RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Nebraska >> Sioux County >> Agate >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Agate, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Agate 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 Agate:
    • 42.419964, -103.793826
    • 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 Agate
  • 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 Sioux County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sioux County
    • Since Agate is near Dawes County and also Niobrara County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dawes County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Niobrara 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 Agate

Communities Also Named Agate ...

We found ten communities that are also named Agate.

Within Nebraska, the name Agate is unique.

Beyond Nebraska, we know of ten communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these ten communities, eight are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • British Columbia
      • This Agate lies 983 miles [1,582 km]<1> to the northwest of the Agate that is located in Sioux County.
    • Colorado
      • Elbert County
      • This Agate is located in Elbert County and lies 204 miles [328.3 km]<1> to the south of the Agate that is located in Sioux County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elbert County community of Agate.
    • Georgia
      • Floyd 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 Georgia community of Agate [Floyd County].
    • Michigan
      • Ontonagon County
      • This Agate is located in Ontonagon County and lies 776 miles [1,248.9 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Agate that is located in Sioux County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Ontonagon County community of Agate.
    • Minnesota
      • Nobles 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 Minnesota community of Agate [Nobles County].
    • North Dakota
      • Rolette County
      • This Agate is located in Rolette County and lies 476 miles [766 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Agate that is located in Sioux County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rolette County community of Agate.
    • Ontario
      • This Agate lies 1,088 miles [1,751 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Agate that is located in Sioux County.
    • Utah
      • Grand County
      • This community is historic<3> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Utah community of Agate [Grand County].
    • Washington
      • Lewis 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 Agate [Lewis County].
      • Mason County
      • This Agate is located in Mason County and lies 994 miles [1,599.7 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Agate that is located in Sioux County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mason County community of Agate.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Agate ...

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.

  • Five Points
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the north)
    • Five Points is located in Sioux County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Five Points
  • Glen
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Glen is located in Sioux County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen
  • Horn
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Horn is located in Dawes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Horn
  • Jay Em
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Jay Em is located in Goshen County (WY)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jay Em
  • Pine Ridge
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the east)
    • Pine Ridge is located in Dawes County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pine Ridge
  • Roach
    (28 miles [45.1 km] to the south)
    • Roach is located in Scotts Bluff County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Roach

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

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

  • Harrison, which is the Seat of Sioux County, lies 19 miles [30.6 km]<1> to the north northwest. If you could walk a straight line from Agate to Harrison, with an average speed<4> 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 6 hours.
  • Lincoln, which is the State Capital of Nebraska, lies 382 miles [614.8 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take most of a day, a buggy would take 15 days and walking would take 22 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,416 miles [2,278.8 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 81 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,684 miles [10,756.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,448 miles [11,986.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,387 miles [8,669.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 from Point A (ie- Agate) 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 Mile's to see Pete ... Mile's 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 Agate 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 Agate, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Agate 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 Agate. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 42.4200, Longitude: -103.7938       In this case, the coordinates for Agate have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 325.851 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 324.538 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.969 degrees.