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Belle Fourche Dam

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

From the record

“The Belle Fourche Dam, also known as Orman Dam, is a dam on Owl Creek in Butte County, South Dakota, USA, approximately 8 miles (13 km) east of Belle Fourche, South Dakota, along U.S. Its construction created the Belle Fourche Reservoir, the Belle Fourche National Wildlife Refuge, and the Rocky Point Recreation Area.”

Wikipedia article Belle Fourche Dam, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 39 National Register listings published here for Butte County · listed in 1977 · category: Structure.

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

The listing

  • Address. E of Belle Fourche off U.S. 212, Belle Fourche, 57762
  • When was it listed? November 1977
  • Category. structure
  • Unorganized territory. West Butte
  • National Register reference number. 77001239 - 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

10 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 10 fires within 5 miles of Belle Fourche Dam between 1999 and 2020, burning about 153 acres in total. 4 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
Natural4
Equipment and vehicle use2
Debris and open burning2
Missing data/not specified/undetermined1
Other causes1

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
8 August 2001Natural1.0 acresMiles City Field OfficeINDIAN CAN
3 August 2006Natural40 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
1 August 2000Natural2.0 acresEdgemont Volunteer Fire DepartmentSILO
3 July 2017Missing data/not specified/undetermined1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionORMAN DAM
22 July 1999Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresNewell Volunteer Fire DepartmentFOOS
29 June 2020Naturalunder an acreSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionMAIL
20 December 2005Debris and open burning100 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire Suppressionnot named
3 October 2016Equipment and vehicle use1.0 acresSouth Dakota Wildland Fire SuppressionKITZEN

Every fire recorded in Butte County

Storms near this property

60 of 156 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Belle Fourche, the town this property stands in, in 156 storm reports between 1994 and 2025: 95 hail, 54 thunderstorm wind, 4 flood, 2 funnel cloud. The reports record 10 injuries. 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
July 2001Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche5 hurt, $213,000no account filed
July 1998HailBelle Fourche3 hurt, $3,000,000NEARLY EVERY HOME, BUSINESS AND VECHICLE IN THE CITY WAS BADLY DAMAGED.
July 2001HailBelle Fourche2 hurtno account filed
August 2011HailBelle Fourche$1,000,000no account filed
June 2013FloodBelle Fourche$200,000Redwater River, Crow Creek, and several small creeks and streams experienced flooding. Water reached the edge of a house along the Redwater River and some low water crossings were flooded.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche$50,000Automobiles were blown over on U.S. Highway 85 north of Belle Fourche.
July 1994Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche$50,000Thunderstorm Winds flipped over a camper, destroyed a barn 3 miles north of Newell, and downed some power lines.
June 2013HailBelle Fourche$10,000no account filed
May 1996HailBelle Fourche$5,000no account filed
July 1999Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche$1,000Trees were blown over and sheds and barns had damage.
July 1997HailBelle Fourche$1,000Large hail damaged several cars.
August 2025HailBelle Fourche-Trained spotter confirmed large hail up to 1.5 inches.
August 2025HailBelle Fourche-Public reported pea to nickel size hail.
August 2025HailBelle Fourche-Very gusty winds from all directions, but less than 60 mph. Very heavy rainfall. Hail report of one inch.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
June 2022HailBelle Fourche-Wind-driven baseball to near softball sized hail caused extensive damage to property in the Belle Fourche area, especially on the north side of town.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind-driven baseball to near softball sized hail caused extensive damage to property in the Belle Fourche area, especially on the north side of town.
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-A large tree was uprooted by the strong winds.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2021Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-The spotter estimated wind gusts at near 70 mph.
August 2020HailBelle Fourche-Numerous reports of hail to golf ball size in Belle Fourche were received.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Half inch size hail fell with the storm.
June 2018Funnel CloudBelle Fourche-A funnel cloud was sighted north of Belle Fourche.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were estimated at 70 mph.
August 2016Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph.
August 2015Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-The combination of strong wind and large hail caused property damage in Belle Fourche.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-The spotter estimated wind gusts at 60 mph along U.S. Highway 212 near the Wyoming state line.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were esitmated at 60 mph.
May 2011FloodBelle Fourche-The river gage at the Wyoming-South Dakota state line crested at 16.3 feet, which is 1.3 feet above flood stage. Flood water covered several streets in Belle Fourche.
August 2011Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
August 2010Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
July 2009Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
August 2009Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Wind gusts were estimated at 60 mph.
June 2007FloodBelle Fourche-Runoff from recent heavy rain caused minor flooding of the Redwater River, Belle Fourche River, and Hay Creek and roads south of Belle Fourche.
July 2005HailBelle Fourche-Hail covered the ground.
July 2005Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Trees and large limbs downed in Belle Fourche.
August 2004Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-8 inch diameter tree branches were broken.
July 2002Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-A semi trailer was blown a highway.
October 2000HailBelle Fourche-Hail was reported to be several inches deep.
May 1999Tornado (F0)Belle Fourche-Stayed in open country...moved from Lawrence County into Butte County.
July 1998Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-ALSO RECEIVED 1.55 INCHES OF RAIN IN 25 MINUTES.
July 1995Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-Strong winds of 80 mph caused tree and structural damage. One-half inch hail and 2.35 inches of rain also accompanied the storm.
May 2023HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
May 2023HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
May 2023HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
September 2023HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2022Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2022HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2022HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2021HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2021HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2021HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
August 2020HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
August 2020HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
August 2020HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2020HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2020Thunderstorm WindBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2020HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
June 2019HailBelle Fourche-no account filed
July 2019HailBelle Fourche-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Butte 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

2 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.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Ditchrider House6.8 miles2002
Snoma Finnish Cemetery7.0 miles1985

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 77001239 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Butte CountyAll 39 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.
  • 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.