Western ND News

The Theodore Roosevelt Center (TRC) and Dickinson State University (DSU) will showcase an award given posthumously to Dr. Victor Hugo Stickney, a notable figure in the history of Dickinson and DSU, as well as a contemporary of Theodore Roosevelt.

On June 14, the North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame (NDCHF) held its annual Induction Ceremony at Tjaden Terrance in Medora. Seven individuals were honored across six categories: Pre-1940s Ranching, Modern Era Ranching, Pre-1970s Rodeo, Modern Era Rodeo, Western Art and Entertainment, and Great Westerner. This year's Great Westerner award was presented to Dr. Victor Hugo Stickney (1855-1927) from Dickinson.

Mary Pat Martell Jones, a writer and trustee for the NDCHF who organized the award presentation, has donated the engraved crystal vase to be displayed at TRC on the DSU campus. Jones emphasized the importance of preserving stories like Stickney's through organizations such as NDCHF. During her research, she realized that Stickney had not been inducted into NDCHF and became his advocate. "Dr. Stickney is now a part of our past," says Jones.

Born on April 13, 1855, in Plymouth, Vermont, Stickney studied medicine at Dartmouth before moving to Dakota Territory in 1883 to practice medicine around the same time Theodore Roosevelt arrived there for the first time. Known as the "Cowboy Doctor," he traveled extensively by horseback or other means to reach patients across vast distances without actively collecting payments.

In 1886, Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Dickinson with thieves in tow after days of walking through icy mud and sought medical help from Stickney for his feet. Reflecting on their encounter later, Stickney described Roosevelt as "the queerest specimen of strangeness" but also "the most wonderful man I ever came to know."

Stickney later invited Roosevelt to speak at Dickinson’s Independence Day celebrations where he delivered his first significant public address declaring “I like big things.” The friendship between men like Stickney contributed to Roosevelt's connection with Western culture.

“Dr. Stickney was a man much like Roosevelt,” said Dr. Hansard from TRC about honoring Stickney’s legacy by displaying his 2025 Great Westerner Award alongside other commemorative items related to this year’s inductees.

The award will initially be displayed in Lowman-Walton Hall's Theodore Roosevelt Reading Room before traveling around campus including locations such as Stickney Hall dedicated in honor of Victor Hugo Stickney and Maggie Hays Stickney since 1921.