Yankton, South Dakota

===River Port and the Flood of 1881===
[[File:Blasting ice with dynamite from in front of steamer on the ways, by Stanley J. Morrow.png|right|thumb|upright=1.15|A view of Yankton's riverfront after the flood of March 1881.]]
Since its founding, Yankton enjoyed a natural advantage as a steamboat landing along the [[Missouri River]] due to the fact that its landing stretched along the entire length of the town's riverfront.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|p=567}} The first steamboat to reach Yankton from St.  Louis arrived in 1859, providing goods and supplies to settlers and fur-traders in upper and central Dakota.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|p=568}} Since then, the city continued to grow and quickly became the second largest city in South Dakota.  The railroad reached Yankton in 1872. In 1874, gold was discovered in the Black Hills and prospectors rushed into Dakota Territory.{{sfnp|Kingsbury|1915|pp=891–896}} By 1880, Yankton had become an established riverboat port on the Missouri River. It retained its position as the second largest city in South Dakota until the beginning of the 20th century.<ref>{{cite report |title=Contents – South Dakota |work=Fourteenth Census |year=1920 |url=https://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/06229686v38-43ch3.pdf |page=8}}</ref>

The city's status as an important port was literally crushed on March 27, 1881, when an ice dam on the Missouri River burst, sending flood waters and giant blocks of ice flowing towards the town.{{sfnp|Karolevitz|1972|pp=92–95}}

The resulting flood waters continued to accumulate behind the debris, and by March 29, the town's riverfront and downtown were covered in water, ice and rock, destroying or stranding several riverboats that were moored there. As a result of this flood, and the expansion of railroads as a preferred method of shipping goods, Yankton's river boat traffic was reduced, and the city's role as a prominent stopping point on the way west dwindled over the next several years.{{sfnp|Karolevitz|1972|p=95}}

Francis Marion Ziebach established the second newspaper in the area that became South Dakota, the ''Weekly Dakotan'', in Yankton on June 6, 1861, bringing his outfit from [[Sioux Falls]] by team and wagon.<ref>Lee, James Melvin (1917). – ''History of American Journalism''. – Houghton Mifflin Company. –  pp.246–247.<br>— Coursey, Oscar William (1917). – ''Who's Who in South Dakota''. – Educator Supply Company.<br>— NOTE: According to these sources, the first newspaper in what is now South Dakota was the ''Dakota Democrat'' published in Sioux Falls for about four years starting in 1858, and the ''Weekly Dakotan'' was the second newspaper in what is now South Dakota, starting on June 4, 1861.</ref> A second newspaper, started by Francis Marion Ziebach, is still published today as the Yankton ''Press and Dakotan''.<ref>A South Dakota Guide. – Federal Writer’s Project. – 1938. – p.35.</ref>

In 1882, the [[Human Services Center]] was established as a psychiatric hospital. On June 2, 1883, Dakota Territory Governor [[Nehemiah G. Ordway]] moved the territorial capital from Yankton to [[Bismarck, North Dakota|Bismarck]], present-day [[North Dakota]].