HIGH IDEALS Theodore Roosevelt’s 1911 Western Trip James G. Blase Copyright 2020 James G. Blase St. Louis, Missouri Cover photograph of Theodore Roosevelt with his first grandchild and granddaughter, Grace, at eight months. [Source: theodorerooseveltcenter.org] “If you as citizens fail to show practical sense in the achievement of high ideals, no governmental machinery which the wit of man can devise will save the community from disaster.” ~Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt, speaking in San Francisco, California on March 28, 1911 Dedicated to my wonderful first grandchild and granddaughter, Finley, who turns one year old on the date of the publication of this book. Contents Foreword by Lou Holtz i Author’s Preface ii March 8: Departing Oyster Bay, Long Island 1 March 9: Georgia 2 Atlanta March 10: Alabama 7 Birmingham March 11: Mississippi and Louisiana 18 Jackson – McComb – Hammond – New Orleans March 12: Texas 36 Beaumont – Houston – San Antonio March 13: Texas 49 San Antonio – San Marcos – Austin – Georgetown Waco – Dallas March 14: Texas 62 Fort Worth March 15: Texas and New Mexico 67 El Paso – Las Cruses – Socorro – Albuquerque March 16: Arizona 83 Flagstaff – Williams – Grand Canyon March 17: Arizona 84 Grand Canyon March 18: Arizona 86 Phoenix and the Roosevelt Dam March 19: Arizona 101 Roosevelt Dam and Mesa March 20: Arizona 101 Phoenix – Beardsley March 21: California – Day 1 116 San Bernardino – Riverside – Fullerton – Los Angeles Pasadena March 22: Colorado – Day 2 128 Los Angeles March 23: California – Day 3 144 Berkeley March 24: California – Day 4 158 Stanford University – Berkeley – San Francisco March 25: California – Day 5 173 Berkeley – San Francisco March 26: California – Day 6 184 Berkeley March 27: California – Day 7 193 Berkeley – San Francisco March 28: California – Day 8 208 Berkeley – San Francisco March 29: California – Day 9 225 San Francisco – Ingleside – San Francisco March 30: California – Day 10 229 San Francisco March 31: California – Day 11 230 San Francisco April 1: California – Day 12 231 San Francisco April 2: California – Day 13 235 April 3: Nevada 237 Reno April 4: California – Day 14 247 Sacramento April 5: Oregon 257 Roseburg – Eugene – Portland April 6: Washington – Day 1 276 Tacoma – Seattle April 7: Washington – Day 2 283 Spokane April 8: Washington – Day 3 288 Spokane April 9: Washington and Idaho 304 Spokane – Moscow April 10: Idaho 307 Moscow – Standpoint April 11: Montana 311 Missoula April 12: Montana 315 Helena April 13: Montana and North Dakota 321 Columbus – Billings – Miles City – Dickinson April 14: Minnesota 324 St. Paul April 15: Wisconsin and Illinois 325 Madison – Chicago April 16: New York 330 New York City About the Author 331 Foreword by Lou Holtz Over the course of the last 45 years, I have gradually come to view myself as basically a God-fearing and principled person, and I have tried to teach my beliefs, values and practices to my children and to any other audience or individual who was willing to listen. I only wish I had developed these same beliefs, values and practices earlier. High Ideals: Theodore Roosevelt’s 1911 Western Trip , is the second in Mr. Blase’s two-volume set describing, in a highly creative “first-person journal style,” President Theodore Roosevelt’s two extended western vacation train trips during the first part of the 20 th century. Reading this second volume by Mr. Blase has allowed me to broaden the scope of my previously-held beliefs, values and practices. I would highly encourage everyone to read this book, and to read it cover-to-cover. I can guarantee you that, should you do so, you will not only grow to intimately appreciate Theodore Roosevelt’s approaches to all aspects of life, but you will also learn how to become a much better person, yourself, in the process, should you choose to put into practice even some of the “realizable ideals” the former President not only preached during the course of this five-week train trip, but actually lived. And I can also guarantee you one more thing: you’ll have a lot of fun, along the journey! i Author’s Preface This book represents the fifth of Theodore Roosevelt’s six first-person accounts describing the most extended vacation trips of his lifetime. The first account actually comprises a part of Theodore Roosevelt’s autobiography, published by the President 107 years ago this month, and still readily available for purchase today. In it the President describes, in endearing detail, two extended vacation trips abroad his parents took him on as a child, the first when he was only age 