[1] In 1909, when Yoakum controlled 17,500 miles of railroad, Railway World magazine called him an "empire builder" who had done as much for the Southwest as legendary James J. Hill had done for the Northwest.

[2][3] In 1879 at age twenty, he worked on the surveying gang for the International-Great Northern Railroad to Palestine, Texas.

[4] According to the Handbook of Texas,[3] In 1905 the Frisco and Rock Island lines were joined, and Yoakum was the chairman of the executive committee.

"Yoakum's Dream" ended when the Frisco entered bankruptcy in 1913 and was shorn of its Gulf Coast Lines as well as its affiliation with the Rock Island.

In his later years, Yoakum gave lectures and wrote popular magazine articles about the railroads, and advocated agricultural cooperatives to help farmers, in whose problems he was deeply interested.