Painted Canyon

Gordon Louis Mortensen

Theodore Roosevelt first came to the Badlands of the Dakota Territory from New York in 1883 to hunt bison. Having been a sportsman-hunter all his life he gradually realized that natural resources were not inexhaustible. Roosevelt became one of the greatest conservationists of all time and, while serving as President of the United States between 1901 and 1909, he created the United States Forest Service, established 150 national forests, fifty-one federal bird reserves, four national parks, and eighteen national monuments.

The proposal of a national park to honor President Teddy Roosevelt was put forth shortly after his death on 6 January 1919. After more than two decades of studies, tours, proposals, and political maneuvering, the Theodore Roosevelt National Wildlife Refuge came into being in November 1946. The following year it was established as a national memorial park and, thirty-one years later in 1978, it underwent boundary changes and was designated the Theodore Roosevelt National Park. President Jimmy Carter signed the bill that changed it from a memorial park to a national park. Today the park encompasses 70,448 acres.

Painted Canyon, a color reduction woodcut by Gordon Mortensen, pays homage to the grandeur of the North Dakota badlands. The “painted” stripes were formed over the millennia as ash, mud, silt and sand settled into the swampy region that was once home to prehistoric crocodiles. The Little Missouri River and its tributaries cross all three Theodore Roosevelt National Park Units and are the primary surface-water features in the park.