RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Texas >> Borden County >> Mesquite >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Mesquite, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Mesquite 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 Mesquite:
    • 32.870380, -101.630142
    • 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 Mesquite
  • 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 Borden County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Borden County
    • Since Mesquite is near Lynn County and also Dawson County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Lynn County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dawson 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 Mesquite

Communities Also Named Mesquite ...

We found seven communities that are also named Mesquite.

There are two communities within Texas that are also named Mesquite.

Beyond Texas, we know of five communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Located In Texas ...
    • Dallas County
      • This Mesquite is located in Dallas County and lies 292 miles [469.9 km]<1> to the east of the Mesquite that is located in Borden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dallas County community of Mesquite.
    • Duval 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 Texas community of Mesquite [Duval County].
  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • California
      • Imperial County
      • This Mesquite is located in Imperial County and lies 780 miles [1,255.3 km]<1> to the west of the Mesquite that is located in Borden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Imperial County community of Mesquite.
      • San Diego 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 California community of Mesquite [San Diego County].
    • Nevada
      • Clark County
      • This Mesquite is located in Clark County and lies 755 miles [1,215.1 km]<1> to the west northwest of the Mesquite that is located in Borden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Clark County community of Mesquite.
    • New Mexico
      • Dona Ana County
      • This Mesquite is located in Dona Ana County and lies 298 miles [479.6 km]<1> to the west of the Mesquite that is located in Borden County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Dona Ana County community of Mesquite.
      • Roosevelt County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Roosevelt County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Roosevelt County community of Mesquite.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Mesquite ...

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.

  • Draw
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the north)
    • Draw is located in Lynn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Draw
  • Fivemile
    (22 miles [35.4 km] to the southwest)
    • Fivemile is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Fivemile
  • Graham
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the northeast)
    • Graham is located in Garza County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Graham
  • Grandview
    (21 miles [33.8 km] to the west)
    • Grandview is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grandview
  • Grassland
    (18 miles [29 km] to the north)
    • Grassland is located in Lynn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Grassland
  • Hindman
    (14 miles [22.5 km] to the west)
    • Hindman is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Hindman
  • Key
    (13 miles [20.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Key is located in Dawson County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Key
  • Plains
    (3 miles [4.8 km] to the north)
    • Plains is located in Borden County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Plains

How Far From Mesquite to ...

We spend a lot of time looking through Gazetteers that were published in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many of the Gazetteers include the distance from a community such as Mesquite 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 community of Mesquite once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in Mesquite and extending to:

  • Gail, which is the Seat of Borden County, lies 12 miles [19.3 km]<1> to the east southeast. If you could walk a straight line from Mesquite to Gail, with an average speed<4> of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour, it would take five to six hours to make the trip. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take nearly four hours.
  • Austin, which is the State Capital of Texas, lies 290 miles [466.7 km] to the southeast (SE). Driving, with an average speed of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, would take four to five hours, a buggy would take 12 days and walking would take 17 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,432 miles [2,304.6 km] to the east northeast (ENE). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 56 days and walking would take 82 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 7,153 miles [11,511.6 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,900 miles [12,713.8 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,788 miles [9,314.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 drawn from Point A (ie- Mesquite) 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 Rock Creek to see Pete ... Rock 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 Mesquite 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 Mesquite, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<4>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.
<5>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 Mesquite 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 Mesquite. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 32.8704, Longitude: -101.6301       In this case, the coordinates for Mesquite have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 323.273 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 320.431 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 316.886 degrees.