The Old Yankton Trail and Stagecoach Road

BY WAYNE FANEBUST

The Yankton Trail from Sioux Falls to the territorial capital city on the Missouri River has a long and somewhat colorful history. As early as 1861, a Yankton newspaper informed it’s readership that a “natural and good wagon road from Sioux Falls to Yankton” was available for traveling between the two tiny towns, both struggling for survival on the Dakota frontier.

In August of 1862, the settlers from Sioux Falls, fearful of being attacked by Indians, traveled over the crude road on their way to the safety of Yankton. Deep ruts from the wagons of that sad exodus were formed and then forgotten until they caught the attention of people many years later. While the city grew, and the Yankton trail was re-routed, the quaint ruts somehow survived the ravages of time on the campus of Sioux Falls College, now the University of Sioux Falls. In 1928, the sophomore class of the college placed a small plaque near the ruts to memorialize the old road.

It was also known as the “government road” after the creation of Fort Dakota at Sioux Falls in 1865. Supplies were regularly brought up from the steamboats docked in Yankton until the fort was abandoned in 1869. While the fort was in operation, and during the 1870s, the road was used regularly by people on horseback and in private conveyances, many of whom were drawn up from Yankton to see the falls of the Big Sioux River. The magnificent and powerful falls were an early day tourist attraction.

It was obvious to people in both towns that the trail would continue to be useful. With in mind the legislators of he ninth session of the territorial legislature in December of 1870, created a three-man commission to monitor, maintain and improve the road, including the building of bridges over streams and sloughs along the route. These improvements meant passengers, freight and mail, would be making their way, back and forth with greater frequency.

The early 1870s marked the beginning of the rather colorful, but very uncomfortable stagecoach era, linking Sioux Falls to Yankton, with another line that went from Yankton to Sioux City. The latter was a bumpy sixty five mile, twelve hour experience that was described by one exasperated traveler thusly: “the tortures of the Spanish Inquisition were tender mercies in comparison to the terrible ride of 12 hours.” Other tormented travelers, over time, would come forth with their own stories about the bumps and grinds of stagecoaches.

In 1879, the stage line was owned and operated by William Kramer, from Yankton, who ran it like a business rather than a novelty. He boasted that his line

was the “Shortest, Best and Cheapest Line to Sioux Falls.” A passenger could board the stage at Yankton early in the morning and arrive at Sioux Falls that evening. Passengers got regular breaks from the tooth-jarring ride at Marindahl, Turkey Creek and Clay Creek in Yankton County, Swan Lake, Finlay and Howard in Turner County, and at Wall Lake in Minnehaha County, the latter being twelve miles from Sioux Falls.

At each stop there was a station where horses could be changed and passengers could eat and drink. Travel by stagecoach between Yankton and Sioux Falls was usually routine and safe, but weather could create some surprises, especially in winter. Deep snow was often a problem, as were flash floods in the spring that washed out bridges, making travel adventuresome, dangerous or impossible. The only town of any size along the route was Swan Lake, the county seat of Turner County. Swan Lake, like Finlay, the first town in Turner County, has long ago disappeared.

Unlike the stagecoaches that traveled in and out of Deadwood in the Black Hills, that were occasionally held up by gangs of outlaws looking to steal gold, the Yankton to Sioux Falls line must claim a much tamer history. There are, however, two events that are the exception; the first occurred in September of 1876, when Frank and Jesse James hailed the driver of the Yankton bound stage, just outside of Sioux Falls. The James brothers were just then in the middle of their long ride from Northfield, Minnesota, where they and their comrades, including the Younger brothers, made a bloody, unsuccessful attempt to rob the bank. The fugitives asked the driver where he was taking the stage and was told that Yankton was the destination. After having spoken to the stagecoach driver, the James brothers proceeded on their way.

The stagecoach driver suspected that he had just encountered the Northfield robbers so he turned the stagecoach back toward Sioux Falls, where he sounded the alarm. With the town aroused and up in arms, the stagecoach driver started his team southbound again. Once again, he encountered the James boys who chided the bewildered driver for his sudden change of directions. Then, with one frightened passenger on board, the team was sent down a steep hill at breakneck speed, causing the man to believe he was about to die. Everyone, however, survived the dangerous experience that no doubt, became the starting point for any number of tall tales.

There was actually a robbery, of sorts, on the stage line. It occurred in 1879, and like the encounter with the James brothers, it

created waves of excitement between Sioux Falls and Yankton. The crime occurred in Turner County in April and it kept excited Dakota newspapers churning out articles for many months. The gist of the news story was that on the night of April 15, 1879, stage driver, Edward C. Creppen informed a group of people at the Cataract Hotel in Sioux Falls, that a Finlay man, Dr. John C. Parsons had been arrested and charged with a singlehanded attempt to rob the stagecoach.

Creppen related a dark conspiracy so blatantly ridiculous that it would rival any modern day conspiracy theory. He claimed to have gotten involved in the plot after having been approached by two mystery men about two weeks before the arrest of Parsons by federal agents. Creppen told anyone who would listen that the nature and purpose of the plan was to stop the robbery and unravel a dark conspiracy that swirled around horse flesh. It was reported that the authorities were interested in disrupting the activities of a gang of horses that operated in Turner County and Dr. Parson was a member of the gang.

While stealing horses was a serious problem in Dakota, Dr. Parsons was not charged with horse theft; rather he was charged and arraigned for conspiracy to rob the United States mail. In the Yankton County jail, he broke down and said that he had a drinking problem and that alcohol had clouded his judgment. He claimed that Creppen encouraged him to rob the stage and the two would split the money. Creppen’s role would be to stop the stage at some point and go through the charade of being the victim of an armed robbery.

But the slippery stage driver was never charged and eventually he disappeared. Dr. Parson was convicted by a jury and sentenced to two years in a federal prison in Detroit and ordered to pay $1000.00 fine. Since he had been a respected man in Dakota, with no criminal record, there was considerable sympathy for him. Dr. Parson did his time and after returning to Dakota, he moved to the Washington state where he resumed his medical practice, got married and raised a family.

Following the one and only attempt to rob the Sioux Falls and Yankton stage line, the business of hauling freight and passengers continued, steadily and roughly until the two cities were linked by a railroad.