The Cowboy & The Conservationist

The Cowboy and The Conservationist. Seth Bullock and Theodore Roosevelt. A Chance Meeting , While riding on his Belle Fourche ranch in 1884, Seth Bullock, now a Deputy U.S. Marshall, saw three horsemen riding across the plains. He stopped the party as, "they looked like a "tin-horn gambling outfit.” Two men were bringing in a horse thief wanted in Dakota Territory. One of the men, a Deputy Sheriff from Medora, North Dakota, was a 26-year-old rancher named Theodore Roosevelt. This chance meeting was the beginning of a very close 35-year relationship between the two men. , Seth and Teddy , Seth and Teddy enjoyed a life-long friendship that included hunting and camping expeditions. Teddy sent his sons, Ted, Kermit, and Archie to spend summers on the S&B Cattle Company Ranch where, as Roosevelt states, Bullock would teach them hunting and riding, and give them adventures and skills needed to be true "Westerners." , In 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt ensured that Bullock was appointed as the second Forest Supervisor of the Black Hills National Forest, a position he held until 1906. , Conservationist , Born in Canada in 1847, Bullock moved to Montana at 18 and was soon elected to the territorial senate. Seth began a lifelong commitment to public service and conservation with sponsorship of a resolution to establish the Yellowstone area as a national reserve. , After his move to South Dakota in 1876, Seth was instrumental in establishing: , Wind Cave National Park , Devils Tower National Monument in 1906 , Jewel Cave National Monument in 1908 , DC Booth National Fish Hatchery , Captions: Captain Seth Bullock, Black Hills Rough Riders , When Roosevelt was elected president in 1905, Seth rounded up a group of Black Hills cowboys and traveled to Washington to ride in the Inaugural Parade, where they whooped and shot their guns in the air, causing the crowd to cheer. In Roosevelt's autobiography he states “Bullock became one of my staunchest and most valued friends." Seth Bullock is third to the right of President Roosevelt in center front. , Bullock and Deadwood business partner Sol Star. Enterprises included a hardware and mercantile store, flour mill, hotel, and a ranch near Belle Fourche, South Dakota.