I just fell in love with it,'' he says. It's not an easy job. Townsfolk are grappling with how best to lure more people and get them to stay longer while keeping Medora's Old West, small-town flavor. Theodore Roosevelt came to the badlands in September 1883 to hunt buffalo and other big game and wound up buying part interest in a couple of cattle ranches. His cabin is a major tourist attraction.
Kids ride their bikes past horse-drawn carriages full of visitors.
Grown-ups mow their lawns or tend gardens while tourists stroll by. The houses are small and informal. Naw, we don't mind the tourists. One army general, during a campaign against the Sioux in 1864, described it as ''hell with the fires out . . . Today, elk and buffalo have been reintroduced to the area.