Bonesteel, South Dakota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1990. It stands in Bonesteel City. It lies in ZIP code area 57317. The Survey maps it on the Bonesteel quadrangle. 258 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,965 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresBonesteel fell from 275 to 258 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 | 275 | |
| 2020 | 258 | -17 (-6%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 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 Mitchell quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1959 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1964 USGS Bonesteel quadrangle1:24000
- 1986 USGS Lake Andes quadrangle1:100000, 3 printings
- 1990 USGS Mitchell quadrangle1:250000
Fires near this place
2 since 2006Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 2 fires within 5 miles of Bonesteel between 2006 and 2019, burning about 1 acre 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 |
|---|---|
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 September 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | BONESTEEL |
| 7 August 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
Storms near this place
33 since 1993Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Bonesteel in 33 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 22 hail, 9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2008 | Hail | Bonesteel | $50,000 | Large hail damaged the siding and broke windows on homes, dented vehicles, and caused crop damage in the area. The amount of crop damage was not known. |
| August 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | $5,000 | Thunderstorm winds ripped siding off a house, flipped over a large dumpster, and caused tree damage. |
| May 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | Thunderstorm wind gust was measured by a personal weather station. |
| July 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | Several large tree limbs down in town. |
| July 2025 | Tornado (EF2) | Bonesteel | - | This was the third tornado documented by a storm chaser across Gregory County. This tornado touched down west of Whetstone Bay on the Missouri River, north of Whetstone Township Highway and to the west of County Road 57. After a very short distance, the tornado broke multiple power poles along County Road 57 as it traveled south-southeast. The tornado then traveled for 5 miles across unpopulated complex terrain with no road access, although its damage path was visible on Copernicus Sentinel data 2025. Coming out of the hills, the tornado hit a single family dwelling, with the collapse of all exterior walls among other major damage. Two nearby outbuildings were also destroyed. The tornado continued to the south-southeast for approximately 1.5 miles before it flipped a camper and destroyed an abandoned trailer on the north side of Bonesteel. The tornado lifted a few hundred yards north of Eldeen Avenue, missing the city-center of Bonesteel. The tornado was rated EF2 with an estimated maximum wind gust of 135 mph. The average path width was estimated at 125 yards. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | Thunderstorm winds downed a one-foot diameter tree limb, along with several other smaller limbs. |
| May 2022 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | Thunderstorm winds downed numerous three-inch branches. |
| July 2010 | Tornado (EF0) | Bonesteel | - | A brief rope like tornado caused no reported damage. |
| June 2006 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | Thunderstorm winds caused tree damage, including several 2 inch diameter branches blown down. |
| July 2004 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | Large hail damaged vehicles and crops. The amount of damage was not known. |
| June 2003 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | Large hail covered the ground. The hail damaged corn and soybean crops, but the amount of crop damage was not known. |
| June 2003 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | Thunderstorm winds contributed to crop damage caused by large hail. The amount of crop damage was not known. |
| August 2002 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | Large hail broke windows, damaged vehicles, and damaged area crops. The amount of damage was not known. |
| June 2022 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2020 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| May 2016 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| August 2008 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| May 2007 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 2000 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| May 1999 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| June 1999 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| July 1994 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | no account filed |
| September 1993 | Hail | Bonesteel | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfax | 4.5 miles | 9 | |
| Saint Charles | 8.0 miles | 8 | |
| Herrick | 13.2 miles | 8 | |
| Fort Randall | 17.3 miles | 10 | |
| Burke | 19.8 miles | 8 | |
| Lucas | 20.6 miles | 9 | |
| Carlock | 26.0 miles | 8 | |
| Gregory | 27.9 miles | 8 |
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 Bonesteel | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q2134214 | 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 1254006. 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.




