RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Iowa >> Clinton County >> Chaney >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Chaney, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Chaney 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 Chaney:
    • 41.794753, -90.284574
    • 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 Chaney
  • 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 Clinton County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clinton County
    • Since Chaney is near Whiteside County and also Scott County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Whiteside County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Scott 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 Chaney

Communities Also Named Chaney ...

We found four communities that are also named Chaney.

Within Iowa, the name Chaney is unique.

Beyond Iowa, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Arkansas 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 Arkansas community of Chaney [Arkansas County].
    • Maryland
      • Calvert County
      • This Chaney is located in Calvert County and lies 748 miles [1,203.8 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Chaney that is located in Clinton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Calvert County community of Chaney.
    • Oklahoma
      • Ellis County
      • This Chaney is located in Ellis County and lies 629 miles [1,012.3 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Chaney that is located in Clinton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ellis County community of Chaney.
    • Texas
      • Eastland County
      • This Chaney is located in Eastland County and lies 795 miles [1,279.4 km]<2> to the southwest of the Chaney that is located in Clinton County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Eastland County community of Chaney.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Chaney ...

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.

  • Elk River Junction
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Elk River Junction is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk River Junction
  • Garden Plain
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Garden Plain is located in Whiteside County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Garden Plain
  • Goose Lake
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Goose Lake is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goose Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 220 people
  • Little Oklahoma
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Little Oklahoma is located in Whiteside County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Oklahoma
  • Lyons
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Lyons is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lyons
  • Mineral Springs ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Mineral Springs is located in Whiteside County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mineral Springs
  • Oliver
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the east)
    • Oliver is located in Whiteside County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oliver
  • Sixmile
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Sixmile is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sixmile
  • Tenmile
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Tenmile is located in Clinton County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tenmile
  • Union Grove
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Union Grove is located in Whiteside County (IL)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Grove

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

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

  • Clinton, which is the Seat of Clinton County, lies just to the Northeast.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 172 miles [276.8 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Chaney to Des Moines, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take about three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 724 miles [1,165.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 29 days and walking would take 42 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,282 miles [10,109.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,026 miles [11,307.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,914 miles [7,908.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Chaney 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 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Chaney) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Chaney 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 Chaney. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.7948, Longitude: -90.2846       In this case, the coordinates for Chaney have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.211 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 313.347 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.913 degrees.