Editing Theodore Roosevelt (section)

==Cattle rancher in Dakota==
[[File:TR Buckskin Tiffany Knife.jpg|thumb|Roosevelt as a [[Badlands]] hunter in 1885]]
Roosevelt first visited the [[Dakota Territory]] in 1883 to hunt [[bison]]. Exhilarated by the [[western lifestyle]] and with the cattle business booming, Roosevelt invested $14,000 (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|14,000|1883|r=-4}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in hope of becoming a prosperous cattle rancher. For several years, he shuttled between his home in New York and ranch in Dakota.<ref>{{cite web |title=Theodore Roosevelt the Rancher |url=https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-the-rancher.htm |publisher=National Park Service |access-date=November 27, 2019 |archive-date=September 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190902213054/https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-the-rancher.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>

Following the [[1884 United States presidential election]], Roosevelt built [[Elkhorn Ranch]] {{cvt|35|mi|km}} north of the boomtown of [[Medora, North Dakota]]. Roosevelt learned to ride western style, rope, and hunt on the banks of the [[Little Missouri River (North Dakota)|Little Missouri]]. A cowboy, he said, possesses, "few of the emasculated, milk-and-water moralities admired by the pseudo-philanthropists; but he does possess, to a very high degree, the stern, manly qualities that are invaluable to a nation".<ref>{{cite book| first = Theodore| last = Roosevelt| title = Ranch Life and the Hunting Trail| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BY4-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA56| year = 1902| publisher = Century| pages = 55–56| isbn = 978-0-486-47340-6| access-date = October 17, 2015| archive-date = April 7, 2015| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150407023213/http://books.google.com/books?id=BY4-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA56| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first = Will | last = Morrisey | title = The Dilemma of Progressivism: How Roosevelt, Taft, and Wilson Reshaped the American Regime of Self-Government | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=oS2Kcqjl-VgC&pg=PA41 | year = 2009 | publisher = Rowman & Littlefield | page = 41 | isbn = 978-0-7425-6618-7 | access-date = October 17, 2015 | archive-date = April 6, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150406172847/http://books.google.com/books?id=oS2Kcqjl-VgC&pg=PA41 | url-status = live }}</ref> He wrote about frontier life for national magazines and published books: ''Hunting Trips of a Ranchman'', ''Ranch Life and the Hunting-Trail'', and ''The Wilderness Hunter''.{{sfn|Brands|1997|p=191}}

Roosevelt successfully led efforts to organize ranchers to address the problems of overgrazing and other shared concerns, which resulted in the formation of the Little Missouri Stockmen's Association. He formed the [[Boone and Crockett Club]], whose primary goal was the conservation of large game animals and their habitats.{{sfn|Brands|1997|p=189}} In 1886, Roosevelt served as a [[Sheriffs in the United States|deputy sheriff]] in [[Billings County, North Dakota]]. He and ranch hands hunted down three boat thieves.<ref>Theodore Roosevelt National Park, "Roosevelt Pursues the Boat Thieves" [https://www.nps.gov/thro/learn/historyculture/roosevelt-pursues-boat-thieves.htm online]</ref>

The severe [[winter of 1886–1887]] wiped out his herd and over half of his $80,000 investment (equivalent to ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|80,000|1887|r=-4}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}).{{sfn|Morris|1979|p=376}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-the-rancher.htm|title=Theodore Roosevelt the Rancher|website=nps.gov|publisher=National Park Service|access-date=January 13, 2015|quote=The blow proved disastrous for Roosevelt, who lost over half of his $80,000 investment, the equivalent of approximately $1.7 million today.|archive-date=February 8, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150208112452/http://www.nps.gov/thro/historyculture/theodore-roosevelt-the-rancher.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> He ended his ranching life and returned to New York, where he escaped the damaging label of an ineffectual intellectual.{{Sfn|Miller|1992|pp=163–164}}