Batesland, South Dakota
8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1985. It lies in ZIP code area 57716. The Survey maps it on the Batesland quadrangle. 100 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 3,412 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBatesland fell from 108 to 100 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 | 108 | |
| 2020 | 100 | -8 (-7%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
3 surveys from 8 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.
- 1955 USGS Hot Springs quadrangle1:250000, 5 printings
- 1981 USGS Batesland quadrangle1:25000
- 1985 USGS Pine Ridge quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
51 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 51 fires within 5 miles of Batesland between 1993 and 2020, burning about 1,104 acres in total. 7 started naturally. 3 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 | 12 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10 |
| Natural | 7 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 6 |
| Other causes | 6 |
| Arson/incendiarism | 3 |
| Fireworks | 2 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 2 |
| Smoking | 1 |
| 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 2002 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | Pine Ridge Agency | SOAP |
| 8 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 acres | Martin Volunteer Fire Department | HANAMAN |
| 6 September 2003 | Other causes | under an acre | Pine Ridge Agency | 15 MIN |
| 5 September 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 2 September 2000 | Natural | 300 acres | Martin Volunteer Fire Department | COOMES |
| 19 September 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 50 acres | Martin Volunteer Fire Department | HANAMAN |
| 13 September 2015 | Misuse of fire by a minor | under an acre | Pine Ridge Agency | SOCKY |
| 11 September 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | Pine Ridge Agency | DONT KNOW |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
42 since 2004Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Batesland in 42 storm reports between 2004 and 2025: 20 hail, 20 thunderstorm wind, 2 tornado. 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2004 | Tornado (F1) | Batesland | $100,000 | A tornado touched down in the town of Batesland. It tore the roof off a house, blew down a grain bin, damaged another roof and the school gymnasium. |
| June 2015 | Hail | Batesland | $50,000 | Hail broke numerous houses and vehicle windows in Batesland. |
| August 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | $2,000 | The combination of wind and hail flattened corn and wheat crops and broke windows of a residence. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | Mesonet recorded wind gust. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | SD Mesonet recorded wind gust. |
| August 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | SD Mesonet recorded wind gust. |
| July 2024 | Hail | Batesland | - | Wind gusts up to 50 mph. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | Considerable crop damage and broken branches occurred from the hail and wind. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | Two power poles were snapped along County Highway 15. |
| July 2023 | Hail | Batesland | - | Hail accumulated several inches and some was blown into large piles. |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | Wind driven hail broke out windows of buildings and homes, and crops and vegetation were stripped mostly bare. |
| September 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph. |
| July 2013 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| August 2004 | Tornado (F0) | Batesland | - | Tornado briefly touched down near Gordon Junction, at the intersection of highways 18 and 391. |
| June 2024 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2024 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| July 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| August 2021 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| July 2019 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| July 2016 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| May 2015 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| August 2015 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2014 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| August 2013 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| August 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2007 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Batesland | - | no account filed |
| June 2004 | Hail | Batesland | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wakpamani | 2.5 miles | 9 | |
| Denby | 13.4 miles | 8 | |
| Wounded Knee | 14.0 miles | 8 | |
| Porcupine | 14.3 miles | 8 | |
| Evergreen | 18.6 miles | 8 | |
| Kyle | 20.8 miles | 8 | |
| Manderson | 20.9 miles | 8 | |
| Sharps Corner | 23.9 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 Batesland | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2494810 | 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 1253782. 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.


