YANKTON COUNTY Yankton County lies on the Missouri River in the southeastern part of Dakota, in latitude (central through the county), 43 degrees north, and between 20º 8' and 20º 35' longitude west from Washington. It is bounded on the north by Turner and Hutchinson counties, on the south by the Missouri River, which separates it from the State of Nebraska, on the east by Clay and Turner counties, and on the west by Bon Homme County. It contains 12 full congressional and 5 fractional townships of land, its approximate area being 24 x 22 miles, equivalent to 528 square miles or 337,920 square acres. The James or Dakota River passes through the county diagonally from northwest to southeast, dividing it into two nearly equal portions. The immediate valley of this stream averages about one mile in width. There are several smaller streams in the county, but none of importance. In the southeastern part are a number of exceedingly crooked bayous, most probably portions of former channels of the James River. In the Missouri River are several islands, the most important of which is Elk Island, a short distance below Yankton, which contains several hundred acres. The Missouri River bottoms in this county vary in width from one mile to several miles and are very fertile. The county is made up of rolling prairie, and river and creek bottoms, and is unexcelled in the production of grass, small grains, Indian corn and vegetables. Stock raising is an important industry and considerable attention is paid to the growing of flax. It is generally well watered, and in and around Yankton a number of artesian wells, varying in depth from 300 to 500 feet, have been sunk, producing an abundant flow of generally excellent water. It is more or less impregnated with iron, soda, magnesia, etc., and possesses valuable medicinal qualities. The natural timber growth is confined mostly to the valley of the Missouri, where it is found in considerable bodies, consisting principally of cottonwood, elm, box-elder, willow and oak. Within the city limits of Yankton the chalk-like formation of the Cretaceous period outcrops along the Missouri bluffs, and is being considerably utilized for building purposes. (See geological chapters). Brick clay of very good quality is also found in various places, and an extensive business in the manufacture of brick is being carried on at Yankton. A high range of bluffs borders the Missouri River above Yankton, and the James River is flanked on either side by lesser elevations. There are few lakes or marshes in the county. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway traverses the county southeast and northwest, and other prominent lines will no doubt make Yankton an important point in the near future. The county ranks among the best in southeastern Dakota for general farming and stock raising purposes. Yankton County, twenty-five years ago, was the nucleus around which centered the exciting scenes of the early settlement of southeastern Dakota, covering the lower Missouri and Big Sioux valleys. The earliest settlements in Dakota, with the exception of those made in the valley of the Red River of the North, were along the Missouri from Running Water to the mouth of the Big Sioux, and in the valley of the latter stream from Sioux Falls southward. The history of Yankton County is closely interwoven with that of the city of Yankton, which for twenty years was the most prominent place in the territory, and we shall therefore treat of the two together. We have culled a considerable amount of valuable matter from a small but most excellent and reliable history of the region, compiled by M. K. Armstrong, an early and prominent settler at Yankton. EARLY SETTLEMENT The first white person to make a permanent location within the limits of Yankton County, is believed to have been Major W. P. Lyman, who established a government ferry on the Dakota River, about six miles east of the site of Yankton, in May, 1857. This ferry was on the route of travel between the Iowa settlements on the Missouri River and Fort Randall above Yankton. Before the establishment of this ferry, the government express followed the old military trail between Sioux City and Fort Randall along the river bluffs, crossing the Dakota River several miles north of the site of Yankton, at what is known as the rapids, where the river was fordable. This express was carried once a week by A. C. Vanmeter, usually on a horse or mule and leading a pack animal. Upon the establishment of the ferry the Government mail, express and trains took the new route. The first actual settler, where the city of Yankton was afterward laid out, according to the most reliable information, was George D. Fiske, who pitched his tent some time in March, 1858. He came as the agent of Messrs. Frost, Todd & Co., post sutlers at Fort Randall, who had assigned him to this location as their resident agent and trader, to conduct mercantile business with the Indians and whatever whites might settle around the station. Permanent trading houses were built for the firm in June, 1858, by Major Wyman, at Yankton, on Smutty Bear's camping ground, nine miles above Yankton, and on the Dakota River below. Mr. Armstrong relates that in the trading house at Yankton which stood near the river, there were sixteen red cedar logs which had been floated down in the form of a raft from Fort Pierre, more than 200 miles above, by Mr. P. Dupuis. At this time, Charles F. Picotte, a half breed, born in Dakota about 1830, had a claim of 640 acres covering part of the present townsite of Yankton, lying mostly in Section 18, Town 93 north, Range 55 west. He understood and spoke both the Sioux and English languages, and became very useful as an interpreter, his services being often in demand. He is still a resident of this valley, being located at the agency of the Yanktonnais band, forty miles above Yankton. The trading house was put up on his claim, and he resided with Mr. Fiske for a considerable time. Picotte was granted 640 acres of land at the time of the Yankton treaty. He sold most of the tract to various individuals, but still owns several lots and buildings in Yankton. Captain J. B. S. Todd was also granted a tract of 160 acres, lying west of and adjoining Picotte's. Both grants were made as compensation for important military and other services. (Captain Todd, who afterward rose to the rank of Brigadier General, was a native of Kentucky and a cousin of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. His father's family resided in Springfield, Ill., from the time of his boyhood. He was a graduate of West Point, and at the time he is introduced to the reader in Southern Dakota, was a captain in the United States Army. He was one of the most influential men in consummating the treaty with the Indians, in April, 1858, and filled several important positions in the gift of the people of Dakota. - See General History) Probably the next comers into the county were Enos Stutsman, J. S. Presho and E. Chapel, sometime in the autumn of 1858. These gentlemen were connected with the firm of Frost, Todd & Co., and occupied the trading house for a considerable time. About the same time, James M. Stone and David Fisher came into the county and stopped for a time at the trading house built at the crossing of the Dakota River. These last named gentlemen made the first claims in the county outside the townsite of Yankton. In February, 1858, a number of capitalists formed what was known as the Upper Missouri Land Co. Among them were Captain Todd, Judge Hubbard, Dr. Cook, Dr. Yeomans and Enos Stutsman. Early in 1859, when it became generally known that the Indians had ceded a portion of their lands in southeastern Dakota, settlers began to come in increasing numbers, and by July the influx was very great. The first families to settle in the county were those of John Stanage, Felix