Visiting with BobSkoot and Finding Some History along the Mississippi River

Yesterday afternoon, we were fortunate that Bobskoot's route to the Northeast US happened to coincide with our arrival to Holmen, WI where we were visiting my father-in-law for his 80th birthday celebration.

Bobskoot graciously diverted from projected mileage on I-90 and he arrived in Holmen shortly after I had stopped to wait for him to appear.  Good timing!

The evening was spent chatting with our hosts, Sue and Fred, who are generously providing their finished basement (with two bedrooms) and a small RV for the three boys, my two and my nephew Greg.  The adults get the bedrooms, we threw the boys into the RV.

I overslept a bit this morning, delaying Bobskoot's departure a bit (Sorry about that, Bob).  Still, we got him out on the road by 8:30 AM I believe, heading towards either Beloit or Rockford, IL to meet with another moto-blogger.

Looking a bit like a ninja....Bobskoot looks ready for anything

Bobskoot admitted to me that he'd found the R1200R Beemer to be quite the smooth continental distance crushing machine.  He was even "having doubts" about his Wee-Strom.  The Teutonic Kool-Aid process has begun.....(insert evil laughter here).

Around 9:30 AM, I took off northwards along US35 on a ride towards Cottage Grove, MN.  The route would basically parallel the Mississippi River, taking turns riding on the Minnesota and Wisconsin sides depending on which crossing I took.

The day was hot and humid with bright sunshine.  I was sweating in no time but I was on a mission.

A cool railroad bridge that is raised out of the way for the taller boats 

sailing along the Mississippi.

About three hours or so later, quite sweaty and hot, I found my objective: AVIATION BEACON 33 OLD 37.  What the heck is that you ask?  Well, let me tell you.

One of the riders I'd met on my trip to Alaska, GaryAK, had emailed me a photo of a concrete arrow with the following:

QUOTE:

This Really Exists: Giant Concrete Arrows That Point a Way Across America

Cement Arrows, Transcontinental Air Mail Route

Courtesy of Aviation Archaeological Investigation & Research

Every so often, usually in the vast deserts of the American Southwest, a hiker or a backpacker will run across something puzzling: a ginormous concrete arrow, as much as seventy feet in length, just sitting in the middle of scrub-covered nowhere. What are these giant arrows? Some kind of surveying mark? Landing beacons for flying saucers? Earth’s turn signals? No, it's…

The Transcontinental Air Mail Route

A re-creation of a 1920s map showing the route of airmail planes; the dots are intermediate stops along the course.

On August 20, 1920, the United States opened its first coast-to-coast airmail delivery route, just 60 years after the Pony Express closed up shop. There were no good aviation charts in those days, so pilots had to eyeball their way across the country using landmarks. This meant that flying in bad weather was difficult, and night flying was just about impossible.

The Postal Service solved the problem with the world’s first ground-based civilian navigation system: a series of lit beacons that would extend from New York to San Francisco. Every ten miles, pilots would pass a bright yellow concrete arrow. Each arrow would be surmounted by a 51-foot steel tower and lit by a million-candlepower rotating beacon. (A generator shed at the tail of each arrow powered the beacon). Now mail could get from the Atlantic to the Pacific not in a matter of weeks, but in just 30 hours or so.

Even the dumbest of air mail pilots, it seems, could follow a series of bright yellow arrows straight out of a Tex Avery cartoon. By 1924, just a year after Congress funded it, the line of giant concrete markers stretched from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Cleveland, Ohio. The next summer, it reached all the way to New York, and by 1929 it spanned the continent uninterrupted, the envy of postal systems worldwide.

Radio and radar are, of course, infinitely less cool than a concrete Yellow Brick Road from sea to shining sea, but I think we all know how this story ends. New advances in communication and navigation technology made the big arrows obsolete, and the Commerce Department decommissioned the beacons in the 1940s. The steel towers were torn down and went to the war effort. But the hundreds of arrows remain. Their yellow paint is gone, their concrete cracks a little more with every winter frost, and no one crosses their path much, except for coyotes and tumbleweeds. But they’re still out there.

Much internet based research later, I'd found a couple of spreadsheets maintained at atchistory.org that listed the airway beacons and whether concrete arrows were still believed to be onsite.  There's not many of the arrows or towers left for that matter.  Progress and decay are both to blame I guess.

Drawing of an Airway Beacon Station

Note how the tower is built in the middle of the concrete arrow.

So that's why I was riding in the heat and humidity, on my stalwart 2011 URAL Patrol Sidecar Rig, Valencia today.  While Bobskoot raced for the eastern part of the US, I rode along the Mississippi to capture a bit of history.

googlemaps satellite image of the arrow

a partial view from on high, of the arrow

a google "Street View" shot of the arrow.

I bet most folks just drive by the property, paying no attention to

strange concrete on the lawn.

The concrete arrow in question, lies on private property but can be seen from the edge of the road.  As I was taking pictures, the gentleman who owns the property came out to see what I was doing.

Jim, had spotted my rig riding by and then had seen it again after I'd parked her across the road from his property.  He came out and we had a nice little chat about the concrete arrow and the beacon tower that once stood where he is standing in the picture below.

  Jim stands on the leading edge of the square which is located in the middle

of the 70 foot arrow.  The metal tower's four legs stood in in the corners.

Jim

He told me that the tower was torn down in 1954, one year after he graduated from high school.  He recalled stories such as how the light beacon was so bright it used to shine into neighboring houses windows at night.  He also remembered how in the last year or two, the automatic lighting mechanisms started failing and they would have to turn the light on and off manually sometimes.

Jim also mentioned I should meander a couple of miles north to see what he described as a house which looks a lot like the White House in Washington, D.C.  I was of course, intrigued.  After I thanked him and we said our goodbyes, I headed north and found this:

The Cedarhurst Historic Country House, est. 1868.

Apparently, its hosted presidents as guests.

I now motored on back to Holmen, WI.  Pretty much re-tracing my route but switching over to the Wisconsin side at Wabasha, MN.  The temperatures peaked at 90F but it felt much hotter at times.

There's some big fishes in the Mississippi....

Made it back by 4:30 PM or so, Valencia did great, and I found one of the few remaining arrows used by the Air Mail Service of yore.....a good day of riding!

More information here on this blog about the Airway Beacon System:  LINK

Gary A. of Alaska sent me this link to a news video on the navigation arrows: LINK