Spearfish Questions (Rapid City, Sturgis, Elk Point: job market, general contractor, university)

[Earniefan]

Could someone please tell me about Spearfish? Anything you think might be important to know. My major concern is tornadoes, I grew up in eastern Nebraska and have no desire to live where they are prominent again. If they get them like Wyoming does, that I can live with. From the stats on here it looks like it has steady growth which is one of the main things we're looking for. Anything you can tell me will be appreciated, thanx.

[Jammie]

Hi Ernie, Spearfish is one of my favorite towns. Spearfish Canyon is there and it's absolutely beautiful with the mountains and the waterfalls and the stream that runs through it. It's clear mountain water and it runs right through the town of Spearfish, too. They have BHSC~which is probably called BHSU since it is now a university.

They don't have an over-abundance of full time permanent work there, but if that's not a concern, you'd love it there. They do have a lot of seasonal openings.

The winters can be brutal, but are generally not as cold as eastern So. Dak. They can get a lot of snow there though. I think their average is something like 90 inches per year. But it does melt and doesn't lie around from Sept. till May. Their days often warm up above freezing during the winter.

It's quite a tourist town and is crowded during the summer months. And it's not far from Sturgis so for at least a week a year, there are a LOT of bikers there.

Their summers can get quite warm and the temps may even reach 100 or more, but the Hills area has very low humidity so it never feels hot there. Normally, even during the summertime the nights get cool there.

You may want to click on "Search" toward the top of the page and type in "Spearfish". There's already a bit of info about it on here.

The majority of Spearfish is white and the main other race are the Sioux.

Is there anything specific you'd like to know about it? I may not be able to help you, but a few members are from out that way.

Just wanted to add that the tornado activity in Western So. Dak. is relatively small. It's probably because of the lack of humidity and they don't have much trouble unless two fronts collide.

http://www.city-data.com/city/Spearf...th-Dakota.html

It appears that the risk of tornadoes is 54% smaller then the average for the U.S.

[indyjo]

Hi Jammie, I was told that there will be several software companies moving into spearfish in the near future. Do you have any input relative to this?

[Earniefan]

Jammie

Thanx so much for all the info. Two of my husband's prerequisites are ice fishing and pheasant hunting. I'm sure you have both around Spearfish. We're general contractor's so we will want to move to a community condusive to growth and expansion, preferably at a steady pace as opposed to the boom town's here in Wyoming. From what I saw on realtor.com the prices of land and housing seem to be reasonable for a beautiful area. Do you know of any sites that show pictures of Spearfish, the town and the terrain? I can't seem to find any. Thanx again.

[Jammie]

Originally Posted by indyjo

Hi Jammie, I was told that there will be several software companies moving into spearfish in the near future. Do you have any input relative to this?

Indy, I'm sorry but I haven't heard anything about it. But BusySocialWorker and Uncleharley and a couple others live very close to Spearfish and may be able to give you some info on that.

Earnie, there could be some nice pics on Hometown USA. I know they have a few cute pics of Keystone on there. Also, if you google Black Hills or Spearfish Canyon it will bring something up. I had just done a search a couple weeks ago and PMed someone with the links. If you haven't found anything by tomorrow, let me know and I'll re-search for them since I didn't save them.

[indyjo]

Thanks for the information. I have inlaws that live in both Rapid and Sturgis and both of them mentioned that new businesses are moving there. I still don't think it could be classified as a boom town though.

[DannyBanany]

indyjo-

i have also heard that several major software companies might move to either Spearfish or Rapid City. They tend to favor the central location because it is easy to deliver to both coasts. I am not sure which companies are in the pot, but I do know that Spearfish has attracted the attention of developers due to its beauty, proximity to area attractions, and it is near Rapid City.

I imagine that if things develop rapidly, there may be a Rapid City-Spearfish metro! haha!

oh yeah! Gateway is considering expanding from Elk Point to the Hills too!

[indyjo]

The one thing I would hate to see happen, even though it would take a while, is to see Spearfish turn into another LA. As you said. The beauty there is special.

[TimtheGuy]

Originally Posted by indyjo

The one thing I would hate to see happen, even though it would take a while, is to see Spearfish turn into another LA. As you said. The beauty there is special.

a while....like 20,000 years or what? The odds of that happening are about 0.0%

Spearfish is beautiful and I would put the risk of tornadoes on the LOW side. I don't think they 'roll' through the hills too good.

The bad thing about Spearfish and the area in general is the wages/job market. There are not a lot of high paying jobs in the area.

[khamer]

This is my first time here, so I hope I am doing this right. I have read some conflicting info on snowfall in Spearfish. I have read they get up to 90 inches a year. Per the city-data info, it is no where near that. Maybe I am reading the graph wrong, but can someone clarify the amount of snow they get? They must have good snow removal with that amount, maybe. Thanks, for any answers on this. We may move to Spearfish this summer, and are a little concerned with the winters, Thanks.