RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Minnesota >> Hubbard County >> Arago >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Arago, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Arago 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 Arago:
    • 47.051070, -95.161689
    • 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 Arago
  • 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 Hubbard County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Hubbard County
    • Since Arago is near Becker County and also Clearwater County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Becker County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clearwater 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 Arago

Communities Also Named Arago ...

We found three communities that are also named Arago.

Within Minnesota, the name Arago is unique.

Beyond Minnesota, we know of three communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Anderson County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Arago [Anderson County].
    • Nebraska
      • Richardson County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Nebraska community of Arago [Richardson County].
    • Oregon
      • Coos County
      • This Arago is located in Coos County and lies 1,432 miles [2,304.6 km]<3> to the west of the Arago that is located in Hubbard County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Coos County community of Arago.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Arago ...

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.

  • Deer Lane
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Deer Lane is located in Hubbard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Lane
  • Elbow Lake
    (19 miles [30.6 km] to the west)
    • Elbow Lake is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elbow Lake
  • Emmaville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Emmaville is located in Hubbard County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emmaville
  • Goldenrod
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Goldenrod is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goldenrod
  • Lake George
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
  • Mallard ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Mallard is located in Clearwater County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mallard
  • Park Rapids
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
  • Pine Point
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Point is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Point
  • Two Inlets
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the west)
    • Two Inlets is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Two Inlets
  • Wolf Lake
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Wolf Lake is located in Becker County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wolf Lake
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 55 people

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

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

  • Park Rapids, which is the Seat of Hubbard County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<3> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Arago to Park Rapids, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 175 miles [281.6 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,071 miles [1,723.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 42 days and walking would take 61 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,174 miles [9,936.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,934 miles [11,159.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,861 miles [7,823 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Arago 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.
<2>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 Arago, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Arago) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Arago 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 Arago. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.0511, Longitude: -95.1617       In this case, the coordinates for Arago have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.651 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.975 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.149 degrees.