NORTH DAKOTA: MEDORA

September 14-15, 2019

I have a love-hate relationship with Teddy Roosevelt. I love his break-the-mold, swashbucklin' style, his bold approach to life, his can-do attitude. But there is part of me that doesn't care for his certitude, his belief that he was always right.

Teddy was a bit of a chimera, a beast made up of many different body parts. Among those parts are the politician part, the Rough Rider part, the cattle rancher part, the conservationist part, and the husband and father part. I've already included David McCullough's insightful biography of TR, Mornings on Horseback, in my post about Oyster Bay, which covers Teddy's childhood and young adult years. That book (and another book I review in my next post) covers Teddy's loss of his first wife and his mother on a single day--February 14, 1884--and his subsequent flight from New York to North Dakota, where he would work through his grief.  (Apparently he rarely if ever mentioned his first wife again, even to their daughter, one part of him I am not impressed by.)

Teddy had been to North Dakota the previous year to hunt bison (a very TR-esque activity), and during that time he had purchased the Maltese Cross ranch for $14,000, substantially more than his annual salary. When Teddy returned to North Dakota in 1884, he purchased a second property, Elkhorn Ranch, and built a home on it.  He maintained both ranches, which were near the just barely established town of Medora, until 1898. 

Never very large, in 2010 Medora had a population of 112, and yet these days they manage to run a few hotels and several restaurants, and their website claims they are "North Dakota's #1 Vacation Destination."

However, it's not the town people come to see. Rather, it is the national park that is right down the road: Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  

But first, Medora.

When Teddy came through Medora on a presidential tour of the Western United States in 1903 (not surprisingly, he was the first president to visit Medora), he made such a good impression that a local hotel changed its name to the Rough Riders Hotel to honor his role in the Spanish-American War. The hotel was renovated in the early 1960s, and since 1986 it has been operated by the Theodore Roosevelt Medora Foundation, a non-profit organization. Another remodel in 2008 added 68 guest rooms.

We stopped for dinner at the hotel, the nicest place to eat in town.  It has a beautiful lobby.

There are several pieces of Roosevelt-themed art in the lobby.

The portrait on the left is perhaps my very favorite of TR. I like that waterfall running over his left shoulder. It is hard to see in this photo, but there is also a bugling elk on his right chest. The bronze on the right is a cast of one of Frederick Remington's most famous pieces, Coming Through the Rye. Remington was one of Roosevelt's favorite artists, and as a Rough Rider, TR could probably relate to this particular sculpture.

Roosevelt permeates Medora. Here he is in front of the Old Town Hall Theater, where The Medora Musical is performed on the weekends throughout the summer.

Teddy once famously said of North Dakota, "It was here that the romance of my life began."  He also said:

On our second day in Medora we went to lunch at the Little Missouri Dining Room and Saloon, established in 1883 and one of oldest businesses in Medora. Unfortunately, the decor stood out much more than the food.  The ceilings and walls are hung with dollar bills and cowboy hats. Many of the bills have a person's name written on them in sharpie. I guess that helps track them if this place is ever robbed!

We ordered fried pickles, fried jalapenos, and bison rib-eye steaks. All of it was average, if even that.

Just a couple more things about Medora. It was nice to see this "Little Free Library," part of a national program in which someone puts up one of these book boxes on their property. Passersby are allowed to take a book and are encouraged to replace it with one of their own--a mini version of a lending library. I've seen these in my own town in California.

And finally, check out this gas pump at the station where we purchased gas. When was the last time you saw a non-digital pump?

And so, let's move on to the Badlands, the site of TR's rejuvenation and self-discovery. But first, a picture of a local who decided to join us on our journey.  It was one of the largest grasshoppers I had ever seen. It was larger-than-life, just like TR.