Late in the afternoon as the sun sent its last slanting rays over the broad prairie of Dakota Territory, travelers on the government road west of Sioux City saw distant bluffs and strips of woodland. They announced to travelers on the stage that they were approaching Yankton.
After a sharp turn or two in the road, indicative of future streets; a faster trot of the team of horses; a sudden stop by a plank platform in front of a dwelling, the stage is in front of the Merchants’ Hotel. A number of individuals emerge from the hotel, nearly filling the sidewalk and street.
In 1869, residents always reacted the same way whenever a stage stopped in front of the Merchants’ Hotel. They came outside to scan with interest each passenger as they awkwardly left the stage and set foot in the Capital of Dakota Territory.
The Merchants’ was an improvement on any of the facilities in Sioux City. A fair table and comfortable rooms were welcomed after a hard day’s ride.
In the earliest days of its publication, the Yankton Daily Press and Dakotan each day published on the front page the “Hotel Arrivals.” The complete name and home of the visitor was listed for each hotel. In 1875, the Yankton paper published ads on the front page of the paper for “The St. Charles Hotel,” “Merchants’ Hotel,” and “Smithsonian Hotel.”
The “St. Charles Hotel” was located at the corner of 3rd and Capital streets. It was entirely refurnished and refitted throughout. Free bus to and from the hotel was furnished.
The “Merchants’ Hotel” was located at the corner of Broadway and 3rd. It was advertised as a “First Class” hotel, entirely new, and elegantly furnished throughout. It considered itself the headquarters for commercial and all other first class travelers.
The “Smithsonian Hotel” was located on Second Street. It was convenient to the Depot, Steamboat Landing, and business part of the city and first class accommodations were provided. The phrase “Strictly Temperate” appeared in their advertising. Good stabling was attached and all stages leaving Yankton would call at this hotel for passengers.
A news story in the Yankton Paper on June 12: 1875 reported: “The Merchants’ Hotel is undergoing a thorough fixing up. Sweetser is having every room in the hotel calcimined and newly papered, besides adding fresh paint to the wood work. There is scarcely a hotel in the west that received better care than the Merchants’.”
Yankton, in 1869 with perhaps eight hundred or a thousand souls, had within it the spirit and enterprise which was required in establishing towns on the frontier. It was the capital of Dakota Territory and quickly became important in the trade up river. It was here in Yankton that Captain D. C. Poole paid an official visit to the Governor and ex-officio Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Dakota Territory. He lost no time in seeking the small dwelling on the river bank, which served as his headquarters.
Poole wrote:
“The genius of our institutions was illustrated in the unostentatious surroundings of a territorial Governor, representing, as he did, the power and dignity of the general Government, but far from the artificial requirements of metropolitan taste. The office which I now entered was a plain, uncarpeted room, furnished with a table, a desk, a revolving chair (gubernatorial), one or two common chairs and a huge spittoon.”
After introducing himself, Poole was cordially greeted by the Governor, whom he found to be a genial and kindly disposed official. Naturally, their conversation reverted to the Indians on the reservation at Whetstone Creek.
Poole expected to hear some wise suggestions with regard to their management, and interesting accounts of them generally. Much to his surprise, the Governor acknowledged but a slight acquaintance with them. He admitted that he knew nothing about them and that he had never visited the Agency at Whetstone.
Poole wrote: “I noticed at this time one fact which was afterward confirmed, that those who had been some time associated with Indians assumed to know little of their character, and usually had no plans for their management, or fixed views as to how our Government should treat them. At some time these persons might have had plans and policies, but actual contact had shaken their faith in making Indians first-class citizens and Christians during the time of one administration or even of one life.”
In the midst of their conversation, a steamboat whistle was heard. In an instant the Governor seized his hat and was hastening toward the door. Poole asked what the matter was. “Didn’t you hear that whistle?” was the comment from the Governor, “a steamboat is coming, come on.” The “Evening Star” which would take Poole to Whetstone Landing could be seen in the distance.
It seemed as though everyone in Yankton hurried to the river, whenever a steamboat could be seen in the distance. Everyone always turned out when a boat arrived from below or above; some having actual business, some moved by curiosity, and all impelled by the desire for some excitement which these events always supplied.
Author Clarence Shoemaker, originally published in the Gregory Times-Advocate on August 7, 2024