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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Iris, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Iris 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 Iris:
    • 33.195315, -115.404428
    • 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 Iris
  • 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 Imperial County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Imperial County
    • Since Iris is near Riverside County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Riverside 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 Iris

Communities Also Named Iris ...

We found eight communities that are also named Iris.

Within California, the name Iris is unique.

Beyond California, we know of eight communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these eight communities, seven are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Saguache County
      • This Iris is located in Saguache County and lies 600 miles [965.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Iris that is located in Imperial County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saguache County community of Iris.
    • Indiana
      • Harrison 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 Indiana community of Iris [Harrison County].
    • Michigan
      • Marquette 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 Michigan community of Iris [Marquette County].
    • Mississippi
      • Coahoma 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 Mississippi community of Iris [Coahoma County].
    • Montana
      • Missoula County
      • This Iris is located in Missoula County and lies 938 miles [1,509.6 km]<1> to the north of the Iris that is located in Imperial County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Missoula County community of Iris.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • 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 Prince Edward Island community of Iris.
    • South Carolina
      • Abbeville County
      • This Iris is located in Abbeville County and lies 1,888 miles [3,038.4 km]<1> to the east of the Iris that is located in Imperial County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Abbeville County community of Iris.
    • West Virginia
      • Ritchie 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 West Virginia community of Iris [Ritchie County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Iris ...

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.

  • Amos ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Amos is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amos
  • Bombay Beach
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Bombay Beach is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bombay Beach
  • Butlers ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the south)
    • Butlers is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butlers
  • Citrus View
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Citrus View is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Citrus View
  • Mayflower ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Mayflower is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayflower
  • Mesquite
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Mesquite is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mesquite
  • Pope ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Pope is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pope
  • Rockwood
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Rockwood is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rockwood
  • Shamrock ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Shamrock is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock

How Far From Iris 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 Iris to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • El Centro, which is the Seat of Imperial County, lies 29 miles [46.7 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Iris to El Centro, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 503 miles [809.5 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 20 days and walking would take 29 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,161 miles [3,477.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 85 days and walking would take 123 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,551 miles [12,152.2 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 8,319 miles [13,388.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,280 miles [10,106.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 from Point A (ie- Iris) 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 Iris 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 Iris, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Iris 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 Iris. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.1953, Longitude: -115.4044       In this case, the coordinates for Iris have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 333.781 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 333.089 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.005 degrees.