Behind the Scenes at Our National Parks

What Really Happens

When I was on a recent trip I wondered about some things and had to be disgusted with the treatment I saw some of our national treasures received. I began to wonder and spent the rest of my trip seeing and asking about the things that happen but I could not really see. For instance on our trip to Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the cabin that rests just inside of the parks entrance once was on a world wind tour of our nation. It was in one of the state fairs and traveled across our country so people could see for themselves exactly where Theodore Roosevelt wrote some of his great sayings and some books. In the early 1900's it was displayed at the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition and then later at the Lewis and Clark Exhibition, both displayed and viewed as a popular attraction.

The Maltese Cross cabin is the cabin that Teddy Roosevelt resided in when he was a rancher in the Badlands of North Dakota. He was there in the late 1880's and many of his attitudes and ideas of nature and conservation came from his being in the area those years. He purchased land there after his wife and mother died, and then tried his hand at ranching for a few years. He spent more time with the men of the area and wrote notes, sayings and thoughts of his new found friends and neighbors. He wrote these ideas and sayings while sitting at the desk in the corner of the cabin that was outfitted a bit differently than most of the ranchers cabins of the Dakotas. He used things in his cabin like windows and lights for reading when most of the other ranchers were more interested in sleep by the time the sun set. He had windows put in the cabin for better lighting, he used a china cabinet as a book shelf and had a rocking chair, an unusual piece of furniture for a ranch cabin.