The town of Little Missouri was founded in 1880 at the site of the Northern Pacific Railroad section house and depot, on the west bank of the river. In late 1880, Frank Moore, the Post Trader of the nearby military cantonment, opened the Pyramid Park Hotel.The badlands were becoming a destination for hunters, scientists and tourists. The Little Missouri business community soon grew to include Big-Mouthed Bob's Bug Juice Dispensary, a general store, and a boarding house.In 1883 two distinguished visitors stepped off the train at Little Missouri. President Chester A. Arthur was returning from Yellowstone National Park on September 2. The future president Theodore Roosevelt had come west to hunt on September 8.The Marquis de Mores, arriving in April 1883, established a new town on the east side of the river, naming it Medora. As Medora grew, Little Missouri faded.Plans to move the Little Missouri depot to another station failed because the structure was too wide to fit through the railroad bridges. As a result, the depot was sold locally and taken to the HT Ranch, about 40 miles south of Medora.
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