RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Idaho >> Clearwater County >> Elk River >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Elk River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Elk River 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 Elk River:
    • 46.783016, -116.181150
    • 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 Elk River
  • 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 Clearwater County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clearwater County
    • Since Elk River is near Latah County and also Shoshone County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Latah County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Shoshone 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 Elk River

Communities Also Named Elk River ...

We found five communities that are also named Elk River.

Within Idaho, the name Elk River is unique.

Beyond Idaho, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Humboldt County
      • This Elk River is located in Humboldt County and lies 576 miles [927 km]<1> to the southwest of the Elk River that is located in Clearwater County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Humboldt County community of Elk River.
    • Colorado
      • Routt County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Colorado community of Elk River [Routt County].
    • Kansas
      • Elk County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Elk County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elk County community of Elk River.
    • Minnesota
      • Sherburne County
      • This Elk River is located in Sherburne County and lies 1,084 miles [1,744.5 km]<1> to the east of the Elk River that is located in Clearwater County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sherburne County community of Elk River.
    • Tennessee
      • Franklin County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<2> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Tennessee community of Elk River [Franklin County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Elk River ...

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.

  • Best Corner
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Best Corner is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Best Corner
  • Bingo Creek Landing
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Bingo Creek Landing is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bingo Creek Landing
  • Blake
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)
    • Blake is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blake
  • Bruce Eddy
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Bruce Eddy is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bruce Eddy
  • Crescent
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Crescent is located in Latah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent
  • Dent
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Dent is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dent
  • Emerald Creek
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Emerald Creek is located in Shoshone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emerald Creek
  • Five Corners ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Five Corners is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Corners
  • Headquarters
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Headquarters is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Headquarters
  • Slabtown
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Slabtown is located in Latah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Slabtown

How Far From Elk River to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a city such as Elk River to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Orofino, which is the Seat of Clearwater County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Elk River to Orofino, 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.
  • Boise, which is the State Capital of Idaho, lies 218 miles [350.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,032 miles [3,270.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 4 days, a buggy would take 80 days and walking would take 116 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,719 miles [10,813.2 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 7,487 miles [12,049.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,544 miles [8,922.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Elk River) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Elk River 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.
<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 Elk River, 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 Elk River 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 Elk River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.7830, Longitude: -116.1812       In this case, the coordinates for Elk River have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.792 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.484 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 323.855 degrees.