SEPT 8: T.R. Arrives in Dakota Territory

On Sept. 8, 1883, future President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt arrives by train at the Little Missouri depot in Dakota Territory. He came to the territory for the first time to hunt bison. While on the trip, he stayed at the Pyramid Park Hotel and met Joe Ferris, who became his hunting guide.

Theodore Roosevelt’s cabin at the Maltese Cross Ranch in Dakota Territory. (Credit: Library of Congress)

Roosevelt was a New York assemblyman at the time. He fell in love with the rugged lifestyle of the West and "perfect freedom" of the Badlands. This experience inspired him to invest in the Maltese Cross Ranch, according to the North Dakota Tourism Division.

Few realized at the time that what started as a desire by an Easterner to see the great American West before it disappeared would lead to a long-lasting relationship between the rough and rugged North Dakota Badlands and the future president.

While that first hunting trip ignited his passion for Dakota Territory (North Dakota became a state in 1889), the tragic loss of Roosevelt’s wife and mother on Valentine’s Day 1884 drove an emotionally crushed man to the Badlands to mourn, reflect and re-energize.

Roosevelt established the Elkhorn Ranch that he often referred to as his “home ranch.” He would return to North Dakota to hunt or tend to his cattle business in 13 of the next 14 years and on various campaign “whistle stops” through 1918.

Roosevelt served as president from 1901 to 1909 and died on Jan. 6, 1919, at the age of 60.