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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Joseph, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Joseph 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 Joseph:
    • 45.351425, -117.228443
    • 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 Joseph
  • 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 Wallowa County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Wallowa County
    • Since Joseph is near Baker County and also Union County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Baker County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Union 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 Joseph

Communities Also Named Joseph ...

We found seven communities that are also named Joseph.

Within Oregon, the name Joseph is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Idaho
      • Idaho County
      • This Joseph is located in Idaho County and lies 47 miles [75.6 km]<1> to the northeast of the Joseph that is located in Wallowa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Idaho County community of Joseph.
      • Nez Perce County
      • This Joseph is located in Nez Perce County and lies 78 miles [125.5 km] to the north northeast of the Joseph that is located in Wallowa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Nez Perce County community of Joseph.
    • Mississippi
      • Attala County
      • This Joseph is located in Attala County and lies 1,689 miles [2,718.2 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Joseph that is located in Wallowa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Attala County community of Joseph.
    • New Mexico
      • Catron County
      • This community is historic<2> and although located in Catron County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Catron County community of Joseph.
      • Socorro 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 New Mexico community of Joseph [Socorro County].
    • Utah
      • Juab 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 Utah community of Joseph [Juab County].
      • Sevier County
      • This Joseph is located in Sevier County and lies 530 miles [853 km]<1> to the south southeast of the Joseph that is located in Wallowa County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Sevier County community of Joseph.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Joseph ...

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.

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

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

  • Enterprise, which is the Seat of Wallowa County, lies just to the North Northwest.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 283 miles [455.4 km]<1> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Joseph to Salem, with an average speed<5>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 16 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,083 miles [3,352.3 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 82 days and walking would take 119 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,830 miles [10,991.8 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 7,597 miles [12,226.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,654 miles [9,099.2 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

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 things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Joseph) 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 Joseph, 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 Joseph 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 Joseph 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 Joseph. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.3514, Longitude: -117.2284    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.558 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.276 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.648 degrees.