More Pain to Come

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling against Yankton County in its railroad funding case was not the only blow to Yankton. Not only was the small county now responsible for a debt nearly double that of its initial railroad funding amount, but Yankton County suddenly became the villain in the South Dakota statehood movement which it had previously led. The bondholders successfully derailed a statehood bill in Congress, arguing that Yankton County’s failure to fully pay its railroad debt reflected a territorial character unworthy of statehood. And in a final blow, Yankton opponents, under the cloak of secrecy and corruption, removed the territorial capital to a new town in the northern part of Dakota Territory.