DAKOTA. (ante) (meaning "leagued" or "allied," with reference to confederate Sioux tribes), a territority of the United States, organized 1861, bounded e. by Minne sota and Iowa. s. by Nebraska, w. by Wyoming and Montana, and n. by British America. Dakota lies between 43° and 49'n. and about 97' to 104'w.. and lms an area of 150,932 sq.m. In length Dakota is 414 m., and in breadth 360. The surface n. and c. of the 3Iissouri river is in the main rolling prairie, in which arc many streams and lakes, but no swamps or marshes. A single plateau (Coteau des Prairies), having an ele vation of 1450 ft. above tide, runs along the c. margin of the territory more than 200 in., with a width varying from 15 to 20 in.; and in the middle and in the n. portion there is a similar though smaller elevated region. There are no mountains in Dakota the Black hills in the s.w. corner being the most important elevations. These hills, extend ing into Wyoming, cover about 6,000 sq.m., and their bases are nearly 3,000 ft. above tide; the highest peaks are under 7,000 feet. In the basin of the Red river of the North there are vast plains covered with grass affording pasturage and winter feed in abun dance. In the Black bills region there are extensive forests of pine and other useful timber, and in nearly all sections there is timber enough for the ordinary demands of settlers. In the s. and s.w. between the Big Cheyenne and White rivers is a large tract called the "Bad Lands" (Ilattrais Terra), entirely barren, and furrowed into countless forms by the action of water upon the blue-clay formation. Over the plateaus and prairies are scattered isolated buttes (summits) from 500 to 1500 ft. high.
The Missouri river divides Dakota into nearly equal parts, coining in from the n.w. at about 48' n. and w., and passing out at the extreme s.c. corner, forming the southern boundary for about 100 in. In its course through Dakota the Missouri receives from the w. the Yellowstone, Little Missouri, Big Knife, Heart, Grand, Moreau. Big Cheyenne. White. and Niobrara rivers; from the n. and c. it gets Little Muddy, White Earth, Beaver, Little Cheyenne, Dakota, Vermilion, and Big Sioux. On the e. border of Dakota rise the headwaters of the Minnesota, an affluent of the Mississippi: and the n.e. part of the territory is drained by the Red river of the North and its tributaries, the main river forming more than half the eastern boundary. This river is naviga ble for about 200 m. in Dakota, and the Missouri is navigable throughout. Dakota
is remarkable for the -great number of lakes in the eastern half of its territory. Thu Mini Wakan, or Devil's lake, is the largest, covering more than 250,000 acres: others of considerable size arc Thompson, Long, Traverse, Stone, Turtle, Wood, Tchani kanah, and Pembina. In temperature, Dakota, though very cold in winter, is on the whole favorable for agriculture. In the u. the winters arc imp*, but all crops except Indian corn ripen easily. In the s. the climate is delightful, and the usual crops and small fruits are easily raised. Agriculture is the chief industry, but some manufactures arc already established.
A century ago all these northern and western regions were the resort of fur traders, trappers, and hunters, and the business of fur hunting is still important. In the n. portion of Dakota, buffalo, elk, moose, and deer are found; also black and cinna mon bears, wolves, lynxes, badgers, wolverines, foxes, prairie dogs, rabbits, gophers, and squirrels. Birds are abundant in a great variety of species, and the waters arc well supplied with fish.
Yankton, on the Missouri river at the extreme s. border of Dakota, is the capital, and the largest town; Pembina, 425 m. directly n. of Yankton, and on the boundary between Dakota and Manitoba, is the oldest town and one of the most important. Until the set tlement of the boundary between the United States and British America, it was, under English rule, the center of the famous Selkirk settlement. There are several impor tant military posts on the w. frontiers of Dakota. Indian reservations take up about 60,000 sq.m. of the territory. The Yankton Sioux has 625 sq.m.; the Sisseton, 2,000 sq.m.; the Sioux, in all, 40,000 sq.m.; the Poncas, 900 s.m. ; and the Arickarecs, Man dams, and Gros Ventres, 13,500 sq.m.
At the beginning of 1879 there were five railroads in operation or in progress— the Northern Pacific, from Bismark to Duluth, Minn., 195k m.; Dakota Southern, from Sioux City to Yankton, 55i m.; Winona and St. Peter, from lake Kam• peska to Winona, Minn., 38+ m.; Sioux City and Pembina, from Pembina to Beloit, Iowa, 152- m.; Worthington and Sioux Falls, from Sioux Falls to Sioux Falls Junction, Minn., 15 miles.
In 1878, the territory had 10,459 children of school age (5 to 20 years), of whom 5,410 were enrolled, with 257 teachers, and $32,804 yearly cost of schools. (For latest statis tics, see Appendix.)