Seth Bullock’s plans for the Mount Roosevelt monument

Mount Roosevelt in South Dakota is maintained by the Black Hills National Forest as a recreational trail and picnic area where the  5,690-foot summit is dominated by the Friendship Tower— a stone memorial that rises about 25 feet above the surrounding meadow.

Friendship Tower was built by Seth Bullock in 1919 in honor of his friend President Theodore Roosevelt.  Bullock, a former sheriff of Deadwood, S.D.,  wanted to create a memorial of his friend’s life and a place where people could view wide open spaces that both Bullock and Roosevelt had become so fond of during their lives. He had met Roosevelt, then a deputy sheriff from Medora, N.D., in 1884. The two quickly became lifelong friends, Roosevelt later saying of Bullock, “Seth Bullock is a true Westerner, the finest type of frontiersman.” Read more »