Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1901 — ROOSEVELT'S WINTER HUNT. [ARTICLE]

ROOSEVELT'S WINTER HUNT.

Ih« I'resident Tells of t Jaunt k the Bock; Mountains. In midwinter bunting on norseback in the Rockleß is apt to be cold work, but we wrfe too warmly clad to mind the weather, says Theodore Roosevelt In Scribner’s. We wore heavy flannels, Jackets lined with sheepskin, caps which drew down entirely over our ears and on our feet heavy ordinary socks, German socks and overshoes. Galloping'through the brush and among the spikes of the dead cedars meant that now and then one got snagged. I found tough overalls better than trousers; and most of the time I did not need the jacket, wearing my old buckskin shirt, which Is to my mind a particularly useful and comfortable garment. It is a high, dry country, where the winters are usually very cold, but the snow not under ordinary circumstances very deep. It is wild and broken In character, the hills and low mountains rising in sheer slopes, broken by cliffs and riven by deeply cut and gloomy gorges and ravines. The sagebush grows everywhere upon the flats and hillsides. Large open groves of plnyon and cedar are scattered over the peaks, ridges and tablelands. Tall spruces cluster in the cold ravines. Cottonwoods grow along the stream courses, and there are occasional patches of scrub oak and quaking asp. The entire country is taken up with cattle ranges wherever it is possible to get a sufficient water supply, natural or artificial. Some thirty miles to the east and north the mountains rise higher, the evergreen forest becomes continuous, the snow lies deep all through the winter, and such northern animals as the wolverine, luclvee and snowshoe rabbit are found. This high country is the summer home of the Colorado elk, which are now rapidly becoming extinct, and of the Colorado black-tail deer, which are still very plentiful, but which, unless better protected, will follow the elk In the next decade or so. In winter both elk and deer come down to the lower country, through a part of which I made my hunting trip.”