THE BATTALION Page 13
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 1977
onfire born of limbs
Build it up to burn it down
Battalion photo by Ken Herrera
There s gotta he a better way
It’s not that modern technology has passed Bonfire by. The
physical labor involved in constructing such a massive torch
has been tradition, a way of putting a personal effort into
Texas A&M’s famous bonfire.
By RUSTY CAWLEY
Battalion City Editor
Sixty-feet tall at its centerpole, a
stack of hewn logs towers above the
field behind Duncan Hall. It is the
Texas A&M University bonfire, a
tradition as old as the Twelfth Man,
midnight yell practice and hul
labaloo caneck, caneck.
But the A&M bonfire hasn’t al
ways been that tall. And the mate
rial burned hasn’t always been as
classy as hardwood logs.
The bonfire tradition began in the
early 1900s when students gathered
trash, limbs, boxes, lumber scraps,
debris and neighboring outhouses
for the burning.
Early bonfires took place before
almost every important game.
Eventually, it came to represent
only the Thanksgiving Day game
with the University of Texas.
Sometimes the cadets were over-
zealous in their search for bonfire
fuel. Like in 1935, when newly-
appointed commandant Frank An
derson was confronted with an
angry farmer whose barn had been
stolen and reduced to cinder.
The next year Anderson ordered
the cadets to use cottonwood trees
cleared from an area near Easter-
wood Airport.
But even these bonfires were far
from the towering infernos of today.
The first centerpole was used in
1946. And the next year two logs
were strapped end to end and
placed in the center.
The demand for taller and taller
bonfires has been an institution ever
Continued from page 12
othes, can be seen as technicians
nploying their scientific genius to
ind man skyward.
K is somewhat of a letdown to re
in to reality: a bunch of college
udents are using their technologi-
jenius to send a forest skyward.
A major feature of the whole area
the noise, consisting principally of
odistinct sounds.
The main sound is music. Coun-
and western, of course. The
Bikers spit tobacco on the ground
time to the blaring of country fa-
nites. Some people even sing
ong as they trudge stackward
ider the weight of a small tree.
The second is sort of a mixed,
lain saw/shouting sound. The
louting portion comes from the
edpots, or the cadets in charge, as
ey chide, chastise and encourage
Bikers to strive harder. The chain
w portion comes from a couple of
lys sawing up logs destined for the
all fires located around the
irimeter of the site.
Learning About
Hat Color
On my first night around the
ick, I was a little apprehensive
about getting close enough to take
pictures or just to see what was
going on.
But, after I tried it from a distance
without being attacked, I moved in
closer and wandered around. As I
passed by a group of guys standing
near one of the light posts, I was
addressed:
“Hey, what are you doing wear
ing that yellow hat, kid?’ His tone
was not friendly.
I innocently replied that it was
the only one I had, realizing that I
had made a mistake and hoping it
was not a big one.
“Well, cover it up,’ I was told.
The individual did not seem re
ceptive to further questions, so I
moved on and approached a uni
formed senior standing outside the
hard-hat area.
I asked him what I had done
wrong and he explained that yellow
hats were for dorm chiefs, red hats
were for the overall supervisors,
blue hats were for civilian chiefs,
and black or green hats were for av
erage workers.
These types of regulations were
necessary, he said.
The Horses
In order to reach the higher por
tions of the stack with supplies and
smaller logs, the Bonfire crew has
arranged a pulley system powered
by about a dozen guys on the
ground who pull the rope, then let it
slip at the command of a leader.
The guys on the ground don’t just
grab onto the rope and pull. That
would be unsafe and tiring. Instead,
they brace against long pieces of
wood which are rigged through the
rope, and maneuver the rope simply
by backing up or walking forward.
As the workers move back and
forth, looking bored with their
somewhat monotonous job, the vi
sion of a well-trained team of horses
hooked to harnesses inevitably pops
to mind. The pulley crews, how
ever, might not relish that image.
Profits
People are making quite a bit of
money off this “best of Aggie tra
ditions.
Some people are selling photo
graphs of the stack in all its burning
glory. Others are selling T-shirts
with the Bonfire splashed across the
front. Huge posters of the Bonfire
See BASIC, page 9
Celebrating our first business
anniversary we are offering,
for a limited period of time,
20% DISCOUNT
on all Studio services.
Appointments necessary.
Expires December 10, 1977
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846-5018
4103 S. TEXAS AVENUE
BRYAN PLACE BUILDING
FOOTBALL FIESTA SPECIAL
Buy a Fiesta Dinner with soft drink or tea for only $ 2.50.
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Offer expires December 4, 1977.
One coupon per customer, please J m
Save
(UNIVERSITY SQ.
NEXT TO SKAGGS)
SUN. - CLOSED: OPEN FOR
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(CALL 846-2415)
MON. - $1.00 COVER .25c BEER
TUES. - NO COVER FREE DANCE
LESSONS
WED. - LADIES NIGHT GUYS-1.00
GIRLS-FREE & GIRLS
RECEIVE 3 FREE BAR
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Send check, money order, Bank Ameri-
card/VISA at $4.75 + 25c post, per
item CTX res. add 5% Tax). Include
charge acct.#, expir. date, O sig
nature. Print card holder name.
No C.O.D.'s please.
TEXAS.DIGITS
P.O. Box 35029
Houston, Texas 77035
Betcha Can't Eat The Whole Thing!
I
1
>: r - •
AS A "BEAT-TEXAS" SPECIAL, MAMA'S PIZZA IS
OFFERING $300 TONIGHT FOR THOSE AGGIES WITH
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Rules:
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WE WILL BE OPEN ALL NIGHT AFTER
THE BONFIRE THIS FRIDAY!
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Bryan, Texas
823-8930
Valid at this location only
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807 TEXAS AVE.
COLLEGE STATION
846-3380
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