Firesteel, named for nearby Firesteel Creek, began in May 1910 as Firesteel Station when settlers came on rumors that an entire section would become a government townsite, but no townsite was actually reserved. Many people with low lottery numbers settled in the area, and early businesses were built on the section line between the quarters of W.E. Coats and C.A. Golden; Coats became postmaster in February 1911, and a lot sale on September 4, 1912, saw the highest-priced lot sell for $250. Firesteel became known as South Dakota’s only coal mining community after W. Benoist and A. Traversie discovered coal in 1907 or 1908 by finding coal dust in a prairie dog town on the NW 1/4-7-17-23. Coal was mined commercially from 1911 to 1968, first largely for local use because unfair freight rates limited broader sales until after World War I. Mechanized stripping began in 1929 when the Firesteel Coal Company used a dragline. In 1933, the State Relief Agency operated a state-owned mine three-quarters of a mile southwest of town to provide fuel for the needy, but it closed on March 17, 1934, when officials decided coal could be bought more cheaply than mined. L.P. Runkel formed Runkel Coal in 1935, and its peak year, from May 1941 to April 1942, saw 51,743 tons sold; at times of highest demand, as many as 30 truckers were paid 35 cents a ton to load and haul coal from pits to railcars. Ben Dollarhide bought the company in 1947 and organized the Dewey County Coal Company, adding equipment to strip overburden, fill trucks, and load freight more quickly; one day a record 552 tons passed through the tipple, and spoil banks remained visible west of town. Firesteel was also a busy trade center through the teens, 1920s, and 1930s, with a bank, Holt’s flour mill, many businesses, 70 miles of rural telephone lines, a light plant with 24-hour service, and stockyards by the rail line that made it a major livestock shipping point. As coal mining became more mechanized and required less labor, Firesteel declined; fires destroyed many businesses, and in the 1960s both the mine and the school closed, leaving ranching and farming as the main livelihoods in the area today.