Dempster, South Dakota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1953 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Dempster Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57234. The Survey maps it on the Dempster quadrangle.
Topographic sheets covering this place
4 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.
- 1953 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1958 USGS Watertown quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1969 USGS Dempster quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1985 USGS Clear Lake quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
7 since 2007Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 7 fires within 5 miles of Dempster between 2007 and 2020, burning about 21 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 burning | 3 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 April 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | UNKNOWN |
| 29 March 2020 | Debris and open burning | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | JESSE |
| 6 November 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | POINSETT COLONY |
| 25 November 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | FOSTER |
| 2 November 2007 | Debris and open burning | 4.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 16 October 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 10 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | MENINGRVA 2 |
| 11 October 2011 | Debris and open burning | 5.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | MENINGRVA |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
3 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 3 workings within 5 miles of Dempster: 3 past producers. None of them still produces. 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Gravel Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer |
Storms near this place
11 since 1997Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Dempster in 11 storm reports between 1997 and 2024: 7 hail, 1 thunderstorm wind, 1 flash flood, 1 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2022 | Tornado (EF0) | Dempster | - | Eyewitness reported a brief tornado touchdown which did only minor damage to a cattle shed. |
| August 2014 | Flash Flood | Dempster | - | Very heavy rains of 4 to 5 inches brought flash flooding across a few roads north of Estelline. |
| June 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Dempster | - | Several trees were downed. |
| May 2024 | Flood | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Hail | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| June 2019 | Hail | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| May 2019 | Hail | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| June 2010 | Hail | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| June 2002 | Hail | Dempster | - | no account filed |
| June 1997 | Hail | Dempster | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Poinsett Colony | 2.7 miles | 9 | |
| Estelline | 4.7 miles | 8 | |
| Claremont Colony | 5.6 miles | 9 | |
| Stone Bridge | 6.1 miles | 8 | |
| Castlewood | 7.5 miles | 8 | |
| Alsville | 9.9 miles | 8 | |
| Kones Corner | 10.7 miles | 8 | |
| Hayti | 13.5 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 Dempster | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q19868030 | 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 1254669. 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.



