Spearfish is located at (44.489803, -103.852585). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 15.8 km sq (6.1 square miles), all land. It is unclear at this time why the Census Bureau does not consider Spearfish Creek, which runs roughly south to north through the center of town (parallel to Canyon St.), as being covered with water. Spearfish Creek runs year round. This is even true in the dead of winter because of the speed at which the creek flows. This speed prevents ice from forming except along the bottom of the creekbed where friction and turbulence allow the water to slow down long enough to freeze. This results in the unusual phenomenon of the creek freezing from the bottom up rather than the more usual top-to-bottom of slower streams. Since the creek continues to flow atop this ice, the water level of the creek gradually rises as more ice accumulates on the bottom, in some cases causing flooding on the north side of town where the channel is not so deep. Spearfish has been assigned the ZIP code 57783 and the FIPS place code 60020. Black Hills State University http://www.bhsu.eduis assigned the ZIP code 57799. The city was founded during the Black Hills Gold Rush of 1876 at the mouth of Spearfish Canyon. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who visited Spearfish Canyon (located between Spearfish and Deadwood, South DakotaDeadwood) in 1935, later called the area "unique and unparalleled elsewhere in our country," and wondered "how is it that I've heard so little of this miracle and we, toward the Atlantic, have heard so much of the Grand Canyon when this is even more miraculous http://www.spearfishcanyon.com/vegetation.htm." Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearfish%2C_South_Dakota