Le Blanc, Thomas Frek and Henry Arend, who all made claims and opened farms along the Dakota River. The first land broken by the white man's plow in Yankton County was in June, 1859, on the claims if Captain Todd, C. F. Picotte, L. M. Griffith, and P. Dupuis. Soon after the removal of the Indians to their reservation, the Upper Missouri Land Company was dissolved, and a new one, called the Yankton Land and Town Company was formed. In August, of the last named year, the town plat of Yankton was surveyed and laid out under the auspices of the old land company, of which Enos Stutsman was secretary, by John P. Culver, a surveyor of Sioux City, Iowa. The Yankton Claim Club was organized in the fall of 1859. A constitution and by-laws were adopted, and the members pledged themselves to stand by each other in a mututal defense of their claims, in case of litigation or other difficulty. On the 12th of October, 1859, M. K. Armstrong, George Krafft and William Thompson entered the Territory by way of Sioux Falls, with an ox team, and encamped on the Dakota (James) River, near Yankton, at a point where John Stanage was erecting a ferry house. Mrs. Stanage was then the only white woman in the county east of the Dakota River. Mr. Armstrong, in speaking of the early settlements, remembered the following as residents of the valley at that time: John LaFavre, L. G. Bourret, John Stanage, J. M. Stone, F. Johnson, M. Minde, C. Hanson, J. Allseth, John Betz, Henry Arend, Thomas Frek, William Newman and John Cloud. Along the old Government trail, for fifty miles west of the ferry, at that time there was not a white man's habitation. Frost appeared early in September of that year, and prairie fires in the dry grass were of frequent occurrence. On the 16th of the month, a party of soldiers traveling over the road with an ox team was caught in a prairie fire and two of the men lost their lives. These fires destroyed a large amount of hay and other property, one party, the Johnson brothers, losing ninety tons of hay in stacks. The ferry house of J. M. Stone was in imminent danger, but was saved by the Indian women encamped nearby, who whipped the fire out with wet blankets. Armstrong gives a laughable account of the blowing down of the tent of his party in the night during a heavy wind. The ridge pole fell upon William Thompson, strikinghim on the head and rousing him from sound sleep. He jumped from his couch, and with a wild yell, ran madly toward the river, supposing that the camp was attacked by Indians, and that his head had been split open with a tomahawk. At that time Yankton was known as "Strike the Ree's Camp," from the fact that the well known chief of the Yanktonnais, "The man that was struck by the Ree," with his band, was encamped there. It then contained two log cabins, the trading house of Frost, Todd & Co., and the dwellings of C. F. Picotte. The trading house was in charge of Frank Chapel. D. T. Bramble had a store building partly completed, and he was then in Sioux City purchasing goods. The pioneer land owners in and around Yankton were C. F. Picotte, Captain Todd, G. D. Fiske, Obed Foote, F. Chapel, J. S. Presho, William Worderbaugh, James Witherspoon, David Fisher, O. B. Wheeler, George Pike, L. M. Griffith and William Houston, later known as the "Old Yankee." At Smutty Bear's Camp, nine miles above Yankton, there was a trading house in charge of Major Lyman, and there were living with him Samuel Mortimer, Samuel Jerou and A. B. Smith. The total population of Yankton County at that period numbered thirty-six white persons - twenty-seven men, four women and five children. On the 8th of November, 1859, a meeting, called for the purpose of petitioning Congress for a Territorial organization, was held in Bramble's unfinished store. D. T. Bramble was chairman, and M. K. Armstrong, secretary of the meeting. Captain J. B. S. Todd, Obed Foote and Thomas Frek were appointed a committee to draft resolutions. General D. M. Frost, of St. Louis, a stockholder in the Yankton Land Company, was present and addressed the meeting. Captain Todd, G. D. Fiske and J. M. Stone were appointed a committee to draw up a memorial to Congress. Captain Todd erected a small law office in the winter of 1859. About the same time, the log tavern of H. C. Ash was completed, and on Christmas day, 1859, his family arrived and took possession. Their first night in Yankton was passed in the old ranche near the river. Mrs. Ash was the first resident white woman in Yankton. During the same winter, Thomas Frek and Henry Arend put up the walls of the fourth dwelling in Yankton. The river was closed by ice on the 6th of December. In February, 1860, D. W. Reynolds came with his family from Nebraska, his wife being the second white woman in the place. About thirty claim holders were scattered over the county, keeping "bachelor's hall." Messrs. Fiske, Thompson, Pike and Armstrong encamped in the timber on the river bottom, about four miles below Yankton for the winter. They had a novel sawmill in operation during the winter. It was constructed by projecting two long, parallel timbers over the river bank, on which was placed the log to be sawed, and the feat of cutting it into rough lumber was accomplished by two men, one standing above, the other below, and working a whip-saw. About 5,000 feet of lumber were cut in this way, including the frames of four dwellings. The greater part of the material for Bramble's store was hauled by teams from North Bend, Neb., thirty-five miles away. Thirteen lodges of Santee Sioux surrounded the camp in the timber. The Indians were engaged during the winter in hunting and trapping between the Missouri and Dakota rivers. The pioneer cabins of those days were built mostly of logs or sods, with sod roofs and dirt floors. One settler on the Dakota River wintered in an underground house, roofed over four logs above the ground. The entrance was down a broad stairway cut in the ground. In the month of December, 1859, Michael Fisher, from Pennsylvania, came into the county via Sioux City, traveling from the latter place on foot to Yankton, in the midst of the worst storm of the season. During the same winter, Judge J. R. Hanson came over from Nebraska, where he had resided for about a year, and erected a house on his land lying northeast of Yankton. The first jury trial in the county was held at Bramble's store, March 31, 1860, under the management of the Yankton Land and Town Company, to settle title to a disputed claim between George Gilmore and Major Lyman. The jury was composed of D. W. Reynolds, J. S. Presho, L. M. Griffith, D. W. Whitmer, Robert Crippen and P. Dupuis. J. R. Hanson, H. T. Bailey, C. F. Picotte, S. Whitmer and James Falkenburg were witnesses, and the suit was decided in favor of Major Lyman. In April, 1860, the family of Obed Foote arrived at Yankton and took quarters for a time in the law office of Captain Todd. In May, the family of J. M. Stone arrived from Ohio, and found lodgment during the summer at the ferry house on the Dakota River. On the 26th of the same month, what was known as the "mountain fleet," comprising the steamers "Key West", "Spread Eagle" and "Chippewa", arrived at Yankton from below. At some period during the preceding winter, a party, consisting of Helge Anderson, Holver Brynnelson, Colber Olson and Ole Samson, crossed the river from Nebraska, and settled in the oak timber opposite St. Helena, below the mouth of the Dakota River. The first social party in the county was given July 4, 1860, at the house of Mrs. Foote. Music was furnished by Messrs. Wheeler and Stone, with flute and violin. A number of ladies from Nebraska were presented, and also a few passengers from the steamer "Twilight", lying at the landing. The first religious discourse was delivered by Rev. C. D. Martin, in February, 1859. Rev. Melancthon Hoyt, of the Episcopal Church, and S. W. Ingham, held