RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Arkansas >> Franklin County >> Altus >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).

When in Altus, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Altus and the surrounding area.

  • Astronomy & Satellites ...
    • Whether using binoculars, a small telescope or the naked-eye, the Heavens-Above website can help you to find your way around the night-time sky. In addition to detailed sky charts, their website will help you find planets, asteriods, comets, satellites and their tracks across the sky.
    • To give accurate results, Heavens-Above requires the latitude and longitude of your location. As a starting point, when we link to Heavens-Above, we pass this GPS location for Altus:
    • 35.447132, -93.763439
    • Once you're on the Heavens-Above website, you can improve its accuracy by giving a more precise longitude and latitude as your actual position.
    • Open the Heavens-Above website centered on Altus
  • Bird Watching ...
    • We enjoy finding new spots for bird watching and we use the eBird website for local sighting reports and to help identify hotspots.
    • The eBird website is organized on a county-by-county basis. We have selected Franklin County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Franklin County
    • Since Altus is near Logan County and also Johnson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Logan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Johnson County
  • Waymarking ...
    • Looking for somewhere out of the ordinary? Find a unique place and want to share it with others? Then it's time to visit Waymarking.com:
    • Open the Waymark.com report for Altus

Communities Also Named Altus ...

We found five communities that are also named Altus.

Within Arkansas, the name Altus is unique.

Beyond Arkansas, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Mississippi
      • Lafayette County
      • This Altus is located in Lafayette County and lies 258 miles [415.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Altus that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lafayette County community of Altus.
    • Oklahoma
      • Jackson County
      • This Altus is located in Jackson County and lies 318 miles [511.8 km]<1> to the west of the Altus that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jackson County community of Altus.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bradford County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Pennsylvania community of Altus [Bradford County].
    • Utah
      • Summit County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Altus [Summit County].
    • Wyoming
      • Laramie County
      • This Altus is located in Laramie County and lies 745 miles [1,199 km]<1> to the northwest of the Altus that is located in Franklin County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Laramie County community of Altus.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Altus ...

As we travel, we always see a community with a name that gives pause. While there are names which are interesting or familiar, some catch our attention or strike our fancy. We always wonder about such a name. If time permits and the community is not too far, we'll usually try to make a side-trip.

  • Coal Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
  • Cotton Town
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cotton Town is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cotton Town
  • Gray Rock
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Gray Rock is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gray Rock
  • Greenwood
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Greenwood is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Hartman
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
  • Hunt
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Hunt is located in Johnson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunt
  • Meg
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southwest)
    • Meg is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Meg
  • Mountain Grove
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Mountain Grove is located in Franklin County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mountain Grove
  • Roseville
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Roseville is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roseville

How Far From Altus to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers, Almanacs & Directories that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Altus to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Altus and extending to:

  • Little Rock, which is the State Capital of Arkansas, lies 97 miles [156.1 km]<1> to the east southeast (ESE). If you could drive a straight line from Altus to Little Rock, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 949 miles [1,527.3 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 37 days and walking would take 54 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,731 miles [10,832.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,465 miles [12,013.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,345 miles [8,601.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Altus) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>If we encounter the name of what might be a community, our methodology is to add that name to our Gazetteer as a placeholder. As we find more information about that community, it will be added to our Gazetteer.

Just as a reminder: Our definition of a community is rather broad and includes those places (or areas) where several families lived and had a name which identified that place. For example, you might hear somebody say that they are going over to Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird Creek is just a gas station and a couple of homes at the crossroads. While it might not be on the map, everybody in the area knows it by that name.

Places of interest include buildings at a crossroad, several families clustered in a hollow or maybe the location of a way station. It also includes places like mines, lumber camps, ferry crossings, etc. The community might still exist, is now gone or only existed for just a short period of time.

Also keep in mind that Altus could have been on the original document by mistake, misspelled, the original/alternate name of a community that we've listed elsewhere or was placed in the wrong county. Sometimes a post office or train station would have a different name than the community where it's located, so two names might be referring to the same community - we're working to straighten it all out.
<3>We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Altus, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>While we have tried to pick reasonable speeds, the rate of travel is very theoretical - obstacles like fences, hills, lakes, river crossings and rest stops have been ignored. When we say 'Days' of travel, we're assuming 8 hours of travel per day.
<6>The shortest line can be visualized by stretching a string on a Globe from Point A to Point B - this is known as a Great Circle Route. Where you might expect the shortest route from Altus to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Altus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4471, Longitude: -93.7634    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.214 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.81 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.922 degrees.