94 Years Ago
The November 18, 1930 Oredigger (the School of Mines newspaper) led with the article “Construction of Lighted ‘M’ On Castle Rock Now Seems Likely.”
The “M” on Mount Zion had been built in 1908. According to the Mines website, it was designed as a descriptive geometry problem and built by students and faculty. In subsequent years, the M was repainted and the infiltrating weeds were pulled.
By 1930, students were interested in building a lighted emblem. Interestingly, they didn’t feel bound to use the existing M; they were strongly considering building a new one on Castle Rock.
The article described the solutions they were considering, which included pointing searchlights or floodlights at the M. This was found to be too expensive. They also looked at “reflectors with 300 watt lamps, much the same as used for billboard illumination.” They were very interested in neon–a blue letter on a steel background. Because there were functional limits to how large a neon letter could be, that would have been a much smaller letter–16 feet, as opposed to 104 feet.
They considered the problem for a year, decided to keep the M on Mount Zion, and did the first temporary lighting for Homecoming in 1931. According to the Transcript, they outlined the M with “a double row of electric lights. It seems to hang in space as it were, and look as tho it were suspended from the heavens.” The reaction was so favorable that students began a funds drive to install permanent light.
The first permanent lighting was installed in April, 1932. The Governor of Colorado came to ceremonially press the button and power up the lights. At about that time, the school realized that they didn’t own the land where the M had been built. Fortunately, they were able to purchase one acre of the hillside from owner Ernest Ramstetter.
Thank you to Wendy Weiman for sponsoring Golden History Moments for the month of November.
