Paddock had been a guide for the Northern Pacific Railway and for George Armstrong Custer, and assistant to Medora promoter the Marquis de Morès.

Paddock's son Billy sold the range rights in 1885 to Benjamin S. Lamb, a 22-year old rancher, variously stated to have come from Ohio or Boston.

Sources speculate that he may have been a relative of Hugh Lamb, an architect with ties to Theodore Roosevelt, who in turn was involved in ranching in the Medora area.

Carl eventually assumed ownership of the ranch, keeping horses, cattle, turkeys and chickens, and growing crops to feed the animals.

In 1936 the Olsen family sold the ranch to the National Park Service, establishing the core of the Roosevelt Recreation Demonstration Area.

When a new visitor center was built in 1959 as part of the Mission 66 program, the ranch lost most of its functions, becoming a Park Service residence until 1965.

The central portion of the house is abutted on the front and north sides by enclosed porches, and on the rear by a log extension .

[9] The main house is, with the Maltese Cross Cabin, one of two remaining structures in the park from the settlement of western North Dakota, and the only one on its original site.