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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Hoyle, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Hoyle 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 Hoyle:
    • 47.011929, -108.165677
    • 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 Hoyle
  • 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 Petroleum County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Petroleum County
    • Since Hoyle is near Garfield County and also Fergus County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Garfield County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Fergus 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 Hoyle

Communities Also Named Hoyle ...

We found two communities that are also named Hoyle.

Within Montana, the name Hoyle is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • North Carolina
      • Randolph 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 North Carolina community of Hoyle [Randolph County].
    • Ontario
      • This Hoyle lies 1,255 miles [2,019.7 km]<2> to the east northeast of the Hoyle that is located in Petroleum County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Hoyle ...

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.

  • Alice ‑ Historic
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the east)
    • Alice is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alice
  • Cat Creek
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Cat Creek is located in Petroleum County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cat Creek
  • Chimney Crossing
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
    • Chimney Crossing is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Chimney Crossing
  • Dovetail ‑ Historic
    (23 miles [37 km] to the north)
    • Dovetail is located in Petroleum County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dovetail
  • Flatwillow
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Flatwillow is located in Petroleum County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwillow
  • Flatwillow Colony
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
    • Flatwillow Colony is located in Musselshell County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Flatwillow Colony
  • Martin ‑ Historic
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the east)
    • Martin is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Martin
  • Valentine
    (23 miles [37 km] to the northwest)
    • Valentine is located in Fergus County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Valentine

How Far From Hoyle 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 community such as Hoyle 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<3> community of Hoyle once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Hoyle and extending to:

  • Winnett, which is the Seat of Petroleum County, lies just to the West.
  • Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 184 miles [296.1 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Hoyle to Helena, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take a little over three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 11 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,656 miles [2,665.1 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<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,531 miles [10,510.6 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 7,300 miles [11,748.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,296 miles [8,523.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Hoyle 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Hoyle) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Hoyle, 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 Hoyle 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 Hoyle. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.0119, Longitude: -108.1657       In this case, the coordinates for Hoyle have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.438 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 329.162 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 318.84 degrees.