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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Donald, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Donald 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 Donald:
    • 45.844927, -112.427513
    • 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 Donald
  • 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 Jefferson County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Jefferson County
    • Since Donald is near Silver Bow County and also Madison County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Silver Bow County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Madison 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 Donald

Communities Also Named Donald ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Donald.

Within Montana, the name Donald is unique.

Beyond Montana, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, ten are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Dallas County
      • This Donald is located in Dallas County and lies 1,626 miles [2,616.8 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Donald.
    • Arkansas
      • Franklin County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Donald [Franklin County].
    • British Columbia
      • This Donald lies 445 miles [716.2 km]<1> to the north northwest of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
    • Georgia
      • Long County
      • This Donald is located in Long County and lies 1,891 miles [3,043.3 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Long County community of Donald.
    • Kansas
      • Washington County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Donald [Washington County].
    • Michigan
      • Saginaw County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Donald [Saginaw County].
    • Ohio
      • Butler County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Butler County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Donald.
    • Ontario
      • This Donald lies 1,631 miles [2,624.8 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
    • Oregon
      • Marion County
      • This Donald is located in Marion County and lies 505 miles [812.7 km]<1> to the west of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Marion County community of Donald.
    • Washington
      • Yakima County
      • This Donald is located in Yakima County and lies 383 miles [616.4 km]<1> to the west of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yakima County community of Donald.
    • West Virginia
      • Nicholas County
      • This Donald is located in Nicholas County and lies 1,695 miles [2,727.8 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nicholas County community of Donald.
    • Wisconsin
      • Taylor County
      • This Donald is located in Taylor County and lies 1,038 miles [1,670.5 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Taylor County community of Donald.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Donald ...

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.

  • Cedric
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Cedric is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedric
  • Floral Park
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Floral Park is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floral Park
  • Grace
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Grace is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace
  • Highview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Highview is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highview
  • Homestake
    (5 miles [8 km] to the north)
    • Homestake is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestake
  • Moose Town
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Moose Town is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Moose Town
  • Pipestone
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
  • Pipestone Hot Springs
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the east)
    • Pipestone Hot Springs is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone Hot Springs
  • Red Mountain ‑ Historic
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Red Mountain is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Mountain

How Far From Donald to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Donald to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Boulder, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 30 miles [48.3 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Donald to Boulder, with an average speed<4> 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 55 miles [88.5 km] to the north northeast (NNE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take over two days and walking would take most of three days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,851 miles [2,978.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 73 days and walking would take 106 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,700 miles [10,782.6 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 7,469 miles [12,020.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,487 miles [8,830.5 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Donald) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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 Donald, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Donald 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>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 Donald 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 Donald. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8449, Longitude: -112.4275       In this case, the coordinates for Donald have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 332.731 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.862 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.61 degrees.