RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
Home >> State of Wisconsin >> Eau Claire County >> Truax >> Tidbits & TriviaIndex...

Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in Truax, we use the following websites to find information relevant to Truax 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 Truax:
    • 44.849127, -91.569330
    • 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 Truax
  • 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 Eau Claire County as the starting point when you click on the link below:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Eau Claire County
    • Since Truax is near Chippewa County and also Dunn County, we have provided a link to their eBird sighting reports:
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Chippewa County
    • Open the eBird sighting report for Dunn 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 Truax

Communities Also Named Truax ...

We found five communities that are also named Truax.

Within Wisconsin, the name Truax is unique.

Beyond Wisconsin, we know of five communities that are located in the United States and Canada. Of these five communities, four are located in the United States and one is in Canada.

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Iowa
      • Mahaska 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 Iowa community of Truax [Mahaska County].
    • Michigan
      • Alpena 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 Michigan community of Truax [Alpena County].
    • North Dakota
      • Mercer County
      • This Truax is located in Mercer County and lies 512 miles [824 km]<2> to the west northwest of the Truax that is located in Eau Claire County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Mercer County community of Truax.
    • Saskatchewan
      • This Truax lies 715 miles [1,150.7 km]<2> to the northwest of the Truax that is located in Eau Claire County.
    • West Virginia
      • Raleigh 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 West Virginia community of Truax [Raleigh County].

Curious and Interesting Names Near Truax ...

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.

  • Caryville
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
    • Caryville is located in Dunn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Caryville
  • Elk Mound
    (6 miles [9.7 km] to the west)
    • Elk Mound is located in Dunn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Mound
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 884 people
  • Falls City
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the west)
    • Falls City is located in Dunn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Falls City
  • Howard
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the north)
    • Howard is located in Chippewa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Howard
  • Norma
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the northeast)
    • Norma is located in Chippewa County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Norma
  • Oak Grove ‑ Historic
    (12 miles [19.3 km] to the south)
    • Oak Grove is located in Eau Claire County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Oak Grove
  • Rock Falls
    (10 miles [16.1 km] to the southwest)
    • Rock Falls is located in Dunn County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rock Falls
  • Union
    (Less than 2 miles to the east)
    • Union is located in Eau Claire County
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Union

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

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

  • Eau Claire, which is the Seat of Eau Claire County, lies just to the Southeast.
  • Madison, which is the State Capital of Wisconsin, lies 163 miles [262.3 km]<2> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from Truax to Madison, with an average speed<3>of 63 miles [101.4 km] per hour, it would take less than three hours to make the trip. A comfortable walk of 2.2 miles [3.5 km] per hour would take 10 days. A horse and buggy averaging 3.2 miles [5.1 km] per hour would take 7 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 850 miles [1,367.9 km] to the east southeast (ESE). Driving would take just about two full days, a buggy would take 34 days and walking would take 49 days.
  • The shortest distance<4> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,173 miles [9,934.5 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<5>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 6,925 miles [11,144.7 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<6>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 4,828 miles [7,769.9 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<7>'

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 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 Truax 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 'straight-line' (or 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- Truax) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'.
<3>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.
<4>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 Truax 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 Truax. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.8491, Longitude: -91.5693       In this case, the coordinates for Truax have been provided by the Geographic Names Information System (GNIS).
<5>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 317.102 degrees.
<6>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 314.783 degrees.
<7>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 309.755 degrees.