In November 1879, the Army established a military post on the west bank of the Little Missouri River. The post became a welcome bit of civilization for hunters and trappers. Civilians added a saloon, a general store, a boarding house, and the Pyramid Park Hotel which was nowhere near as grand as its name.
The military post was abandoned in 1883. The ramshackle buildings were refurbished, and the town of Little Missouri was touted as a “tourist resort.”
The Northern Pacific Railroad promoted the area, using brochures and newspaper articles to attract hunters, tourists, and ranchers. By this date in 1883, Little Missouri began to resemble a real town. The Dickinson Press described it as “one of the most prosperous and rapidly growing towns along the line of the Northern Pacific.”
In September 1883, Little Missouri hosted three presidents: one past, one present, and one future.
Former President Ulysses S. Grant passed through on his way to celebrate the completion of the intercontinental railroad. President Chester A. Arthur stopped on his way home from a visit to Yellowstone National Park. And in the middle of the night on September 8, a young man named Teddy Roosevelt stepped off the train, arriving for a hunting trip.
Teddy was not as impressed with Little Missouri as the brochures had suggested. He described it as “a handful of ramshackle shanties.”
Also in 1883, the Marquis de Mores, a French aristocrat, arrived with plans to invest in the cattle industry. He intended to build a slaughterhouse and packing plant, so he could butcher his own cattle and ship the meat east in refrigerated railcars.
The citizens of Little Missouri were skeptical. They didn’t want to do business with the “crazy Frenchman.” So, De Mores simply went across the river, built a new town, and named it Medora, after his wife.
In less than a year, Medora had 84 buildings including saloons, hotels, and a newspaper. The railroad moved its depot to Medora, and many Little Missouri businesses relocated.
As Medora thrived, the town across the river faded and became known as Little Misery.
The harsh winter of 1886 killed off the local cattle industry, and Medora became nearly a ghost town. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Medora became a tourist destination again and it’s still thriving today.
Little Missouri, on the other hand, faded away, remembered now only by a single historical marker.
Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher
