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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Welch, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Welch 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 Welch:
    • 45.931038, -112.315007
    • 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 Welch
  • 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 Welch 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 Welch

Communities Also Named Welch ...

We found eighteen communities that are also named Welch.

Within Montana, the name Welch is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Chambers County
      • This Welch is located in Chambers County and lies 1,676 miles [2,697.3 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chambers County community of Welch.
    • Arkansas
      • Montgomery 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 Arkansas community of Welch [Montgomery County].
    • California
      • San Joaquin 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 California community of Welch [San Joaquin County].
    • Georgia
      • Towns County
      • This Welch is located in Towns County and lies 1,662 miles [2,674.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Towns County community of Welch.
    • Michigan
      • Mackinac 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 Welch [Mackinac County].
      • Ogemaw County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Welch [Ogemaw County].
    • Minnesota
      • Goodhue County
      • This Welch is located in Goodhue County and lies 953 miles [1,533.7 km]<1> to the east of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Goodhue County community of Welch.
    • Mississippi
      • Covington 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 Mississippi community of Welch [Covington County].
    • Missouri
      • Monroe 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 Missouri community of Welch [Monroe County].
    • Nebraska
      • Knox 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 Nebraska community of Welch [Knox County].
    • New Brunswick
      • This Welch lies 2,122 miles [3,415 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
    • North Carolina
      • Chowan 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 North Carolina community of Welch [Chowan County].
      • Graham County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the North Carolina community of Welch [Graham County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Craig County
      • This Welch is located in Craig County and lies 1,085 miles [1,746.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Craig County community of Welch.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Somerset 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 Pennsylvania community of Welch [Somerset County].
    • Texas
      • Dawson County
      • This Welch is located in Dawson County and lies 1,047 miles [1,685 km]<1> to the southeast of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dawson County community of Welch.
    • Washington
      • Spokane 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 Washington community of Welch [Spokane County].
    • West Virginia
      • McDowell County
      • This Welch is located in McDowell County and lies 1,677 miles [2,698.9 km]<1> to the east of the Welch that is located in Jefferson County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the McDowell County community of Welch.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Welch ...

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 south)
    • Cedric is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedric
  • Donald
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Donald is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Donald
  • Floral Park
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northwest)
    • Floral Park is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Floral Park
  • Grace
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Grace is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grace
  • Highview
    (5 miles [8 km] to the west)
    • Highview is located in Silver Bow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Highview
  • Homestake
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
    • Homestake is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Homestake
  • Paul Place
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Paul Place is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paul Place
  • Pipestone
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
  • Pipestone Hot Springs
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the southeast)
    • Pipestone Hot Springs is located in Jefferson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone Hot Springs

How Far From Welch 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 Welch to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Boulder, which is the Seat of Jefferson County, lies 22 miles [35.4 km]<1> to the north northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Welch to Boulder, with an average speed<3> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just over a day to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Helena, which is the State Capital of Montana, lies 47 miles [75.6 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 most of two days and walking would take about three full days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,846 miles [2,970.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 73 days and walking would take 105 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,692 miles [10,769.7 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 7,461 miles [12,007.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,479 miles [8,817.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Welch) 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 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 Welch 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 Welch 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 Welch. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.9310, Longitude: -112.3150       In this case, the coordinates for Welch have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 332.647 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 332.771 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 321.53 degrees.