RoadsideThoughts
A Gazetteer for the United States and Canada
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The Commemorative
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Wyoming

The Commemorative Quarter for Wyoming





Outdoor Activities ...

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

When in West River, we use the following websites to find information relevant to West River 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 West River:
    • 44.097744, -107.954823
    • 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.
    • The Heavens-Above Website, centered on West River
  • 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:
    • Waymark.com

Communities Also Named West River ...

We found six communities that share the name West River.

Within Wyoming, the name West River is unique.

Beyond Wyoming, we know of another six communities that are located throughout in the United States and Canada. Of these six communities, .

  • Communities Elsewhere In North America ...
    • Maryland
      • Anne Arundel County
      • This West River is located in Anne Arundel County and lies 1,651 miles [2,657 km]<1> to the east of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
      • For more information, please visit our profile page for the Anne Arundel County community of West River.
    • New Brunswick
      • This West River lies 2,086 miles [3,357.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
    • New York
      • Yates 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 New York community of West River [Yates County].
    • Nova Scotia
      • This West River lies 2,219 miles [3,571.1 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
    • Ontario
      • This West River lies 1,278 miles [2,056.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.
    • Prince Edward Island
      • This West River lies 2,151 miles [3,461.7 km]<1> to the east northeast of the West River that is located in Washakie County.

Curious and Interesting Names Near West River ...

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.

  • Airport Road
    (7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Airport Road have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Airport Road
    • Airport Road is located in Washakie County
  • Basin
    (20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Basin
    • Basin is located in Big Horn County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 1,257 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Basin <4>
  • Greybull
    (27 miles [43.5 km] to the north)
  • Kirby
    (23 miles [37 km] to the southwest)
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Kirby
    • Kirby is located in Hot Springs County
    • Population from the 2020 Census: 84 people
    • Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Kirby <4>
  • McNutt
    (8 miles [12.9 km] to the south)
    • Note: We haven't been able to verify our GPS coordinates for McNutt. Although the coordinates have been estimated, they should be in the vicinity.<5>
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for McNutt
    • McNutt is located in Washakie County
  • Otto
    (26 miles [41.8 km] to the northwest)
  • Sales Place
    (29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
    • Note: The GPS coordinates that we are using for Sales Place have been provided by the GNIS.<3> The coordinates still need to be verified.
    • Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Sales Place
    • Sales Place is located in Big Horn County
  • Ten Sleep
    (25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)

How Far From West River 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 West River 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<6> community of West River once stood, the straight-line distance beginning in West River and extending to:

  • Worland, which is the Seat of Washakie County, lies just to the South.
  • Cheyenne, which is the State Capital of Wyoming, lies 259 miles [416.8 km]<1> to the southeast (SE). If you could drive a straight line from West River to Cheyenne, with an average speed<7>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 11 days.
  • The White House (Washington, DC) is 1,628 miles [2,620 km] to the east (E). Driving would take most of three days, a buggy would take 64 days and walking would take 93 days.
  • The shortest distance<8> to Jerusalem (specifically the Temple Mount and the Dome of the Rock) is 6,699 miles [10,781 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<9>
  • The distance to the Great Mosque of Mecca (specifically the Ka'bah - or Kaaba ) is 7,467 miles [12,017 km] and it lies to the north northeast (NNE).<10>
  • The distance to Saint Peter's Basilica (The Vatican) is 5,441 miles [8,756.4 km] and it lies to the northeast (NE).<11>

The official website for State of Wyoming: www.wyo.gov/

Footnotes ...

<1>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- West River) to Point B.Our distance measurements begin at a specific point in West River. The point we use is located at these GPS coordinates - Latitude: 44.0977, Longitude: -107.9548    
<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 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 West River 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>The location has been supplied by the Geographic Names Information System - which is maintained by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). While these values should be definitive, we found that accuracy can vary and you should double-check the location if accuracy is required.
<4>While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program.
<5>An 'estimated' location is one where we have been given GPS coordinates, but are unable to verify the accuracy of those coordinates. That said, we have some confidence that we have placed the marker near the actual location. A typical reason for being unable to verify a location is that it might be on private property or maybe historic and gone without an obvious trace.
<6>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 West River, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy.
<7>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.
<8>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 West River to the Middle East to be East and South, the Great Circle Route actually lies to the North and East.
<9>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Jerusalem is 329.123 degrees.
<10>The calculated bearing (or angle) to Mecca is 328.514 degrees.
<11>The calculated bearing (or angle) to the Vatican is 319.129 degrees.




 

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This page was last modified/updated: 07 Apr 2024