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The Dakota Experience Creating Communities: The Frontier (1860-1880)
arrow Territorial Politics
Vying for Capital In on the Ground Floor A Little Blood Playing the Game Tilting North Moved!
In on the Ground Floor

Kentucky native John Blair Smith Todd, cousin of Mary Todd Lincoln, knew the signs of a frontier boom. So in 1856 he left the army after 20 years to start a store at Fort Randall. He set up posts at places that would make good townsites. Dakota Territory chose Todd its first delegate to Congress. And he helped make Yankton its capital.


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Creation of the Yankton Land District by Abraham Lincoln on April 8, 1861.

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