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Location: Elko
Directions: Along Murray Way at the former Elko Airport
(Access via Mountain City Hwy (SR 225), 1/2 mile south of I-80)
N40° 49' 43.6" W115° 46' 48.6"
Try spotting this little guy from the highway!
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Location: 1
Visibility: 3
Accessibility: 1
Marker type: St (M)
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Date Conquered: 9/23/07
Nearest Intersection: Idaho St (SR 535/Old US 40)
Quick Description: A marker remembering an unlikely location for Nevada's first commercial air mail route.
Signed: No -- Historically, this marker was signed. Signs use to exist along both traffic bound lanes of Mountain City Hwy. (However, no signs exist today.)
NOTES: According to the SHPO, directions to #107 reads as follows: "located in the Airport Terminal in Elko, Nevada." First let me say, you won't even come close to finding this marker using those directions! These directions read like the marker is inside the airport terminal and most importantly -- which Elko Airport? In fact, if you visit the present Elko Airport using these directions today, security might bother you about snooping around the place and ask you to leave! What those other directions don't tell you is the "Airport Terminal" in question is actually the former Elko Airport! Do yourself a favor and follow my directions...
-- Access Mountain City Hwy (SR 225) from I-80 and look for a sign that reads "General Aviation Area" (also signed as Murray Way). Turn here and the marker will be on your immediate left under a tree. This is the old Elko Airport grounds and terminal before the new one was built. You can thank me later. Otherwise, the only to find this marker is by stumbling upon it by accident.
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Full Description:
Exact description as reads ...
On April 6, 1926, Varney Air Lines pilot Leon Cuddeback, carrying one bag of mail, landed his tiny Curtis Swallow bi-plane at Elko, Nevada, completing the first scheduled air mail run in the United States.
The single engine, 90-horsepower aircraft had taken off from Pasco, Washington, stopped at Boise, Idaho, for fuel and mail, then completed the 460-mile flight to Elko. The Varney contract was awarded October 27, 1925, at a rate of eights cents an ounce. Varney sold to Boeing, which merged with United Air Lines in 1931.
The old Elko Airport grounds and terminal before the new one was built. Notice the '60s style architecture. #107 is an older marker that was erected during the era of old US 40.
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