Belcourt, North Dakota
7 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the Turtle Mountain unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 58316. The Survey maps it on the Belcourt quadrangle. 1,510 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,962 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBelcourt fell from 2,078 to 1,510 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 2,078 | |
| 2020 | 1,510 | -568 (-27%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 7 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1953 USGS Devils Lake quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1956 USGS Devils Lake quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Belcourt quadrangle1:24000
- 1985 USGS Rock Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
2,423 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2,423 fires within 5 miles of Belcourt between 1992 and 2020, burning about 15,306 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 412 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Debris and open burning | 946 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 737 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 412 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 119 |
| Fireworks | 88 |
| Other causes | 41 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 32 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 28 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11 |
| Natural | 4 |
| Smoking | 3 |
| Firearms and explosives use | 2 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Turtle Mountain Agency | BEANS |
| 9 September 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2.0 acres | Turtle Mountain Agency | BOSTON |
| 9 September 2003 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Turtle Mountain Agency | BURN BLACK |
| 9 September 1997 | Debris and open burning | 3.4 acres | Turtle Mountain Agency | LILLIAN |
| 9 September 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Turtle Mountain Agency | LANCE |
| 8 September 2012 | Debris and open burning | 112 acres | Turtle Mountain Agency | TRAIL |
| 8 September 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Turtle Mountain Agency | STINKY |
| 8 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Turtle Mountain Agency | SPEEDY |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
1 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Belcourt: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tribal Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Producer |
Storms near this place
22 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Belcourt in 22 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 11 thunderstorm wind, 8 hail, 2 flash flood, 1 flood. The reports record 1 death. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| July 2005 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | 1 killed | Trailer home blown over by straight line winds. Trailer home was not tied down. |
| February 2011 | Flood | Belcourt | $200,000 | Flooding was the result of a minor early melt dislodging a stop log on a dam upstream of Belcourt along Ox Creek. Contributing to this flooding through Belcourt was the inappropriate disposal of heavy snow from the season into the creek bed. Flooded was a number of homes and the dialysis center at the local hospital. There were 26 Project Worksheets (PW). Estimated damages were $200,000. |
| June 2024 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | $125,000 | Strong thunderstorm winds damaged playground equipment, knocked over some trees, severely damaged a home, blew a shed down, and pushed two dumpsters. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | $50,000 | Part of a porch was torn from a home, and several tepees were blown away. This event was a gustnado based on the wind being ahead of the thunderstorm, likely along the gust front, and video showing the feature was not connected to the cloud base. Per NWS directives, gustnadoes are recorded as thunderstorm wind events, not as tornadoes, in StormData. |
| May 2018 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | $25,000 | One semi-trailer was blown over and a spruce tree was uprooted. Some tin from a pole barn style building also blew off. |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | $20,000 | A couple of properties north of Belcourt suffered wind damage. Roofing materials were partially lost on a home. Outbuildings were damaged, along with lawn decorations. Some tree branches were broken. |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | $5,000 | Numerous tree branches were reported down. |
| June 2003 | Hail | Belcourt | - | Hail covered the ground. |
| May 1999 | Flash Flood | Belcourt | - | highway 5 under water. |
| September 2024 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| September 2024 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| June 2023 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| July 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| July 2005 | Flash Flood | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| July 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| July 2002 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| August 2001 | Hail | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Thunderstorm Wind | Belcourt | - | no account filed |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rolla | 6.8 miles | 7 | |
| Shell Valley | 7.0 miles | 9 | |
| Saint John | 7.5 miles | 7 | |
| Thorne | 12.1 miles | 7 | |
| Rolette | 13.3 miles | 7 | |
| East Dunseith | 14.5 miles | 9 | |
| Mylo | 15.6 miles | 7 | |
| San Haven | 15.6 miles | 9 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Belcourt | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2126540 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1027873. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.



