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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Merton, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Merton 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 Merton:
    • 44.146075, -93.146598
    • 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 Merton
  • 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 Steele County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Steele County
    • Since Merton is near Rice County and also Dodge County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Rice County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dodge 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 Merton

Communities Also Named Merton ...

We found four communities that are also named Merton.

Within Minnesota, the name Merton is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Merton lies 1,505 miles [2,422.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Merton that is located in Steele County.
    • California
      • San Diego 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 California community of Merton [San Diego County].
    • South Dakota
      • Clark County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the South Dakota community of Merton [Clark County].
    • Wisconsin
      • Waukesha County
      • This Merton is located in Waukesha County and lies 251 miles [403.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Merton that is located in Steele County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Waukesha County community of Merton.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Merton ...

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.

  • Bixby
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)
    • Bixby is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bixby
  • Bombay
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Bombay is located in Goodhue County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bombay
  • Cannon City
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the north)
    • Cannon City is located in Rice County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cannon City
  • Eden
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Eden is located in Dodge County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Eden
  • Havana
    (5 miles [8 km] to the south)
    • Havana is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Havana
  • Hope
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southwest)
    • Hope is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hope
  • Prairieville
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Prairieville is located in Rice County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairieville
  • Rice Lake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Rice Lake is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rice Lake
  • River Point
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • River Point is located in Steele County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for River Point
  • Skyberg
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Skyberg is located in Goodhue County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Skyberg

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

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

  • Owatonna, which is the Seat of Steele County, lies just to the Southwest.
  • Saint Paul, which is the State Capital of Minnesota, lies 55 miles [88.5 km]<1> to the north (N). If you could walk a straight line from Merton to Saint Paul, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of three days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take over two days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 906 miles [1,458.1 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of two days, a buggy would take 36 days and walking would take 52 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,261 miles [10,076.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,014 miles [11,287.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,919 miles [7,916.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'point-to-point' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Merton) 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 Merton 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 Merton, 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 Merton 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 Merton. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.1461, Longitude: -93.1466       In this case, the coordinates for Merton have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.208 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.948 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 310.793 degrees.