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By Jack Dura

The Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. 鈥� Construction is underway for the Theodore Roosevelt presidential library planned in the Badlands of western North Dakota, where the 26th president hunted and ranched as a young man in the 1880s.

The work began June 15 with removal of topsoil for the project鈥檚 cut-fill plan. Builders are beginning construction on the library鈥檚 east retaining wall; an initial concrete pour was completed Monday, library CEO Ed O鈥橩eefe told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

鈥淚f you were to come out on site, you’re seeing a sequence that began with the topsoil, started with the east wing, moves to the west wing and then will move back to the east wing,鈥� he said.

The 93-acre project site is near the venue of the popular Medora Musical and the scenic national park that bears Roosevelt鈥檚 name. The sale of 90 acres of U.S. Forest Service land for the project聽was completed last year; the $81,000 cost was covered by the Roosevelt family. Congress approved the land sale in 2020.

Total construction will cost about $180 million. Work will continue through the winter, barring severe weather.

鈥淲e’re hardy and resilient,鈥� O鈥橩eefe quipped.

鈥淭he anticipated pride moment鈥� will be the delivery of mass timber and steel in spring 2024, he said.

鈥淏y next summer you鈥檙e going to see a very substantial structure on site,鈥� O’Keefe said.

Library organizers are planning a grand opening of the library for July 4, 2026, the 250th anniversary of America鈥檚 founding.

In 2019, North Dakota鈥檚 Republican-controlled聽Legislature approved聽a $50 million operations endowment for the library, contingent upon its organizers raising $100 million in private donations. They announced that goal being reached in fall 2020.

O鈥橩eefe told the AP the project has 鈥渆xceeded over $200 million in fundraising and commitments.鈥� Fundraising 鈥渄oesn’t really ever end,鈥� he said.

The Legislature earlier this year approved for the project a $70 million line of credit through the state-owned Bank of North Dakota. It鈥檚 intended as a backstop for beginning construction. Organizers haven鈥檛 tapped the line of credit, O鈥橩eefe said.

Oil magnate Harold Hamm, a major player in the state鈥檚 Bakken oil field,聽donated $50 million to the project, Gov. Doug Burgum announced in January.

Burgum, a wealthy software entrepreneur聽who is running for president, championed the library proposal in the 2019 session, and with his wife, Kathryn, donated at least $1 million to the project.