semi-monthly services in the law office of Captain Todd, then occupied by Enos Stutsman. William Huston, the "Old Yankee," also occasionally delivered a discourse on the "uncertainty of life in a land of Indians and vipers," and William Marslin, a Hebrew, preached on the great sin, under the Mosaic law, of "eating pork at twenty cents per pound." A post-office was first established at Yankton in the summer of 1860, and D. T. Bramble was the first postmaster. Previous to this the mail for Yankton had been left at the ferry on the Dakota River. The migration to the county during the year 1860 was very light. In July, T. A. McLeese and family, from Yanktonnais agency, located in Yankton, and in October Henry Bradley from Fort Randall, and J. H. Greenweay, from Sioux Falls, with their families, settled in the Dakota River below Yankton. In the fall of 1860, there were eleven families and a considerable number of bachelors settled in the county. During the season of 1860, nine steamers arrived at the landing. In the fall of 1860, the United States surveyors, Ball and Darling, ran the exterior lines of the two tiers of townships lying along the Missouri River from the mouth of the Big Sioux to the Yankton agency. They also subdivided into sections the two fractional townships in which the city of Yankton is situated. The settlers were so anxious to know where the lines were to be, that, while the surveyors were busy running township lines, they traced many of the section lines and chained them south to the river, and from these approximate lines blocked out their respective claims. The "squatter" boundaries were changed by the regular survey about three chains north and four chains west of their original location. The west line of Town 93 north, Range 55 west, passed along the west side of Broadway, in Yankton, and the east line passed through the ferry-house of John Stanage, six miles below, on the Dakota River. The Missouri was very low in the fall of 1860, and on the 21st of October the steamer "Florence", from below was obliged to land her cargo of freight for Yankton four miles below the place, and return to St. Louis. The only buildings erected in Yankton, in 1860, were the dwellings of McLeese and Patterson, put up in the fall. The river closed with ice on the 26th of November. The following winter was long and severe. On the 10th of February, 1861, George D. Fiske, the first white settler, perished in a terrible storm, within a half-mile of the town. This was the first death in Yankton, and it cast a deep gloom over the community. There being no clergyman in the place, the funeral obsequies were conducted by his immediate friends. On the 13th of March. 1861, news of the approval of the bill granting Territorial organization to Dakota was received in Yankton, and caused great rejoicing. The first steamer from below in the spring of 1861, the "Omaha" arrived at Yankton on the 21st of April. On the 6th of June, 1861, the first number of the "Weekly Dakotaian" (now the "Press and Dakotaian") was issued by Messrs. Ziebach & Freney for the Dakotaian Company. This paper, under different ownerships, has continued to the present day, and is one of the best known, most widely circulated and among the ablest papers that have sprung into existence in the Territory. It was the first permanent journal issued in Dakota. Among the prominent settlers of 1861 was Major DeWitt, whose first visit to Dakota was in 1857, when he came into the Territory via Lake Benton, Minn., with an exploring party. The Major spent two seasons in the Territory, mostly between the Big Sioux and Missouri rivers. The party first reached the Missouri at old Fort Lookout. He recollects seeing herds of buffalo in the vicinity of Sioux Falls in 1857. He was engaged in the Indian trade for fourteen years and visited all parts of northern and central Dakota. The Major is living a quiet life at Yankton, where he settled in 1861. Yankton had been designated as the Territorial capital, and in June the advance of the Territorial officers, Newton Edmunds, chief clerk in the Surveyor General's office, arrived and opened an office in Bramble's building. Governor Jayne also arrived about the same time and opened the executive office in a log building opposite Ash's tavern. (The executive record in the Secretary's office shows that the Governor arrived in May) M. K. Armstrong was appointed Justice of the Peace, and L. M. Griffith, Constable. J. D. Morse and Obed Foote were appointed to take the first census of Yankton County, which showed 278 white inhabitants. In August, the steamer "Morrow", with Indian annuities on board, was snagged and sank near the southeastern corner of the county, and the Yankton home guards were ordered out to protect the boat and cargo. At the first general election in September, eighty-six votes were cast for delegate in Congress - eighty-five for Captain Todd and one for C. P. Booge. The judges of this election for Yankton were Frank Chapel, J. S. Presho and M. K. Armstrong. Yankton improved slowly. During the summer of 1861, W. N. Collamer, A. Robarre and William Burdeno erected three buildings on the west side of Broadway. In the winter of 1861-2, company A, Dakota cavalry, was recruited at Yankton as an infantry company for the United States service, but the order was subsequently changed, and it was ordered mounted for frontier service in Dakota. Twenty-three men enlisted in this company from Yankton County. In March, 1862, there was a great flood in the Missouri River. An immense ice gorge formed below the mouth of the Dakota River, and the backwater overflowed the wide bottoms on both sides of the river from Yankton to the Big Sioux River. In places the sheet of water was like a vast lake, twelve miles in width, reaching from the Nebraska bluffs to Turkey Ridge in Dakota. Every settler on these bottoms, with family and herds was compelled to fly to higher lands for safety. People traveled in row boats at will over the whole region lying between Sioux City and Yankton. Greenway's landing on the Dakota River was changed a mile and a half during the continuance of high water, a period of three weeks. The Indians said it was the highest rise in nineteen years. The first Legislature for the Territory convened under the Governor's call at Yankton, on the 17th of March, 1862. The council met in one building and the house in another. At this session Yankton was made the permanent capital of the Territory. The session, according to the executive record, was anything but a harmonious one, the excitement and turbulence among the members becoming at times so serious that the governor finally ordered twenty armed soldiers, a la Cromwell, to be placed on duty to preserve the peace. At this session a bill was passed establishing, among others the county of Yankton with its present boundaries, and the following officers were appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Council: Register of Deeds, William Burdeno; Sheriff, William Miner; County Commissioners, O. B. Wheeler, Justus Townsend and Henry Bradley; Probate Judge, J. R. Hanson; County Surveyor, J. M. Stone; Justices of the Peace, Charles S. White and J. S. Presho On the 1st of September, 1862, was held the second general election and the first for county officers. M. K. Armstrong was elected to the Legislature, and the following county officers were chosen: Register of Deeds, William Miner; Sheriff, C. Rossteucher; Commissioners, Otis Wheeler, N. W. Berge and D. C. Higby; Justices, Samuel Grant and J. S. Presho County Attorney, G. N. Proper; County Surveyor, J. M. Stone; Probate Judge, J. M. Stone; Coroner, J. M. Wetherspoon; Constable, A. D. Fisher Simultaneously with the election came the news of the Indian outbreak and the terrible massacres of whites in Minnesota, which was followed by a frightful panic and a stampede among the