RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Montana >> McCone County >> Circle >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Circle, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Circle 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 Circle:
    • 47.417644, -105.587060
    • 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 Circle
  • 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 McCone County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McCone County
    • Since Circle is near Dawson County and also Prairie County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dawson County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Prairie 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 Circle

Communities Also Named Circle ...

We found five communities that are also named Circle.

Within Montana, the name Circle is unique.

Beyond Montana, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alaska
      • This Circle lies 1,884 miles [3,032 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Circle that is located in McCone County.
    • New Jersey
      • Mercer 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 New Jersey community of Circle [Mercer County].
    • Ohio
      • Knox County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Knox County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Knox County community of Circle.
    • Texas
      • Cherokee County
      • This Circle is located in Cherokee County and lies 1,213 miles [1,952.1 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Circle that is located in McCone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cherokee County community of Circle.
      • Lamb County
      • This Circle is located in Lamb County and lies 929 miles [1,495.1 km] to the south of the Circle that is located in McCone County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lamb County community of Circle.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Circle ...

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.

  • Coal Creek ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Coal Creek is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Coal Creek
  • Corral Creek ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Corral Creek is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corral Creek
  • Lost Creek ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Lost Creek is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lost Creek
  • Mink ‑ Historic
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Mink is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mink
  • Paris ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the west)
    • Paris is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paris
  • Prairie Elk ‑ Historic
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
    • Prairie Elk is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prairie Elk
  • Redwater ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Redwater is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Redwater
  • Rodgers Hill
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
    • Rodgers Hill is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rodgers Hill
  • Sand Creek ‑ Historic
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
    • Sand Creek is located in McCone County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sand Creek
  • Union ‑ Historic
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Union is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 308 miles [495.7 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Circle to Helena, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 18 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 12 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,542 miles [2,481.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 61 days and walking would take 88 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,444 miles [10,370.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,212 miles [11,606.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,194 miles [8,358.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Circle) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Circle 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 Circle, 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 Circle 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 Circle. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.4176, Longitude: -105.5871       In this case, the coordinates for Circle have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 327.457 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 326.926 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 317.205 degrees.