Dakota Territory Centennial Papers

1961 was the 100th anniversary of the creation of Dakota Territory. On March 2, 1861, James Buchanan, president of the United States, established Dakota Territory. The City of Yankton became the capital of a territory that embraced what are now the states of North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. Pierre Dorin was the first white man to establish a home in the vicinity of Yankton in 1870. He married an Indian woman and settled at the mouth of the James River. The period between 1861 and 1889, when the Dakota Territory was split into states, became a fierce period of internal struggle. After a much contested and bitter fight, Bismarck, North Dakota, then Bismarck Dakota Territory became the territorial Capital. Ensuing years saw the separation of the Dakota Territory into North and South Dakota, leaving only parts of Montana and Wyoming of the original Territory. The first Governor of Dakota Territory was the personal physician of the President of the United States, William Jayne, appointed by Buchanan. The first legislature was small and consisted of more political figures rather than farmers of the area.