Park Archives: Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Theodore Roosevelt first came to the Dakota Territory in 1883 to hunt bison. A year later, devastated by personal tragedy, he returned to grieve and lose himself in the vastness. He became a cattle rancher and, in this broken land, found adventure, purpose, wholeness. Though his ranch ultimately failed, his love for the rugged beauty of the land brought him back time and again for the rest of his life.

Roosevelt credited his Dakota experiences as the basis for his ground-breaking preservation efforts and the shaping of his own character. As president 1901-09, he translated his love of nature into law. He established the US Forest Service and signed the 1906 Antiquities Act, under which he proclaimed 18 national monuments. He worked with Congress to create five national parks, 150 national forests, and dozens of federal reserves—over 230 million acres of protected land.

Theodore Roosevelt National Park was not the great man's own creation. It was established in 1947 as a national memorial park to honor President Roosevelt and to provide a place for us to experience his beloved Badlands in our own ways.

Over thousands of years, the Little Missouri River and its tributaries have cut through the soft sedimentary layers of the northern Great Plains. Flowing water—along with wind, ice, and plants—continue their erosive action. You can see land in transition throughout the park.

Are the Badlands really bad? For human travelers and farmers, perhaps. But bison and elk thrive with a choice of edible grasses—blue grama, western wheatgrass, buffalo grass, little bluestem, and needle-and-thread. Spring rains renew the grasslands and bring wildflowers' bright profusion. Prickly pear cactus delights hikers who might not think its habitat extends this far north.

Woody draws have stands of Rocky Mountain junipers, while the Little Missouri floodplain supports dense growths of cottonwoods and other shrubs. White-tailed deer forage in the river woodlands, while mule deer prefer broken country and uplands. Horses descended from ranch stock roam in the South Unit, as in Roosevelt's time. Prairie dogs, long a staple food source for many predators, live in "towns" in the grasslands. At home here, too, are nearly 200 bird species, many of them songbirds.

In the 1880s, Roosevelt witnessed overhunting overgrazing, and other threats to the natural world. Conservation increasingly became one of his major concerns. He would surely be gratified to know that through careful management, many animals that nearly became extinct are once again living here.

The bison is one such success story. They roamed the plains by the millions until the 1800s, when wholesale slaughter diminished their numbers to a few hundred. In 1956 a small herd was reintroduced here and has grown to the point where it has to be carefully managed. Elk, bighorn sheep, and pronghorn have also been reintroduced with success.

The Badlands saw human activity going back thousands of years, but because through-travel was difficult, there is little evidence of permanent settlement. In historic times Northern Plains tribes hunted the great bison herds.

When the railroad came to the Dakota Territory in the 1880s, people moved from the East and Midwest to try their hand at ranching. In 1883 Theodore Roosevelt invested in a local cattle operation known as the Maltese Cross Ranch, south of Medora.

The next summer, after both his wife and his mother died on February 14, he returned in search of healing and solitude. He started a second ranch, the Elkhorn. Roosevelt considered the Elkhorn his "home ranch" and spent most of his time here when in the Dakotas.

Roosevelt became a respected member of the ranching community. Today, this regional culture continues along with another commercial boom. Energy development surrounds the park. Round-the-clock drilling, pumping, and hauling oil and natural gas from the Bakken Shale formation takes place outside the park boundary.

The Badlands have never been an easy place to make a living. How will we meet today's challenge of balancing nature and human needs?

Three Park Units The driving distance between the North and South units is 68 miles. The Elkhorn Ranch Unit is a 1½-hour drive from Medora.

Stay Safe, Protect the Park Federal law protects all natural and cultural features in the park. Do not collect or disturb objects. • Wild animals are dangerous and best viewed from a distance. For their sake and yours, do not approach or feed them. • Carry plenty of water when hiking. The park's natural water sources are not potable. • Pets must be leashed and are not allowed on trails. • For a complete list of regulations, including firearms policy, visit the park website.

Accessibility We strive to make our facilities, services, and programs accessible to all. For information, check at a visitor center, call, or visit the park website.

North Unit Visitor Center has exhibits, a short film, bookstore, and information about activities and road and trail conditions. Open daily in summer; winter hours can vary. Closed on Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1.

14-Mile Scenic Drive The paved road starts at the entrance station; along the way are overlook pullouts and interpretive signs.

Longhorn Steers The park maintains this historic demonstration herd as a reminder of the Badlands cattle industry.

Cannonball Concretions Pullout These "cannonballs" were formed when sand grains from an ancient river deposit were cemented together by minerals dissolved in groundwater.

River Bend Overlook Take a short walk from the parking area to a view of the Little Missouri floodplain. The stone shelter was built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps.

Oxbow Overlook Here, the Little Missouri takes a hard turn to east. The river originally continued north to Hudson Bay. During the most recent ice age, continental glaciers blocked its way, hence the turn.

Painted Canyon Visitor Center and Overlook Here on the upper margin of the Badlands is a magnificent panorama of the broken topography in its colorful hues.

The visitor center, open May through October, has information and restrooms. Picnic tables are nearby.

South Unit Visitor Center has information, a theater, and a museum with natural history displays and some of Theodore Roosevelt's personal items. Open daily except Thanksgiving, December 25, and January 1.

Behind the visitor center, the Maltese Cross Cabin has been moved from its original location and restored. It is open for tours.

36-mile Scenic Loop Drive This paved drive has pullouts and interpretive signs.

