The Bad Lands Cow Boy

Medora's frontier newspaper, every surviving issue, transcribed and searchable. Week by week, it's the town Theodore Roosevelt knew, in its own words.

Front page masthead of The Bad Lands Cow Boy, Medora, Dakota, September 10, 1885
The town Roosevelt knew, in its own words

The Bad Lands Cow Boy was the weekly newspaper of Little Missouri and Medora, Dakota Territory, from February 1884 to the end of 1886, the years Theodore Roosevelt ranched on the Little Missouri. Every surviving issue is now transcribed and sorted into a day-by-day record of the town: round-ups and railroad news, saloons and stage lines, the Marquis de Morès and Roosevelt himself.

Open the Cow Boy archive

131

Every surviving issue, February 1884 to December 1886

514,000

Words of local news, editorials and notices, transcribed

4,200+

Dated events, each linked to its spot on the page

1,800+

People named in the paper, with bios of the 454 who appear most

A newspaper for a cow town

A. T. Packard, a young University of Michigan graduate, came west on the Northern Pacific and printed the first issue of The Bad Lands Cow Boy on February 7, 1884, at Little Missouri, beside the new town of Medora. It was a four-page weekly at $2 a year. Two pages were Packard's own: local items, editorials, range news, legal notices, ads and columns of cattle brands. The other two were "ready-print," national filler bought already printed.

Roosevelt called at the Cow Boy office, and the paper followed his comings and goings. On June 26, 1884, it reported: "Theodore Rosevelt, the young New York reformer, made us a very pleasant call Monday, in full cow-boy regalia." The misspelling is the paper's.

The office burned about January 14, 1887, and the paper ended with it. The last surviving issue is dated December 23, 1886. The name lives on: The Bad Lands Cow Boy is still printed today as a yearly souvenir edition.

This week in Medora

What the Cow Boy reported for this week of the year, in 1884, 1885 and 1886. It changes every day.

Explore the Cow Boy

Questions about the Cow Boy

The weekly newspaper of Little Missouri and Medora, Dakota Territory. A. T. Packard printed the first issue on February 7, 1884, and published it through the years Theodore Roosevelt ranched on the Little Missouri. The office burned in January 1887 and the paper ended.

He knew it well. The paper reported his arrivals and departures, printed his notices as chairman of the Little Missouri stockmen's association, and recorded his calls at its office. See Roosevelt in the Cow Boy.

131 issues, from February 7, 1884 to December 23, 1886. The Library of Congress holds them, scanned from the State Historical Society of North Dakota's microfilm. About 20 weeks are missing. Items from 13 of those weeks have been recovered where other papers reprinted them with a Cow Boy credit.

The original machine-read text of 1880s newsprint is often gibberish. For this project, AI read each column of local content directly from full-resolution page scans. Original spelling and wording are kept, and words that couldn't be read are marked. Every item sits one click from its page image, so check the scan before quoting.

Yes. The newspaper is in the public domain. Cite the paper itself, for example: The Bad Lands Cow Boy (Medora, Dakota Territory), July 8, 1886, p. 1. Library of Congress, Chronicling America. Every event, person and issue can be downloaded from the archive's Embed & Data page.

Yes, as a yearly souvenir edition. Packard's original paper ended when its office burned in January 1887.

The Library is in Medora, steps from the town Packard wrote about. The Marquis de Morès's chateau is a state historic site above town, and the chimney of his packing plant still stands. Plan your trip at trlibrary.com/visit.

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