Airmail Beacons

If you've been on the internet in the past week or so, you've probably seen one of the following stories:

• Dead Media Beat: US Mail airmail arrows (Wired)
• These concrete arrows point the way across America (io9)
• This Really Exists: Giant Concrete Arrows That Point Your Way Across America (CN Traveler)
• The 80-year-old concrete arrows hat helped deliver the mail (The Verge)
• The Forgotten Giant Arrows That Guide You Across America (Messy Nessy Chic)

My first thought?  Road trip!  Fortunately, there is a great website that catalogs the locations (and former locations) of these beacons.  Since I live in Denver, I looked at nearby counties in Colorado and Wyoming, and was pretty happy to find two arrows that still exist nearby, according to Google's satellite view!  Here's the map (red = gone, blue planes = still visible):

View Air Beacons Near Denver in a larger map

A comment on PlanetZhanna said that MO1218 is on private land, so I figured I'd give MO1245 a try.  Not too far off of I-80, and not too far from Denver.  Let's go!

Airmail Beacon MO1245

About 1 mile down a dirt road (W Pilot Peak Rd) and a little further down USFS Road 703B (not 703A!) we found the site.

W Pilot Peak Rd

Where's the arrow?!

Look closely!

Oh, there it is!

Generator building

What a view!!

The site itself was beautiful!  The beacon arrow was still there, and though the tower was gone, the generator building was also still standing.  Definitely one of the better remaining sites!  Very cool!

More Beacons?  More Arrows?
Of course since I'm from PA, I had to see if there were any of these concrete arrows still around there.  I went back to PlanetZhanna's site and mapped all of the locations in PA.  Here's the map (red = gone, yellow = couldn't tell from satellite view):



View Air Beacons - PA in a larger map

Sadly, it appears as though there are no remaining beacon arrows in PA.  Several were on roads named "Beacon Rd" or similar.  I always wondered where these roads got their names!  One of my favorites was KX2026, located on "Old Airport Rd" with no airport nearby.  It's fascinating to see how much the landscape can change in 50 years, when many of these were still visible!