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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Dakota, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Dakota 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 Dakota:
    • 43.912175, -91.358061
    • 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 Dakota
  • 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 Winona County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Winona County
    • Since Dakota is near La Crosse County and also Houston County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for La Crosse County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Houston 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 Dakota

Communities Also Named Dakota ...

We found seven communities that are also named Dakota.

Within Minnesota, the name Dakota is unique.

Beyond Minnesota, we know of seven communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these seven communities, six are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Georgia
      • Dooly 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 Georgia community of Dakota [Dooly County].
      • Turner County
      • This Dakota is located in Turner County and lies 935 miles [1,504.7 km]<2> to the south southeast of the Dakota that is located in Winona County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Turner County community of Dakota.
    • Illinois
      • Stephenson County
      • This Dakota is located in Stephenson County and lies 139 miles [223.7 km]<2> to the southeast of the Dakota that is located in Winona County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Stephenson County community of Dakota.
    • Nebraska
      • Dakota County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Dakota County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dakota County community of Dakota.
    • Ontario
      • 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 Ontario community of Dakota.
    • West Virginia
      • Marion County
      • This Dakota is located in Marion County and lies 652 miles [1,049.3 km]<2> to the east southeast of the Dakota that is located in Winona County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Dakota.
    • Wisconsin
      • Waushara County
      • This Dakota is located in Waushara County and lies 99 miles [159.3 km]<2> to the east of the Dakota that is located in Winona County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waushara County community of Dakota.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Dakota ...

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.

  • Cold Springs
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Cold Springs is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cold Springs
  • French Island
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
    • French Island is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for French Island
  • Grand Crossing
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Grand Crossing is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Crossing
  • Holiday Heights
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Holiday Heights is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Holiday Heights
  • La Crosse
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • La Crosse is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for La Crosse
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 51,163 people
  • Lakeview ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the east)
    • Lakeview is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lakeview
  • Pickwick
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Pickwick is located in Winona County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pickwick
  • Pine Creek
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southwest)
    • Pine Creek is located in Houston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Creek
  • River Junction
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • River Junction is located in Houston County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Junction
  • Sunset Point ‑ Historic
    (Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
    • Sunset Point is located in La Crosse County (WI)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sunset Point

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

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

  • Winona, which is the Seat of Winona County, lies 17 miles [27.4 km]<2> to the northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Dakota to Winona, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take five to six hours.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 111 miles [178.6 km] to the northwest (NW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 817 miles [1,314.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 32 days and walking would take 47 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,213 miles [9,998.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,963 miles [11,205.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,862 miles [7,824.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 Dakota 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 '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- Dakota) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Dakota, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Dakota 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 Dakota. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 43.9122, Longitude: -91.3581       In this case, the coordinates for Dakota have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 316.958 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.491 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.902 degrees.