RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of South Dakota >> Edmunds County >> Mina >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mina, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mina 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 Mina:
    • 45.438151, -98.754065
    • 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 Mina
  • 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 Edmunds County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Edmunds County
    • Since Mina is near Brown County and also McPherson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Brown County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for McPherson 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 Mina

Communities Also Named Mina ...

We found nine communities that are also named Mina.

Within South Dakota, the name Mina is unique.

Beyond South Dakota, we know of nine communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Mendocino County
      • This Mina is located in Mendocino County and lies 1,298 miles [2,088.9 km]<1> to the west of the Mina that is located in Edmunds County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mendocino County community of Mina.
    • Georgia
      • Fulton 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 Georgia community of Mina [Fulton County].
    • Kansas
      • Marshall 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 Mina [Marshall County].
    • Kentucky
      • Clark County
      • This Mina is located in Clark County and lies 918 miles [1,477.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Mina that is located in Edmunds County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Mina.
    • Nevada
      • Mineral County
      • This Mina is located in Mineral County and lies 1,103 miles [1,775.1 km]<1> to the west southwest of the Mina that is located in Edmunds County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mineral County community of Mina.
    • New York
      • Chautauqua County
      • This Mina is located in Chautauqua County and lies 974 miles [1,567.5 km]<1> to the east of the Mina that is located in Edmunds County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Chautauqua County community of Mina.
    • Ohio
      • Darke County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Darke County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Darke County community of Mina.
      • Williams County
      • This Mina is located in Williams County and lies 754 miles [1,213.4 km]<1> to the east southeast of the Mina that is located in Edmunds County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Williams County community of Mina.
    • Pennsylvania
      • Potter County
      • This Mina is located in Potter County and lies 1,061 miles [1,707.5 km]<1> to the east of the Mina that is located in Edmunds County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Potter County community of Mina.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mina ...

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

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

  • Ipswich, which is the Seat of Edmunds County, lies 13 miles [20.9 km]<1> to the west. If you could walk a straight line from Mina to Ipswich, with an average speed<5> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take 6 hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take four to five hours.
  • Pierre, which is the State Capital of South Dakota, lies 107 miles [172.2 km] to the southwest (SW). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take less than two hours, a buggy would take 5 days and walking would take 6 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,194 miles [1,921.6 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take about three full days, a buggy would take 47 days and walking would take 68 days.
  • The shortest distance<6> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,369 miles [10,249.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,130 miles [11,474.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,063 miles [8,148.1 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<9>'

Footnotes ...

<1>Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a '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- Mina) 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 Mina 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>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 Mina, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<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 Mina 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 Mina. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 45.4382, Longitude: -98.7541    
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 322.26 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.745 degrees.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 313.586 degrees.