Western Railroad Discussion > Like the Moon, Only With Crickets. LOTS of Crickets.

Amtrak's #5 running very late across the desert in Nevada at Mote (Pop 0).   I was busy shooting an old Air Mail Arrow when they went by- a bit of a surprise as they normally would pass here in the middle of the night!
SR

At the moment this part of Nevada is being over run with Mormon Crickets, something that happens every 10yrs or so I'm told.  Yeow!

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A bit northwest of Battle Mountain, NV ?

Yes
SR

 In  picture 2 is a concrete arrow, the first navigation aid for U S Airmail Service. These were placed every ten or so miles to guide airmail pilots to their various destinations At night  or cloudy weather fire barrels were lit. Each location had a house for a watchman. Later, a beacon was used at night powered by a generator. These arrows still exist in some locations. I know of a couple of spots here in Southern Wyoming. After the invention of of radio navigation, the system was abandoned. The shelters were sold off and the concrete arrows left to nature. 

Jim Leonard
Cheyenne, WY

Very cool photos. I wasn't aware of the early airmail arrows helping to guide pilots.

If you've not seen Mormon crickets firsthand, they are near the Biblical-plague level of experiences. Seeing hundreds of grasshopper-sized black or brown or tan crickets swarming on the ground for miles and miles is seriously freaky.
I was in Utah in 1980 driving from Cedar City to Milford to spend the day watching the UP, but on the way, were hundreds of them crossing the road. Nothing to do but drive slowly thru the masses (driving quickly thru them brings on multiple problems including the highway becoming slick as glass), crushing them and hoping not to throw too much of the remains up the sides of my car.
 

Yes, there are still quite a few of these arrows still intact (and effort was made during WWII to remove them, fearing they’d make it too easy for Japanese pilots to find targets)

The crickets are rather alarming- there were places I decided it might be best to JUST STAY IN THE #%*^€!!ing CAR!
SR

Mormon grasshoppers

BoilingMan Wrote:
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> Amtrak's #5 running very late across the desert
> in Nevada at Mote (Pop 0).   I was busy shooting
> an old Air Mail Arrow when they went by- a bit of
> a surprise as they normally would pass here in the
> middle of the night!
> SR
>
> At the moment this part of Nevada is being over
> run with Mormon Crickets, something that happens
> every 10yrs or so I'm told.  Yeow!

Cool. Now you know how to get home



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/16/22 18:16 by WAF.

BoilingMan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Amtrak's #5 running very late across the desert
> in Nevada at Mote (Pop 0).   I was busy shooting
> an old Air Mail Arrow when they went by- a bit of
> a surprise as they normally would pass here in the
> middle of the night!
> SR
>
> At the moment this part of Nevada is being over
> run with Mormon Crickets, something that happens
> every 10yrs or so I'm told.  Yeow!
Old US 40 alongside I80

i've read stories of the arrows and found it absolutley fascinating.  As much as airlines hurt the railroad business, this early phase of air travel is very intriguing to me - although I could give a rip about the other technical aspects of flight....

The arrow thing was very short lived- pretty much outdated about 20min after it was completed.  Air navigation aids were advancing very quickly.
SR

AFReschief Wrote:
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>  In  picture 2 is a concrete arrow, the first
> navigation aid for U S Airmail Service. These were
> placed every ten or so miles to guide airmail
> pilots to their various destinations At night  or
> cloudy weather fire barrels were lit. Each
> location had a house for a watchman. Later, a
> beacon was used at night powered by a generator.
> These arrows still exist in some locations. I know
> of a couple of spots here in Southern Wyoming.
> After the invention of of radio navigation, the
> system was abandoned. The shelters were sold off
> and the concrete arrows left to nature. 
>
> Jim Leonard
> Cheyenne, WY
I remember aircraaft beacons along the SP Coast Line to show the way for passing aircraft at night.

AA

Stanford White
Carmel Valley, CA

Think there are still some arrows in Utah. As for the radio beacons, there’s one along I-15 between Mesquite and Las Vegas that is still in use. GPS and custom routes through the sky are under discussion, but for now if you pull up flight tracking maps, you can see the “tracks” I. The sky that planes follow along major corridors.

Nathan

Posted from iPhone

WAF Wrote:
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> Mormon grasshoppers

They're really good at ringing doorbells.
 

BM..  great middle of nowhere shots!

Yes, there are a few in Utah.  Someone tagged one on google maps.  Look for "Tooele Aviation Marker."   Theres also websites with exact GPS location of them.  

atsf121 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Think there are still some arrows in Utah. As for
> the radio beacons, there’s one along I-15
> between Mesquite and Las Vegas that is still in
> use. GPS and custom routes through the sky are
> under discussion, but for now if you pull up
> flight tracking maps, you can see the “tracks”
> I. The sky that planes follow along major
> corridors.
>
> Nathan
>
> Posted from iPhone