RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Morrow County >> Clarke >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Clarke, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Clarke 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 Clarke:
    • 45.837911, -119.600859
    • 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 Clarke
  • 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 Morrow County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Morrow County
    • Since Clarke is near Benton County and also Umatilla County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Benton County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Umatilla 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 Clarke

Communities Also Named Clarke ...

We found five communities that are also named Clarke.

Within Oregon, the name Clarke is unique.

Beyond Oregon, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Walker County
      • This Clarke is located in Walker County and lies 1,869 miles [3,007.9 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Clarke that is located in Morrow County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Walker County community of Clarke.
    • Indiana
      • Lake 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 Indiana community of Clarke [Lake County].
      • Randolph 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 Indiana community of Clarke [Randolph County].
    • Kansas
      • Wilson 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 Kansas community of Clarke [Wilson County].
    • Ontario
      • This Clarke lies 1,989 miles [3,201 km]<1> to the east of the Clarke that is located in Morrow County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Clarke ...

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.

  • Alpine
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the south)
    • Alpine is located in Morrow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alpine
  • Boardman
    (4 miles [6.4 km] to the west)
  • Bucks Corners
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the east)
    • Bucks Corners is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bucks Corners
  • Castle
    (11 miles [17.7 km] to the west)
    • Castle is located in Morrow County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Castle
  • Longview
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Longview is located in Benton County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Longview
  • Ordnance ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Ordnance is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ordnance
  • Plymouth
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Plymouth is located in Benton County (WA)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plymouth
  • Power City
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the east)
    • Power City is located in Umatilla County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Power City

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

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

  • Heppner, which is the Seat of Morrow County, lies 33 miles [53.1 km]<1> to the south. If you could walk a straight line from Clarke to Heppner, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take most of two days to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take just over a day.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 177 miles [284.9 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take a little over three hours, a buggy would take 7 days and walking would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,196 miles [3,534.1 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 86 days and walking would take 125 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,843 miles [11,012.7 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 7,608 miles [12,243.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,691 miles [9,158.8 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' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores obstructions like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Clarke) 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 Clarke 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>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<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 Clarke 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 Clarke. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.8379, Longitude: -119.6009       In this case, the coordinates for Clarke have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 338.526 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 339.602 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.117 degrees.