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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Oakes, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Oakes 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 Oakes:
    • 46.139412, -98.086490
    • 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 Oakes
  • 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 Dickey County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dickey County
    • Since Oakes is near Sargent County and also LaMoure County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sargent County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for LaMoure 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 Oakes

Communities Also Named Oakes ...

We found two communities that are also named Oakes.

Within North Dakota, the name Oakes is unique.

Beyond North Dakota, we know of two communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Colorado
      • Arapahoe 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 Colorado community of Oakes [Arapahoe County].
    • New York
      • Ulster County
      • This Oakes is located in Ulster County and lies 1,234 miles [1,985.9 km]<2> to the east of the Oakes that is located in Dickey County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ulster County community of Oakes.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Oakes ...

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.

  • Berlin
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
  • Crete
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Crete is located in Sargent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crete
  • Ellendale
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
  • Glover
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Glover is located in Dickey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glover
  • Grand Rapids
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the northwest)
    • Grand Rapids is located in LaMoure County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grand Rapids
  • Harlem ‑ Historic
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Harlem is located in Sargent County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Harlem
  • Havana
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
  • Independence
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
    • Independence is located in LaMoure County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Independence
  • Keystone ‑ Historic
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
    • Keystone is located in Dickey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Keystone
  • Kidder
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Kidder is located in Marshall County (SD)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kidder
    • Estimated population in 2014: 77 people
  • Silverleaf
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Silverleaf is located in Dickey County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silverleaf

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

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

  • Ellendale, which is the Seat of Dickey County, lies 23 miles [37 km]<2> to the west southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Oakes to Ellendale, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take just about two full days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of a day.
  • Bismarck, which is the State Capital of North Dakota, lies 135 miles [217.3 km] to the west northwest (WNW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,177 miles [1,894.2 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 46 days and walking would take 67 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,311 miles [10,156.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,073 miles [11,382.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,006 miles [8,056.4 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 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 Oakes 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Oakes) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Oakes 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 Oakes. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.1394, Longitude: -98.0865       In this case, the coordinates for Oakes have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 321.783 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.287 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.049 degrees.