Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Box Elder, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Box Elder and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Box Elder
- 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 Box Elder:
- 47.885554, -107.684000
- 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 Box Elder
- 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 Phillips County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Phillips County
- Since Box Elder is near Garfield County and also Valley County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Garfield County
- eBird sighting report for Valley 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 Box Elder ...
We found nine communities that share the name Box Elder.
There are three communities within Montana that are also named Box Elder.
Beyond Montana, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Located In Montana ...
- Cascade County
- Chouteau County
- Fergus County
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Colorado
- Nebraska
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Utah
- Virginia
Curious and Interesting Names Near Box Elder ...
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.
- Content
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast) - Dryer Place
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dryer Place have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dryer Place
- Dryer Place is located in Phillips County
- First Creek ‑ Historic
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the west)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for First Creek have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for First Creek
- First Creek is located in Phillips County
- Legg ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest) - Metersville ‑ Historic
(27 miles [43.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Metersville have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Metersville
- Metersville is located in Garfield County
How Far From Box Elder 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 Box Elder to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Box Elder once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Box Elder and extending to:
- Malta, which is the Seat of Phillips County, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Box Elder to Malta, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 222 miles [357.3 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take nearly four hours, a buggy would take 9 days and walking would take 13 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,644 miles [2,645.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 65 days and walking would take 94 days.
- The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,468 miles [10,409.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,237 miles [11,646.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,235 miles [8,424.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>
Off-the-Road Links ...
The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Box Elder, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <2> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Box Elder) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Box Elder. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.8856, Longitude: -107.6840 In this case, the coordinates for Box Elder have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <3> | 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 Box Elder 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. |
| <4> | 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. |
| <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 Box Elder 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 329.095 degrees. |
| <8> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.854 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.404 degrees. |