The power of Theodore Roosevelt remains remarkable.

His legacy in the Badlands on Saturday drew a deputy secretary of Interior and an undersecretary of Agriculture, a former North Dakota governor and the sitting governor, Roosevelt's great-grandson and great-great-grandson, and people from the Boone & Crockett Club, Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and Friends of the Elkhorn Ranch.

Lots of heavy hitters.

Did North Dakotans underestimate the importance of the view shed of the Elkhorn Ranch (Eberts Ranch)? At least to the rest of the nation?

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At the dedication ceremony for the Forest Service's acquisition of the ranch, the phrase "cradle of the conservation movement" was used over and over again. Along with this: "The birthplace of conservation." And not just attached to the Elkhorn Ranch, but clearly embracing the Eberts addition.

It was perhaps a jolt to people not directly involved in the Eberts Ranch buy.

The future here could become rather interesting.

Over the course of three days, people taking part in the interweaving of the TR Symposium and Eberts Ranch dedication were able to hear from two historians, both biographers, of unmatched knowledge of the 26th president. They were H.W. Brands and Edmund Morris.

The two men were insightful and entertaining. It left readers of history nearly giddy.

It certainly means a third TR symposium next year. Organizers are already talking about it.

"Roosevelt the Conservationist" will be the topic in October 2008. Word also is that author Douglas Brinkley has a book on that subject in the works and that he will be the keynote speaker.

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Reports from the people who rode school buses from Medora the 35 miles to the Eberts Ranch for a tour were greatly impressed. The landscape on a sunny September morning was in full color. The ranch has diverse landscapes - meadows, rough hills, ridges, river plain, high pasture. It contains all manner of plant and wild life.

Although people enjoyed the tour and program, few of them will be willing to board a yellow school bus any time soon.

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And in the national park on Saturday morning, the wild horses, buffalo and deer put on a show that would make a New York ad agency or state tourism director proud.

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Here are a couple of Edmund Morris sound bites:

3 Morris wondered why when TR visited Medora on April 7, 1903, he only stayed an hour, in this place in which he said "the romance of my life began."

Morris suggested that TR was "afraid."

Roosevelt refused to look backwards. He was always facing the future. He never did refer to his first wife, Alice, in any of his writings after she died.

He closed the door on her death, perhaps because it was too painful.

And the Badlands, to fall under their spell again and taste those good memories might too be painful.

3 After reading a marvelous quote from one of Roosevelt's many books, Morris said, "I wonder if we will ever have a president again that can write like that?"

3 Morris talked about Teddy's luck. During the 71/2 years he was in office, most Americans were doing very well.

3 When TR won the Nobel Prize, he said it was for the office of the president, held in public trust, and he then dedicated every penny of the award to peace works.

3 And, oddly, he tried to take "In God we trust" off U.S. currency.

(Ken Rogers is the Bismarck Tribune's managing editor. Reach him at ken.rogers@;bismarcktribune.com.)