BlockBefore

Sheldon, North Dakota

12 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1895 and the latest in 1998. It stands in Sheldon City. It lies in ZIP code area 58068. The Survey maps it on the Sheldon quadrangle. 95 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,089 feet above sea level.

Sheldon within Ransom County

On record in Sheldon

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 1 record

Population over time

2 figures

Sheldon fell from 116 to 95 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.

YearPeople Change
2010116
202095-21 (-18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

8 surveys from 12 printed sheets

Matched 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.

Fires near this place

11 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 11 fires within 5 miles of Sheldon between 1999 and 2019, burning about 221 acres in total. None started naturally. None was 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 burning5
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Equipment and vehicle use2
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Power generation/transmission/distribution1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
2 September 2013Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceJAMES 03TIN
1 September 2013Power generation/transmission/distributionunder an acreNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceVALLEY CITY LAGOON
22 August 2019Railroad operations and maintenance1.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceSHELDON RAILROAD TRACKS
20 August 2015Debris and open burning134 acresValley City Wetland Management DistrictGETCHELL WPA
2 May 2013Debris and open burning3.0 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceCHEY SPITZER
12 May 2013Debris and open burning3.5 acresNorth Dakota State Forest ServiceJON WAGAR
9 April 2010Missing data/not specified/undetermined65 acresDakota Prairie National GrasslandsNORTH JONES
26 February 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined7.0 acresTewaukon National Wildlife RefugeWILTSE WPA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Ransom County

Storms near this place

25 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Sheldon in 25 storm reports between 1998 and 2025: 13 hail, 6 thunderstorm wind, 5 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. 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.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 2007Tornado (EF2)Sheldon$1,000,000The tornado cut a large gap in mature hardwood trees near the Sheyenne River and snapped several wooden power poles. Several sections of a large irrigation system were also tipped over. Peak winds were estimated at 115 mph. Some crops were damaged in Owego Township.
July 2007Tornado (EF1)Sheldon$250,000This tornado began in Cass County at 625 pm CST. The tornado yanked one aluminum high voltage power tower out of its steel footings and toppled several others. It also snapped several wooden power poles at multiple road crossings across its path. Peak winds were estimated at 105 mph.
July 2007Thunderstorm WindSheldon$100,000Trees were blown down at the Sheldon cemetery, damaging some gravestones. Additional crop damage occurred in Greene Township.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindSheldon$30,000A pole barn was blown down.
June 2025Tornado (EF0)Sheldon-Tornado scar evident via high resolution satellite through farm fields.
July 2022HailSheldon-Public report was relayed via broadcast media partner.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindSheldon-Several large 4 to 6-inch diameter tree branches were found broken at a farmstead.
July 2016Thunderstorm WindSheldon-Several large tree branches were broken down in shelterbelts along highway 46.
July 2012HailSheldon-The time of the event was estimated by radar.
June 2006Tornado (F0)Sheldon-A deputy reported a tornado along the Cass and Ransom county line.
August 2006Tornado (F0)Sheldon-A weak tornado tracked east-southeast for about a mile before crossing into Richland County, where it continued about another 2 miles before ending 15 miles west of Walcott. The total path length was about 3 miles. The tornado tore down numerous tree branches in shelterbelts along the way. Peak wind speeds were estimated at 65 mph.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindSheldon-Large trees were blown down all over town. One tree fell on a house.
June 2003Thunderstorm WindSheldon-Large branches were blown down.
June 2015HailSheldon-no account filed
July 2010HailSheldon-no account filed
July 2010HailSheldon-no account filed
July 2010HailSheldon-no account filed
May 2008HailSheldon-no account filed
August 2006HailSheldon-no account filed
September 2002HailSheldon-no account filed
June 2001HailSheldon-no account filed
July 2001HailSheldon-no account filed
June 2000Flash FloodSheldon-no account filed
July 1998HailSheldon-no account filed
July 1998HailSheldon-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Ransom County

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 PlaceDistance Sheets
Anselm4.0 miles12
Enderlin6.4 miles10
Coburn6.7 miles12
Venlo7.3 miles10
Buttzville9.1 miles10
Lisbon14.2 miles7
McLeod16.7 miles10
Wisner (historical)17.7 miles10

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 SheldonAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2231424The 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 1035145. 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.