Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Laurin, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Laurin and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Laurin
- 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 Laurin:
- 45.352966, -112.118151
- 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 Laurin
- 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 Madison County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Madison County
- Since Laurin is near Beaverhead County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
- eBird sighting report for Beaverhead 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:
- Waymark.com
Communities Also Named Laurin ...
We found one communities that share the name Laurin.
Within Montana, the name Laurin is unique.
Beyond Montana, there is another community also named Laurin in Canada.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
Curious and Interesting Names Near Laurin ...
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.
- Ball Place
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Ball Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ball Place
- Ball Place is located in Madison County
- Centerville ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Centerville have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Centerville
- Centerville is located in Madison County
- Fries Place
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Fries Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fries Place
- Fries Place is located in Madison County
- Iron Rod ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest) - Junction ‑ Historic
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the east) - Leary Place
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leary Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leary Place
- Leary Place is located in Madison County
- Leonard Place
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Leonard Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Leonard Place
- Leonard Place is located in Madison County
- Mammoth
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mammoth
- Mammoth is located in Madison County
- Reeder Place
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Reeder Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Reeder Place
- Reeder Place is located in Madison County
- Continue List (6 more) ...
- Ruby
(2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast) - Strawberry ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)- Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for Strawberry. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<3>
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Strawberry
- Strawberry is located in Madison County
- Sweetwater ‑ Historic
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sweetwater have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sweetwater
- Sweetwater is located in Madison County
- Tate Place
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the south)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Tate Place have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tate Place
- Tate Place is located in Madison County
- Twin Bridges
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Bridges have been provided by the GNIS.<2> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Bridges
- Twin Bridges is located in Madison County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 434 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Twin Bridges <4>
- Virginia City
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Virginia City
- Virginia City is located in Madison County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 225 people
- Former names for Virginia City:
- Varina
- Verina
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Virginia City <4>
- Ruby
How Far From Laurin 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 Laurin 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 Laurin once stood, the straight-line distance<6> beginning in Laurin and extending to:
- Virginia City, which is the Seat of Madison County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<6> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Laurin to Virginia City, with an average speed<7> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 85 miles [136.8 km] to the north (N). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take most of three days and walking would take 5 days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,835 miles [2,953.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 72 days and walking would take 105 days.
- The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,723 miles [10,819.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,492 miles [12,057.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,505 miles [8,859.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>
Off-the-Road Links ...
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 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 Laurin 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> | 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. |
| <3> | An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace. |
| <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 Laurin, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <6> | 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 drawn from Point A (ie- Laurin) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Laurin. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.3530, Longitude: -112.1182 In this case, the coordinates for Laurin have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS). |
| <7> | 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. |
| <8> | 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 Laurin to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 332.457 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.502 degrees. |
| <11> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.476 degrees. |