BEAUMONT
July 27, 1928: "Beaumont shares in the $10,000,000 Neon lighting beacons of the Richfield Co., with the only beacon to be erected in Riverside county and one of the only two to be erected in the state outside of the three on the coast route from below San Diego to the north part of the state." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
October 17, 1928: "The Southern California Edison Co. yesterday started constructing a mile-long power line which will serve the Richfield Oil company's beacon light midway between Beaumont and Banning.
Erection of a steel tower 130 feet high has just been completed by the oil firm and surmounting this structure will be a light visible to aviators 25 miles away. It will guide fliers through the San Gorgonio pass as they pass to and fro between the East and Pacific coast." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
November 7, 1928: "Beaumont's big Richfield Oil Co. neon lighting beacon, a part of the company's $10,000,000 project on the Pacific Coast, will be lighted in a few days. The 125-foot tower was completed over a week ago on the concrete pillars constructed by O.E. Brown of this city. The Southern California Edison Co. has a crew getting the transformers and other work ready by the time the signs are finished.
The aeronautical beacon on top of the structure with a spread of six feet, six inches, will face upward to designate the direction to air travelers. The towers of light will be seen from the air at a distance of 50 miles, and half as far from the highways, officials say.
The beacon is triangular in shape and stands near the Ocean-to-Ocean highway at the eastern edge of Beaumont and will show clearly as it is practically at the apex of the San Gorgonio pass." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
November 11, 1928: "The third tower is at Beaumont, interesting town of the desert on the colorful highway which interlies Los Angeles and El Centro in Imperial Valley via Indio and the Salton Sea." (Napa Journal)
December 16, 1928: "Following the official celebration at Palm City in the afternoon at which several squadrons of navy and commercial planes will fly in formation over the Beacon (Palm City). Admiral Ashby H. Robertson will throw the switch which simultaneously turns the light on the first group of finished beacons." (The Los Angeles Times)
January 2, 1929: "As a city, the limits of Banning have been extended to the west on the highway, between the S.P. railroad and George street, for a distance of about two miles. This brings the newly installed Richfield Neon beacon light within a half mile of Banning's western city limits." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
April 27, 1929: "Meteorological service from Beaumont is the latest developement of the Richfield beacon service station recently put into operation. The system has not been thoroughly worked out but effective service is already being rendered. W.H. Cotrel of Los Angeles, manager of service stations, stated that the Beaumont beacon station is daily giving telephone service to both the Maddox Air service and the Standard Air Lines.
One of the active students of meteorology in the local field is Rex T. Johnson of the beacon service station. He is a college graduate and a close student of aviation. He is burrowing into books and clouds in a study of weather prognostication, as he feels this will be indispensable to aeronautical progress.
The Beaumont beacon station is one of the most successful of the seven similar structures thus far completed of the line being built by the Richfield Oil Co. from the Mexican to the Canadian border. As business grows, the hotel and other features probably totaling in expenditure more than $250,000 will become one of the units in this international institution for guidance of both automobiles and airplanes.
In view of the increasing air traffic through the pass, together with the location of the beacon on the Ocean-to-Ocean highway, the Beaumont unit is looked upon as an important key station." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
June 26, 1929: "Rex E. Johnson, who recently resigned from his position with the Richfield Oil company's Beaumont beacon station, left Beaumont Sunday to take a brief vacation. The first of July he will enter his course of training in the aviation class at March field." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
December 10, 1929: "Rex T. Johnson spent Friday in Los Angeles visiting his parents who are in California on a tour of the West. Mr. Johnson has resumed his position at the Richfield beacon station." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
July 1, 1930: "Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Giles and daughter, Myrna, were in Los Angeles a few days the past week, returning home on Friday afternoon. Mr. Giles is the manager of the Richfield Beacon service station on the highway east of the city." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
January 22, 1931: "Rex T. Johnson, of the Richfield beacon station, spent his weekend in a visit to San Diego." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
May 4, 1932: "On this point is now being carried on the work of erecting a beacon light immediately to guide planes of the American Airways through the Pass. The Richfield beacon is situated at the east portal of the Pass entering Beaumont and the new beacon at the west portal. The disaster recently near Calimesa would have been averted by the contemplated improvements, it is said.
Another step in the plan is tentative action towards the establishment of an emergency landing field for Beaumont, on a site near Eighth street (two blocks north of the state highway), in the vicinity of the Richfield beacon. The American Legion post has been working for this project for some months." (The San Bernardino County Sun)
January 4, 1935: "Banditry reigned in Riverside county Thursday night when the Richfield beacon station, midway between Banning and Beaumont, was the scene of a hold-up.
Three young men were implicated in the affair and were captured. They are Elmer Prim and Duane Hinkle of Banning and Louis Bruce of Calimesa.
Previously one or more of the boys stole an automobile at Redland and hid the car at Calimesa. When night came the boys took the stolen car and drove to the Richfield station where, flourishing guns, they held up the lone attendant. Then they assaulted him and stole about $50 in cash.
The alarm was spread and Officers Dillon, Linthicum, Russell and Samuel took up the chase. They worked long hours that night and found the fugitives at Calimesa. The boys were arrested and the stolen money and automobile were recovered.
Bruce and Hinkle were taken to Riverside county jail. Elmer Prim was not in the robbery. He was found asleep in a stolen car at Redlands, which may be linked to the Richfield station robbery. Prim is held by Redlands police." (Desert Sun)
August 6, 1937: "A roadside development, adjacent to the Richfield Beacon service station, west of Banning, that may be valued as high as $65,000.00, has definitely been decided upon and is to be built this fall, it was learned last week from W.E. Leidner, who leases and operates the station.
Highway Community corporation of Los Angeles, of which Bert A. Heinly is president, will make the development. This corporation owns the land and air beacon as well as the other beacons in California, Oregon, Washington, and Arizona, and leases the property to the Richfield company.
Recently the corporation purchased two and a half acres additional land adjoining the local station in preparation for the expansion program. Included in the plan are fifteen air conditioned de luxe cabins, coffee shop, with lounge, cocktail room, and Indian trading post adjoining. It is estimated value of buildings will be $50,000.00 and the value of equipment may range as high as $15,000.00.
While original plans were to have construction completed and development flourishing by October 1, start of construction has been held up until Mr. Heinly returns from an extended business trip. It is now probable the work would not be done and buildings furnished and equipped before November 1 at the earliest." (Desert Sun)
"Beaumont Airport, commercial, rating auxiliary airport. One and one-half miles E.; 1 mile W. of Richfield beacon on State Highway 99. Altitude, 2,560 feet." (Airway Bulletin, No. 1-2 1931-38)