The Chateau De Mores was built in 1883 by the Marquis De Mores a French aristocrat and was used from 1883 until 1886 as a summer residence for the Marquis and his wife Medora and their children. The town of Medora is named after her. The Marquis had this idea that it would be cheaper to slaughter cattle in North Dakota and send them in refrigerated rail cars to Chicago that to ship the live cattle to Chicago for slaughter. He built a packing plant, bought cattle and land, started a stage coach line to Dead wood and built most of the town. The plant was capable of processing 150 cattle a day but due to drought in the area and finding good quality cattle it never processed more than 80 cattle a day. After losing nearly 1 1/2 million dollars by 1886 his father in law the banker closed it down and they returned to New York.Medora the Musical and Pitchfork Fondue are held at the outdoor amphitheater atop a hill overlooking Medora and the Chateau De mores. The Pitchfok Fondue consists of rib eye steaks cooked in hot oil while stuck on the tines of a pitchfork. This makes for a very delicious and tender steak. The musical is a 2 hour production held in the outdoor amphitheater.
Theodore Roosevelt National park is located in the badlands of ND. There is a 30 mile loop drive through the badlands where you see very pretty scenery, a buffalo herd, a herd of wild horses and many prairie dog towns. Teddy Roosevelt came to ND after the death of two close family members in 1883. He fell in love with the area and established two cattle ranches in the badlands of ND. He said that he would not have become president if not for his experiences in the Bad Lands. While here he became aware of the needs for conservation and thus became known as a great conservationist while he was president.
