RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Shasta County >> Dirigo >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dirigo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dirigo 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 Dirigo:
    • 41.149319, -122.310565
    • 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 Dirigo
  • 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 Shasta County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shasta County
    • Since Dirigo is near Siskiyou County and also Trinity County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Siskiyou County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Trinity 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 Dirigo

Communities Also Named Dirigo ...

We found two communities that are also named Dirigo.

Within California, the name Dirigo is unique.

Beyond California, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kentucky
      • Adair County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kentucky community of Dirigo [Adair County].
    • Maine
      • Hancock County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Hancock County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hancock County community of Dirigo.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dirigo ...

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.

  • Deetz
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Deetz is located in Siskiyou County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deetz
  • Delta
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Delta is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Delta
    • Former name for Delta:
    • Bayles
  • Fisher ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Fisher is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fisher
  • Flume ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Flume is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flume
  • Howard
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the north)
    • Howard is located in Siskiyou County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard
  • Pierce
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Pierce is located in Siskiyou County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pierce
  • Pioneer
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Pioneer is located in Siskiyou County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pioneer
  • Signal Butte
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Signal Butte is located in Siskiyou County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Signal Butte
  • Sweetbriar
    (Less than 2 miles to the south)
    • Sweetbriar is located in Shasta County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetbriar

How Far From Dirigo to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Dirigo and extending to:

  • Redding, which is the Seat of Shasta County, lies 39 miles [62.8 km]<3> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Dirigo to Redding, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take over two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just about two full days.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 182 miles [292.9 km] to the south southeast (SSE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,371 miles [3,815.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 93 days and walking would take 135 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,193 miles [11,576 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,959 miles [12,808.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,037 miles [9,715.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Dirigo 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.
<2>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 Dirigo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Dirigo) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<4>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.
<5>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 Dirigo 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 Dirigo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.1493, Longitude: -122.3106       In this case, the coordinates for Dirigo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 340.434 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 341.593 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.063 degrees.