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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative Quarter for Minnesota





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Belle Prairie, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Belle Prairie 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 Belle Prairie:
    • 46.033855, -94.337502
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on Belle Prairie
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named Belle Prairie ...

We found four communities that share the name Belle Prairie.

Within Minnesota, the name Belle Prairie is unique.

Beyond Minnesota, we know of another four communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Illinois
      • Hamilton 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 Illinois community of Belle Prairie [Hamilton County].
    • Kansas
      • Rush 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 Belle Prairie [Rush County].
    • Mississippi
      • Yazoo County
      • This Belle Prairie is located in Yazoo County and lies 923 miles [1,485.4 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Belle Prairie that is located in Morrison County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yazoo County community of Belle Prairie.
    • Montana
      • Dawson County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Dawson County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dawson County community of Belle Prairie.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Belle Prairie ...

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.

  • Bowlus
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
  • Crow Wing
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Crow Wing have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Wing
    • Crow Wing is located in Crow Wing County
  • Elmdale
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Elmdale have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elmdale
    • Elmdale is located in Morrison County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 116 people
  • Gregory
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Gregory have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Gregory
    • Gregory is located in Morrison County
  • Lincoln
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lincoln
    • Lincoln is located in Morrison County
  • Little Falls
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the south)
  • Little Rock
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Rock have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Rock
    • Little Rock is located in Morrison County
  • Maple Leaf Court
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Maple Leaf Court have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Leaf Court
    • Maple Leaf Court is located in Morrison County
  • Pillsbury
    (18 miles [29 km] to the southwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Pillsbury have been provided by the GNIS.<5> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pillsbury
    • Pillsbury is located in Todd County
  • Randall
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Swanville
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)

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

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

  • Little Falls, which is the Seat of Morrison County, lies just to the South Southwest.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 95 miles [152.9 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Belle Prairie to Saint Paul, with an average speed<6>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 6 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,006 miles [1,619 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 40 days and walking would take 58 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,202 miles [9,981.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,960 miles [11,201 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,878 miles [7,850.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Belle Prairie. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for Morrison County: www.co.morrison.mn.us/

The official website for State of Minnesota: https://mn.gov/

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 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 Belle Prairie 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>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Belle Prairie) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Belle Prairie. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.0339, Longitude: -94.3375       In this case, the coordinates for Belle Prairie have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<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 Belle Prairie, 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<6>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.
<7>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 Belle Prairie to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 319.06 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 317.169 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.954 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024