Dakota Rancher and Hunter

Between 1883 and 1887, Theodore Roosevelt invested in and helped manage a cattle ranch in the Dakota Territory.  He shuttled back and forth from New York and posed for the above photo on a Badlands hunting trip in 1885.  He helped organize ranchers to end overgrazing and lawlessness, even going so far as to help track down several criminals.  A severe winter in 1887 brought an end to the enterprise, but the Western experience was stamped on his psyche.  By 1888 he was back into politics in a variety of ways, not all successful.  He was on the U.S. Civil Service Commission from 1889-1895, was New York Police commissioner 1895-96, and was appointed Assistant Secretary of the Navy in 1897.