settlers, who nearly all fled to Iowa. The Governor issued a proclamation calling out the militia of the Territory. Strong fortifications were thrown up in Yankton around the block now occupied by the Merchants' hotel, and including several acres of ground. Men were constantly drilling and a strong guard was placed around the town every night. F. M. Ziebach was captain of the Yankton company; David Fisher, first lieutenant, and John Lawrence (now of the Black Hills), second lieutenant. Rumors of horrid massacres and a great rising of all the tribes of the Dakota nation filled the air. Yankton was full of fugitives. Women even carried muskets and revolvers, and all was excitement and preparation for the apparently inevitable conflict in which the people must successfully defend their lives and property, or perish amid the smouldering ruins of their homes. Forty men of the Dakota cavalry under Captain Miner were quartered within the stockade, and there is no doubt that the savages would have met with a warm reception had they attacked the place. But thanks to the friendship of "Strike the Ree," head chief of the Yankton bands, the danger was arrested and the ominous and threatening war-cloud passed away. The Yankton chief placed himself and his band of warriors between the hostiles and the whites and said, "Thus far shalt thou come, but no farther." The war soon terminated, and the settlers of Yankton County returned to their abandoned farms, upon which they have not since been disturbed by Indian outbreaks. Yankton County has gradually filled with a fine, intelligent , and industrious class of settlers, who have improved a large share of thelands, built comfortable homes, opened wagon roads, and gathered around them the comforts, conveniences and luxuries of older communities. Schools and churches abound, and the people of the county are, as a rule, prosperous. There are thirteen post-offices in the county, to wit: Yankton, Gayville, La Grange, Lakeport, Ziskov, Utica, Lesterville, Sigel, Norway, Janesville, Mayfield, Walshtown and Mariendahl. Three of these, Gayville, Utica and Lesterville, are considerable stations on the railway. A large number of roads have been laid out, and several substantial bridges constructed, and the county is in a good state of improvement in these particulars. The present county officers are: Commissioners, A. W. Lavender, W. H. Edmunds, Anton Pfeifer, C. E. Brooks, Haldo Sater; Register, Peter Royen; Clerk of Court, E. G. Edgerton; Judge of Probate, L. Congleton; Sheriff, Patrick Brunen; Coroner, Dr. F. Etter; Treasurer, Joseph Peir; Superintendent of Schools, T. S. Dockson; Surveyor, E. H. Van Antwerp; Assessor, John O. Aaseth; County Justices, William H. Bramer, Ole Keeldseth, A. J. Faulk, W. W. Eastman. The court-house in Yankton is substantially built of brick and cost about $12,000. It is two stories in height, with a commodious basement, and contains the various court-rooms and county offices, with a county jail, under one roof. The town of YANKTON was chartered as a City, January 9, 1869. The first charter election was held on the first Monday in April following. The committee chosen to conduct the election was composed of G. W. Kingsbury, William Miner and James S. Foster. The first Mayor was William N. Collamer. The first Board of Aldermen was composed of Newton Edmunds, Henry C. Ash, J. R. Sanborn, Charles Eiseman, Charles E. Bramble, James V. Bunker; Clerk, James E. Foster; City Marshal, George Smith; Treasurer, M. K. Armstrong. The city is mostly located on a beautiful plateau, with a soil of sandy loam, elevated high and dry above floodmark, and surrounded on the west and north by a low range of gently sloping bluffs which rise from fifty to eighty feet above the town. A small but permanent stream, made largely from springs and known as "The Rhine," meanders through town and discharges into the Missouri River near the corporation limits. A portion of the site is situated on the lower level or first bottom of the Missouri, and in times of remarkable floods is overflowed. The business and residence portions, and nearly all of the better class of buildings, are on the higher plateau. The town is laid out on a remarkably liberal plan, the streets varying from 80 to 130 feet in width, and are nearly all handsomely graded and graveled, and adorned and shaded by a thrifty growth of trees, composed of soft maple, box elder and cottonwood, giving the city in the growing season a beautiful and most inviting appearance. Standing on the bluff by the artesian well in the west part of the city, the view covers a splendid panorama of rolling prairie, broad river bottoms with thick clusters of timber here and there, and a magnificent line of crowning bluffs gradually or abruptly rising from the wide valley below, through which sweeps in many a graceful curve the yellow Missouri, the longest stream upon earth. The location is one of the finest upon the great river, and the beautiful city nestles cozily amid its deep green foliage, the admiration of the stranger and the pride of its people. SCHOOLS - The people of Yankton from the first have been noted for their interest in the cause of education. From small private schools, (An academy was in successful operation for some time previous to the establishment of the public school system) taught in the primitive cabin, or wherever room could be found, they have seen their educational system expand into most encouraging proportions with good and comfortable buildings, furnished in the best manner, filled with hundreds of students, and ranking among the best in the land. The school population of the city is over 1,000. There are a half dozen school buildings, and ten or twelve rooms occupied by the city schools, which are divided into primary, grammar, and one high school. The total enrollment is 800. The annual school tax levy of the city is from $6,000 to $10,000. There is a good school library containing about 1,000 volumes, and more is being added year by year. The city has several fine school buildings, besides one or two leased ones. Those for the primary departments recently erected are models of taste and convenience. The high school and the various grammar schools are in a flourishing condition; and under the direction and instruction of a competant school board, a thorough superintendent and an excellent corps of teachers, all the departments are fully abreast of the best schools in the land. The value of school property in 1883 was about $15,000, and the total expenditure for all purposes for the year were $14,000. CHURCHES - In religious matters Yankton ranks with any city of equal population in the land. There are not less than ten church organizations, including Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Episcopal, German Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, Norwegian and Russian, all of which have houses of worship, the Russians having three. There are also a number of organizations without edifices, including Universalist, Unitarian and a colored congregation. Several of the church buildings are fine, roomy structures and not without pretensions to architectural taste and elegance, among which may be named the Episcopal, Congregational, Catholic and Methodist buildings. The Asylum for the Insane for southern Dakota is located near Yankton on high, commanding ground about two miles north of the city. A commodious building of brick has been erected, sufficient for the wants of the territory, which will be enlarged according to the demand. The United States donated 640 acres of land for the benefit of the institution, and the Territorial Legislature appropriated $40,000 for the erection of suitable buildings. COLLEGES. - Among the most prominent and important institutes located in the city is the college under the care and patronage of the Congregational Church, though not