Cannon Ball, North Dakota
6 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1954 and the latest in 1980. It stands in the North Sioux unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 58528. It lies near Twin Buttes. The Survey maps it on the Cannon Ball quadrangle. 864 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,752 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresCannon Ball fell from 875 to 864 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 | 875 | |
| 2020 | 864 | -11 (-1%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 surveys from 6 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.
- 1954 USGS Bismarck quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1958 USGS Bismarck quadrangle1:250000
- 1968 USGS Cannon Ball quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1980 USGS Linton quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
527 since 1992Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 527 fires within 5 miles of Cannon Ball between 1992 and 2020, burning about 15,208 acres in total. 11 started naturally. 105 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 155 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 105 |
| Debris and open burning | 87 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 47 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 44 |
| Fireworks | 41 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 16 |
| Other causes | 15 |
| Natural | 11 |
| Smoking | 4 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 1 |
| Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 September 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 34 acres | Standing Rock Agency | SAINT |
| 8 September 1996 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | Standing Rock Agency | NORTHCHURC |
| 7 September 2018 | Natural | 2.0 acres | Standing Rock Agency | FOOL BEAR CREEK |
| 7 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Standing Rock Agency | RIVER VIEW |
| 7 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | under an acre | Standing Rock Agency | LITTLE HILL |
| 7 September 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15 acres | Standing Rock Agency | CORN FIELD |
| 7 September 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Standing Rock Agency | GEIGER |
| 6 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | Standing Rock Agency | CANNONBALL CHURCH |
Storms near this place
17 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cannon Ball in 17 storm reports between 1999 and 2025: 12 hail, 5 thunderstorm wind. The reports record 3 injuries. 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 2010 | Hail | Cannon Ball | 2 hurt, $1,500,000 | A North Dakota state record tying hailstone of five inches in diameter fell at Prairie Knights Casino and Resort. The resort, and all vehicles outside, sustained severe damage from the extreme hail. One of these large hail stones crashed through the windshield of a car, injuring the two occupants. This tied the record size five inch diameter hailstone in Mercer County on August 3, 1969. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cannon Ball | 1 hurt, $80,000 | One person was injured and hospitalized as three mobile homes were blown over and damage was sustained to one permanent home. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Cannon Ball | $750,000 | This was the first of three waves of very large hail to impact the city of Cannon Ball during this episode. Severe damage to vehicles, homes, and crops occurred. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Cannon Ball | $100,000 | This was the second wave of very large hail to impact Cannon Ball during this episode, resulting in further damage to homes, vehicles, and crops. |
| July 2010 | Hail | Cannon Ball | $50,000 | This was the third wave of large hail to impact the city of Cannon Ball during this episode. |
| August 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cannon Ball | $24,000 | Multiple power poles broke down in the area. |
| May 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cannon Ball | $2,000 | Some road signs were blown down by the severe wind gusts. |
| June 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cannon Ball | - | Pole barns destroyed. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| September 2025 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | no account filed |
| August 2002 | Hail | Cannon Ball | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solen | 10.8 miles | 5 | |
| Fort Yates | 21.0 miles | 5 | |
| Chadwick | 28.2 miles | 5 | |
| Porcupine | 29.2 miles | 5 | |
| Selfridge | 29.7 miles | 5 |
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 Cannon Ball | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2397516 | 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 1028270. 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.
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.



