Google Maps image of the boundaries of Fort Yates as thought of by people in the local region.
Sitting Bull College Library has served as a Census Information Center since 2001 and continues to partner with U.S Census Bureau in its efforts to provide the best quality data for decision making. The Bureau is one of the unsung heroes of the federal government, providing the information that helps everyone to make decisions and move forward. We look forward to our continued work with them.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau and therefore the U.S. Government, Fort Yates is the tiny incorporated community on the south half of the island of Fort Yates. It is highlighted as the small black square at the bottom of the image pictured below on the 2015 Census Bureau reference map. The area is the small incorporated city of Fort Yates. The area is what is locally understood as "Fort Yates City" as opposed to "Fort Yates" as a general regional geography and place. It is similar to how people regionally might refer to Minneapolis when they mean Minneapolis as a general geographical term referring to the entire metro area instead of the much smaller City of Minneapolis. According to the 2010 Census, this area had a population of 184 with a 2017 population estimate of 199.
Locally, the geography of Fort Yates is understood more in line with the outline on Google Maps shown at the top of the page. It is important, since people and organizations looking at maps and data may (and sometimes do) get a skewed vision of the actual size of Fort Yates. This has real bearing on entities that might want to invest or provide services in our area who look at data before even talking to anyone on the reservation. A town of 2-3 thousand people has different potential and characteristics than one of under 200.
The north half of the island was once the site of the old fort, boarding school and Catholic church operations. Today, the area pictured on the map above, consists of tribal and federal government operations, housing, the campus of the Catholic mission and school in addition to a housing development to the west known locally as "Boot Hill". These areas though are not counted if you look up the population as noted above, despite the fact that locally, they are thought of as being part of Fort Yates.
Fort Yates as understood in the local region encompasses the sprawling urban area that covers the whole of the island then stretching west across the causeway isthmus to encompass the housing area known as Sioux Village, where the bulk of Fort Yates residents live. It then stretches west, south and north to encompass the Standing Rock Schools and Sitting Bull College developments, then housing, transit, ambulance, business sites, tribal offices and other entities along Highway 1806 stretching north past the schools then south to where One Mile Creek crosses the highway at the horse track and pow wow grounds.
Map created for Standing Rock Statistical Profile by Mark Holman to interpret 2010 Census data broken into the complex and overlapping geographies on the reservation.
When looking for data on Fort Yates, it is better to take a step up and use the tribal census tract that aligns with the Long Soldier District boundaries (outlined in red above). The few rural residents that live outside the city amount to just a handful and much of the rural land is uninhabited. According to the 2010 Census (annual survey estimates do not align with tribal census tracts) Long Soldier had a population of 2583 people, most of which lived in Fort Yates, since it is the only town in the district.
Map created by Mark Holman using ArcGIS illustrating the exact boundaries of the 8 tribal districts of Standing Rock.
A town of 2583 is a much larger town than the the small City of Fort Yates of under 200. By Dakota standards, Fort Yates suddenly becomes a sizable community just by looking at the data differently. The difference between a town of 200 compared to one pushing toward 3000 in the Dakotas is important for many reasons. A town of 2-3 thousand is of a critical size where things not viable in a town of 200 become possibilities.
The 2017 Census estimate for Sioux County is a modest increase, from 4,153 in 2010 to 4,376 in 2017, much of which can be attributed to the Fort Yates area. The 2020 Census will give us a better idea of how well these estimates line up with reality.
In 2016, at a regional Census tribal consultation held at Sitting Bull College, Standing Rock Chairman Dave Archambault II brought up the possibility of rectifying the issues surrounding Fort Yates by creating a CDP (Census Designated Place) in the Fort Yates region. A CDP is an area of population that doesn't fit into standard categories of town or city. Standing Rock already has several CDPs (see green areas on the map above) and Fort Yates would be better served by this designation that better fits the actual nature of the urban area we call Fort Yates. The City of Fort Yates remains will remain as it is, only nested inside a new geography that recognizes the true nature of "Fort Yates" as a geographic whole. If the federal government ever opens up again, we will continue negotiating with the good people at the U.S. Census Bureau about possibilities for the geography of Fort Yates.