Boicourt Overlook One of the best views of the Badlands in the park is from this overlook.

Peaceful Valley Ranch This complex spans the successive eras of the area's recent history. It was a ranch in the late 1800s, dude ranch in the 1920s, headquarters of the CCC and WPA in the 1930s, park headquarters in the 1950s and 60s, and facility for guided horseback rides until 2014.

The Elkhorn Ranch Unit is the site of Roosevelt's beloved second ranch. The buildings no longer exist, but stones mark the foundation. Exhibit panels tell about ranch life and floodplain habitat.

Before going to the Elkhorn, ask for information at one of the visitor centers. The roads are unpaved, steep, and easily washed out by storms.

In 1884 Theodore Roosevelt hired Wilmot Dow and Bill Sewall to build and run the ranch. By mid-October Sewall and Dow had moved onto the site of the Elkhorn Ranch and were cutting and collecting cottonwood logs for the ranch house. Working through the winter, they completed the house by spring 1885.

The eight-room house stood 30 by 60 feet, with 7-foot-high walls. A porch hugged the east side. Dow and Sewall built several more buildings: two stables with a connecting roof; cattle shed; chicken house; and blacksmith shop.

By 1887 drought and blizzards had destroyed Roosevelt's herds. He gave up ranching and moved permanently back to New York to continue his political career.

The contents of brochures, site bulletins and trading cards (denoted with a colored caption) can be viewed by clicking on the cover. Most modern-day brochures, however, are cover only (denoted by a white caption) due to photograph copyrights. These items are historical in scope and are intended for educational purposes only; they are not meant as an aid for travel planning. The dates under each brochure do not reflect the complete range of years that a particular brochure was issued.

1949		cover only 1952		1953
1955		cover only 1956		cover only 1958
1959	1962	1966	1966	1969	1971
cover only 1972	cover only 1973	1975	1978	1982
1985		1986-1991		cover only 1995-2000
cover only 2001-2002		cover only 2003-2014		2015-2023

September 1995	Accessible Facilties and Services 2011		Little Missouri River Float Trips Date Unknown		Maltese Cross Cabin August 2009
Elkhorn Ranch Date Unknown		Petrified Forest 2009		Entrance and User Fees 1988
Prairie Dogs Date Unknown		Prairie Dogs 2022		The American Bison 2022
cover only Birds Date Unknown	Bird Checklist 2019	Wildlife Checklist 2011		Cottonwood Campground Rules and Regulations January 1991
Little Mo Nature Trail September 1996	Caprock-Coulee Nature Trail September 1995	Caprock Coulee Nature Trail Date Unknown		Caprock Coulee Nature Trail Date Unknown
Coal Vein Trail Date Unknown		Coal Vein: A Guided Nature Trail Date Unknown		Native North Dakota Grasses Date Unknown
Ridgeline Nature Trail September 1989		Ridgeline Nature Trail September 1993		Ridgeline: A Guided Nature Trail Date Unknown
Backcountry Guide Date Unknown	Information and Hiking Guide 2018		Hiking Guide for TRNP Date Unknown		Historic Peaceful Valley Ranch Date Unknown
North Unit Trails 2009		South Unit Trails 2009		cover only Painted Canyon 1989
Trading Cards
					(©Jefferson National Parks Association)

Peaceful Valley Ranch (Dori M. Penny, Thomas K. Larson and Kathy McKoy, May 1993, revised April 1994)

Natural Resource Condition Assessment, Theodore Roosevelt National Park NPS Natural Resource Report NPS/THRO/NRR-2014/776 (Shannon Amberg, Kathy Kilkus, Mike Komp, Andy Nadeau, Kevin Stark, Lindsey Danielson, Sarah Gardner, Eric Iverson, Eric Norton and Barry Drazkowski, February 2014)

Plant Community and Composition and Structure Monitoring Annual Reports: 2011 • 2012 • 2013 • 2014 • 2011-2016 • 2017 • 2018

Roosevelt and the Stockmen's Association (Ray H. Mattison, extract from North Dakota History, Vol. 17 No. 2, April 1950, ©State Historical Society of North Dakota)

Roosevelt and the Stockmen's Association (Ray H. Mattison, extract from North Dakota History, Vol. 17 No. 3, July 1950, ©State Historical Society of North Dakota)

Roosevelt's Dakota Ranches (Ray H. Mattison, extract from North Dakota History, Vol. 22 No. 4, October 1955, ©State Historical Society of North Dakota)

Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch (Ray H. Mattison, extract from North Dakota History, Vol. 27 No. 2, Spring 1960, ©State Historical Society of North Dakota)

The following visual bibliography is just a sampling of the handbooks and books which have been published for this park. NPSHistory.com does not endorse these, but are merely presenting them for informational purposes only. As most are copyrighted, we are only able to provide the covers, and not contents, of these publications.

cover only Wildflowers of Theodore Roosevelt National Memorial Park John D. Staudinger 1967	cover only Auto Tour Guide Along the South Loop Road 1981	Theodore Roosevelt and the Dakota Badlands 1958, reprint 1962	Theodore Roosevelt and the Dakota Badlands 1983 (HTML edition)
cover only It's a Dog's Life 1999	cover only Roadlog Guide for the South & North Units, Theodore Roosvelt National Park Text C. Murphy, John P. Bluemle and Bruce M. Kaye 1999	cover only Theodore Roosevelt in the Dakota Badlands: A Historical Guide Clay S. Jenkinson 2006