State atlas · filed under SD

Ghost Towns of South Dakota

South Dakota splits its ghosts between the Black Hills — gold camps in Deadwood's shadow — and the prairie east, where homestead-era villages have consolidated away for a century.

833 sites surveyed across South Dakota — 4 charted with full records so far, entered by year of settlement. The rest are awaiting verification.

✕Charted — click for the recordSurveyed — records pending

Survey note

The federal place-name archive records 833 vanished or historical sites in South Dakota — ghost towns, mining camps, townsites, and railroad stops. We chart them a few at a time, as the records can be verified. Every mark on this map is a place that once had a name.

TownYearsLast pop.Classification

MysticPennington Co.1876–19540Vanished Place ArdmoreFall River Co.1889–19840Verified Ghost Town SpokaneCuster Co.1890–19400Vanished Place IglooFall River Co.1942–19670Vanished Place

Society Pro

See South Dakota as the surveyors drew it, 1879 to 1919

142 USGS survey sheets from those years cover South Dakota. Pro lays them over today's map with a swipe between then and now, and adds every mine feature, lost place and mineral site the federal record holds for the state.

4,204mine features

2,476mineral sites

1,436lost places

142survey sheets

The full survey ledger

Every vanished town the federal archive records in South Dakota — each with its own record page, verified and expanded over time.

AvanceMeade Co.BardHanson Co.Bluff CenterClay Co.BramhallHyde Co.BrownsvilleLawrence Co.BunkerStanley Co.Canyon CityPennington Co.CarbonateLawrence Co.CarltonClark Co.CartervilleLawrence Co.CartesvilleLawrence Co.CarthageLawrence Co.CarwyeMeade Co.CastletonPennington Co.Centennial CityLawrence Co.ChanningLawrence Co.Clara Belle CampPennington Co.Cold Spring IICuster Co.Copper CampPennington Co.DacyLawrence Co.DanobyCuster Co.Diamond CityLawrence Co.Douglas CityDouglas Co.DowlingHaakon Co.ElizabethtownLawrence Co.EllingsonPerkins Co.FairviewKingsbury Co.FairviewPennington Co.Flatiron ILawrence Co.FlorenceHand Co.FlorencePennington Co.FrenchtownPennington Co.FrisbyClark Co.GlenwoodClay Co.GoiensMeade Co.GrandviewDouglas Co.GregoryLawrence Co.GrosClark Co.HaywardPennington Co.IvanhoeCuster Co.JeffreyCorson Co.JulianClark Co.KeeftonClark Co.KomstadClay Co.LaCreekBennett Co.Lancaster CityLawrence Co.LilyClark Co.MarshalltownClay Co.MaywoodHanson Co.MertonClark Co.OrlandLake Co.PactolaPennington Co.PhebaStanley Co.PitrodieClark Co.Prairie QueenLake Co.Ragged TopLawrence Co.RiversideClay Co.RunkelMeade Co.SaybrookClay Co.ShawClay Co.SheridanPennington Co.SnomaButte Co.South Sioux FallsMinnehaha Co.Star CornerClay Co.SuccessClark Co.SweetlandHand Co.VirginiaLawrence Co.VodnanyBon Homme Co.WheelerCharles Mix Co.

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