[6] The tribe's headquarters are in Wagner, South Dakota,[6] and it is governed by a democratically elected non-Indian Reorganization Act tribal council.

[8] It is the only Dakota/Lakota tribe in South Dakota that did not agree to comply with the Indian Reorganization Act and retains its traditional government.

Officially, the Yankton Sioux Tribe is called "Ihanktonowan Dakota Oyate" in the local dialect.

Red was chosen by designer Gladys L. Moore, a Yankton Sioux from Union Lake (Ibid), Michigan, because it is a symbol of life.

The Yankton people are credited with protecting the quarry from white settlement and the creation of the Pipestone National Monument that now exists where the reservation once was.

The tribe owns and operates the Fort Randall Casino and Hotel in Pickstown, South Dakota, and Lucky Lounge and Four Directions Restaurant.

[6] The first treaty the United States signed with the Yankton people took place at Portage des Sioux on July 18, 1815.

In the 1880s a ten-man cavalry troop from Fort Randall was sent to evict the squatters,[16] but the problem continued and with little outside support, the Yankton people went to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1928 to protect their rights and land.

The Supreme Court ruled that when the Government took that land for the school it had actually taken the entire reservation and that the tribe should be compensated.

Specific provisions of the treaty called for educating the tribe to develop skills in agriculture, industrial arts and homemaking.

On July 10, 1859, the Yankton Sioux vacated the ceded lands and moved onto the newly created reservation.

In 1998 the case reached the Supreme Court, which unanimously held for the state, finding no evidence that Congress had intended to retain the reservation boundaries in existence as of 1894.

Made from local materials, the tribe used bows and arrows to hunt deer, antelope and small game.

Nine scheduled bus services operate Monday through Friday between Marty, Ravinia, Wagner, the Fort Randall Casino and Lake Andes.

There are a total of 17 stops, with three in Marty, one in Ravinia, seven in Wagner, one at the Fort Randall Casino and five in Lake Andes, while fares are set at $1.

[26] According to local legend, when Meriwether Lewis learned that a boy had been born near the expedition's encampment in southeastern South Dakota.

He sent for the child and wrapped the newborn in an American flag during the council at Calumet Bluff in late August 1804.

This boy grew up to become a headman (chief) of the Ihanktonwan Dakota (Yankton Sioux), known as Struck By-the-Ree.

Chief Struck By-the-Ree refused to join the Mdewakanton and sent warriors to protect Fort Pierre when Little Crow talked of attacking it.