RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
Quarter for
New Mexico


The Commemorative Quarter for New Mexico







Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Defiance, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Defiance and the surrounding area.

  • Weather ...
  • 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 Defiance:
    • 35.490508, -108.896005
    • 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 Defiance
  • 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 McKinley County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • eBird sighting report for McKinley County
    • Since Defiance is near Apache County, we have provided a link to its eBird sighting report:
    • eBird sighting report for Apache 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 Defiance ...

We found thirteen communities that share the name Defiance.

There is one other community in New Mexico which is also named Defiance.

Beyond New Mexico, we know of another twelve communities that are located throughout in the United States.

  • Communities Located In New Mexico ...
    • Bernalillo 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 New Mexico community of Defiance [Bernalillo County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Arkansas
      • White County
      • This community is historic<2> and we have very little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Arkansas community of Defiance [White County].
    • Iowa
      • Shelby County
      • This Defiance is located in Shelby County and lies 850 miles [1,367.9 km]<3> to the northeast of the Defiance that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Shelby County community of Defiance.
    • Kansas
      • Barber 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 Kansas community of Defiance [Barber County].
      • Woodson 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 Kansas community of Defiance [Woodson County].
    • Kentucky
      • Floyd 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 Kentucky community of Defiance [Floyd County].
      • Perry County
      • This Defiance is located in Perry County and lies 1,435 miles [2,309.4 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Defiance that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Perry County community of Defiance.
    • Michigan
      • Delta 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 Michigan community of Defiance [Delta County].
    • Missouri
      • Saint Charles County
      • This Defiance is located in Saint Charles County and lies 1,019 miles [1,639.9 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Defiance that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Saint Charles County community of Defiance.
      • Worth County
      • Although located in Worth County, we don't know the location within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Worth County community of Defiance.
    • North Carolina
      • Randolph 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 North Carolina community of Defiance [Randolph County].
    • Ohio
      • Defiance County
      • This Defiance is located in Defiance County and lies 1,381 miles [2,222.5 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Defiance that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Defiance County community of Defiance.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Bedford County
      • This Defiance is located in Bedford County and lies 1,694 miles [2,726.2 km]<3> to the east northeast of the Defiance that is located in McKinley County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Bedford County community of Defiance.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Defiance ...

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.

  • Bread Springs
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bread Springs
    • Bread Springs is located in McKinley County
  • Heaton ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Heaton have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Heaton
    • Heaton is located in McKinley County
  • Hunters Point
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hunters Point
    • Hunters Point is located in Apache County (AZ)
  • Red Rock
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Red Rock
    • Red Rock is located in McKinley County
  • Rock Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Springs
    • Rock Springs is located in McKinley County
  • Sundance
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sundance have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sundance
    • Sundance is located in McKinley County
  • Twin Buttes
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the east)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Twin Buttes have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Twin Buttes
    • Twin Buttes is located in McKinley County
  • Weaver ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Weaver have been provided by the GNIS.<4> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Weaver
    • Weaver is located in McKinley County
  • Window Rock
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northwest)

How Far From Defiance to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers & Almanacs that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Defiance to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Gallup, which is the Seat of McKinley County, lies 9 miles [14.5 km]<3> to the east northeast. If you could walk a straight line from Defiance to Gallup, with an average speed<6> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Santa Fe, which is the State Capital of New Mexico, lies 165 miles [265.5 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take about three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,759 miles [2,830.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 69 days and walking would take 100 days.
  • The shortest distance<7> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,235 miles [11,643.6 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 7,998 miles [12,871.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,927 miles [9,538.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<10>

Unfortunately, we don't know of a website for Defiance. If you can help, please contact us through our Feedback Page.

The official website for McKinley County: www.co.mckinley.nm.us/

The official website for State of New Mexico: www.newmexico.gov/

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 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 Defiance 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>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 Defiance, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Defiance) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in Defiance. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.4905, Longitude: -108.8960    
<4>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.
<5>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Defiance 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 328.993 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 327.522 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 320.409 degrees.









 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024