草莓传媒

In the spring of 1903, President Theodore Roosevelt became the first sitting president to tour what would later become some of America’s most celebrated natural wonders.

The trip came the same year the Wright brothers achieved their first powered flight in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, and four decades before Roosevelt’s cousin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, became the first commander in chief to travel by air.

Roosevelt’s nine-week journey covered 14,000 miles through 25 states, traveling entirely by train. The Pennsylvania Railroad provided a six-car private train that included a 70-foot luxury railcar named Elysian.

The tour began April 1 from Washington’s Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station at 6th Street and what is now Constitution Avenue, the current site of the National Gallery of Art. The departure came shortly after Roosevelt approved construction of Union Station.

Later that day, Roosevelt delivered the first of 263 speeches during the trip, addressing a joint session of the Pennsylvania Legislature in Harrisburg. Days later, he spoke before a crowd of 50,000 people in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Crowds lined railroad tracks and filled town squares throughout the tour. Before television and radio, public appearances offered Americans one of the few opportunities to see and hear the president in person.

Roosevelt wrote his own speeches, focusing on issues such as national unity and maintaining a strong Navy. But the trip would be remembered as much for Roosevelt’s experiences in nature as for his remarks on conservation.

On April 8, Roosevelt left the train in Cinnabar, Montana, mounted a horse and began a five-mile ride into Yellowstone National Park.

For 16 days, Roosevelt lived inside the park. He traveled without his staff, physician, Secret Service detail or press corps, but was accompanied by Yellowstone Superintendent Maj. John Pitcher, a small military escort and 66-year-old naturalist and author John Burroughs.

There was no presidential lodging in Yellowstone. On the group’s first night, they established a base camp atop several feet of snow.

Roosevelt initially planned to hunt big game and had requested hunting dogs before arriving. Once inside the park, however, he decided it would not be appropriate for a president to kill wildlife in a protected sanctuary.

The trip soon became focused on wildlife observation. Roosevelt spent his time watching birds, skiing and cooking over campfires, though he never saw Old Faithful erupt.

On his final day in Yellowstone, Roosevelt dedicated the Roosevelt Arch, which still stands today, and delivered the phrase inscribed on the structure: “For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People.”

On May 6, Roosevelt arrived at the Grand Canyon.

After a horseback ride, he delivered remarks at the South Rim near Bright Angel Trail, urging preservation of the landscape.

“Leave it as it is. You cannot improve on it; not a bit. Keep it for your children … do nothing to mar its grandeur,” Roosevelt said.

Five days later, Roosevelt visited the giant redwoods near Santa Cruz, California, and saw the massive trees for the first time. He was angered to find advertisements nailed directly into the ancient bark. Calling the practice an “act of vandalism,” Roosevelt refused to be photographed until the signs were removed.

The experience later influenced his use of the Antiquities Act of 1906 to protect Muir Woods.

On May 15, Roosevelt spent three days in Yosemite National Park, where he camped with naturalist John Muir, founder of the Sierra Club.

The pair slept beneath giant sequoias and awoke covered in snow. During the trip, Muir advocated for transferring Yosemite Valley from state control to federal protection.

As Roosevelt continued east, he worried his Secret Service agents when he announced plans for a 65-mile horseback ride.

The excursion came just two years after President William McKinley was assassinated.

Unable to keep pace with Roosevelt on horseback, federal agents were supplemented by Western lawmen, including former Deadwood Sheriff Seth Bullock, who had previously served as a deputy sheriff in Dakota Territory.

When the Elysian eventually returned to Washington, the journey had helped shape Roosevelt’s conservation vision. During his presidency, he would protect 230 million acres of public land.

Thirteen years later, President Woodrow Wilson signed legislation creating the National Park Service.

Today, more than 323 million people visit the nation’s 63 national parks and 433 protected sites.

Many of those places remain largely unchanged, reflecting Roosevelt’s belief that they should be preserved “for your children” and the generations that followed.

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