Yankton - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

YANKTON, a city and the county-seat of Yankton county, South Dakota, U.S.A., on the left bank of the Missouri river, about 60 m. N.W. of Sioux City, Iowa. Pop. (5900) 4125 (850 foreign-born); (1910) 3787. It is served by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St Paul, the Great Northern, and the Chicago & North-Western railways. The Missouri is navigable at this point, and the city has a considerable river traffic. Yankton is the seat of Yankton College (founded by Congregationalists in 1881, opened in 1882; now non-sectarian). The city is built on a nearly level plateau, averaging about 1200 ft. above the sea-level. It is in a rich grain-growing and stock-raising district, has grain-elevators, and manufactures flour, beer and cement. The water supply is obtained from artesian wells. The first permanent settlement, a trading post, was made here in 1858, when a treaty was concluded with the Yankton Indians. This was the first settlement made in the Missouri Valley in Dakota. Yankton was laid out in 1859, first chartered as a city in 1869, rechartered in 1873, and in 1910 adopted a commission form of government. In 1861-82 Yankton was the capital of the Territory of Dakota. The name is a corruption of the Sioux name Ihanktonwan, meaning "end village."