RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Washington >> Garfield County >> Gould City >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Gould City, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Gould 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 Gould City:
    • 46.588210, -117.577968
    • 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 Gould 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 Garfield County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Garfield County
    • Since Gould City is near Whitman County and also Columbia County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Whitman County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Columbia 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 Gould City

Communities Also Named Gould City ...

We found four communities that are also named Gould City.

Within Washington, the name Gould City is unique.

Beyond Washington, we know of four communities that are located in the United States.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Kansas
      • Lane 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 Kansas community of Gould City [Lane County].
      • Rooks County
      • We found mention of this community, but have little information. For the information that we do have, please visit our profile page for the Kansas community of Gould City [Rooks County].
    • Michigan
      • Mackinac County
      • This Gould City is located in Mackinac County and lies 1,509 miles [2,428.5 km]<2> to the east of the Gould City that is located in Garfield County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mackinac County community of Gould City.
    • Texas
      • Callahan County
      • This community is historic<3> and although located in Callahan County, we don't know where within the county.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Callahan County community of Gould City.

Curious and Interesting Names Near Gould 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.

  • Dodge
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the west)
    • Dodge is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dodge
  • Dusty
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the north)
    • Dusty is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Dusty
  • Kirby
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Kirby is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
  • Mayview
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northeast)
    • Mayview is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mayview
  • Mentor
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southeast)
    • Mentor is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Mentor
  • Ping
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Ping is located in Garfield County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Ping
  • Shreck
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the northwest)
    • Shreck is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Shreck
  • Swift
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the north)
    • Swift is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Swift
  • Union Center
    (15 miles [24.1 km] to the northeast)
    • Union Center is located in Whitman County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union Center
  • Wild Goose
    (16 miles [25.7 km] to the west)
    • Wild Goose is located in Columbia County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wild Goose

How Far From Gould 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 community such as Gould City to various places of note, such as the White House.

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

  • Pomeroy, which is the Seat of Garfield County, lies just to the South.
  • Olympia, which is the State Capital of Washington, lies 253 miles [407.2 km]<2> to the west (W). If you could drive a straight line from Gould City to Olympia, with an average speed<4>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 15 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 10 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 2,098 miles [3,376.4 km] to the east (E). Driving would take 5 days, a buggy would take 82 days and walking would take 120 days.
  • The shortest distance<5> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,758 miles [10,875.9 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<6>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,525 miles [12,110.3 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<7>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,594 miles [9,002.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<8>'

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 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 Gould 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.
<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 drawn from Point A (ie- Gould City) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<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 Gould City, 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 Gould 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 Gould City. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 46.5882, Longitude: -117.5780       In this case, the coordinates for Gould City have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 336.915 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 337.774 degrees.
<8>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 324.762 degrees.