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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Minden, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Minden 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 Minden:
    • 41.467375, -95.541698
    • 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 Minden
  • 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 Pottawattamie County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Pottawattamie County
    • Since Minden is near Harrison County and also Shelby County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Harrison County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shelby 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 Minden

Communities Also Named Minden ...

We found ten communities that are also named Minden.

Within Iowa, the name Minden is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Calhoun 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 Alabama community of Minden [Calhoun County].
    • Louisiana
      • Webster Parish
      • This Minden is located in Webster Parish and lies 623 miles [1,002.6 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Minden that is located in Pottawattamie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Webster Parish community of Minden.
    • Missouri
      • Barton 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 Missouri community of Minden [Barton County].
    • Nebraska
      • Kearney County
      • This Minden is located in Kearney County and lies 190 miles [305.8 km]<2> to the west southwest of the Minden that is located in Pottawattamie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Kearney County community of Minden.
    • Nevada
      • Douglas County
      • This Minden is located in Douglas County and lies 1,284 miles [2,066.4 km]<2> to the west of the Minden that is located in Pottawattamie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Douglas County community of Minden.
    • New York
      • Montgomery 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 New York community of Minden [Montgomery County].
    • Ontario
      • This Minden lies 877 miles [1,411.4 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Minden that is located in Pottawattamie County.
    • South Carolina
      • Chesterfield 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 South Carolina community of Minden [Chesterfield County].
    • Texas
      • Rusk County
      • This Minden is located in Rusk County and lies 654 miles [1,052.5 km]<2> to the south of the Minden that is located in Pottawattamie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rusk County community of Minden.
    • West Virginia
      • Fayette County
      • This Minden is located in Fayette County and lies 801 miles [1,289.1 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Minden that is located in Pottawattamie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Fayette County community of Minden.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Minden ...

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.

  • Beebeetown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Beebeetown is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Beebeetown
  • Crisp
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Crisp is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crisp
  • Hard Scratch
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Hard Scratch is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hard Scratch
  • Peter
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Peter is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Peter
  • Pigeon
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Pigeon is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pigeon
  • Quick
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Quick is located in Pottawattamie County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quick
  • Union Burg ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northwest)
    • Union Burg is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Burg
  • Yorkshire
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Yorkshire is located in Harrison County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yorkshire

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

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

  • Council Bluffs, which is the Seat of Pottawattamie County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<2> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Minden to Council Bluffs, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Des Moines, which is the State Capital of Iowa, lies 99 miles [159.3 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take three full days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 990 miles [1,593.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 57 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,480 miles [10,428.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,232 miles [11,638.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,133 miles [8,260.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<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 Minden, 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' (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- Minden) 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 Minden 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 Minden 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 Minden. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 41.4674, Longitude: -95.5417       In this case, the coordinates for Minden have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.819 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.446 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.678 degrees.