Page 10 Check Us Out at www.WinchesterCollector.org The rifle was purchased from Dexter by L.E. Phillips, father of the well-known gun collector Philip R. Phillips. He then shipped it to his son who subsequently donated it to the Woolaroc Museum in Bartlesville, Oklahoma. The presentation inscription is a fake! In 1885, when the gun was supposedly presented, North Dakota was still a Territory and did not achieve statehood until November 2, 1889. Communication with Kenneth Meek, Director of the Woolaroc Museum, indicated that the Museum had correspondence from John S. du Mont, a well-known firearms collector who had seen the rifle and in March 1981 wrote the letter illustrated. He, along with Leon “Red” Jackson, the prominent Dallas, Texas gun dealer, believed that the rifle was a fabrication. Du Mont further stated that the gun originated from Maurice Clark, a California collectordealer. His letter further states “Clark peddled a lot of fakes and that is one”. The rifle is a deluxe Third Model 1873 with no serial number on the lower tang. Inside serial and assembly numbers are mismatched on the stock, buttplate and inside tang. The museum staff concurred with duMont and the rifle was withdrawn from exhibition. Mr. Meek told me it probably will never be placed back on exhibit with mention of its supposed connection to Roosevelt or the Marquis. Theodore Roosevelt went on to become President of the United States. Antoine de Vallambrosa, the Marquis de Mores fared less well. He failed in his grandiose attempt to found a western beef empire. Several things had prevailed against him. Although his wife’s family was wealthy, de Mores himself was not and his father inlaw withdrew support from the enterprise. The blizzards and severe winter of 1885-1886 decimated western cattle herds including that of de Mores. Moreover, the Eastern meat packers Armour and Swift, along with the railroads successfully conspired against his endeavor and perhaps especially, Eastern consumers preferred grain fed beef rather than the grass fed beef from Medora. His Dakota empire finally collapsed and he left Medora with his wife, never to return. He undertook further adventure in Indochina where he was commissioned by the French Army to build a railroad from the Chinese border to the Gulf of Tonkin. Political intrigue led to the failure of this project and he was recalled to France. The Marquis then traveled to Algeria and in 1895 participated in a plot to drive the British from North Africa. There he was killed in the Sahara by Taureg tribesmen. While the Antoine de Vallambrosa failed to create an “Omaha of the North”, he did succeed in founding a town that still exists and remains a fascinating place to visit. In 1947 the Theodore Roosevelt National Park was established in Medora along with a fine museum exhibiting two of Roosevelt’s elegant Model 1876 Winchesters and the cabin from the Maltese Cross Ranch. Today all that remains of de Mores empire is the chimney of the meat packing plant and the chateau he built upon the hill.
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