RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Kansas >> Thomas County >> Mingo >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mingo, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mingo 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 Mingo:
    • 39.278339, -100.962375
    • 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 Mingo
  • 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 Thomas County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Thomas County
    • Since Mingo is near Logan County and also Sheridan County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Logan County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sheridan 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 Mingo

Communities Also Named Mingo ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Mingo.

Within Kansas, the name Mingo is unique.

Beyond Kansas, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Jasper County
      • This Mingo is located in Jasper County and lies 437 miles [703.3 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jasper County community of Mingo.
    • Mississippi
      • Tishomingo County
      • This Mingo is located in Tishomingo County and lies 775 miles [1,247.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tishomingo County community of Mingo.
    • Missouri
      • Stoddard County
      • This Mingo is located in Stoddard County and lies 606 miles [975.3 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stoddard County community of Mingo.
    • North Carolina
      • Johnston 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 North Carolina community of Mingo [Johnston County].
      • Sampson County
      • This Mingo is located in Sampson County and lies 1,259 miles [2,026.2 km]<1> to the east of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sampson County community of Mingo.
    • Ohio
      • Champaign County
      • This Mingo is located in Champaign County and lies 920 miles [1,480.6 km]<1> to the east of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Champaign County community of Mingo.
      • Vinton County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Vinton County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Vinton County community of Mingo.
    • Oklahoma
      • Tulsa County
      • This Mingo is located in Tulsa County and lies 349 miles [561.7 km]<1> to the southeast of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Tulsa County community of Mingo.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Montgomery County
      • This Mingo is located in Montgomery County and lies 1,347 miles [2,167.8 km]<1> to the east of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Montgomery County community of Mingo.
    • Texas
      • Denton County
      • This Mingo is located in Denton County and lies 469 miles [754.8 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Denton County community of Mingo.
    • Virginia
      • 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 Virginia community of Mingo [Franklin County].
    • West Virginia
      • Randolph County
      • This Mingo is located in Randolph County and lies 1,122 miles [1,805.7 km]<1> to the east of the Mingo that is located in Thomas County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Randolph County community of Mingo.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mingo ...

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.

  • Gem
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Gem is located in Thomas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gem
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
  • Grainfield
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Monument
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Monument is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Monument
  • Page City
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Page City is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Page City
  • Russell Springs
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Russell Springs is located in Logan County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Russell Springs
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 24 people

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

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

  • Colby, which is the Seat of Thomas County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Topeka, which is the State Capital of Kansas, lies 283 miles [455.4 km]<1> to the east (E). If you could drive a straight line from Mingo to Topeka, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,278 miles [2,056.7 km] to the east (E). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 50 days and walking would take 73 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,776 miles [10,904.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,532 miles [12,121.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,442 miles [8,758.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Mingo) 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 Mingo 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 Mingo, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Mingo 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 Mingo. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.2783, Longitude: -100.9624       In this case, the coordinates for Mingo have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 323.531 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 321.482 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 315.877 degrees.