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 Fergus:
47.330813, -109.067109
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.
We found five communities that are also named Fergus.
Within Montana, the name Fergus is unique.
Beyond Montana, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and two are in Canada.
Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
California
Merced County
This Fergus is located in Merced County and lies 904 miles [1,454.8 km]<1> to the southwest of the Fergus that is located in Fergus County.
For more information, please visit our profile page for the Merced County community of Fergus.
Colorado
Kiowa 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 Colorado community of Fergus [Kiowa County].
Michigan
Saginaw 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 Michigan community of Fergus [Saginaw County].
Ontario
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 Ontario community of Fergus.
Texas
Hunt 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 Texas community of Fergus [Hunt County].
Curious and Interesting Names Near Fergus ...
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.
Box Elder ‑ Historic (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
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 Fergus to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance beginning in Fergus and extending to:
Lewistown, which is the Seat of Fergus County, lies 26 miles [41.8 km]<1> to the southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Fergus to Lewistown, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full 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 148 miles [238.2 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,701 miles [2,737.5 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<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,534 miles [10,515.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,302 miles [11,751.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,307 miles [8,540.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'
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 obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Fergus) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Fergus 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>
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.
<4>
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 Fergus 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 Fergus. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.3308, Longitude: -109.0671 In this case, the coordinates for Fergus have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 330.155 degrees.
<6>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 330.018 degrees.
<7>
The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.343 degrees.