BlockBefore

Whitehorse, South Dakota

8 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1952 and the latest in 1985. It stands in the South Dewey unorganized territory. It lies in ZIP code area 57661. It stands on Little Moreau River. The Survey maps it on the White Horse quadrangle. 106 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,716 feet above sea level.

Whitehorse within Dewey County

Population over time

2 figures

Whitehorse fell from 141 to 106 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
2010141
2020106-35 (-25%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

4 surveys from 8 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

49 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 49 fires within 5 miles of Whitehorse between 1992 and 2018, burning about 287 acres in total. 7 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
Equipment and vehicle use13
Fireworks10
Misuse of fire by a minor8
Natural7
Debris and open burning6
Other causes2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined2
Recreation and ceremony1

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
7 September 2011Equipment and vehicle use2.2 acresCheyenne River AgencyGUMBO
5 September 2018Equipment and vehicle use20 acresCheyenne River AgencyBUZZARD
4 September 2002Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyWARDOG
3 September 1996Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyROBBY
26 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.3 acresCheyenne River AgencyANDERSON
25 September 1994Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyMOUND
23 September 2005Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreCheyenne River Agency#575
8 August 2006Naturalunder an acreCheyenne River AgencyMONICA

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Dewey 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 Whitehorse: 2 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 SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer
Highway Gravel PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Dewey County

Storms near this place

13 since 2008

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Whitehorse in 13 storm reports between 2008 and 2025: 8 hail, 3 flood, 1 tornado, 1 thunderstorm wind. 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
September 2025FloodWhitehorse-The river gauge on the Little Moreau at Promise went above flood stage on the afternoon of September 18th, topping out at 23.03 feet (2.03 feet above flood stage) during the early morning hours of September 19th. The river fell below flood stage later that afternoon. Virgin Creek, which flows into the Little Moreau just before they enter the Missouri River, was flowing across Promise Road at a depth of over one foot.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindWhitehorse-Sixty mph winds were estimated.
June 2014Tornado (EF0)Whitehorse-A tornado touched down briefly in open country with no damage reported.
June 2013HailWhitehorse-Hail broke some windows out of the house.
May 2024HailWhitehorse-no account filed
May 2024HailWhitehorse-no account filed
August 2020HailWhitehorse-no account filed
July 2018HailWhitehorse-no account filed
July 2012HailWhitehorse-no account filed
March 2009FloodWhitehorse-no account filed
April 2009FloodWhitehorse-no account filed
July 2008HailWhitehorse-no account filed
June 2008HailWhitehorse-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Dewey 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
Yellowhorse Ford4.8 miles8
Glencross12.4 miles7
Ridgeview13.6 miles7
Timber Lake14.8 miles8
La Plant15.2 miles7
Promise15.6 miles8
Trail City16.3 miles7
Virginia17.0 miles9

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 WhitehorseAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2272776The 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 1258980. 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.