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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Quartz, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Quartz 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 Quartz:
    • 39.532664, -121.498302
    • 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 Quartz
  • 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 Butte County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Butte County
    • Since Quartz is near Yuba County and also Sutter County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yuba County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sutter 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 Quartz

Communities Also Named Quartz ...

We found seven communities that are also named Quartz.

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

Beyond California, we know of six communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, six are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Located In California ...
    • Tuolumne County
      • This Quartz is located in Tuolumne County and lies 125 miles [201.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Quartz that is located in Butte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tuolumne County community of Quartz.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Gunnison County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Gunnison County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Gunnison County community of Quartz.
    • Montana
      • Mineral County
      • This Quartz is located in Mineral County and lies 619 miles [996.2 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Quartz that is located in Butte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mineral County community of Quartz.
      • Missoula County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Montana community of Quartz [Missoula County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Quartz #1
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Oklahoma community of Quartz.
    • Ontario
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Ontario community of Quartz.
    • Oregon
      • Baker County
      • This Quartz is located in Baker County and lies 405 miles [651.8 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Quartz that is located in Butte County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Baker County community of Quartz.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Quartz ...

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.

  • Big Ripples ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Big Ripples is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Ripples
  • Bloomer ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Bloomer is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bloomer
  • Craig ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the east)
    • Craig is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Craig
  • Enterprise ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Enterprise is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Hawk Ravine ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Hawk Ravine is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hawk Ravine
  • Land ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Land is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Land
  • Lava Beds ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Lava Beds is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lava Beds
  • Longs Bar ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the west)
    • Longs Bar is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longs Bar
  • Lynchburg ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Lynchburg is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lynchburg
  • Wicks Corner
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Wicks Corner is located in Butte County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wicks Corner

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Quartz once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Quartz and extending to:

  • Oroville, which is the Seat of Butte County, lies just to the West Southwest.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 65 miles [104.6 km]<1> to the south (S). If you could walk a straight line from Quartz to Sacramento, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,354 miles [3,788.4 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 134 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,284 miles [11,722.5 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 8,050 miles [12,955.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,108 miles [9,829.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Quartz) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Quartz, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Quartz 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.
<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 Quartz 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 Quartz. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5327, Longitude: -121.4983       In this case, the coordinates for Quartz have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.607 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.527 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.587 degrees.