Spearfish is a city in Lawrence County, South Dakota, United States. The population was 10,494 at the 2010 census. Prior to the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1876, the area was used by Native Americans who would spear fish in the creek . Once the gold rush started, the city was founded at the mouth of Spearfish Canyon, and Spearfish grew as a supplier of foodstuffs to the mining camps in the hills. Even today, a significant amount of truck farming or market gardening still occurs in the vicinity. In 1887, the accepted history of gold mining in the Black Hills was thrown into question by the... discovery of what has become known as the Thoen Stone. Discovered by Louis Thoen on the slopes of Lookout Mountain, the stone purports to be the last testament of Ezra Kind who, along with six others, entered the Black Hills in 1833 , "got all the gold we could carry" in June 1834, and were subsequently "killed by Indians beyond the high hill.
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| County: | Lawrence County |
| State: | South Dakota |
| Population: | 9,979 |
| Area: | 6.1 sq. mi. |
| Time zone: | Mountain Time Zone |
| Also known as: | Spearfish, South Dakota, Lawrence County / Spearfish city |