Theodore Roosevelt Badlands Timeline 1884 to 1886

Romantics believe after TR lost his wife and mother on the same day in the same house he went west to the Badlands to recover.  They credit his days in the Dakota Territory for saving his life and forging the personality that would enable him to become president. 

Truth is TR’s recovery could only take place in NY simply because Edith was in NY.  It only took a few fleeting moments seeing Edith walk down a staircase for TR to instantly change his view of life and the world. 

After meeting Edith he changed the name of his Oyster Bay estate from Leeholm, a gift to his first wife, to Sagamore Hill a clear indication he was erasing the past in favor of a future with Edith.  

Eleven months of cattle drives, hunting trips, bronco busting and sleeping under the stars failed to create any meaningfully change in Roosevelt’s life.  Nothing in the Dakota Territory could compete with Edith's smile.  It only took two months in New York for TR to propose to Edith on November 17th.  She accepted and Roosevelt’s recovery was complete.

From that point forward TR began to make plans to return east.  All he had to show for his time in the Badlands was a broken shoulder, several cracked ribs and a business failure costing him $710,0O0 in today’s money.   

It was in New York City where TR turned his life around. For the first time since Alice’s death TR resumed entries in his diary.  It’s in New York where he begins making plans for a new life with Edith.  It’s in New York where he walks away from being a rancher and returns to politics on his way to becoming president.

1884  (6 Months in the Badlands)

  • February 12 - Alice Lee Roosevelt, born
  • Returns to NYC from Albany after receiving telegram his wife and mother are ill
  • February 14 - Mother Martha Bulloch Roosevelt dies of typhoid fever; hours later, his wife Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt dies from Bright’s Disease.  (kidney failure)
  • March begin building home in Oyster Bay.
  • June 3 - Delegate to Republican National Convention.
  • June 9 – Arrives in Medora.  He bought  450 head of cattle an attempt to cash in on the newly profitable Beef Bonanza that  used refrigerated cars to ship beef east. He establishes the Elkhorn Ranch.
  • August - Bill Sewel arrives to help manage the ranch.
  • August 23 in a bar fight in Mingusville, Montana, now Wilbaux.
  • September - Hunting trip to Bighorn Mtns.  
  • October - Returns to New York to work on Blaine presidential campaign.
  • Returns to Badlands after the November election. 
  • December - Helps organize the Little Missouri River Stockmen’s Association.
  • Returns to New York December 19th for Christmas and to spend the winter in NY.

1885 (5 Months in Badlands)

  • During the winter 1884-1885 he authored the 95,000 word Hunting Trips of a Ranchman.  He writes, ”the cattle industry of the Badlands was unsustainable.  Ranchmen flooded the plans with cattle and with no regulation the region became over grazed.” 
  • Returns to the Badlands in April.
  • May rides in the 32 day Spring Roundup.
  • May Sagamore Hill is completed.
  • July 7th returns to NY.
  • August back in the Badlands. 
  • September the Marquis de Morès sent a letter to TR from a jail cell in Bismarck, Dakota Territory threatening a dual.
  • TR Returns to NY by mid-September and sees Edith.  It took place as Edith was leaving TR’s sister Anna’s parlor and was making her way down the stairs when they bumped into one another in the hallway. That meeting, whether by chance, or design irrevocably changed their lives.  At first they met privately in secret, but as the social season progressed during the lead up to Thanksgiving and Christmas the meetings became more public.
  • TR invited Edith to the Meadowbrook Hunt Ball October 26th the day before his birthday. In the hunt he broke his left arm after his horse rolled over on him. 
  • November 17th, his arm in a sling, TR proposes to Edith who accepts. 
  • TR put off returning to Medora until 1886, after the winter.  Custer passed through on his way to the Little Big Horn and called the country “worthless.”  Owen Wister said it was a land perfect for intrigue and murder with only the cold blue sky as a witness

1886  (7 Months in Badlands)

  • TR returns to Medora in March.
  • Late March, TR, Bill Sewall and Wilmot Dow capture boat thieves.
  • April - Acts as delegate to Montana Stock Growers Association
  • July 4 - Delivers famous July 4th speech in Dickinson as Orator of the Day.
  • August - Hunts mountain goats in Montana
  • October he is back in NY running for NYC Mayor
  • November - Loses race to Abram Hewitt
  • December 2 – Secretly marries Edith Carow in London and then a 15 week honeymoon in Europe until March.
  • 1886 - 1887 one of the worst winters in recorded history hits the Dakota Territory ending Roosevelt's days as a rancher.  He leaves the Bandlands and calls it quits preferring to live at Sagamore Hill with Edith.

It's believed Roosevelt's Maltese Cross Cabin was dismantled and reasembled for exhibit at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It became one of the most popular attractions.  Visitors carved their initials in the wood and chipped off pieces to bring home as souvenirs.  

Badlands contemporaries claimed the cabin was a replica put together by the state.  That started a rumor that when Roosevelt was at the exhibit he couldn't recognize the cabin.  Defenders claim TR said he remembered the decorative Maltese Cross made of shell casings.  

On the day of his visit TR's itinerary was so jam packed there's no formal record he ever verified the cabin's authenticity.

After the fair the Maltese Cross embarked on a nationwide tour.  In 1959 it was put on permeant display in North Dakota at the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, the only National Park named for a president.