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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Midas, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Midas 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 Midas:
    • 39.040204, -117.621492
    • 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 Midas
  • 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 Nye County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Nye County
    • Since Midas is near Lander County and also Mineral County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lander County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Mineral 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 Midas

Communities Also Named Midas ...

We found five communities that are also named Midas.

There is one other community in Nevada that is also named Midas.

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

  • Communities Located In Nevada ...
    • Elko County
      • This Midas is located in Elko County and lies 158 miles [254.3 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Midas that is located in Nye County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Elko County community of Midas.
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Placer County
      • This Midas is located in Placer County and lies 168 miles [270.4 km]<1> to the west of the Midas that is located in Nye County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Placer County community of Midas.
    • Idaho
      • Bonner 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 Idaho community of Midas [Bonner County].
    • Kentucky
      • Floyd County
      • This Midas is located in Floyd County and lies 1,877 miles [3,020.7 km]<1> to the east of the Midas that is located in Nye County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Floyd County community of Midas.
    • Missouri
      • Jackson 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 Missouri community of Midas [Jackson County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Midas ...

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 ‑ Historic
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the south)
    • Berlin is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Berlin
  • Burnt Cabin ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Burnt Cabin is located in Lander County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Burnt Cabin
  • Glen Hamilton ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Glen Hamilton is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Glen Hamilton
  • Idlewild ‑ Historic
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the south)
    • Idlewild is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Idlewild
  • Knickerbocker ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Knickerbocker is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Knickerbocker
  • Phonolite ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the west)
    • Phonolite is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Phonolite
  • Shamrock ‑ Historic
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Shamrock is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shamrock
  • Union ‑ Historic
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the south)
    • Union is located in Nye County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

How Far From Midas 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 Midas 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<3> community of Midas once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Midas and extending to:

  • Tonopah, which is the Seat of Nye County, lies 70 miles [112.7 km]<1> to the south southeast. If you could drive a straight line from Midas to Tonopah, 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 three full days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take about three full days.
  • Carson City, which is the State Capital of Nevada, lies 115 miles [185.1 km] to the west (W). Driving would take about two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,160 miles [3,476.2 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 85 days and walking would take 123 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,238 miles [11,648.4 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 8,006 miles [12,884.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 6,022 miles [9,691.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Midas) 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 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 Midas 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 Midas, 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 Midas 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 Midas. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 39.0402, Longitude: -117.6215       In this case, the coordinates for Midas have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.348 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 336.604 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 325.236 degrees.