Petrel

Ghost town · Adams County, North Dakota

White Butte quadrangle, USGS topographic map (1974, 1:24,000) · U.S. Geological Survey, Historical Topographic Map Collection · Public domain

Petrel is a ghost town in Adams County, North Dakota, recorded as human settlement in Adams County, North Dakota, United States of America. It is the only former community in Adams County recorded on the federal names register, out of 45 across North Dakota.

Petrel was established in 1908, in the early 20th century.

The U.S. Geological Survey lists Petrel as a historical populated place: the name is no longer in official use for a community, whether the settlement was abandoned, absorbed into a neighbouring town or renamed. The recorded location is 45.9483° N, 102.2772° W.

Key facts

Founded	1908
Elevation	2,559 ft
Nearest living town	Lemmon, SD
Distance to it	5.7 miles
Coordinates	45.94833, -102.27722

Open the location on a map

What's there now

Petrel is no longer a community in its own right. The nearest living town is Lemmon, SD (population 1,214), about 5.7 miles away in a straight line, and the site sits at roughly 2,559 feet above sea level. Much of the land around former townsites is private; check access before you visit.

Images

Petrel, North Dakota. From everydot.com. · Andrew Filer from Seattle (ex-Minneapolis) / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0

Nearby places

Ellingson
ghost town · Perkins County · 29.1 mi
Brisbane
ghost town · Grant County · 46.5 mi

Sources and licences

Wikidata — Wikidata item (CC0)
Wikidata — Wikipedia article (linked as a source; text not used) (CC0)
U.S. Census Bureau TIGER/Line and ACS — Census Gazetteer + ACS 5-year population (public-domain)

Facts marked "approximately" carry an uncertain date in the source. Text on this page is generated from the sources above; no encyclopedia prose is copied. Last updated 2026-11-05.