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.
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
- Vale Bridgelisted 1999
- Vale Schoollisted 1984
Population over time
2 figuresVale 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.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 136 | |
| 2020 | 130 | -6 (-4%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
7 surveys from 13 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.
- 1906 USGS Vale quadrangle1:62500, 2 printings
- 1913 USGS Newell quadrangle1:125000, 2 printings
- 1951 USGS Vale quadrangle1:24000, 3 printings
- 1951 USGS Vale quadrangle1:62500
- 1953 USGS Rapid City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Rapid City quadrangle1:250000
- 1983 USGS Belle Fourche quadrangle1:100000
Fires near this place
67 since 1998Regional 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/undetermined | 43 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 10 |
| Natural | 8 |
| Debris and open burning | 5 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 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 September 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | FOLLETTE |
| 2 September 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | GUY |
| 8 August 2005 | Natural | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 6 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | BIG HORN RD. |
| 6 August 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5.0 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | not named |
| 5 August 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 acres | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | BEAR BUTTE FARMS 2 |
| 3 August 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | under an acre | Meade | NO FIRE |
| 3 August 2011 | Natural | under an acre | South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression | NONE |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional 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 | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barber Pit No 1 | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Deadwood Mill | Gold | Occurrence |
Storms near this place
31 since 1996Regional 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.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 2013 | Hail | Vale | $50,000 | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | $5,000 | Doors torn off a barn. Two horses were killed and another injured. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Vale | - | Spotter reported hail size, measured. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Vale | - | Spotter reported hail size, measured. |
| June 2025 | Hail | Vale | - | Public report. |
| June 2025 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | Public estimated wind gust report. |
| July 2015 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | Strong wind gusts blew down a fence. |
| June 2014 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| August 2011 | Hail | Vale | - | Wind gusts to 40 mph also accompanied the storm. |
| May 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph. |
| May 2008 | Flood | Vale | - | 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 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | The doors were blown off a shed. |
| May 2024 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| May 2024 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| May 2023 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| August 2022 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| June 2022 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| July 2017 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| June 2015 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| July 2015 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| May 2013 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| August 2011 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | no account filed |
| July 2009 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| June 2008 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| July 2008 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | no account filed |
| August 2007 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| June 2003 | Hail | Vale | - | no account filed |
| July 1999 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | no account filed |
| July 1996 | Thunderstorm Wind | Vale | - | 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Empire | 4.3 miles | 13 | |
| Newell | 6.6 miles | 12 | |
| Nisland | 8.8 miles | 12 | |
| Snoma (historical) | 15.5 miles | 13 | |
| Fruitdale | 16.0 miles | 13 | |
| Arpan | 17.5 miles | 9 | |
| Castle Rock | 23.8 miles | 8 | |
| Belle Fourche | 24.1 miles | 14 |
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 Vale | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q4255965 | 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 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.






