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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

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

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Mesquite:
    • 33.021430, -115.108306
    • 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 Mesquite
  • 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 Mesquite is near La Paz County and also Yuma County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for La Paz County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yuma 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 Mesquite

Communities Also Named Mesquite ...

We found seven communities that are also named Mesquite.

There is one other community in California that is also named Mesquite.

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

  • Communities Located In California ...
    • San Diego 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 California community of Mesquite [San Diego County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Nevada
      • Clark County
      • This Mesquite is located in Clark County and lies 267 miles [429.7 km]<2> to the north northeast of the Mesquite that is located in Imperial County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Mesquite.
    • New Mexico
      • Dona Ana County
      • This Mesquite is located in Dona Ana County and lies 492 miles [791.8 km]<2> to the east of the Mesquite that is located in Imperial County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dona Ana County community of Mesquite.
      • Roosevelt County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Roosevelt County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roosevelt County community of Mesquite.
    • Texas
      • Borden 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 Texas community of Mesquite [Borden County].
      • Dallas County
      • This Mesquite is located in Dallas County and lies 1,072 miles [1,725.2 km]<2> to the east of the Mesquite that is located in Imperial County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Mesquite.
      • Duval 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 Texas community of Mesquite [Duval County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mesquite ...

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 northwest)
    • Amos is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amos
  • Butlers ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Butlers is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Butlers
  • Cactus
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
    • Cactus is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cactus
  • Clyde
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Clyde is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clyde
  • Date City
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Date City is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Date City
  • Fuller
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Fuller is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fuller
  • Iris
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Iris is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Iris
  • Mayflower ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the west)
    • Mayflower is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayflower
  • Perrys Corner
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the southwest)
    • Perrys Corner is located in Imperial County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Perrys Corner

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

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

  • El Centro, which is the Seat of Imperial County, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Mesquite to El Centro, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two 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 524 miles [843.3 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take just over a day, a buggy would take 21 days and walking would take 30 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,150 miles [3,460.1 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 84 days and walking would take 123 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,555 miles [12,158.6 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 8,322 miles [13,393 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,279 miles [10,105.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 Mesquite 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Mesquite) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Mesquite, 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 Mesquite 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 Mesquite. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 33.0214, Longitude: -115.1083       In this case, the coordinates for Mesquite have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 333.514 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.751 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 323.838 degrees.