Photograph of Black Hills Central Railroad — Photograph by Eric Friedebach, CC BY 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Burlington and Quincy High Line Hill City to Keystone Branch

Built in 1890. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.

From the record

“The Black Hills Central Railroad Co. is a heritage railroad that operates in Keystone, South Dakota, United States. The railroad was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 5, 2003.”
Wikipedia article Black Hills Central Railroad, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 59 National Register listings published here for Pennington County · listed in 2003 · category: District · built in 1890.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Along RR right of way from 222 Railroad Ave to Keystone Depot, Hill City, 57745
When was it listed? February 2003
Category. district
Unorganized territory. Mount Rushmore
When was it built? 1890
National Register reference number. 02001768 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

333 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 333 fires within 5 miles of Burlington and Quincy High Line Hill City to Keystone Branch between 1992 and 2020, burning about 4,230 acres in total. 86 started naturally. 9 were 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
Natural	86
Recreation and ceremony	68
Debris and open burning	66
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	56
Power generation/transmission/distribution	13
Fireworks	12
Arson/incendiarism	9
Equipment and vehicle use	8
Railroad operations and maintenance	6
Misuse of fire by a minor	5
Other causes	3
Smoking	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
9 September 2012	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Black Hills National Forest	TIN MILL
9 September 2003	Natural	1.0 acres	Black Hills National Forest	GRIZZLY BEAR
8 September 2003	Natural	under an acre	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	not named
8 September 1998	Natural	under an acre	South Dakota Wildland Fire Suppression	HUGO
7 September 2010	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Black Hills National Forest	650 ROAD
7 September 2003	Recreation and ceremony	under an acre	Black Hills National Forest	CALUMET DRAW
6 September 2001	Natural	under an acre	Mount Rushmore National Memorial	LONE PINE
6 September 2000	Natural	1.5 acres	Black Hills National Forest	BARRETTA

Every fire recorded in Pennington County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 175 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 175 workings within 5 miles of Burlington and Quincy High Line Hill City to Keystone Branch: 91 past producers, 41 occurrences, 32 prospects, 6 unknowns. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Tungsten, Tin, Gold, Silver. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status	Recorded
Annie No. 1 Lode	Tungsten, Tin, Mica, Feldspar, Graphite	Past Producer	Cassiterite, Feldspar, Graphite, Muscovite, Wolframite
Big Shot	Feldspar, Beryllium, Mica	Occurrence	Beryl, Feldspar, Mica
Bullion Mine Pennington County	Gold, Silver, Arsenic	Past Producer	1877, 1930
Cassiterite Lode	Beryllium, Tin	Prospect
Dan Patch	Tantalum, Niobium (Columbium), Mica	Past Producer
Dan Patch Group	Feldspar, Mica, Beryllium, Tantalum, Zinc	Past Producer	1905
Dewey Mine MS 1699	Mica, Feldspar, Lithium	Past Producer
Egyptian Group	Gold, Silver, Zinc	Past Producer	Chalcopyrite, Gold, Pyrrhotite, Silver, Sphalerite
El Dorado	Gold, Tin, Tungsten, Silver	Past Producer	1890
El Dorado MS 2014	Gold, Tungsten, Tin, Silver	Past Producer

