RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oklahoma >> Sequoyah County >> West Fort Smith >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West Fort Smith, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West Fort Smith 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 West Fort Smith:
    • 35.397035, -94.439937
    • 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 West Fort Smith
  • 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 Sequoyah County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sequoyah County
    • Since West Fort Smith is near Le Flore County and also Crawford County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Le Flore County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Crawford 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 West Fort Smith

Curious and Interesting Names Near West Fort Smith ...

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.

  • Catcher
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Catcher is located in Crawford County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Catcher
  • Cedars
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Cedars is located in Le Flore County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cedars
  • Cottonwood
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Cottonwood is located in Sequoyah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cottonwood
  • Crescent
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Crescent is located in Sebastian County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crescent
  • Dripping Springs
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the north)
    • Dripping Springs is located in Crawford County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dripping Springs
  • Enterprise
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the south)
    • Enterprise is located in Sebastian County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Enterprise
  • Figure Five
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Figure Five is located in Crawford County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Figure Five
  • Furry
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Furry is located in Crawford County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Furry
  • Greenwood
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Greenwood is located in Crawford County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood
  • Greenwood Junction
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Greenwood Junction is located in Crawford County (AR)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Greenwood Junction
  • Liberty
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Liberty is located in Sequoyah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Liberty
  • Lone Oak
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Lone Oak is located in Sequoyah County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Oak
  • Continue List   (4 more) ...
    • Oak Grove
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
      • Oak Grove is located in Crawford County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
    • Paw Paw
      (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southwest)
      • Paw Paw is located in Sequoyah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Paw Paw
    • Saw Mill
      (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
      • Saw Mill is located in Sebastian County (AR)
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Saw Mill
    • Shady Grove
      (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
      • Shady Grove is located in Sequoyah County
      • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shady Grove

How Far From West Fort Smith to ...

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

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers, the straight-line distance<1> beginning in West Fort Smith and extending to:

  • Sallisaw, which is the Seat of Sequoyah County, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the west northwest. If you could walk a straight line from West Fort Smith to Sallisaw, with an average speed<2> 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 most of a day.
  • Oklahoma City, which is the State Capital of Oklahoma, lies 172 miles [276.8 km] to the west (W). 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 986 miles [1,586.8 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of two days, a buggy would take 39 days and walking would take 56 days.
  • The shortest distance<3> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,759 miles [10,877.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<4>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,495 miles [12,062 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,375 miles [8,650.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- West Fort Smith) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<2>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.
<3>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 West Fort Smith 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 West Fort Smith. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 35.3970, Longitude: -94.4399       In this case, the coordinates for West Fort Smith have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<4>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 318.658 degrees.
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 315.319 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.239 degrees.