Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-12-20

Work of locating beacon sites and
emergency landing fields on the Salt
Lake-Great Falls airway, on the sec
ton between Helena and Great Falls Is
essentially complete, according to A.. ii.
Wait, airways extension superfntend-
ent Of the department OF commerce,
who has been in charge OF work on TINS
section.
There will be two emergency fields,
the first on the Sieben ranch, about
four miles west of the Gates OF the
Mountains, and the second about two
and one half miles north of Cascade, ad-
Joining the Great Falls-Helena highway
on the west, on lane owned by w. J.
Beecher of Great Falls and Rev. Little
OF Cascade.
The first of the beacon sites is on gov
ernment land, on the first ridge OF the
mountains to the north. with the beacon
visible from the Helena airport. The
second site is located on a high peak
about a mile north of N. D. Hilger's house
at the Gates of the Mountains. The next
site has been located on a prominent
point lust north Of the Bear Tooth and
near the OK Bow of the Missouri river.
A site has been placed on state land
two miles south n a little west OF
Craig, the land q part Of the w. v. Barnes
ranch. Between Craig and Cascade a site
mas Deeu lOLdbeQ Oh d plOhiilCho PSun
above the first Great Northern tunnel
south OF Cascade and about 0 miles
south of Hardy.
On Taylor Ranch
The beacon site near Cascade is about
a mile west of town on the j. B. Taylor
ranch. Location of the seventh, and last
site between Helena and Great Falls Will
be postponed until spring. 1t will be
placed in the general vicinity OF Ulm,
according to Mr.. Wait.
Construction work will be started In
the spring. when boundary lights Will
be placed approximately every 80 feet
around the fields, which will vary from
14O to 100 acres. The fields will be lev
eled and grass, which will r a firm,
tough sod, will be planted that deep
mud will not interfere with landing
planes.
Since the Montana Power company has
indicated that 1t will build power lines
to sites in this section all beacons will
be TYPE A." the designation for beacons
served by commercial power. These bea-
cons are essentially revolving search
lights mounted on 51-foot steel towers.
They are equipped with a 24-inch para
bolic mirror and have two 1000 watt
lamps mounted on an tom lamp
hanger so that If one lamp burns out
the other is Immediately brought into
Oidk dN lAlC Va LIN AAAsAa0a
This device gives q beam candle power
of approximately 1000, 900 and on clear
. nights it's light has been picked up by
pilots over distances up to 30 miles. These
lights are installed approximately every
10 miles along the airway, 1t being the
purpose of this spacing to make certain
as far as possible, that the pilot will be
able to pick up the next light ahead
while flying over a given one, even under
adverse conditions of visibility" said MIR.
Wait.
General Plan
'The general plan for laying out an
airway calls for the location Of every
third beacon on ar emergency field.
Strict adherence to this scheme Is pos
sible only in a level prairie country. In
the case of the mountainous country en-
countered between Helena and Great
Falls 1t was necessary, at least in one
instance, to locate the field considerably
off the airline since 1t was impossible
to secur IN adequate landing area
closer.
People in general seem to have the
idea that the government Is providing
these air navigation facilities solely for
use of the air mail contractors flying
the particular route in question. How
ever, all fields and beacons are provided
for the free use of the public, and will
be more appreciated when planes come
into general use.
Survey work on the Salt Lake-Great
Falls airway has been underway since
the middle of the summer, by Anyways
Extension Superintendent G. c. Miller,
w. S. Kenyon, Il. B. Mourne and A. II.
Wait, who were sent from Washington,
d. c. Mr.. Miller is now engaged in spe-
cial airways work in California; Mr.. Ken
yon in the east; MIR. Bourne in Salt Lake
and Mr.. Wait will return to Salt Lake
within q few days.
Assistance given us by j. Scott Har-
rison, cadastral engineer, and the men
in his office, has been valuable. All OF
the airways superintendent have appre-
ciated this cooperation, which has In
cluded furnishing office space and the
assignment of his men to assist in survey
Of the fields and in tying the beacon
sites to section corners"