RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Nevada >> Lander County >> Amador >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Amador, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Amador 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 Amador:
    • 39.559647, -117.081758
    • 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 Amador
  • 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 Lander County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lander County
    • Since Amador is near Churchill County and also Nye County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Churchill County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nye 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 Amador

Communities Also Named Amador ...

We found four communities that are also named Amador.

Within Nevada, the name Amador is unique.

Beyond Nevada, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Wapello 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 Iowa community of Amador [Wapello County].
    • Kansas
      • Butler 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 Amador [Butler County].
    • Minnesota
      • Chisago 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 Minnesota community of Amador [Chisago County].
    • Montana
      • Mineral 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 Montana community of Amador [Mineral County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Amador ...

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.

  • Geneva ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Geneva is located in Lander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Geneva
  • Grass Valley ‑ Historic
    (17 miles [27.4 km] to the northeast)
    • Grass Valley is located in Lander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grass Valley
  • Jacobsville ‑ Historic
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
    • Jacobsville is located in Lander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Jacobsville
  • Ravenswood ‑ Historic
    (18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
    • Ravenswood is located in Lander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ravenswood
  • Yankee Blade ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the southeast)
    • Yankee Blade is located in Lander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Yankee Blade

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic community of Amador once stood, the straight-line distance<3> beginning in Amador and extending to:

  • Battle Mountain, which is the Seat of Lander County, lies 75 miles [120.7 km]<3> to the north. If you could drive a straight line from Amador to Battle Mountain, with an average speed<4>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than two hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 5 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take most of three days.
  • Carson City, which is the State Capital of Nevada, lies 145 miles [233.4 km] to the west (W). Driving would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 6 days and walking would take 9 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,124 miles [3,418.2 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 83 days and walking would take 121 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,193 miles [11,576 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 7,962 miles [12,813.6 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,976 miles [9,617.4 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 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 Amador 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 Amador, 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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Amador) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Amador 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 Amador. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.5596, Longitude: -117.0818       In this case, the coordinates for Amador have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 335.962 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.178 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.896 degrees.