Burdock, South Dakota Explained

Official Name:Burdock, South Dakota
Settlement Type:Ghost town
Pushpin Map:South Dakota
Pushpin Label Position:right
Pushpin Label:Burdock
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of Burdock in South Dakota.
Coordinates:43.4537°N -103.9931°W
Subdivision Type:Country
Subdivision Name:United States
Subdivision Type1:State
Subdivision Name1:South Dakota
Subdivision Type2:County
Subdivision Name2:Fall River
Subdivision Type3:Township
Subdivision Name3:Argentine
Elevation M:1110
Elevation Ft:3642
Population Total:0
Population As Of:2010
Timezone:MST
Utc Offset:-7
Timezone Dst:MDT
Utc Offset Dst:-6
Area Code:605
Blank Name:FIPS code
Blank Info:46-8590
Blank1 Name:GNIS feature ID
Blank1 Info:1265622

Burdock is an uninhabited ghost town in Argentine Township in Fall River County, South Dakota, United States.

According to the Federal Writers' Project, the origin of the name Burdock is obscure.[1]

Geography

At this location is the intersection of Fall River County Highway 6463 (Dewey Road) and Township Road B (Argentine Road and Burdock Road).[2] A BNSF Railway line parallels the county highway. In the county's square mile designation, Burdock is closest to 103rd Avenue and 273rd Street. Burdock's nearest neighbors are Dewey to the northwest and Edgemont to the southeast. The border with the state of Wyoming is three miles west, and the Black Hills National Forest extends around the site some three miles to the north, east, and south. The ghost town lies just to the southwest of the Elk Mountains, a small range that is part of the Black Hills. Burdock appears on the South Dakota highway map[3] and Black Hills National Forest map.[4]

Industry

Uranium was found in the area in 1952. It was first produced as early as 1954 by a local group known as Triangle Mining Co., a subsidiary of Edgemont Mining Co. Production consisted of a single, shallow open pit. Triangle Mining also drove an adit from both sides of an exposed ridge to mine a narrow orebody. In about 1960 Susquehanna Western Corp discovered shallow resources sufficient to warrant open pit mining in five or six pits less than 100' deep. Production is estimated to have been approximately 200,000 lbs of uranium oxide. In early 2012, Powertech (USA) Inc. (now called Azarga Uranium Corp.) submitted a proposal to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to begin mining again.[5] [6]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Federal Writers' Project. Federal Writers' Project. South Dakota place-names, v.1-3. 1940. University of South Dakota. 29.
  2. Web site: Map : Fall River County Roads . Fallriver.sdcounties.org . 2013-09-02.
  3. Web site: Department of Transportation . Sddot.com . 2013-09-02.
  4. Web site: Map : Southern Hills . Fs.usda.gov . 2013-09-02.
  5. Web site: Graves. Douglass H.. Cutler. Steve. Preliminary Economic Assessment Dewey-Burdock Uranium ISR Project South Dakota, USA. Azarga Uranium Corporation. 1 October 2016. Greenwood Village, CO. 32. pdf. 29 January 2015.
  6. Olin M. Hart (1968) "Uranium in the Black Hills", in Ore Deposits in the United States, 1933-1967, New York: American Institute of Mining Engineers, p.832-837.