sectarian in its character. The fine college building of Sioux Falls quartzite, erected in 1883, occupies a beautiful and commanding location at the head of Capitol street about a mile from the river. The land belonging to it consists of twenty-five acres, and a number of city lots, mostly donated by individuals. This, the first Christian college for Dakota, was established by the general association of Congregational churches and located at Yankton by a vote of the association, at a special meeting held at Canton, May 25, 1881. It was incorporated August 30, of the same year. The corner-stone was laid with proper ceremonies June 15, 1882, 480 children dropping flowers upon it as the procession passed. The project is greatly indebted to Rev. Joseph Ward, pastor of the Congregational Church in Yankton, for the very efficient manner in which he has superintended the work. The building is 42 x 73 feet in dimensions, and three stories in height, with a fine tower and belfry. It cost about $25,000, of which the citizens of Yankton contributed $11,000. The original Board of Trustees consisted of: Hon. Newton Edmunds, Yankton; Hon. J. R. Jackson, Valley Springs; Rev. Lucius Kingsbury, Canton; Ephraim Miner, Yankton; J. R. Sanborn, Yankton; Rev. Charles Seccombe, Springfield; Rev. Stewart Sheldon, Yankton; Rev. Joseph Ward, Yankton; E. P. Wilcox, Yankton. Rev. Joseph Ward is President of the Board of Trustees, and also of the faculty. The Academy of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic school under the control of the Sisters of Mercy, was for several years an important institution. A costly and elegant brick building was erected on the bluff west of the city, the grounds were handsomely laid out, many improvements made, and the school flourished; but through a series of unfortunate circumstances the Sisters were at length obliged to vacate the property, and seek other quarters. The Academy has recently been fitted up as a school for Indian boys, of whom a large number are now in attendance. It is under Catholic control. The Catholics also have a parochial school in connection with their church. The city is well supplied with the various orders, societies and lodges usually found in the older towns of the country, including a Women's Christian Temperance Union, a strong and flourishing organization of the Grand Army of the Republic, various lodges, chapters and encampments of the Masonic and Odd Fellows' order, several bands, musical organizations, etc. An Artesian Well and Mining company was organized in September, 1880, with a capital stock of $10,000, with the priviledge of raising to $50,000. The splendid artesian well, situated in the bluff west of the city was sunk by this company. It is nearly 500 feet in depth and flows about 50,000 gallons of water in twenty-four hours. It is being utilized for supplying the city with pure water. As an evidence of the enterprise of the citizens of Yankton, it may be mentioned that a stock company was formed about 1882, exclusively of Yankton capitalists, for the purpose of establishing a telephone system, which was soon in operation, and in a short time had 100 local connections. It was perfected, and made a great success, and the fact became so apparent that a company of eastern capitalists extensively engaged in the business, in the summer of 1883 bought out the Yankton company, which made a handsome profit on its venture. The Dakota Historical and Literary Association was organized at Yankton, November 10 1863, with Rev. Melancthon Hoyt, president; Hon. Newton Edmunds and S. Shaw Gregory, vice-presidents; B. M. Smith, secretary; Henry E. Gregory, treasurer, and Enos Stutsman, librarian. On the 1st of January, 1864, the title was changed to Historical Society of Dakota. The society has gathered considerable interesting historical material, and has an extensive field to work over. (See General Chapters.) NEWSPAPERS. - The newspapers of the city are the "Press and Dakotaian", daily and weekly; the "Dakota Herald", weekly; the "Freie Presse", weekly; and the "Dakota Outlook", semi-monthly. The "Press and Dakotaian" was first issued June 6, 1861, as the "Weekly Dakotaian", by F. M. Ziebach, for the Dakotaian Printing Company. It has changed ownership a number of times, and is at present published by Bowen & Kingsbury. The present title was adopted December 4, 1873. The first daily edition was issued April 26, 1875. The paper, daily and weekly, is strongly Republican in its political tendencies, and has an extensive circulation in southern Dakota and northeastern Nebraska. It is ably conducted, and commands a widespread influence which is steadily increasing. It was for many years the official paper of the Territory. The "Dakota Union" started in June, 1864, and the "Yankton Press", established by the Yankton Press Publishing Company, in August, 1870, were both subsequently consolidated with the "Dakotaian". The "Dakota Herald" was established by M. Taylor and T. F. Singiser, in February, 1872. A year later, it became the property of Taylor brothers, and in 1879 Maris Taylor became sole proprietor. In September, 1881, T. J. Sargent purchased an interest, and the firm is now Taylor & Sargent. The "Herald" is strongly but conservatively Democratic, and was for eight or nine years the only organ of the party in Dakota. It is a powerful advocate of Independent statehood, and has a large and influential circulation in the Territory. It is issued weekly and all printed at home. The "Freie Presse" was established in 1874, by G. A. Wetter. It is a weekly journal, published in the German language, and claims the largest circulation of any weekly paper published in Dakota. It circulates in Dakota, Nebraska, Montana and Idaho, and is Republican in politics. The "Dakota Outlook" was established in February, 1884, by E. C. Johnson. It is issued semi-monthly and ably edited, taking a prominent stand in favor of everything that will advance the interests of Dakota. Already it is wielding an important influence. The Yankton Post-office is an important one, doing a large and constantly increasing business. Several stage lines center in the city, the principal ones running up the Missouri River through Bon Homme, Springfield, Yanktonnais Agency, Fort Randall, White Swan, and thence on to Pierre, Fort Sully and Bismarck - a part of the way a daily line; and the James River line from Yankton to Mitchell, through Utica, Lesterville, Odessa, Scotland and other points daily. In all there are five stage and mail lines. The city contains three banks, with ample capital and growing business; a hundred or more mercantile institutions, several of which do a large wholesale business; a dozen hotels, and considerable manufacturing, among which may be named an extensive flouring and custom mill, operated by steam; a woolen mill, recently put in operation; a pork-packing establishment on a large scale, recently projected; an extensive book bindery, a large brick manufactory, several breweries, a foundry and machine shop, blacksmith and wagon shops, and probably others of some importance. There are about twenty practicing attorneys, half as many physicians and surgeons, a number of real estate dealers and ten or twelve resident clergymen, of different denominations, in the city. The United States Land district tributary to the Yankton office includes the counties of Yankton, Turner, Lincoln, Union, Clay, Bon Homme, Hutchinson, Douglas and Charles Mix. The officers of the Yankton Land office are G. A. Wetter, Register, and Jos. G. Chandler, Receiver. A United States Signal Station, for meteorological observations, was established at Yankton in 1873, and has become a very important one in the Missouri valley. Its mean height above sea level, corner Third and Capitol streets, is 1,284 feet. The traffic on the Missouri River, which began with the fur trade in 1830-32 