Every working recorded in Pennington County

Storms near this property

60 of 114 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Hill City, the town this property stands in, in 114 storm reports between 1993 and 2025: 96 hail, 11 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 1 wildfire. 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 2013	Hail	Hill City	$6,000,000	Golf ball size hail was reported from Hill City to Palmer Gulch southeast of town, causing extensive damage to vehicles and property.
May 2019	Flood	Hill City	$750,000	Runoff from heavy rain flooded creeks and inundated roads. Water covered part of Winter Street/US Highway 16A in Keystone. Water was reported over Old Hill City Road near Keystone, Grizzly Gulch Road, Mountain Park Road, Spring Creek Road, Lower Spring Creek Road, Rockwood Road, South Valley Drive, Orchard Lane, Reservoir Road, Green Valley Drive, Lamb Road, Anderson Road, Antelope Creek Road three miles south of SD Highway 44, Neva Way, 143rd Avenue, 156th Street south of highway 14-16, and 159th Street.
June 2015	Flood	Hill City	$700,000	Many roads were flooded by heavy rain and high stream levels. On the north side of Rapid City, 143rd Avenue was underwater near Neva Way. In Rapid Valley; Reservoir Road, Green Valley Drive between Reservoir Road and Greenfield Road, South Valley Drive, the east end of Dunn Road, Anderson Road, South Radar Hill Road, and Antelope Creek Road were flooded. Around Box Elder; Elk Vale Road just north of Interstate 90, 155th Street south of Highway 14-16, and the South Ellsworth Road bridge were flooded. Hammerquist Road and 157th Street in the Caputa area were closed. Palmer Gulch Road east of Hill City was underwater. Old Hill City Road and the Needles Highway (SD Highway 87) from Playhouse Road to Sylvan Campground were flooded in various areas. At Hart Ranch, the golf course sustained flooding and debris damaged foot bridges. Spring Creek reached the bottom of the bridge at Mulligan Mile Crossing. High water damaged private bridges in Magic Canyon west of Rapid City.
July 2007	Hail	Hill City	$500,000	Baseball sized hail broke building windows and automobile windshields in Hill City. The hail accumulated six to eight inches deep.
June 2011	Hail	Hill City	$250,000	no account filed
June 2014	Hail	Hill City	$150,000	Many vehicles were damaged by the large hail.
August 2013	Tornado (EF1)	Hill City	$25,000	A small tornado touched down south of Hill City near the Mickelson Trail. It continued to the south, crossing the Needles Highway (SD Highway 87) east of US Highway 16/385. The tornado blew down and snapped numerous large Ponderosa Pine trees and blew a few shingles off a house. The trees fell onto power lines, which caused the poles to fall.
July 2004	Hail	Hill City	$20,000	no account filed
June 2015	Flash Flood	Hill City	$10,000	Most streets in Hill City were covered with water and debris. Water was at least a foot deep on Allen Gulch Road, Railway Avenue, and East Main Street and Deerfield Road at Marshall Gulch was closed. Major Lake Drive, Chute Rooster Drive, and Smokey Drive were damaged by the flooding.
May 1998	Hail	Hill City	$500	Hail broke car windshield.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	Spotter reported an estimated wind gust.
June 2025	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	Public reported estimated wind gust.
July 2022	Hail	Hill City	-	Hail to ping pong ball size lasted around 20 minutes.
August 2021	Hail	Hill City	-	Hail caused considerable damage at the Mount Rushmore KOA Campground.
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	Nickel sized hail covered the ground.
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	Hail covered the ground.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	A tree blew down onto US Highway 16 south of Hill City.
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	Several small trees were downed by the wind at the Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Camp.
June 2016	Hail	Hill City	-	Golf ball sized hail fell at the Medicine Mountain Boy Scout Camp.
May 2015	Flood	Hill City	-	Runoff from heavy rain caused minor flooding along Spring Creek, both upstream and downstream from Sheridan Lake, and along Newton Fork northwest of Hill City. Releases from Pactola Reservoir reached 500 cubic feet per second, and combined with heavy rain, caused minor flooding along Rapid Creek downstream from Pactola Dam to the Cheyenne River. The flooding continued into early June.
June 2015	Hail	Hill City	-	Hail to the size of golf balls covered the ground.
June 2015	Flood	Hill City	-	Runoff from heavy rain caused flooding along Spring Creek between Hill City and Sheridan Lake.
June 2012	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	Winds were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2004	Hail	Hill City	-	Hail covered the ground.
June 2003	Hail	Hill City	-	Hail to the size golf balls fell for 20 minutes.
May 2002	Hail	Hill City	-	A single severe thunderstorm moved across the Black Hills portion of Pennington County, producing nickle sized hail.
July 2024	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2023	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2023	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
May 2022	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2022	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2022	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2021	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2021	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
May 2020	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
May 2020	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2020	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2020	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2020	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2019	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2019	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2019	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2018	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2017	Thunderstorm Wind	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2017	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
May 2016	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
August 2016	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2016	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2016	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
July 2016	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2015	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed
June 2015	Hail	Hill City	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Pennington County

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
Golden Summit Mine Foreman's Cabin	1.8 miles	2012
Mount Rushmore National Memorial	3.3 miles	1966
Harney Peak Tin Mining Company Buildings	3.6 miles	1977
Harney Peak Lookout Tower, Dam, Pumphouse and Stairway	3.7 miles	1983
Von Woehrmann Building	4.0 miles	1977
C. E. McEachron General Merchandise	4.0 miles	1994

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 02001768 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Pennington County	All 59 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
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.