Jeremiah Johnson writes:
In general, the site is on a small hill at the southernmost point of I-15 in Las Vegas at the St. Rose Parkway exit. To the west is the freeway and a new housing development, to the north is a school bus station (with the southern tip of the strip), to the east is the M Resort and Casino and the south is the empty beginning of the long drive to LA (technically the township of Jean, primarily home to a gypsum mining operation and new Speed Vegas attraction).
After a quick scramble up the hill, you will find the arrow on the back southern half of the hill. Just to the north of the arrow on the hill, is a windsock frame that appears to date back to the cement arrow’s time frame (I checked the nuts and the washers and they appear to be the same as the components still remaining on the four “posts” of the beacon tower that used to be there). In addition, there is some other type of “rod” nearby that is much newer (has plastic pieces).
Overall, the cement arrow looks to be in great condition and there are still splatters of yellow paint all over the place (including large swathes on nearby rocks; can only imagine that workers accidentally spilled some!). In the picture of one of the beacon tower’s post, you will see there is considerable paint still visible, appears to be original wood forms around the concrete and some of them still have nuts and washers in place.
The base of the arrow structure is off center to the actual arrow section. This relates to a change of direction for pilots. If you follow the direction of the base and the turn in the arrow, it looks like it is guiding pilots coming from LA to make an adjustment towards Las Vegas, which directed them to the Las Vegas Municipal Field aka as Anderson Field (Rockwell Field). |