Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Downer, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Downer and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Downer
- 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 Downer:
- 46.754127, -96.487015
- 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 Downer
- 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 Clay County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Clay County
- Since Downer is near Wilkin County and also Cass County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Wilkin County
- eBird sighting report for Cass 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Downer ...
We found two communities that share the name Downer.
Within Minnesota, the name Downer is unique.
Beyond Minnesota, we know of another two communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Montana
- New Jersey
Curious and Interesting Names Near Downer ...
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.
- Comstock
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest) - Dale
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast) - Frontier
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the west) - Lawndale
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast) - Moorhead
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Moorhead have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moorhead
- Moorhead is located in Clay County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 44,016 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Moorhead <4>
- Norwegian Grove
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Norwegian Grove have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norwegian Grove
- Norwegian Grove is located in Otter Tail County
- Oxbow
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west) - Prairie Rose
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prairie Rose have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Rose
- Prairie Rose is located in Cass County (ND)
- Population from the 2020 Census: 51 people
- Wild Rice
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Rice
- Wild Rice is located in Cass County (ND)
How Far From Downer 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 Downer to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Downer and extending to:
- Moorhead, which is the Seat of Clay County, lies 14 miles [22.5 km]<2> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Downer to Moorhead, with an average speed<5> 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 four to five hours.
- Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 205 miles [329.9 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 8 days and walking would take 12 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,120 miles [1,802.5 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 44 days and walking would take 64 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,230 miles [10,026.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,991 miles [11,250.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,921 miles [7,919.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Downer. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for Clay County: www.co.clay.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 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 Downer 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' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Downer) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Downer. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.7541, Longitude: -96.4870 In this case, the coordinates for Downer have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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. |
| <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 Downer to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <7> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 320.617 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.035 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 311.985 degrees. |