How Belle Fourche, South Dakota Got Its Name (and How to Say It)

Belle Fourche, South Dakota, takes its name from the Belle Fourche River, which early French explorers called the “beautiful fork.” Around here, it’s said “bel-FOOSH,” with no R, and that’s the part that trips up visitors.

Where the name comes from

The river came first. A 1908 railroad guide to place names says the town was “named from the north fork of the Cheyenne River, which was by the early French explorers called ‘Belle Fourche’ (beautiful fork).” The U.S. Geological Survey’s place-name record quotes the same book.

Belle is French for beautiful and fourche for fork, and the river is the big north branch of the Cheyenne. The town sits right where the Redwater River runs into it, which you can see on the 1907 map above.

How to say it

KELO-TV’s list of South Dakota names that outsiders get wrong includes this one. Locals say “bel-FOOSH,” close to the French, while people from out of town tend to sound out the R in Fourche. It’s the opposite of Pierre, where the French spelling stayed but the French pronunciation didn’t.

What it was called before: De Mores

Before it was Belle Fourche, the spot carried a nobleman’s name. The 1908 guide says that “in 1884 the original village was called ‘DeMores’ from the French Marquis DeMores, who had a stock ranch near here.” The Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce says the Marquis de Morès ran a stage line that year between Medora, in Dakota Territory’s north, and Deadwood, with a stop at this spot.

The guide says the town itself was platted by the Pioneer Town Site Company in 1890. The chamber says that in 1890 the railroad put its depot on the old De Mores stage stop, and businesses moved over from the nearby town of Minnesela. The new town kept the river’s French name, not the Marquis’s.

Sources & further reading

• W. H. Stennett, A History of the Origin of the Place Names Connected with the Chicago & North Western and Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha Railways (1908). A public-domain railroad guide. Explains the “beautiful fork,” the 1884 “DeMores” name and the 1890 platting.
• GNIS feature 1265119 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal record for Belle Fourche. Quotes the 1908 guide and gives 1903 for incorporation.
• Belle Fourche Chamber of Commerce, “Belle Fourche History.” The Marquis de Morès’s stage line, the 1890 depot and the move from Minnesela.
• KELO-TV, “Here are eight South Dakota locations you may be saying wrong.” The local pronunciation: “bel-FOOSH.”