[1] For almost two decades, the students constructed Bonfire from debris and wood acquired through various, sometimes illicit, means, including appropriating lumber intended for a dormitory in 1912.
The following year, for the first time, the school provided axes, saws, and trucks for the students and pointed them toward a grove of dead trees on the edge of town.
Initiation rites for the upper echelon of leaders were often brutal, at times including beatings with ax handles or bar fights.
Sportswriter Scott Eden commented that "these tests of toughness were meant to steel new Redpots for the job ahead.
The structure became more elaborate, and in 1969, the stack of logs set the world record for the height of a bonfire at 109 ft 10 in (33 m) tall.
[5] In early November, crews began "Stack", a three-week period in which the logs were wired together and Bonfire took shape.
[5] Following the collapse of the 1999 Bonfire, which killed 12 current and former students, Texas A&M officials cancelled the annual event.