“Possibly Mr. Roosevelt will acquire enough practice with mountain lions to enable him to cope with U.S. Senators.”

Rifle Reveille, Jan. 18, 1901

Vice-President-elect Theodore Roosevelt's friends Philip Stewart and Dr. Gerald Webb felt a vacation for their friend was necessary. Roosevelt had just survived the rigors of a national election and would soon answer to the challenges of the second highest office in the United States. When his friends proposed a month-long mountain lion hunting expedition to Colorado for early 1901, Roosevelt eagerly accepted.

Stewart hired 34-year-old Meeker hunting guide John B. Goff to plan, organize and lead the trip. Goff, well-known in Colorado hunting circles, took to the challenge easily.

Roosevelt's trip was scheduled for January 1901, and winter on the White River near Meeker was bitterly cold. Camping was out of the question. Goff secured a cabin at the Keystone Ranch on Coyote Creek, owned by Salt Lake City stockmen K. Parsons and A. Hanauer. This was to be the base of operations.

“We will remain there about three weeks,” reported Goff, “and we will take a dozen pack horses, loaded with provisions and supplies for that length of time.” Goff's dogs numbered 15, with purebred foxhounds and fox hound/blood hound mixes used for trailing. Fighting dogs were shepherd/bulldog mixes. Goff supplied Roosevelt's horse and cowboy-style saddle.

Roosevelt arrived at Stewart's Colorado Springs home the morning of Jan. 10, 1901. That day, he, Stewart, and Webb boarded a Colorado Midland train and arrived in Rifle that evening. After spending a night at Rifle's Clark Hotel, his hunting party boarded a tally-ho driven by Gates Kersburg for the 40-mile trip to the hunting camp. At Rifle, he greeted a few citizens, but in general shied away from public engagements. Seeking a quiet vacation, the press was not invited to the hunt.

Within days, reports of Roosevelt shooting his first of what would be 12 mountain lion were made public. With no press to cover the event, fanciful fabricated stories regarding Roosevelt's hunting prowess proliferated. These stories Roosevelt refuted when he returned.

On Feb. 15, the hunt ended. As he boarded a Colorado Midland train in Rifle on Feb. 16, he greeted citizens. Excited residents of New Castle eagerly welcomed him at his stop there. Wishing an additional dimension to his trip, he asked the train engineer at New Castle if he could ride in the engine to Glenwood Springs. The engineer happily obliged.

As soon as he arrived in Glenwood Springs, Roosevelt was whisked to the vapor caves for a sweat. He then donned more formal apparel and attended a dinner held in his honor at the Hotel Glenwood by James Devereux and his wife. Mayor S.J. DeLan and members of the Glenwood Springs City Council were present to meet the vice president-elect. Special guests to Roosevelt included soldiers, with whom Roosevelt met and thanked for their service to the country.

Roosevelt vowed to return to Colorado for another hunt. He made good on that promise in 1905 as president of the United States when he and Goff reunited for his famous bear hunt on Divide Creek near New Castle.

Willa Kane is former archivist of and a current volunteer with the Frontier Historical Society and Museum. “Frontier Diary,” which appears the first Tuesday of every month, is provided to the Post Independent by the museum, 1001 Colorado Ave., Glenwood Springs. Winter hours are 1-4 p.m. Monday and Thursday through Saturday. For more information, call 945-4448.