RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Idaho >> Blaine County >> Smith Springs >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Smith Springs, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Smith Springs 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 Smith Springs:
    • 42.637409, -113.311389
    • 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 Smith Springs
  • 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 Blaine County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Blaine County
    • Since Smith Springs is near Cassia County and also Minidoka County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cassia County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Minidoka 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 Smith Springs

Communities Also Named Smith Springs ...

We found two communities that are also named Smith Springs.

Within Idaho, the name Smith Springs is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Tennessee
      • Davidson County
      • This Smith Springs is located in Davidson County and lies 1,488 miles [2,394.7 km]<1> to the east of the Smith Springs that is located in Blaine County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Davidson County community of Smith Springs.
    • Texas
      • Erath 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 Texas community of Smith Springs [Erath County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Smith Springs ...

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.

  • Cream Can Junction
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
    • Cream Can Junction is located in Blaine County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cream Can Junction
  • Idahome
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Idahome is located in Cassia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idahome
  • Malta
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)
  • Paul
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the west)
    • Paul is located in Minidoka County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paul
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,464 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Paul <3>
  • Quigley
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Quigley is located in Power County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Quigley
  • Raft River
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Raft River is located in Cassia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Raft River
  • Rockland
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the east)
  • Sublett
    (24 miles [38.6 km] to the south)
    • Sublett is located in Cassia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sublett
  • Unity
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Unity is located in Cassia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Unity
  • View
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • View is located in Cassia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for View

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

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

  • Hailey, which is the Seat of Blaine County, lies 78 miles [125.5 km]<1> to the northwest. If you could drive a straight line from Smith Springs to Hailey, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • Boise, which is the State Capital of Idaho, lies 160 miles [257.5 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,899 miles [3,056.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 75 days and walking would take 108 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,917 miles [11,131.8 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 7,686 miles [12,369.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,689 miles [9,155.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Smith Springs) 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 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 Smith Springs 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 Smith Springs 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 Smith Springs. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.6374, Longitude: -113.3114       In this case, the coordinates for Smith Springs have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 333.213 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 333.158 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 322.462 degrees.