Putney, South Dakota
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1896 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Putney Township. It lies in ZIP code area 57445. The Survey maps it on the Putney quadrangle.
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.
- 1896 USGS Columbia quadrangle1:125000, 3 printings
- 1952 USGS Putney quadrangle1:24000
- 1954 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:250000, 2 printings
- 1956 USGS Aberdeen quadrangle1:250000
- 1985 USGS Elm River quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
18 since 2000Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 18 fires within 5 miles of Putney between 2000 and 2017, burning about 3,859 acres in total. 1 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 | 9 |
| Debris and open burning | 4 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 3 |
| Other causes | 1 |
| Natural | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | CLARK |
| 12 August 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | I90 |
| 27 July 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | 248TH |
| 30 June 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | BOB OSTERMAN |
| 28 May 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | TREASURE ISLAND |
| 21 May 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | HANSON |
| 14 May 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | PHARIS |
| 11 May 2004 | Natural | 1,200 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | RIVER BOTTOM |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Storms near this place
22 since 1996Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Putney in 22 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 10 flood, 7 hail, 4 thunderstorm wind, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 2025 | Flood | Putney | - | The river would top out at 14.64 feet, or 0.64 feet above flood stage, at the end of the month. The flooding mainly impacted adjacent agricultural lands. |
| September 2025 | Flood | Putney | - | The James River near Stratford started the month in flood, cresting at 15.39, or 1.39 feet above flood stage on September 24th. The river would remain in flood through the end of the month, mainly impacting agricultural bottomlands. |
| May 2023 | Flood | Putney | - | The James River near Stratford has been in flood since April and peaked at 17.79 feet on May 19th, after which there has been a slow steady decline through the end of the month of May. Mainly agricultural lands are impacted, however at least one county road and one bridge have experienced water inundation during the course of the month. |
| June 2023 | Flood | Putney | - | The James River near Stratford, SFDS2, started the month in moderate flood stage at 17.32 feet, then steadily dropped through the month. It reached minor flood stage of <17 feet on June 11th, and remained in there through the rest of the month. Significant amounts of agricultural lands remained flooded through the month, and county roads were flooded. |
| July 2023 | Flood | Putney | - | The James River near Stratford, SFDS2, remained in minor flood stage of <17 feet throughout July. Significant agricultural lands remained flooded throughout the month, and county roads were flooded. |
| August 2023 | Flood | Putney | - | The James river gauge at Stratford measured 16.0 feet, 2.0 feet above flood stage at the start of the month. By the end of the August the gauge was still in flood at 14.7 feet. Flooding continued to mostly impact cropland and pastures, along with a few county roads. |
| July 2022 | Flood | Putney | - | The James River at Stratford reached a July peak of 17.84 feet on the 8th, with a slow decrease for the rest of the month. On Friday, July 22, an 11 year old girl was rescued from the James River after accidentally falling into the water. |
| September 2022 | Flood | Putney | - | Flooding on the James River was recorded by the river gauge at Stratford, SFDS2. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Putney | - | Seventy mph winds along with quarter size hail destroyed many acres of corn and soybeans. |
| August 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Putney | - | Many acres of soybeans and corn were significantly damaged by hail and sixty mph winds. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Putney | - | One hundred mph winds severely damaged two grain bins as they were lifted off of their foundation and blown over. An old barn was also partially collapsed. |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Putney | - | Large trees were uprooted by one hundred mph winds. |
| September 2023 | Flood | Putney | - | no account filed |
| May 2022 | Flood | Putney | - | no account filed |
| August 2019 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| July 2013 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| July 2010 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| August 2009 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| July 2007 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| October 2006 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| July 2004 | Hail | Putney | - | no account filed |
| May 1996 | Tornado (F0) | Putney | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tacoma Park | 4.0 miles | 9 | |
| Huffton | 5.8 miles | 9 | |
| James | 6.8 miles | 11 | |
| Plana | 7.6 miles | 10 | |
| Columbia | 8.1 miles | 10 | |
| Groton | 8.8 miles | 11 | |
| Bath | 10.1 miles | 11 | |
| Bath Corner | 10.7 miles | 11 |
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 Putney | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q23709418 | 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 1257249. 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.




