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Vale, South Dakota

13 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1906 and the latest in 1983. It stands in the East Butte unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57788. It stands on Cottonwood Creek. The Survey maps it on the Vale quadrangle. 130 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 2,700 feet above sea level.

Vale within Butte County

On record in Vale

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 2 records

Population over time

2 figures

Vale fell from 136 to 130 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
2010136
2020130-6 (-4%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 13 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

67 since 1998

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 67 fires within 5 miles of Vale between 1998 and 2020, burning about 3,137 acres in total. 8 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/undetermined43
Equipment and vehicle use10
Natural8
Debris and open burning5
Misuse of fire by a minor1

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
6 September 2011Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionFOLLETTE
2 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionGUY
8 August 2005Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
6 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined20 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionBIG HORN RD.
6 August 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
5 August 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined200 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionBEAR BUTTE FARMS 2
3 August 2013Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreMeadeNO FIRE
3 August 2011Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionNONE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Butte County

Mines and quarries near this place

2 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Vale: 1 occurrence, 1 past producer. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Gold, 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Barber Pit No 1Sand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Deadwood MillGoldOccurrence

Every working recorded in Butte County

Storms near this place

31 since 1996

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Vale in 31 storm reports between 1996 and 2025: 19 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 1 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
May 2013HailVale$50,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindVale$5,000Doors torn off a barn. Two horses were killed and another injured.
June 2025HailVale-Spotter reported hail size, measured.
June 2025HailVale-Spotter reported hail size, measured.
June 2025HailVale-Public report.
June 2025Thunderstorm WindVale-Public estimated wind gust report.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindVale-Strong wind gusts blew down a fence.
June 2014Thunderstorm WindVale-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
August 2011HailVale-Wind gusts to 40 mph also accompanied the storm.
May 2010Thunderstorm WindVale-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
May 2008FloodVale-Heavy rain caused flooding in Nisland, Vale, and Belle Fourche. Minor flooding was observed along the Belle Fourche River around Nisland and Vale, Willow Creek and Dry Creek near Newell, Stinking Water Creek, and Maloney Creek.
August 1999Thunderstorm WindVale-The doors were blown off a shed.
May 2024HailVale-no account filed
May 2024HailVale-no account filed
May 2023HailVale-no account filed
August 2022HailVale-no account filed
June 2022HailVale-no account filed
July 2017HailVale-no account filed
June 2015HailVale-no account filed
July 2015HailVale-no account filed
May 2013HailVale-no account filed
August 2011HailVale-no account filed
August 2010Thunderstorm WindVale-no account filed
July 2009Thunderstorm WindVale-no account filed
June 2008HailVale-no account filed
June 2008HailVale-no account filed
July 2008Thunderstorm WindVale-no account filed
August 2007HailVale-no account filed
June 2003HailVale-no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindVale-no account filed
July 1996Thunderstorm WindVale-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butte 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
Empire4.3 miles13
Newell6.6 miles12
Nisland8.8 miles12
Snoma (historical)15.5 miles13
Fruitdale16.0 miles13
Arpan17.5 miles9
Castle Rock23.8 miles8
Belle Fourche24.1 miles14

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 ValeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q4255965The 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 1258724. 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.