Outdoor Activities ...
As we travel, we like to pursue some of our interests (such as astronomy and bird watching).
When in Phosphate, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Phosphate and the surrounding area.
- Weather ...
- Before heading outdoors, you should check the weather:
- The National Weather Service forecast for Phosphate
- 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 Phosphate:
- 46.562443, -112.864780
- 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 Phosphate
- 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 Powell County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
- eBird sighting report for Powell County
- Since Phosphate is near Granite County and also Deer Lodge County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
- eBird sighting report for Granite County
- eBird sighting report for Deer Lodge 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 Phosphate ...
We found three communities that share the name Phosphate.
Within Montana, the name Phosphate is unique.
Beyond Montana, we know of another three communities that are located throughout in the United States.
- Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
- Arkansas
- Florida
- Tennessee
Curious and Interesting Names Near Phosphate ...
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.
- Blackfoot City ‑ Historic
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Blackfoot City have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blackfoot City
- Blackfoot City is located in Powell County
- Deer Lodge
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Deer Lodge have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Deer Lodge
- Deer Lodge is located in Powell County
- Population from the 2020 Census: 2,805 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Deer Lodge <4>
- Goldcreek ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the northwest)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Goldcreek
- Goldcreek is located in Powell County
- Goldcreek has also been known as:
- Gold Creek
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Goldcreek <4>
- Hall
(15 miles [24.1 km] to the west)- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hall
- Hall is located in Granite County
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Hall <4>
- Maxville
(18 miles [29 km] to the west) - Pioneer ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the southwest) - Prison Farm
(13 miles [20.9 km] to the southeast)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Prison Farm have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Prison Farm
- Prison Farm is located in Powell County
- Quigley
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the northeast) - Sharkeyville ‑ Historic
(5 miles [8 km] to the north)- Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sharkeyville have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sharkeyville
- Sharkeyville is located in Powell County
- Stone
(17 miles [27.4 km] to the west)
How Far From Phosphate 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 Phosphate to various places of note, such as the White House.
With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<5> beginning in Phosphate and extending to:
- Deer Lodge, which is the Seat of Powell County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<5> to the south southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Phosphate to Deer Lodge, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
- Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 40 miles [64.4 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than an hour, a buggy would take just about two full days and walking would take over two days.
- The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,874 miles [3,015.9 km] to the east (E). Driving would take three full days, a buggy would take 74 days and walking would take 107 days.
- The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,665 miles [10,726.3 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 7,434 miles [11,963.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
- The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,461 miles [8,788.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>
Off-the-Road Links ...
Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Phosphate. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.
The official website for State of Montana: https://mt.gov/
Footnotes ...
| <1> | 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 Phosphate, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <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 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 Phosphate 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> | 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> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or 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- Phosphate) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Phosphate. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5624, Longitude: -112.8648 |
| <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 Phosphate 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 333.118 degrees. |
| <9> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 333.369 degrees. |
| <10> | The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.796 degrees. |