| French for "beautiful fork", Belle Fourche (pronounced bell foosh) is located on the northern edge of the Black Hills of South Dakota. French explorers in the 18th century first referred to the "beautiful fork," of two rivers just north of an expanse of dark pine-covered mountains rising out of the high plains of the Louisiana Territory. After the United States purchased this land from France, beaver trappers named the larger of the two the Belle Fourche River and called the other "Redwater," for the red silt it carried from the iron-rich soil of what is now the Redwater Valley. | |
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Belle Fourche is the geographical center of the United States of America, designated in 1959 and noted by an official marker and sheepherder's monument called a "Stone Johnnie". Come visit the Tri State Museum and the Visitors Center when you arrive to see the new monument that was dedicated in 2007. More information.... | |
| Every year over the 4th of July, the Black Hills Roundup Rodeo is held along with a parade, carnival, and fireworks. This event has brought over 80 years of western excitement to Belle Fourche. | |
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