[1] They wrote the letter "M" in deep snow, and it was visible for several weeks when a cold spell hit the area.

[1] Several students who went hiking in the same spot after the snow melted used large rocks to build one leg of a letter "M" while resting.

[1] Underclassmen constructed the letter using borrowed picks, crowbars, and wheelbarrows from a local CCC camp.

[1] Morrow and other professors drove several miles away to inspect the work from a distance, and they recommended changes to counteract distortion from the slope of the mound.

After World War II, the tradition changed to include lighting the letter on the evening of the spring Miner's Ball.

[3] Life magazine reporter Francis Miller attended the April 29, 1949 lighting, where he witnessed 250 quart cans with corncobs lit around the outline of the letters.