President Theodore Roosevelt stopped in Edgemont on April 25, 1903, during a western states tour, where hundreds welcomed him and his old friend Seth Bullock of Deadwood arrived with him. They rode by carriage to City Park and a bandstand draped in red, white, and blue bunting, where Roosevelt spoke to the crowd and paid tribute to the pioneers who had tamed “the shaggy wilderness” of the Black Hills area. Although town society matrons had planned a banquet in his honor, cowboys pulled their chuck wagon to the bandstand and called for him to eat with them instead. He joined them, ate beans and bacon from a tin plate, drank coffee from a tin cup, happily recalled his ranching days on the Little Missouri River, then mounted a horse the cowboys brought him and galloped down the street while they whooped and fired their six-shooters into the air. When his train whistle sounded, Roosevelt returned to it, leaving the disappointed city dignitaries to dine without him.