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A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Cow Island, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Cow Island and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Cow Island:
    • 47.787209, -108.934054
    • 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 Cow Island
  • 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 Cow Island ...

We found three communities that share the name Cow Island.

Within Montana, the name Cow Island is unique.

Beyond Montana, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Atchison 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 Kansas community of Cow Island [Atchison County].
    • Louisiana
      • Vermilion Parish
      • 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 Louisiana community of Cow Island [Vermilion Parish].
    • Texas
      • Liberty County
      • This Cow Island is located in Liberty County and lies 1,442 miles [2,320.7 km]<2> to the southeast of the Cow Island that is located in Blaine County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Liberty County community of Cow Island.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Cow Island ...

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.

  • Dry Lake
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Dry Lake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dry Lake
    • Dry Lake is located in Blaine County
  • Hays
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
  • Leroy
    (18 miles [29 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leroy have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leroy
    • Leroy is located in Blaine County
  • Little Crooked ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Little Crooked have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Little Crooked
    • Little Crooked is located in Fergus County
  • Lodge Pole
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Lodge Pole have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lodge Pole
    • Lodge Pole is located in Blaine County
  • Power Plant ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Power Plant have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Power Plant
    • Power Plant is located in Blaine County
  • Ragland Bench ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ragland Bench have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ragland Bench
    • Ragland Bench is located in Blaine County
  • Rattlesnake
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rattlesnake have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rattlesnake
    • Rattlesnake is located in Blaine County
  • Rocky Point ‑ Historic
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Rocky Point have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rocky Point
    • Rocky Point is located in Fergus County
  • Sour Dough Flat ‑ Historic
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sour Dough Flat have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sour Dough Flat
    • Sour Dough Flat is located in Blaine County
  • Woodhawk ‑ Historic
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Woodhawk have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodhawk
    • Woodhawk is located in Fergus County

How Far From Cow Island 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 Cow Island 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<5> community of Cow Island once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Cow Island and extending to:

  • Chinook, which is the Seat of Blaine County, lies 57 miles [91.7 km]<2> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Cow Island to Chinook, with an average speed<6> 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.
  • Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 166 miles [267.2 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,700 miles [2,735.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 67 days and walking would take 97 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,503 miles [10,465.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,272 miles [11,703.1 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,279 miles [8,495.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.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 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 Cow Island 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- Cow Island) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Cow Island. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.7872, Longitude: -108.9341       In this case, the coordinates for Cow Island 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>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 Cow Island, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<6>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.
<7>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 Cow Island to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 330.068 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.961 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.191 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 21 Apr 2025