Roosevelt, who stayed nearly three years, found renewal and purpose in the area’s stark beauty. “I never would have been President if it had not been for my experiences in North Dakota,” he later wrote. It was here “that the romance of my life began.”
Roosevelt routinely used his position as U.S. President to help the New York Zoological Society and the American Bison Society secure land, procure buffalo and promote bison reintroduction projects. President Roosevelt even mentioned his concern for bison in his annual message to Congress in 1905. The first three premier bison restoration projects supported by President Roosevelt and the ABS included Wichita Mountains Reserve, Wind Cave National Park and the National Bison Range. As President, Theodore Roosevelt harnessed his passions into deliberate action and thereby changed the manifest destiny of the United States to ensure that there will always remain wild lands and wildlife, including the new National Mammal - the American bison.
It was ceded to Native Americans by treaty as a reservation, then the land in the middle of the reservation "bought" back (disputedly) for less than market value, set aside as a bison preserve, managed by the federal government (Fish and Wildlife?), management duties transfered back to the tribe, then back to the federal government, now finally back to the tribe.
Wasn't aware he found inspiration again in ND. Cool.
Specifically, his wife and mother both died of unrelated causes on the same day - and it was Valentine's Day.
Talk about a shitty holiday.