When I started Handel in 1997, I chose a Lighthouse for our logo. This is a story that has been told many times in Handel’s almost 30-year existence. In short, I chose the Lighthouse to represent the first “electronic information system” that could show humans where to navigate. Today, our RiteTrack solutions help thousands of caseworkers nationally navigate through massive amounts of information in order to create the best outcomes for their clients. Just like the lighthouses would help ships navigate to safe harbors in the old days, RiteTrack enables caseworkers to create the best possible outcomes for their clients and helps the at-risk individuals they serve find their own safe harbors. 

Over the years I have endured my fair share of the occasional “Lighthouse on the prairie” jokes. “But Even, there are no Lighthouses in Wyoming”. “No, that is correct” I say. I chose it because I thought it was a great metaphor for what we do at Handel and to honor my great-grandfather, my namesake, who died at sea in 1868 because he did not have a lighthouse to help inform his destiny. 

Looking closer I recognized it as a 5-cent US airmail stamp. Something about the stamp got my curiosity. I went online and quickly learned that this stamp was commonly referred to in philatelic circles as “Beacon on the Rocky Mountains” and was issued on August 1, 1928. My curiosity just peaked a little more since Handel is located in Laramie, WY, at the foothills of the Rockies. Where could this be? A little further research said “Sherman Hill”. Now I am getting really intrigued because Sherman Hill is just east of Laramie. As a volunteer for the Pilot Hill Recreation Area in Laramie this is when my brain should have put two and two together, but it didn’t just yet. I finally discovered that the beacon in question was located on top of that very Pilot Hill and no more than half a mile away from the recreation area where I cross-country ski several times per week in the winter months. This was serendipity. Here is a stamp that my dad collected as a child (he, like the beacon, was born in 1925). This stamp would later be brought back to the US, sitting undiscovered at my house in Laramie for another 30 some years, right below the hill on which the beacon on that very stamp stood.  

The Birth of Airmail 

The origins of U.S. airmail service date back to May 15, 1918, when the United States Post Office Department (POD) initiated the first regular airmail route between Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City. This experimental service was a collaboration between the Post Office and the Army Signal Corps, which supplied the pilots and planes to demonstrate the feasibility of using airplanes for mail transport. Initially cross-country airmail only operated during daylight hours, transferring the mail to trains by night, and then back onto airplanes after sunrise. This process meant that a letter sent from New York City to, say, San Francisco, could still take up to 5 days. Certainly, faster than 50 years earlier when mail to the west coast was sent via ship around Cape Horn and could take months, or later, via Pony Express, which was still very slow by modern standards. 

Day and Night Airmail Starting July 1, 1924 

On July 1, 1924, a significant milestone was achieved by implementing continuous coast-to-coast day and night airmail service. This advancement was made possible through the establishment of a well-coordinated infrastructure, which included a network of lighted airways. A series of beacons, spaced approximately 10 miles apart, illuminated the routes, guiding pilots through the darkness. The first such illuminated airway connected Chicago and Cheyenne, Wyoming, spanning 885 miles. This development enabled the still relatively new airmail service to overcome a critical limitation of earlier airmail operations, which were restricted to daylight hours due to navigation challenges. Pilots, flying planes equipped with basic instruments, relied on these illuminated paths and newly constructed emergency landing fields along the routes. The success of the service was demonstrated on July 1, 1924, when mail was delivered across the country in 34 hours, compared to the several days required by train. A major enabler of night service was the implementation of beacons.  

A Beacon on the Rocky Mountains 

As day and night airmail developed, the beacon system was expanded. The aforementioned beacon on top of Sherman Hill was built in 1925, a hundred years ago this year. At 8,600 feet above sea level, it was at the time reported to be the tallest airmail beacon in the world. A photograph taken in the fall of that year (and later used on the aforementioned airmail stamp in 1928) by Nebraska photographer Nathaniel Dewell shows the beacon tower along with the control hut and a giant concrete arrow in the ground. A key feature of the beacon towers that were constructed along all airmail routes are the large concrete arrows in the ground which would help pilot identify the direction to the next beacon. These arrows were typically between 50 and 70 feet long and painted bright orange, making them clearly visible from today’s standard low altitude of the early airmail pilots. Most pilots of this era would fly at altitudes of 200-500 feet in order to navigate by these ground landmarks.