Lance Rustand as the Marquis de Mores in History Alive! All photos are courtesy of the State Historical Society of North Dakota.

MEDORA — Generations of North Dakotans have enjoyed trips to Medora and to the Chateau de Mores, the home of the Marquis de Mores, a French nobleman who came to North Dakota in the 1880s with dreams of revolutionizing the beef packing industry.

A few years later, the Marquis’ hopes were felled when a North Dakota blizzard decimated cattle herds in the region, but the hunting lodge he built in Medora has remained as a historic site dedicated to telling his story.

Anna Killian, site supervisor, said the Chateau de Mores State Historic Site has lots of plans for the coming season.

The 80th annual Harry Roberts Memorial Easter Egg Hunt was slated to be held on Easter Sunday.

“We’ve been doing this since 1941,” said Killian.

In that year, the first site supervisor, Harry Roberts, started a tradition that has “grown and grown” in the years since. Medora residents painted eggs and hid them for treasure hunters to find on the grounds.

Six years ago, the Easter Egg hunt was moved to Chimney Park on the western edge of Medora. Killian said organizers planned to hide some 6,000 Easter eggs and give out 12 grand prizes this year.

“We’re tickled with it,” said Killian.

This is also the third year the town has offered sensory-friendly Easter egg hunts in another location in town for children who have disabilities that make them more sensitive to the noise and bustle. Beeping eggs were hidden in a bin of rice which enabled the egg seekers to listen and find.

There will also be events planned on the porch at the Chateau for “History Alive” weekends between Labor Day and Memorial Day. Each weekend will feature a Chautauqua-like performance by an actor portraying one of the historic figures at the Chateau.

Visitors will be able to interact with actors portraying historic figures like the Marquis — his full name was Antoine-Amedee-Marie-Vincent Manca Amat de Vallombrosa, Marquis de Mores et de Montemaggiore — and listen to a 30-minute vignette and ask questions about his larger-than-life existence. Those who want to learn more might choose to pay the fee for entrance to the Chateau and take a tour of the hunting lodge.

Other fun activities will include wagon rides through the river bottom lands surrounding the Chateau on select weekends.

Killian said the Marquis and his family stayed at the Chateau from 1883 to 1886.

When the Marquis arrived in 1883, a military outpost was all that was located on the site. The locals who lived around Little Missouri wryly nicknamed it “Little Misery” because of the rough Badlands terrain. But the Marquis saw the potential in the gorgeous landscape and wanted to make more out of the town he named “Medora” in honor of his wife.

“He envisioned that he would be able to bring to Medora and this region what Chicago had been to the Midwest,” she said.

The Marquis was an acquaintance, not a friend, of the future president Teddy Roosevelt, the other famous one-time resident of Medora. These two “two big bull frogs in a tiny little mud puddle” had wildly different lifestyles and left different legacies, said Killian.

Roosevelt is known for his efforts to preserve the West and the Marquis wanted to establish an empire.

In the 1880s, Killian said, ranchers had to bring their cattle to a station to be transported by rail to Chicago for slaughter. The journey could be 1,000 miles or more, which was rough on the cattle and detrimental to profits. The Marquis planned to slaughter the cattle and process the beef locally and then ship the meat to other localities.

“It was a really good idea on paper but it didn’t come to fruition,” said Killian.

Economic and climate conditions thwarted his grand plan. He had stiff competition from Chicago, big western financial boom was beginning to fizzle out and towns east of the Missouri River along with it, and a blizzard in 1886 killed hundreds of cattle in the fields.

Ultimately, the business failed. The Marquis and his family packed up their belongings and left Medora and, though they had planned to return the following year, never again lived at the Chateau.

The Marquis was involved in politics and other ventures before he was assassinated in Algeria in 1896. Killian said he had been part of a wagon train that was crossing the Sahara Desert, scouting out possible trade routes for France. Some of the tour guides turned on the group and murdered the Marquis.

Medora, his wife, also led a colorful and adventurous life and eventually lived in Cannes, France, after the Marquis’ death.

Killian said Medora once led hunting safaris to the mountains where she would hunt grizzly bears. That spirit of fearlessness accompanied her everywhere she went, including when she went to Nepal to hunt tigers. She contracted dysentery on her trip to Nepal. She died in 1921 in Cannes.

The Chateau also had an interesting afterlife after its owners left it behind. The family hired caretakers for the property who tended to it. In the 1920s, a sheriff resided there for a time. At one time, it was a boarding house, said Killian. Eventually the Marquis’ son Louis, who was dedicated to its preservation, gifted the property to the North Dakota Historical Society in the 1930s. The Civilian Conservation Corps completed the first restoration of the Chateau between 1939 and 1941.

For over 80 years, the Historical Society has helped preserve the legacy and ensure that future generations of North Dakotans will be able to enjoy the site and the story of the Marquis de Mores.