DICKINSON, ND (trfnews.i234.me) Plans are moving forward to start building a Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library next year in Dickinson, North Dakota.
Learn more about all this at: www.trpresidentiallibrary.org
* Video Courtesy: Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library Foundation
[Music] in 1910 Theodore Roosevelt said I would never have been the President of the United States had it not been for the time I spent in North Dakota he came to Dakota Territory in 1883 to kill a buffalo he fell in love with the place when he returned in 1884 he wanted a remote ranch far from the railroads far from the village of Medora he traveled 35 miles north and found it here he called it the Elkhorn ranch no cabin exists here now so we have to imagine what it must have looked like that out here amongst the cottonwoods just a few yards from the bank of the Little Missouri River there have been initiatives from time to time to rebuild it here but the National Park Service has wisely chosen to maintain the site as a pristine and primitive shrine to the strenuous character of Theodore Roosevelt and his achievement as America’s greatest conservation president with help from the state legislature of North Dakota and generous donors our plan is to build the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library in Dickinson North Dakota we’re going to start by recreating as authentically as possible the Alcorn ranch house it was 60 feet by 30 feet made of Cottonwood logs all the work done on-site between November of 1884 and March of 1885 some of it by Theodore Roosevelt himself in his autobiography Roosevelt remembered what Wilmot dowse said about TRS cutting down some of the logs for the cabin bill cut down 53 I cut 49 and the boss well he beaver down 17 so the first challenge is finding cottonwood logs there are none on the site in Dickinson when we learned that the correctional facility south of Bismarck needed to get rid of a lot of its Cottonwood logs we made contact with them and a man named Lauren Haight agreed to show us the trees and then offer to let us take as many as we wanted from here to the campus in Dickinson we want to rebuild the Elkhorn cabin authentically using Cottonwood timber from North Dakota and to get it absolutely right and so if we can get this timber from the Missouri Basin that’s perfect for what we’re trying to do what we’re doing down here with uh what the tree project is is we have a tight beam put in for flood control so there is a lot of trees in this area that we have to cut down and with that we are gonna harvest some large cottonwood trees that are gonna be used for the Theodore Roosevelt replica cabinet being built and then we’re also harvesting some ash trees that will be used by Fort Lincoln to reconstruct the earth mountains over at Fort Lincoln will be supplementing these trees with cottonwood logs from heritage ranches up and down the little Missouri River Valley has to be authentic it has to look like this they did this by hand thirty-five miles north of the railroad without any steam engines between November of 1884 and March of 1885 so during the winter months it was a cold winter now these were professional woodsmen from Maine Wilmot Bao and Bill Sewell they knew what they were doing they this was this was something they had been doing all their lives although not with cottonwood tendril it’s not a great building material but that’s what they had out there this is a challenging and very exciting project our goal is nothing short than to create an absolutely authentic recreation of the Elkhorn cabin and when you go in it and then to feel the Theodore Roosevelt just stepped out to saddle his horse and may return at any moment watch for further video updates but meanwhile for more information visit our website t our Presidential Library dot over
Exciting news: Dickinson, North Dakota to host the incredible Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library
