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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Musselshell, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Musselshell 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 Musselshell:
    • 46.357129, -115.743750
    • 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 Musselshell
  • 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 Musselshell is near Idaho County and also Lewis County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Idaho County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lewis 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 Musselshell

Communities Also Named Musselshell ...

We found two communities that are also named Musselshell.

Within Idaho, the name Musselshell is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Montana
      • Musselshell County
      • This Musselshell is located in Musselshell County and lies 364 miles [585.8 km]<1> to the east of the Musselshell that is located in Clearwater County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Musselshell County community of Musselshell.
      • Yellowstone 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 Montana community of Musselshell [Yellowstone County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Musselshell ...

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 Cedar
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the south)
    • Big Cedar is located in Idaho County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Big Cedar
  • Clark Tree
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
    • Clark Tree is located in Idaho County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Clark Tree
  • Cooper
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Cooper is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cooper
  • Cow Creek
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Cow Creek is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cow Creek
  • Harrisburg
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Harrisburg is located in Idaho County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harrisburg
  • Headquarters
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
    • Headquarters is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Headquarters
  • Pardee
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Pardee is located in Idaho County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pardee
  • Pardee Corner
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
    • Pardee Corner is located in Idaho County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pardee Corner
  • Pierce
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
  • Tramway
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Tramway is located in Idaho County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tramway

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

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

  • Orofino, which is the Seat of Clearwater County, lies 25 miles [40.2 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Musselshell to Orofino, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days 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 190 miles [305.8 km] to the south (S). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,011 miles [3,236.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 79 days and walking would take 115 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,738 miles [10,843.8 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 7,505 miles [12,078.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,556 miles [8,941.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 drawn from Point A (ie- Musselshell) 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 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 Musselshell 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Musselshell 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 Musselshell. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.3571, Longitude: -115.7438       In this case, the coordinates for Musselshell have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.415 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.017 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 323.621 degrees.