and continued until the railways superceded steamboats, was for years an important factor in Yankton's prosperity; but it has gradually moved on up the river, and at this date the river business of the city is very small. At one time, as many as forty steamers did business at Yankton. The present population of Yankton is not far from 4,000. The attempted removal of the Territorial capital to Bismarck, and the removal of the Surveyor General's office to Huron in 1883, had the temporary effect to check somewhat the growth and business of the place; but upon a sober second thought the people concluded that even the loss of the capital, which must in the nature of things come sooner or later, would prove no serious detriment to the prosperity of the city. It has remarkable natural advantages, and its citizens are evincing a praiseworthy disposition to make the most of these by establishing schools, colleges, manufactories and heavy mercantile houses, which shall not only draw hither an extensive trade and bring about commercial prosperity, but make the city and surroundings a pleasant and desirable resort for the wealthy and cultivated classes who will build up elegant and tasteful homes for themselves and their children. Several new lines of railway diverging from Yankton are in contemplation, among them one through Scotland to Chamberlain; one along the east side of the Missouri River to the same point, and one or two to different points in the State of Nebraska. FLOODS. - No history of the Missouri valley would be complete without some account of the floods that have at times devastated the region; and as the floods are always similar in their movements and results, we append a brief account of the noted one occurring in the Spring of 1881, as experienced at and around Yankton. The facts and much of the descriptive language are from the account published in the Dakota "Herald" April 2 and 9, 1881: "For years people have listened to tales of high water in the Missouri River, told by Indians and 'oldest inhabitants' - listened generally with incredulity and sometimes with open mockery. Since 1862, the spring break-up has never been attended with any disaster, save in isolated cases, and it is not to be wondered at that the settlers on the bottoms had been lulled into a false sense of security, and considered the stories handed down in regard to the great inundations of past years as the mere vaporings of chronic exaggerators. But it has been a terrible awakening. The worst stories of the past have been far surpassed by the horrors of the actual present. For ten days the Missouri River valley for hundreds of miles has been covered with a seething torrent of water and ice. Whole towns have been absolutely obliterated, many lives have been lost, property incalculable has been swept away, and hundreds of people but yesterday in comparative affluence are to-day little else than beggars. It is utterly useless to attempt to describe it as it is, but following will be found a clear, concise and careful statement of the facts so far as the "Herald" has been able to collect them. News is as yet painfully wanting, but we trust that the horror of the full revelation will not be any considerably greater than that which weighs down our people. "The river, at this point long watched with fear and trembling, at four o'clock Saturday afternoon, with scarcely a preliminary sign, Burst its icy covering, and in a few moments the whole channel was one mass of heaving, groaning, grinding cakes of ice, tossed and tumbled into every conceivable shape by the resistless current. "As the ice broke up the river rose with almost incredible rapidity, and in a few moments was nearly bank full. The steamer Western, lying just below the ways, was the first victim of the ice. An immense cake was hurled against her side near the stern, making a hole nearly twenty feet long, through which the water rushed in with terrible swiftness, and in spite of the efforts of a large corps of pumpmen, she soon filled and sank. The water began to subside about five o'clock, and the people breathed easier, thinking that the worst was over. However, the upward movement soon commenced again and continued all day Monday, the whole bed of the river being constantly filled with moving ice. Monday afternoon word was received that the whole Jim River bottom below the city was overflowed from bluff to bluff, something never before known. This report was quickly succeeded by another to the effect that many families were completely cut off from escape and in need of assistance. Tuesday morning several boats were sent from the city, which succeeded in rescuing several families. Others were left, and an account of their fate will be found below. "Many of our citizens on Tuesday took occasion to visit the bluffs, at Major Hanson's place, and the view there presented was truly grand, not to say terrible. As far as the eye could reach was an unbroken volume of water, moving steadily along, bearing on its bosom huge cakes of ice and dotted here and there by half-submerged farm houses, whose inmates had fled to the hills for safety. Where the mighty current swept across the railroad track the rails were twisted and dragged long distances by the ice, while telegraph poles, fence posts and small trees were snapped in two like tallow candles. Cattle and horses were floundering and struggling in the flood; every cake of ice was freighted with a passenger-list of small animals, while here and there a skiff, manned with rescuers from Yankton, paddled about from house to house after straggling persons who had been caught by the water. It was a spectacle long to be remembered, and one that a man might pray never to behold again. "Tuesday evening at five o'clock, the ice which had been sweeping by all day suddenly formed a gorge a few miles below the city, which held firm all night, meanwhile extending itself far up the river toward Springfield. A deathly stillness hung over the bosom of the river as if in omen of the awful burst of seeming rage that was to follow. Men watched with anxious eyes, fearing the worst. Suddenly, Wednesday morning at 11:30 o'clock, a shudder ran through the vast body of the gorge where great hillocks of ice were piled in solid layers rods in height. The waters gave a mighty roar, like some blood-thirsty giant awakening from troubled sleep, and with a sudden jerk the whole tremendous mass began to rear and crash and tumble as if it knew of its awful power for destruction and was giving way to pranks of diabolical glee. As the millions upon millions of tons of ice matter moved off down the river, the water began to creep up the banks. "Up, up it came, faster and faster, until it could fairly be seen to crawl up the ascent. Huge cakes of ice went hurtling against the sides of the steamers along the ways, crushing great holes in their hulls, snapping immense hawsers and precipitating the Black Hills, Helena and Butte into one common jumble. Still it rose, pouring over the railroad track, hurling the little ferry-boat, Livingston, clear across it, and even carrying the gigantic Nellie Peck and Penina far upon the bank. It now appeared to rest a moment and then, with a resistless force and mighty swell, on it came again. From the bottling works down along the river-front to where the water had come out the day before, the torrent poured into the lower part of the city, actually seeming to have a fall of from six inches to a foot directly out of the river. Then ensued a scene that our pencil is inadequate to describe. People ran hither and thither in wild excitement. Household goods were hastily thrown into wagons and removed to places of safety. Shouting, swearing men; weeping women and children; pawing, frightened horses, all combined with the roaring, rushing waves to form a picture to delight the heart of the monarch of Pandemonium. As