Bear Tracks

Theodore Roosevelt was born on October 27, 1858. A sickly, asthmatic child, he spent most of his formative years at home, reading books about the natural world. He grew to become a naturalist and an avid outdoorsman. He was instrumental in creating five national parks in Oregon, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado and Oklahoma. In 1902, while helping to settle a border dispute between Mississippi and Louisiana, Roosevelt attended a bear hunt. It wasn’t a fruitful enterprise. They only encountered one sickly, old bear. They promptly relieved it of its misery. A newspaper cartoonist made light of the outing, drawing the president with his arm around a cuddly bear cub. In no time at all, stuffed children’s dolls known as Teddy Bears were for sale everywhere.