Dugway Aviation Navigation Arrow in Skull Valley, Utah

In the nineteen-twenties, before radios or GPS existed, airmail pilots navigated by sight—following railroads, recognizing landmarks, and flying only during daylight. To make mail delivery both safer and more practical, a network of navigation beacons was built across the country. These consisted of massive concrete arrows, seventy to one hundred feet long and painted yellow, positioned roughly ten miles apart along mail routes. Beacon towers about fifty feet high with bright lights allowed pilots to navigate even after dark. While most towers were salvaged for scrap long ago, many of the arrows have endured. According to Atlas Obscura, one example stands in Skull Valley, Utah: the Poverty Point arrow, officially beacon station fifty-nine on the San Francisco to Salt Lake City route.

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