RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of California >> Sierra County >> Queen City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Queen City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Queen City 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 Queen City:
    • 39.664615, -120.940230
    • 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 Queen City
  • 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 Sierra County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sierra County
    • Since Queen City is near Plumas County and also Yuba County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Plumas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Yuba 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 Queen City

Communities Also Named Queen City ...

We found seven communities that are also named Queen City.

Within California, the name Queen City is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Adams County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Iowa community of Queen City [Adams County].
    • Missouri
      • Schuyler County
      • This Queen City is located in Schuyler County and lies 1,494 miles [2,404.4 km]<2> to the east of the Queen City that is located in Sierra County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Schuyler County community of Queen City.
    • Nevada
      • Humboldt County
      • This community is historic<1> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nevada community of Queen City [Humboldt County].
      • Nye County
      • This community is historic and although located in Nye County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nye County community of Queen City.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Columbia County
      • This Queen City is located in Columbia County and lies 2,320 miles [3,733.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Queen City that is located in Sierra County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Columbia County community of Queen City.
    • Texas
      • Cass County
      • This Queen City is located in Cass County and lies 1,548 miles [2,491.3 km]<2> to the east of the Queen City that is located in Sierra County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cass County community of Queen City.
    • West Virginia
      • Putnam 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 West Virginia community of Queen City [Putnam County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Queen City ...

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.

  • Deadwood ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Deadwood is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deadwood
  • Eureka ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Eureka is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eureka
  • Grass Flat
    (Less than 2 miles to the north)
    • Grass Flat is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Flat
  • Howland Flat ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Howland Flat is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howland Flat
  • Little Grass Valley
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)
    • Little Grass Valley is located in Plumas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Grass Valley
  • Mount Pleasant
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Mount Pleasant is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mount Pleasant
  • Poverty Hill
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Poverty Hill is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Poverty Hill
  • Scales ‑ Historic
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Scales is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Scales
  • Union Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Union Hill is located in Sierra County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Hill

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

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

  • Downieville, which is the Seat of Sierra County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<2> to the southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Queen City to Downieville, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Sacramento, which is the State Capital of California, lies 80 miles [128.7 km] to the south southwest (SSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,323 miles [3,738.5 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 91 days and walking would take 132 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,265 miles [11,691.9 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 8,032 miles [12,926.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,085 miles [9,792.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Queen City, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<2>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Queen City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Queen City 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 Queen City 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 Queen City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.6646, Longitude: -120.9402       In this case, the coordinates for Queen City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.154 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.992 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 327.24 degrees.