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State hub · South Dakota
Many of South Dakota's ghost towns are in the Black Hills, where gold was found in 1874. South Dakota Public Broadcasting counts at least 200 Black Hills mining communities that survive only as ghost towns, out of more than 500 settlements founded there since 1874. Some chased gold, like Rochford, laid out in 1878; others silver and lead, like Galena; and Tinton turned from gold to tin and was abandoned after a fire destroyed its mill in the 1950s.
East of the Hills the story is railroads and homesteads. Ardmore, near the Nebraska line, began in 1889 as a stop where trains took on water and had one resident in the 2020 census. Okaton grew up with the Milwaukee Railroad in 1906 and faded when the line closed and Interstate 90 passed it by. Scenic, beside Badlands National Park, was bought almost whole by a church in 2011. Farther east, small farm towns simply emptied: Lily dissolved in 2017 after its population reached zero, and a 2003 tornado left only foundations at Manchester.
What remains varies. Rochford still has a saloon and about ten residents, Galena keeps its 1882 schoolhouse, and at Spokane a barn, a house and the school stand in the national forest. Many prairie sites are private, best seen from the road.
Town guides
Our complete guides, most-read first: history, what's left, current access, photos, maps and directions.
GuideKingsbury County
A prairie railroad town that had shrunk to a few families when an F4 tornado flattened it in June 2003. It was never rebuilt, and the state dissolved…
GuidePennington County
A railroad town on the edge of the Badlands that was put up for sale whole in 2011. A church from the Philippines bought it and has said little since.
GuideLawrence County
A gold-mining town of nearly 1,200 people below Terry Peak, where Calamity Jane died in 1903. SDPB reported in 2018 that the townsite is private land…
GuidePennington County
A gold camp of 1876 named for the hand rockers its miners used. It had a second life as a tourist stop on the road to Mount Rushmore, until the…
GuidePennington County
A gold camp that held about 500 people in 1878 and fewer than 50 by 1900. A few residents and the Moonshine Gulch Saloon keep it going on Black Hills…
GuideFall River County
A railroad and ranching town founded in 1889 in the far southwest corner of South Dakota. It had 16 people in 1980 and one in 2020, and its empty…
GuideJones County
A Milwaukee Road town of 1906 on the prairie west of Murdo, emptied by hard winters, the Depression and the loss of its railroad. Its grain elevator…
Watch
Weathered prairie storefronts, old cars, and a Black Hills silver camp. Explore the history, maps and access notes before you go.
Where to start
Open attractions, living towns and true ruins, with their current status.
Pennington County
Gold camp laid out in 1878 that had about 500 people that December. Historic buildings remain, and the Moonshine Gulch Saloon still serves riders and hikers on Forest Service Road 17.
Lawrence County
Silver and lead camp of 1876, about 400 people by the end of 1877. The 1882 schoolhouse stands, and the Galena Historical Society opens buildings on private land for an annual walk in June.
Lawrence County
Gold camp turned tin mining town on the Wyoming line, abandoned after a fire took the mill in the 1950s. Much of the South Dakota side stands, and a September 2008 photo shows collapsing cabins; a mining company reportedly manages the site, so treat it as private.
Custer County
Mining camp of 1890 whose mine closed in 1940. A barn, the watchman's house and the school remain in the Black Hills National Forest, about a mile's walk from a gate on Forest Service Road 330, as SDPB described it in March 2018.
Pennington County
Railroad and highway stop beside Badlands National Park. The church Iglesia ni Cristo bought the town, about 46 acres with its saloon and depot, in 2011. Photos from September 2019 show the saloon and the Longhorn Store still standing.
Jones County
Milwaukee Railroad town of 1906 just south of I-90 at exit 183. A grain elevator, the old store and houses remain, all privately owned; there are no services.
Fall River County
Railroad water stop of 1889 on Highway 71, a mile north of the Nebraska line. Wikipedia counts about 15 to 25 abandoned houses; the 2020 census counted one resident. We found no word on access, so view it from the highway.
Near a city
Driving distance and time from downtown, routed over OpenStreetMap roads. Dirt roads are usually slower than the estimate.
Directory
Every town, camp and settlement in our South Dakota index, with its county. A ◦ marks sites already on the map.
No sites match. Try fewer letters or another county.
Plan a trip
Some of the best buildings are on private land. Galena's historical society opens them once a year, on the second Saturday of June, with a self-guided hike of about 3.65 miles past the schoolhouse, the assay office and the Vinegar Hill cemetery. Plan a Black Hills trip around it if you can.
Rochford is on Forest Service Road 17, about 25 miles south of Deadwood. Spokane is not reached by car: park at the gated turnout on Forest Service Road 330 and walk about a mile. Tinton is on Forest Service Road 222. Carry water and an offline map, and check road conditions with the forest before you go.
The Black Hills National Forest covers about 1.2 million acres of western South Dakota and northeastern Wyoming, and permits are needed to remove rocks and minerals. Many towns are not on forest land: Okaton's buildings are all privately owned, Scenic belongs to a church, and Galena's historic buildings sit on private property.
Old buildings at Spokane are not maintained and can be dangerous inside; the Forest Service has already torn down some it judged unsafe. Stay out of mine openings. On federal land, objects of archaeological interest at least 100 years old are protected by the Archaeological Resources Protection Act.
FAQ
There is no official count. South Dakota Public Broadcasting says at least 200 Black Hills mining communities survive as ghost towns. Our index lists 150 sites, 110 of them with coordinates on our map so far. Lawrence and Pennington counties, in the Black Hills, have the most.
For an easy visit, Rochford: it still has residents and a saloon, and Legends of America calls it the friendliest ghost town in the Black Hills. For buildings and history, Galena on its June open day. For a walk to empty buildings in the forest, Spokane.
No. Deadwood and Lead appear on some ghost town lists, such as Legends of America's, because of their gold rush past, but both are living towns. Deadwood had 1,156 people in the 2020 census and has had legal gambling since 1989. Lead had 2,982 and is home to the Sanford Underground Research Facility in the old Homestake Mine.
The trailhead for Spokane is about 40 minutes from Rapid City, Galena under an hour, Rochford about an hour, Scenic, by the Badlands, about an hour and a quarter, and Tinton, on the Wyoming line, about an hour and three quarters. These are routed estimates; gravel roads are often slower.
You can see it from the public roads just south of I-90 at exit 183. All of the buildings are privately owned and some are still used, so stay on the road. The old tourist store is closed and the post office closed in 2013.
Abandoned