the waters rose higher and higher, skiffs, yawls and other small craft began to shoot through the streets in lieu of wheeled vehicles. Furniture, clothing and babies were hauled out of the windows and ferried to high ground. Out houses and movable truck danced around on the surface. Hogs and chickens squealed and squawked, and swam and flew to places of safety. The first to move to what they considered safe ground were chased by the exultant waves and forced to again 'move on. All through the lower part of the city, everywhere in fact below the bench, roared an angry, surging torrent of yellow water, from one to six feet in depth, literally covered with debris incident to a great flood, all banging and rolling about in one common medley. Looking south and east, it was a solid river ten miles wide, rolling a very besom of destruction, cutting a swath of havoc and ruin which cannot be computed. Down the channel of the river swept hay-stacks, water-tanks, live animals and the fragments of fences , houses, etc. which had been swept from, God knows where, up the river. Far over on the Nebraska bottoms could be soon clusters of cattle on every knoll, and as the water rose inch by inch and the ice swept over and crushed them between its ponderous fragments, the struggles of the poor animals could be distinctly seen. Great trees, struck by the jagged chunks, whipped and shook as though jarred by a heavy wind, and finally would be cut clean off and tumbled into the seething hell of waters which roared about them. "Here and there appeared a roof of a house, and alsas,, in too many instances that roof held human beings clinging to it in a desperate effort to save themselves from a watery grave. Women and strong men, too, turned away from the awful sight and refused to look upon it. No man ever wants to see the like again." DESTRUCTION OF GREEN ISLAND. - "It had been apprehended for weeks past that Green Island, just across the river from Yankton, in Nebraska, would suffer in case of high water, and many of the inhabitants had made preparations for it by removing their household goods and stock to high ground. But nobody was prepared for the awful catastrophe which came on Wednesday, and in a few hours swept from existence a busy little town of 150 people, together, it is feared, with several of its residents. "On Tuesday, it was apparent from this shore that the town was entirely surrounded by water, and the few people left in it could be seen busily engaged in removing stock to a high knoll just back of the village, there being some plucky spirits who were evidently determined to stay till the last. Attempts were made to communicate with them, but unavailingly. When the gorge broke on Wednesday, those who were watching Green Island soon discovered that the ice was being forced around in the rear of the town from above, and it was not long until it was encompassed on every side by strong and wide currents, across which no living thing could attempt a passage without certain death staring them in the face. A thrill of horror ran through the spectators on this shore, and from that time until the final collapse, every eye was riveted as if by an awful fascination upon the doomed village. "Higher and higher crept the environing torrents, and nearer and nearer swept the horrible masses of ice. At last it could be seen by the aid of glasses, that the water covered the entire town. Borne on the hissing, gurgling breakers, the ice commenced to thunder through the streets and against the houses. The maddened struggles of the cattle and horses, as they floundered about in the icy billows, could be plainly itnessed, but they were soon swept away. The water rose until it appeared as if but little except the upper stories of the buildings were unsubmerged, and at last the village church, a handsome structure with a tall spire, unable to longer withstand the ponderous blows from the huge floes, was seen to leave its foundations, turn half way round, as if to bid a last farewell to its congregation, and then float gracefully off with the current. Its course was distinctly visible until the top of its spire disappeared behind a strip of timber about a mile below the town where it went to pieces. Shortly after another building floated away, and then followed in quick succession five or six others, including the large hotel and schoolhouse. On the roofs of several, persons could be distinguished, but as the builldings were caught in the maelstrom of ice and water, and twisted and tumbled about, the tenants were seen one by one to lose their hold and drop into the waves until not one remained. No words can describe the horror of that terrible sight, as witnessed, by thousands of awe-filled eyes, from Yankton,s house-tops. In two hours from the time the first mass of ice crashed into the village, not a house was left standing, save one store, which, being protected by large trees, and lined with brick, still remains, though battered and crushed into a shapeless hovel. The mind of the most imaginative writer of fiction never pictured destruction more swift, more complete, or more dreadful." THE STEAMBOATS. - "The damage done to steamboats on all the lines having headquarters at Yankton is almost incalculable. Every boat at, or in the vicinity of Yankton is damaged terribly. The Western is entirely gone - torn into kindling-wood. The Butte is broken square in two in the middle, and is considered a total loss. The Helvetia is twisted like an auger, and jammed full of holes. It is doubtful whether she can be made serviceable again this season. The Black Hills, of the three boats on the ways, is the least damaged, but even she is badly racked and crushed. The Penina and Nellie Peck were driven high and dry on the bank, where they now lie in a badly shattered condition. The Yankton ferry boat, Livingston, was driven clear across the railroad track, where she now lies. It will require an enormous expenditure to get all these boats repaired and into the channel again. Old steamboatmen say, that in all their experience on the river, they have never known so disastrous a series of losses. "The people of Yankton never exhibited themselves in a better light than during the terrible experiences of the past week. Every one, so far as our knowledge extends, has exerted himself to relieve the sufferings of the inundated population, and on Wednesday night every house in the upper portion of the city was placed at the disposal of the people fleeing from the waters. Food, clothing and fire were furnished for all, and we believe that there were no cases of actual physical suffering." Between this issue of the "Herald" and the next, on the 9th of April, there was a second great gorge of ice, and another and more terrible inundation, which is thus described in the issue of the 9th: "Terrible as was the inundation described in last week's "Herald", it pales before the horrors of the one which deluged the face of the earth for 400 miles up and down the Missouri River during the past week. While more actual loss of life and property may have resulted from the terrible suddenness of the first onslaught of the turbid tide, in the height reached by the water, and in the awful body of ice borne in its current, the second and latest rise completely overshadows the former. The spectacle furnished the sight-seers, from Sunday evening until Wednesday morning, was one constant panorama of continually changing scenes of interest, all blended into a phantasmagoria of awful sublimity and grandeur by the knowledge of the tremendous destruction of property and life that all felt must take place whenever such life and property were located in the valley lands drained by the monstrous and merciless river. "As stated last week, after the great rise of Wednesday, the 30th ult., which inundated lower Yankton and the Jim River bottoms and swept the