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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Donald, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Donald 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 Donald:
    • 45.222296, -122.838870
    • 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 Donald
  • 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 Marion County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Marion County
    • Since Donald is near Clackamas County and also Washington County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Clackamas County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Washington 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 Donald

Communities Also Named Donald ...

We found twelve communities that are also named Donald.

Within Oregon, the name Donald is unique.

Beyond Oregon, we know of twelve communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these twelve communities, ten are located in the United States and two are in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Dallas County
      • This Donald is located in Dallas County and lies 2,086 miles [3,357.1 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Donald.
    • Arkansas
      • Franklin 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 Donald [Franklin County].
    • British Columbia
      • This Donald lies 504 miles [811.1 km]<1> to the north northeast of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
    • Georgia
      • Long County
      • This Donald is located in Long County and lies 2,368 miles [3,810.9 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Long County community of Donald.
    • Kansas
      • Washington County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Donald [Washington County].
    • Michigan
      • Saginaw County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<3> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Michigan community of Donald [Saginaw County].
    • Montana
      • Jefferson County
      • This Donald is located in Jefferson County and lies 505 miles [812.7 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jefferson County community of Donald.
    • Ohio
      • Butler County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Butler County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Butler County community of Donald.
    • Ontario
      • This Donald lies 2,131 miles [3,429.5 km]<1> to the east northeast of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
    • Washington
      • Yakima County
      • This Donald is located in Yakima County and lies 145 miles [233.4 km]<1> to the northeast of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Yakima County community of Donald.
    • West Virginia
      • Nicholas County
      • This Donald is located in Nicholas County and lies 2,196 miles [3,534.1 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nicholas County community of Donald.
    • Wisconsin
      • Taylor County
      • This Donald is located in Taylor County and lies 1,542 miles [2,481.6 km]<1> to the east of the Donald that is located in Marion County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Taylor County community of Donald.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Donald ...

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.

  • Advance
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Advance is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Advance
  • Aurora
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
  • Charbonneau
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
    • Charbonneau is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Charbonneau
  • Dundee
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
  • Elliott Prairie
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Elliott Prairie is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elliott Prairie
  • Fargo
    (2 miles [3.2 km] to the northeast)
    • Fargo is located in Marion County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fargo
  • Hoodview
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Hoodview is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hoodview
  • Ladd Hill
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Ladd Hill is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ladd Hill
  • Lone Elder
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the east)
    • Lone Elder is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Lone Elder
  • Macksburg
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the east)
    • Macksburg is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Macksburg
  • Needy ‑ Historic
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Needy is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Needy
  • Springbrook
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northwest)
    • Springbrook is located in Yamhill County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Springbrook
  • Whiskey Hill
    (5 miles [8 km] to the southeast)
    • Whiskey Hill is located in Clackamas County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Whiskey Hill

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

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

  • Salem, which is the Seat of Marion County, lies 21 miles [33.8 km]<1> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Donald to Salem, with an average speed<5> 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.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 21 miles [33.8 km] to the south southwest (SSW). The buggy would take most of a day and walking would take just over a day.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,355 miles [3,790 km] to the east (E). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take 5 days, a buggy would take 92 days and walking would take 134 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,937 miles [11,164 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,699 miles [12,390.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,812 miles [9,353.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>'

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- Donald) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Donald, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<3>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 Bird Creek to see Pete ... Bird 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 Donald 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.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>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.
<6>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 Donald 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 Donald. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.2223, Longitude: -122.8389       In this case, the coordinates for Donald have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.168 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 342.654 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.243 degrees.