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

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Sinks, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Sinks 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 Sinks:
    • 45.617977, -120.612375
    • 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 Sinks
  • 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 Sherman County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Sherman County
    • Since Sinks is near Gilliam County and also Klickitat County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Gilliam County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Klickitat 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 Sinks

Communities Also Named Sinks ...

We found two communities that are also named Sinks.

Within Oregon, the name Sinks is unique.

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

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Indiana
      • Harrison County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information.<1> For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Indiana community of Sinks [Harrison County].
    • Kentucky
      • Rockcastle County
      • This Sinks is located in Rockcastle County and lies 1,948 miles [3,135 km]<2> to the east of the Sinks that is located in Sherman County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Rockcastle County community of Sinks.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Sinks ...

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 Sinks 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 community such as Sinks to various places of note, such as the White House.

With a nod to our favorite Gazetteers and using the location of where the historic<4> community of Sinks once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Sinks and extending to:

  • Moro, which is the Seat of Sherman County, lies 10 miles [16.1 km]<2> to the south southwest. If you could walk a straight line from Sinks to Moro, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take four to five hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take a little over three hours.
  • Salem, which is the State Capital of Oregon, lies 126 miles [202.8 km] to the west southwest (WSW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than three hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 8 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,245 miles [3,613 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 88 days and walking would take 128 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,874 miles [11,062.6 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 7,639 miles [12,293.8 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,731 miles [9,223.2 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>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 Sinks 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.
<2>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 from Point A (ie- Sinks) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<4>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 Sinks, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Sinks 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 Sinks. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.6180, Longitude: -120.6124    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 339.346 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 340.545 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 326.782 degrees.