RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Oregon >> Polk County >> Falls City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Falls City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Falls City 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 Falls City:
    • 44.866230, -123.435625
    • 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 Falls City
  • 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 Polk County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Polk County
    • Since Falls City is near Benton County and also Marion 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 Marion 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 Falls City

Communities Also Named Falls City ...

We found six communities that are also named Falls City.

Within Oregon, the name Falls City is unique.

Beyond Oregon, we know of six communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Alabama
      • Winston County
      • This Falls City is located in Winston County and lies 2,047 miles [3,294.3 km]<1> to the east of the Falls City that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Winston County community of Falls City.
    • Idaho
      • Jerome County
      • This Falls City is located in Jerome County and lies 473 miles [761.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Falls City that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Jerome County community of Falls City.
    • Nebraska
      • Richardson County
      • This Falls City is located in Richardson County and lies 1,448 miles [2,330.3 km]<1> to the east of the Falls City that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Richardson County community of Falls City.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Fayette 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 Pennsylvania community of Falls City [Fayette County].
    • Texas
      • Karnes County
      • This Falls City is located in Karnes County and lies 1,767 miles [2,843.7 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Falls City that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Karnes County community of Falls City.
    • Wisconsin
      • Dunn County
      • This Falls City is located in Dunn County and lies 1,540 miles [2,478.4 km]<1> to the east of the Falls City that is located in Polk County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dunn County community of Falls City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Falls City ...

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.

  • Bowersville ‑ Historic
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the east)
    • Bowersville is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bowersville
  • Ellendale
    (5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
  • Fern Corner
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Fern Corner is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fern Corner
  • Ferns ‑ Historic
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the east)
    • Ferns is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ferns
  • Fir Villa
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the northeast)
    • Fir Villa is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fir Villa
  • Lewisville
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the southeast)
  • Link
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Link is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Link
  • Maple Grove
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the southeast)
    • Maple Grove is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Maple Grove
  • Mitchell
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
    • Mitchell is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mitchell
  • Pedee
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Pedee is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pedee
  • Salt Creek
    (9 miles [14.5 km] to the northeast)
    • Salt Creek is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Salt Creek
  • Tarter
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southeast)
    • Tarter is located in Polk County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Tarter

How Far From Falls City to ...

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

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

  • Dallas, which is the Seat of Polk County, lies just to the East Northeast.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 20 miles [32.2 km]<1> to the east northeast (ENE). If you could walk a straight line from Falls City to Salem, with an average speed<3> 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.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,387 miles [3,841.5 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 94 days and walking would take 136 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,969 miles [11,215.5 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,731 miles [12,441.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,848 miles [9,411.4 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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- Falls City) 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 Falls City 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 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.
<4>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 Falls City 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 Falls City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8662, Longitude: -123.4356    
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 341.644 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 343.196 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 328.649 degrees.