RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of North Dakota >> Traill County >> Kelso >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Kelso, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Kelso 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 Kelso:
    • 47.322772, -97.029594
    • 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 Kelso
  • 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 Traill County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Traill County
    • Since Kelso is near Norman County and also Cass County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Norman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Cass 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 Kelso

Communities Also Named Kelso ...

We found 25 communities that are also named Kelso.

Within North Dakota, the name Kelso is unique.

Beyond North Dakota, we know of twenty communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twenty communities, eighteen are located in the United States and three are in Canada.

In addition to the above occurrences of Kelso, we know of five communities located outside of the United States and Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • Desha County
      • This Kelso is located in Desha County and lies 980 miles [1,577.2 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Desha County community of Kelso.
    • California
      • Fresno 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 Kelso [Fresno County].
      • San Bernardino County
      • This Kelso is located in San Bernardino County and lies 1,282 miles [2,063.2 km]<1> to the southwest of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the San Bernardino County community of Kelso.
    • Idaho
      • Bonner County
      • This Kelso is located in Bonner County and lies 913 miles [1,469.3 km]<1> to the west of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bonner County community of Kelso.
      • Cassia County
      • This Kelso is located in Cassia County and lies 875 miles [1,408.2 km] to the west southwest of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cassia County community of Kelso.
    • Indiana
      • Dearborn 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 Indiana community of Kelso [Dearborn County].
      • Huntington 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 Indiana community of Kelso [Huntington County].
    • Kansas
      • Morris County
      • This Kelso is located in Morris County and lies 593 miles [954.3 km]<1> to the south of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Morris County community of Kelso.
    • Michigan
      • Iron 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 Kelso [Iron County].
    • Mississippi
      • Sharkey County
      • This Kelso is located in Sharkey County and lies 1,061 miles [1,707.5 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sharkey County community of Kelso.
    • Missouri
      • Scott County
      • This Kelso is located in Scott County and lies 796 miles [1,281 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Scott County community of Kelso.
    • Nebraska
      • Hooker County
      • This Kelso is located in Hooker County and lies 411 miles [661.4 km]<1> to the south southwest of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Hooker County community of Kelso.
      • Howard 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 Kelso [Howard County].
    • Oklahoma
      • Craig County
      • This Kelso is located in Craig County and lies 739 miles [1,189.3 km]<1> to the south of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Craig County community of Kelso.
    • Ontario
      • This Kelso lies 756 miles [1,216.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
    • Oregon
      • Clackamas County
      • This Kelso is located in Clackamas County and lies 1,206 miles [1,940.9 km]<1> to the west of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clackamas County community of Kelso.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Kelso lies 289 miles [465.1 km]<1> to the northwest of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
    • Tennessee
      • Lincoln County
      • This Kelso is located in Lincoln County and lies 1,002 miles [1,612.6 km]<1> to the southeast of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Lincoln County community of Kelso.
    • Texas
      • Deaf Smith County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Deaf Smith County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Deaf Smith County community of Kelso.
    • Washington
      • Cowlitz County
      • This Kelso is located in Cowlitz County and lies 1,221 miles [1,965 km]<1> to the west of the Kelso that is located in Traill County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Cowlitz County community of Kelso.
  • Communities Beyond North America ...
    • Australia
      • - Tasmania
      • Distance: 9,330 miles [15,015.2 km]<1> to the west southwest
      • Open a Google Map centered on Kelso
      • - New South Wales
      • Distance: 8,906 miles [14,332.8 km] to the west
      • Open a Google Map centered on Kelso
      • - Queensland
      • Distance: 8,409 miles [13,533 km] to the west
      • Open a Google Map centered on Kelso
    • New Zealand
      • Distance: 8,560 miles [13,776 km]<1> to the west southwest
      • Open a Google Map centered on Kelso
    • South Africa
      • Distance: 9,449 miles [15,206.7 km]<1> to the east
      • Open a Google Map centered on Kelso

Curious and Interesting Names Near Kelso ...

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.

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

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

  • Hillsboro, which is the Seat of Traill County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 179 miles [288.1 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Kelso to Bismarck, with an average speed<5>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 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,158 miles [1,863.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take over two days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 66 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,216 miles [10,003.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,978 miles [11,230 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,914 miles [7,908.3 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line drawn from Point A (ie- Kelso) 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 Kelso 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>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 Kelso, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Kelso 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 Kelso. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 47.3228, Longitude: -97.0296    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.016 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 319.56 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 312.155 degrees.