Cowboy and Hunter Theodore Roosevelt Describes in Detail How to Set Up a Hunt in the American West in 1888, and What Game He Hopes to Bag

“There is a fair show for bear and cougar. When I was out with him I devoted my whole time to mountain goats (the white goat), killing three. The hunting grounds are only three days on pack pony from the railroad. He [Willis] is a wiry, tough mountaineer; a good shot, a good tracker, knows the diamond hitch, always good humored & willing to work…I have never killed a black bear, moose or caribou; can you give me information about any places where I could be pretty sure to get one of those three animals?”

In the 1880s it seemed that the American West was on everyone’s mind and tongue, with news reports, travel books and novels using it as a regular subject. Cowboys, Indians, ranches, hunting, outlaws, and wildlife were constant themes and lent romance. Theodore Roosevelt was very interested and felt its lure, and when he was invited to go West on a hunting expedition in 1883, he eagerly did so. In September he traveled the North Dakota Badlands and abutting areas of Montana, a region of rugged beauty, where bison, bighorn sheep, prairie dogs, bear and black-footed ferrets lived and roamed. The area was newly freed from dangers posed by Indians, and was teaming with game (a herd of 75,000 bison was seen in Montana that year).

Roosevelt found his experiences on the 15 day hunting trip exhilarating. In the great outdoors, he pushed himself to the extreme and had the most fun doing it. His experiences in the West significantly shaped his attitudes on life, work, and manliness. Eating and sleeping out in the open and accompanying cattlemen on roundups brought impulsive ideas to TR’s mind. At the end of his trip, he entered the cattle business with the purchase of the Chimney Butte Ranch.

Just five months later, on February 14, 1884, TR’s wife Alice and his mother Mittie died, a personal catastrophe that devastated him. He had not run for reelection to the New York State Assembly, and his term there also ended. So in June 1884, he returned West to escape the tragic memories and begin a new life as a cattle rancher. He spent nearly $40,000 on cattle and established his new home, Elkhorn Ranch, which was situated on the Little Missouri River in Dakota Territory, twelve miles away from the nearest house. In August and September, TR took a hunting trip in Montana’s Big Horn Mountains. Meanwhile he was really living the Western life he had dreamt about, organizing cattlemen in the Little Missouri River Stockmen’s Association and almost getting challenged to a duel by a gunslinger. In one famous incident, Roosevelt had been riding through the Badlands and the prairies of eastern Montana when he arrived at Mingusville. There, in a saloon, he encountered a bully who teased him about his eyeglasses; TR knew how to use his fists and beat the fellow unconscious. In another, he pursued and captured boat thieves in the Badlands.

John Willis had worked on the plains as a cowhand, mule-skinner, buffalo hunter, horse breaker, and butcher. He had also owned a saloon in Denver, mined in the Black Hills, and run whiskey to Canada. He finally settled in Thompson Falls, Montana, in 1882, where he ran a general store. Willis had a reputation as a skilled hunter and guide, and he came to the attention of TR. In 1886, Roosevelt wrote Willis inquiring about hunting mountain goats, and asking Willis to be his guide. After puzzling over Roosevelt’s handwriting, Willis scribbled across the letter, “If you can’t shoot any better than you can write, NO.” However, the two men met and hit it off, and in July 1886 Willis guided TR on a hunt in the mountains around Thompson Falls. In a notable moment from that hunt, the not-very-careful Roosevelt slipped on loose slate and plunged head-first over a 50 foot high precipice. When Willis saw he was not hurt, he said “Then come on!”, and TR scrambled to resume the hunt as if nothing had happened. Willis would take TR out on a number of hunts.

On this first hunt, very early indeed for anyone to even consider wildlife conservation, Roosevelt showed that he already appreciated the need for conservation, and that he was an active advocate for it. He talked to Willis, who had made his living by slaughtering game for their hides, about the necessity for conserving wildlife. He persuaded Willis, who became a staunch believer in conservation and a strong worker for wildlife preservation. Willis was likely the first person TR convinced to support conservation, and conservation was one of the major contributions of President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration not so long after.

Alden Sampson was a fellow New Yorker who, like Roosevelt, had become a hunter and outdoorsmen. In first 1884, he and a colleague had become the first people to complete an ascent of Half Dome in Yosemite. Sampson hoped to hunt in the same area as TR had been, and wore him requesting information. This is Roosevelt’s response, in which he describes how to set up the hunt and his own hunting experiences. He also mentions what game he seeks to hunt next.

Autograph letter signed, on his Sagamore Hill, Oyster Bay letterhead, April 20, 1888, to Sampson. “The guide I wrote you about is name John Willis; his address is Thompson Falls, Montana. It is on the N.P.R.R. [Northern Pacific Rail Road] near the Idaho boundary. He writes me that there is a fair show for bear and cougar. When I was out with him I devoted my whole time to mountain goats ( the white goat), killing three. The hunting grounds are only three days on pack pony from the railroad. Willis is now a butcher; but I think he would go with you. He is a wiry, tough mountaineer; a good shot, a good tracker, knows the diamond hitch, always good humored & willing to work. I hesitated to make him known to you; for he is a type of borderer more common in Arizona than in the north; and, to put it mildly is not straight-laced; but he is a very pleasant companion, and was very faithful to me. You are an old westerner, and know all the types; I presume that you do not think it necessary to take a very large sum of money with you on the actual trip out on the hunting ground. Were I going out myself I should certainly employ Willis.

“In telling you of my hunting ground I take it for granted that early in the season you do not intend to kill any does; I do not wish to be ‘particeps criminis’ [one who has a share in a crime] in any killing out of our game; but of this I know it is needless to speak to a gentleman of your reputation. Your hunting experience has been much greater than mine. From Thompson Falls you ought to get goats, sheep, & bear. The pack animals are very cheap; 15 dollars a piece or less. You can get provisions at Thompson. Of course I would prefer for you not to speak of the guide to anyone else; you know how soon hunting grounds are spoiled. I have never killed a black bear, moose or caribou; can you give me information about any places where I could be pretty sure to get one of those three animals? Again asking you to keep the information for your own use. I am, Very truly yours, Theodore Roosevelt.

“P.S. I paid Willis for himself and two good horses 100 dollars a month; I also gave him a handsome present for a very good piece of tracking he did with my first goat. I bought three other ponies for 30 dollars; my provisions for the trip cost about $25. Except ammunition, this accounted for all my expenses. I had a wagon sheet for a tent.”

Sampson went on to become a writer and naturalist. He won membership into TR’s Boone and Crockett Club, which is the oldest wildlife conservation organization in North America and was the initiator and champion of the first National Parks, including Yellowstone, Glacier, Denali, and Grand Canyon, and of the first legislation for wildlife. Sampson was its Secretary, and contributed an essay, along with Roosevelt, to one of the Club’s publications: American Big Game in its Haunts.

TR is well known as a hunter, first in the American West and after his presidency in Africa. However, letters of his describing his hunting in the American West are very rare, this being our first. Moreover, a search of public sale records going back 40 years reveals just one other.