town of Green Island out of existence in a few hours, the river fell rapidly back into its banks. Through Thursday, Friday and Saturday it remained with but little change, although constantly filled with floating ice in greater or lesser quantities. On Sunday morning, however, it commenced to rise rapidly, owing to the gathering of the ice a few miles below the city. The water continued to come steadily up all day, the gorge meanwhile extending itself up the river with amazing swiftness. Towards evening, people living in the lower part of the city, who had moved back after the falling of the first rise, again began to move out; and that their fears were well grounded was proven on Monday morning when the waters again covered all that portion of the city below the bench. "All day Monday the gorge held firm, with the exception of intervals of a moment or two, when it would groan and heave and move a few rods down the stream, only to become stationary again. The water rose steadily all the time, and the pressure brought to bear in the gorge must have been incalculable. When the tremendous mass would move down the river with one of its semi-occasional jerks, great masses of ice weighing many tons would be forced high in the air and borne along until finally over-ridden by a piece larger than themselves and again forced under. Large trees, a foot or more in diameter, which stood on the side of the bank, on the point just above the city, were submerged by the rising torrent, and finally cut smoothly off and dragged under as if in the tentacles of one of the mighty devil-fish described by Victor Hugo. The whole of Green Island bottom, opposite the city, was again being ground beneath the mighty millstones of ice, heaving and rolling about as if seeking fresh prey on that devastated spot. This was the only place where the ice moved continually on Monday. "The gorge continued all night Monday and Tuesday, with but little change of features. All of this time the streets were literally alive with people. At last, on Tuesday evening at four o'clock, the mighty wall of ice suddenly gathered itself for a last assault, and then with a resounding roar gave way and went tumbling down in one mighty avalanche of destruction, awful to gaze upon, and grand, beyond description in its resistless progress. The water fairly leaped up, and in a few moments had reached its highest altitude since the beginning of the flood, forty-one feet above low water mark. (This estimate is probably somewhat exaggerated.) Below town the current swept straight across the bottom, the gorge five miles below the city having not yet broken. The same scenes were enacted as on Wednesday previous. The water rushed through the lower part of the city like a mill-race. Solid cakes of clear blue ice, three feet thick and of vast circumference, were carried along with amazing swiftness. All that saved the entire lower part of the city from destruction was the fact that the huge bank of ice formed on this side during the first gorge and left by the receding waters, held firm and prevented the immense body of ice in the channel from rushing Yanktonward. As it was, the lower Government warehouse was entirely destroyed, the small one, just below the ways, ditto, while the middle one is but little better than a total toss. E. P. Wilcox's mammoth stock of lumber was entirely lost, with the exception of a small quantity in the sheds on the west side, which escaped the flood. A huge floe struck the corner of Tom Stewart's house, literally tearing the entire end out of it. Nearly every house in the district bounded by Capitol street on the west and Third street on the north, is scarred and battered, and many are damaged materially. Many small houses and barns were carried off bodily. "The torrent continued to pour out over the bottom between Risling's farm and Kunze's brickyard for about two hours, and fears were entertained that another gorge would be formed there, but about seven o'clock the big gorge in the river below Risling's timber burst, and the terrible stream of ice and water took its first love, the main channel, and the water fell more rapidly than it had risen. By ten o'clock the water was out of the city limits, and by Wednesday morning the streets were again passable. "A scene of desolation and ruin presented itself. Little but the bare houses and the great massesof ice, tons in a place, remained. Everything moveable had been swept away. But looking toward the river bank, where huge mountains of ice reared their heads twenty feet in the air, the people could well afford to be thankful. Had that shore gorge given completely away, and allowed the heaving channel, which watchers say was at times ten feet higher than the shore, to sweep through the city, it is doubtful if a building would have been left standing in the inundated region, or a steamer at the levee. "Cruel and savage as those awful glaciers appeared, the salvation of lower Yankton resulted from their remaining where they did, and nothing but the fact that the receding of the waters of the first gorge allowed them to settle into the mud of the bar, where they were frozen into a solid mass from six to twenty feet deep, a mile long, and from twenty to forty rods wide, prevented them from being driven from their places by the Titanic strength of Tuesday's rise, and hurled through the streets, plowing a furrow of destruction sickening to contemplate. Enough ice did break through to show its power, and the result, if the whole had moved, cannot be doubted. The fate that was Green Island's would have been lower Yankton's and where the loss can now be computed by tens of thousands, it would have reached hundreds of thousands. "The reports brought in from time to time by parties engaged in the work of rescuing the inhabitants from the bottoms between Yankton and Vermillion are of the most harrowing description. A thickly settled valley, twenty-five miles long and from five to ten miles wide, which two weeks ago presented a rich and flourishing aspect, dotted closely with cozy and comfortable farm-houses, is now nothing but a desert of water and ice, whose monotony is only broken, here and there, by the roof of some house or the tops of a grove of trees. The great ice floes are piled in fantastic shapes, which rival the very Bad Lands for wonderful views, while the air of utter desolation and woe which hangs over this Gehenna of destroying elements chills the stoutest heart. Not a foot of this whole tract but was covered not less than two feet with water. Many of the lighter and less substantial houses have been carried away, while of the hundreds of barns and sheds, with their thousands of cattle, horses and hogs, but a very small portion remains. "It is amid such scenes of sorrow and sadness as these that the crews of Captain Lavender, S. K. Felton, J. H. Moulton, Erick Iverson, C. H. Bates, Captain Noble, William Giggey, and many others have been working for a week past. During that time they have removed nearly three hundred people to the bluffs, and the work is still going on, many people being yet on the bottoms. The loss of property by the Green Island disaster was estimated at $50,000, exclusive of household property, and there was a reported loss of ten human lives within a radius of a few miles of Yankton. The town of Green Island has since been rebuilt a mile or more from the old site, on high and safe ground. The heaviest losses at Yankton were among the steamers and warehouses; and in lumber, dwellings, household goods and live stock, the losses were also considerable. The most serious losses were on the bottoms where buildings, live stock and grain were all indiscriminately swept away. Between Yankton and Vermillion the losses were very great, and at the last-named town the destruction was enormous. Of this calamity we give an account in the history of the place.