Dewey is an unincorporated community near the southwest corner of Custer County,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state, state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Dakota people, Dakota Sioux ...

, United States, less than one mile from the

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

border in a prairie region of the

Black Hills The Black Hills is an isolated mountain range rising from the Great Plains of North America in western South Dakota and extending into Wyoming, United States. Black Elk Peak, which rises to , is the range's highest summit. The name of the range ...

. There are approximately five or six homes in town. Dewey has a volunteer fire department in the Edgemont city district. Dewey lies just to the southwest of the Elk Mountains, a small range that is part of the Black Hills. South Dewey Road leads into Fall River County southeast to

Burdock ''Arctium'' is a genus of biennial plants commonly known as burdock, family Asteraceae. Native to Europe and Asia, several species have been widely introduced worldwide. Burdock's clinging properties, in addition to providing an excellent mecha ...

and then to Edgemont— from Dewey. Northwest of Dewey is

Newcastle, Wyoming Newcastle is a city in and the county seat of Weston County, Wyoming, Weston County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 3,374 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Geography Newcastle is situated at the southwest edge of the B ...

History

Dewey was originally called "S and G Ranch" for its owners Sturgis and Goodell. The name was changed in 1890 by either the Burlington Railroad which came through the area that year, or the Post Office Department. The town is a populated place ("a place or area having clustered or scattered buildings and a permanent population") that is not a census designated or incorporated place with an official federally recognized name. Dewey was a cattle town in the first half of the 20th century. Local ranchers used its rail depot to ship cattle to market. Two ranches near Dewey are listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Custer County. The Edna and Ernest Young Ranch is approximately three miles south of town, south of Beaver Creek, while the Charles and Ollie Lampert Ranch is north of Dewey. The

Tennessee Valley Authority The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolin ...

and private

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

companies have explored the Dewey /

area since the 1970s. Several mines still exist in the area and the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental Protection Agency studied the area in 2012 and 2013 for new in-situ uranium recovery.

Photo gallery

File:Dewey South Dakota Street Signs and Buildings.jpg, Old buildings in Dewey File:Dewey Train and Sign.jpg, Freight rail building in Dewey File:Prairiecabin.jpg, Abandoned cabin on South Dakota Route 715, Pilger Mountain Road, near the intersection of Dewey Road (Custer County Road 769) File:Black Hills Desert.JPG, A desert scene. The mountains in the background are the Elk Mountains and

Black Hills National Forest Black Hills National Forest is located in southwestern South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, United States. The forest has an area of over 1.25 million acres (5,066 km2) and is managed by the Forest Service. Forest headquarters are located ...

, separated from the Limestone Plateau by highlands and prairie. File:Black Hills Panorama with Trees.jpg, Red rock canyons near Dewey File:BNSF Train near Dewey South Dakota.jpg, A

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

train near Dewey File:Black Hills Panorama.jpg, A view of the highlands in the southern Black Hills near Dewey

Further information

* Joann Boggs. Presentation to the Custer County Historical Society around the early 2010s. Recording available from the society for a nominal fee.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Custer County, South Dakota Black Hills Unincorporated communities in South Dakota