same spot<br />
–dressed in buckskins as the Dickinson State<br />
University Foundation, along with DSU dignitaries,<br />
DSU resident TR scholar Clay Jenkinson, TR’s great<br />
grandson Tweed, members of the national Theodore<br />
Roosevelt Association and other attendees of the<br />
DSU TR Symposium as they watch DSU alum/artist<br />
Tom Bollinger unveil his life-sized TR bronze statue<br />
commemorating that day.<br />
“I have always said I would not have been<br />
president had it not been for my experience in North<br />
Dakota,” TR would say years later, “For it was there<br />
that the romance of my life began.”<br />
Western N.D.<br />
Theodore Roosevelt<br />
Returns to Dickinson<br />
By Kevin Holten<br />
There has never been<br />
a better time to buy<br />
in Arizona.<br />
I've lived in the Valley of the Sun for<br />
over 25 years. Let me help you find<br />
your dream home!<br />
Pam Hauer-Mill<br />
SJ Fowler/GMAC Real Estate<br />
email:phauer@mygwt.com<br />
cell: 602-618-6769<br />
Kevin Holten is the communications and events<br />
coordinator for the Dickinson State University Foundation.<br />
DICKINSON – The Crown Jewel of Western North Dakota
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