Marvelous Medora

August 16, 2009

No trip to North Dakota would be complete without a stop at Medora, off I-94 on the western boundary of the state. Lois and I spent a long weekend there in 2006 so we decided to forego another visit there. The photo shows one of the chefs preparing their famous steak fondu on a pitchfork [pitch forks have three tynes and manure forks have five FYI.] We did enjoy that and the Medora show afer dinner.

The town of Medora was founded in April 1883 by a 24-year-old French nobleman, the Marquis de Mores. He named the town for his bride, the former Medora von Hoffman, daughter of a wealthy New York City banker.

The valley of the Little Missouri had been the scene of varied activity long before the arrival of the Marquis. Native Americans had hunted the area for many generations, an example later followed by early white explorers and frontiersmen. General Alfred Sully fought the Sioux in 1864 a few miles south of the present site of Medora, in what became known as "The Battle of the Badlands." Lieutenant-Colonel George Custer passed through in 1876 on his fatal march west to the Little Bighorn.

The Marquis de Mores had financial backing from his father-in-law and he founded the town of Medora east of the river, building a meat packing plant, a hotel, stores, and a large home (Chateau de Mores) overlooking his new town. This house is open for tours. Despite the vision and energy of the Marquis, all of his various enterprises ended in financial failure by the fall of 1886. With their son and daughter, the Marquis and Marquise returned to France, where another son was to be born. The Marquis continued his visionary and adventurous lifestyle around the world until he was killed by native tribesmen on the Sahara Desert in Africa in June 1896. His widow, Medora, never remarried, and died in France in 1921.

Another colorful individual drawn to this area was a young New York politician named Theodore Roosevelt. He first arrived to hunt buffalo in September 1883, immediately fell in love with the land, and invested in cattle raising. He would eventually own two large ranches - the Maltese Cross, about seven miles south of Medora, and the Elkhorn, about 35 miles north of town. In 1901 Roosevelt, at age 42, became the youngest president in U.S. history, serving until 1909. He called his years in the badlands "the romance of my life," and often credited his Dakota experiences with enabling him to become president.

Other notable individuals have also called Medora their home. The three Eaton brothers began entertaining eastern visitors at their Custer Trail Ranch about five miles south of Medora in 1883, and the first "dude ranch" in the United States was soon in full operation. Tom Mix, who became a great western movie star, married Miss Olive Stokes in Medora on January 10, 1909. James W. Foley, Jr., whose father was caretaker of the Chateau de Mores for many years, grew to manhood and taught school at Medora. It was here that he began writing poetry that would make him a nationally acclaimed literary figure and North Dakota's Poet Laureate. By the time of his death in 1939, Jim Foley had published more than a dozen volumes of poetry.

There is lots to see and do in Medora and we nearly did it all. The Medora Musical and Pitchfork Fondue are at the top of the list. Then there is the Theodore Roosevelt Natioal Park, The North Dakota Cowboy Hall of Fame [we spent three hours looking things over here], Chateau de Mores, the Harold Schafer Heritage Center and the Roughrider Hotel.