The Dakota Dinosaur Museum is their labor of love, an exhibit that features 11 full-scale dinosaurs, including a 25-foot triceratops skeleton and a 6-foot triceratops skull, both of which are real, not casts or sculptures.

Existing mostly on entrance fees and souvenir sales, the husband and wife team has weathered tough times to keep their lives on display for the private, nonprofit corporation.

"It takes a lot of sacrifice to make a museum," Larry League said.

"We just keep cutting until the budget balances," Alice League said.

The shock of the terrorist attacks of 2001 and a sluggish economy have taken its toll on tourism, but especially small museums, Larry League said. To make matters worse, many schools have managed tight budgets by cutting field trips.

But as the summer season opens, there are signs of life. Attendance for the Memorial Day weekend was up 33 percent from a year ago, League said.

"Of course, last year was so bad," he said. "But we really don't look too seriously at attendance until the end of the summer."

John James travels here from Seattle several times a year to do business, and rarely does he leave town without stopping at the museum. Last week he bought $200 worth of rocks and fossils from the gift shop, which accounts for 40 percent of museum revenues. The cost of admission is only $6.

"My desk at home has all kinds of things from this museum," he said. "I wasn't quite sure what to expect when I first came here, but it was a pleasant surprise."

Mayor Dennis Johnson said he sees something new with each visit. "I know attendance has diminished since it first opened," Johnson said. "But that's pretty typical of museums, depending on what's happening in the world."

League, a former professor of geography and geology at Dickinson State University, started dinosaur hunting in 1984. The idea for the museum originated in 1987, when the collection had reached about 10,000 items, he said.

Funding for the building was secured from the city's hospitality tax revenues. Local businesses and individuals also contributed about $275,000 in cash and donated supplies and services. The museum opened in May 1994.