On September 6, 1901, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was vacationing in the Town of Newcomb when he learned of an attempt on President William McKinley’s life after McKinley was shot while receiving visitors at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. Roosevelt rushed to Buffalo and remained with the President until he was assured of McKinley’s recovery. The next week, while picnicking on Mt. Marcy, Roosevelt received an urgent message from Secretary of State Elihu Root that the President’s condition had taken a turn for the worse. On September 14, 1901, at 2:15 A.M., McKinley died while Roosevelt was traveling by buckboard to North Creek on his way back to the dying President’s bedside, and during that dark overnight ride over treacherous mountain roads Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States.