10, and the second when he was 14: “When I was ten years old I made my first journey to Europe. My birthday was spent in Cologne, and in order to give me a thoroughly “party” feeling I remember that my mother put on full dress for my birthday dinner. I do not think I gained anything from this particular trip abroad. I cordially hated it, as did my younger brother and sister. Practically all the enjoyment we had was in exploring any ruins or mountains when we could get away from our elders, and in playing in the different hotels. Our one desire was to get back to America, and we regarded Europe with the most ignorant chauvinism and contempt. Four years later, however, I made another journey to Europe, and was old enough to enjoy it thoroughly and profit by it. When I was fourteen years old, in the winter of '72 and '73, I visited Europe for the second time, and this trip formed a really useful part of my education. We went to Egypt, journeyed up the Nile, traveled through the Holy Land and part of Syria, visited Greece and Constantinople; and then we children spent the summer in a German family in Dresden. My first real collecting as a student of natural history was done in Egypt during this journey. By this time I had a good working knowledge of American bird life from the superficially scientific standpoint. I had no knowledge of the ornithology of Egypt, but I picked up in Cairo a book by an English clergyman, whose name I have now forgotten, who described a trip up the Nile, and in an appendix to his volume gave an account of his bird collection. I wish I could remember the name of the author now, for I owe that book very much. Without it I should have been collecting entirely in the dark, whereas with its aid I could generally find out what the birds were. My first knowledge of Latin was obtained by learning the scientific names of the birds and mammals which I collected and classified by the aid of such books as this one. ii The birds I obtained up the Nile and in Palestine represented merely the usual boy's collection. Some years afterward I gave them, together with the other ornithological specimens I had gathered, to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, and I think some of them also to the American Museum of Natural History in New York. I am told that the skins are to be found yet in both places and in other public collections. I doubt whether they have my original labels on them. With great pride the directors of the "Roosevelt Museum," consisting of myself and the two cousins aforesaid, had printed a set of Roosevelt Museum labels in pink ink preliminary to what was regarded as my adventurous trip to Egypt. This bird-collecting gave what was really the chief zest to my Nile journey. I was old enough and had read enough to enjoy the temples and the desert scenery and the general feeling of romance; but this in time would have palled if I had not also had the serious work of collecting and preparing my specimens. Doubtless the family had their moments of suffering--especially on one occasion when a well-meaning maid extracted from my taxidermist's outfit the old tooth-brush with which I put on the skins the arsenical soap necessary for their preservation, partially washed it, and left it with the rest of my wash kit for my own personal use. I suppose that all growing boys tend to be grubby; but the ornithological small boy, or indeed the boy with the taste for natural history of any kind, is generally the very grubbiest of all. An added element in my case was the fact that while in Egypt I suddenly started to grow. As there were no tailors up the Nile, when I got back to Cairo I needed a new outfit. But there was one suit of clothes too good to throw away, which we kept for a "change," and which was known as my "Smike suit," because it left my wrists and ankles as bare as those of poor Smike himself. When we reached Dresden we younger children were left to spend the summer in the house of Herr Minckwitz, a member of either the Municipal or the Saxon Government--I have forgotten which. It was hoped that in this way we would acquire some knowledge of the German language and literature. They were the very kindest family imaginable. I shall never forget the unwearied patience of the two daughters. The father and mother, and a shy, thin, student cousin who was living in the flat, were no less kind. Whenever I could get out into the country I collected specimens industriously and enlivened the household with hedge-hogs and other small beasts and reptiles which persisted in escaping from iii partially closed bureau drawers.