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The Life of HOWARD EATON

On April 5, 1922, after having first appeared to be recovering from appendicitis, Howard Eaton died. Over the next several years, in various magazines across the country devoted to the outdoor life, remembrances of Howard Eaton were published. Edward Gillette wrote to Forest & Stream. Field and Stream, June, 1922, had an extensive obituary:

 

HOWARD EATON
HOWARD EATON died April 5th in Sheridan, Wyoming. His death takes from us an old-time dweller of the once Far West, a real pioneer and, above all, one whose character had endeared him to a very wide circle of friends.
He was an old-time neighbor and friend of Theodore Roosevelt; and it is said that it was an enthusiastic letter written by him that induced Mr. Roosevelt to go out to the Little Missouri and to start in the cattle business.
With his two brothers—each of the three the soul of hospitality—Mr. Eaton long kept open house at his ranch near Medora, on the Little Missouri River; and later, when he moved south to the flanks of the Big Horns in Wyoming, the brothers established a resort for eastern and western people, which became a favorite stopping place for summer people from all over the country. Of those who came there and met him, all grew to know and love Howard Eaton.
Howard Eaton had wrestled with the wilderness for many years, and in this struggle had absorbed many of the fine qualities which are likely to come to the man who lives much in the open. Through a long career on the plains and in the mountains, his personality had become known to thousands, and by all these he was beloved. He had a singular charm of manner and was a delightful entertainer, bubbling over with anecdote and wit which made him the best of company. Beyond all this and more potent than this in binding people to him was the quality of intense sympathy that he gave out to those he met.   During his many years' experience in the West, Mr. Eaton had been a hunter and had killed much game, from buffalo to birds. He was a keen sportsman; but he loved the wild creatures that he had known so long and so well, and in his later years he became more conservationist than hunter. He was active in efforts for the protection and increase of wild life—an advocate of good protective laws and a worker for restocking barren game areas. He procured for the Yellowstone Park the buffalo from which has sprung the tame buffalo herd there; and Col. John Pitcher used to speak of him as the father of that herd.
His death followed an operation for appendicitis, and was unexpected, for he had been doing well for a week, up to within a few hours of his death. When that event came, he was seventy-one years old.   Howard Eaton's passing on carries grief to many hearts, and many will echo the words spoken by an old friend when he first heard the rumor of his illness— "We can't spare Howard."

 http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/eatonbrothers.html

 

 


 

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1922.04.11
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