New Family History (at least to me)

 

Our grandson Collin, who is one of the librarians at Carroll College in Helena, went to the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Library near Medora N.D.  He was interviewed by the North Dakota Monitor newspaper and his comments appear about a third of the way in the article.

https://northdakotamonitor.com/2026/07/04/theodore-roosevelt-library-opening-recalls-past-calls-for-civic-engagement/ 

After I posted a link to the article, Jon's cousins, Kay Bush and Mary Burkgart Harris, who grew up in the Silver Valley commented about their great-grandfather, who it turns out was one of Roosevelt's Rough Riders.   His name was Fred Herrig and he came to America from Alsace Lorraine.  Along with being one of the Rough Riders, he also worked at Roosevelt's ranch in North Dakota.  

Later, in 1904, he was appointed by Gifford Pinchot (as requested by Roosevelt) to be the first Forest Service Ranger in Montana.  His posting was at the Ant Flat Ranger Station in the Kootenai National Forest.  Jon's Aunt Naomi was born there. 

The Ant Flat Ranger Station is now a historic site.  

 https://historicmt.org/items/show/839 

Theodore Roosevelt presented a rifle to Fred, which is now displayed in the Roosevelt Museum in Medora. 

The ranger station is about 2 miles south of Fortine, Mt. 

This is all so interesting to me.  I would love to take a road trip to visit both the ranger station and the library.  It would require two trips as Fortine is in the very northwest corner of Montana.   It's on my bucket list.