Y Mountain

(the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi). The trail is also regularly used by hikers, bikers, paragliders and hunters to access the backcountry in the Slide Canyon area.

The large white Y on the side of the mountain has become the nationally recognized insignia for BYU and the reason why BYU is often called "the Y". It is made of concrete and is 380 feet high and 130 feet wide (116 by 40 m). No other college in the United States has a larger symbol, in fact, the Y is even larger than the letters in the "Hollywood sign" in California.

There are 14 strands of lights around the perimeter of the Y, which are lit five times a year by the Intercollegiate Knights. It is lit for Freshman Orientation, Homecoming, Y Days, and graduation in April and August. When the Y is lit, club members are selected to guard the Y in the night and make sure it remains lit until dawn.

Like most college symbols, the Y has been the target of various pranks, many of them involving red paint. It was most recently painted red by members of the University of Utah baseball team in 2004 [http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/57504] (see Utah-BYU rivalry). It has also been painted many other times, such as an incident in 2002 when vandals dumped several cans of paint down the Y, giving it a multicolored visage until it was painted white again the next day. Not a single bit of the Y was left untouched. This incident was called the worst act of vandalism against the Y in the past decade. [http://newsnet.byu.edu/story.cfm/40129]

History

Early 1906 - When the junior class of [http://www.byhigh.org/History/Ymountain/Yletter.html Brigham Young University High School] wanted to paint '07 on the side of the mountain, the BYHS senior class became upset. To settle this conflict BYU President George H. Brimhall and [http://www.byhigh.org/History/Principals/PrincipalsList.html BYHS Principal] that year, [http://www.byhigh.org/Alumni_F_to_J/Hinckley/EdwinS.html Edwin S. Hinckley,] proposed that they paint the letters BYU on the mountain instead.

April 1906 - The plans to construct the BYU on the mountain were begun. Professor Ernest D. Partridge was assigned to conduct a survey and designed the emblem. When this was complete, a line of high school and university students, and some faculty, passed buckets of lime, sand, and rocks up the mountain in order to fill up the letters. After six hours of hard labor, only the Y had been completed, so the filling in of the remaining two letters was postponed and later abandoned.

1907 - The BYU Y Day tradition began. This consisted of thousands of students hauling, by bucket brigade, gallons of whitewash up the mountain to paint the giant Y. This tradition lasted until 1973. It was abandoned due to erosion of the mountain.

1908 - A three-foot high wall was erected around the letter to keep it together. This required an additional 20,000 pounds of concrete.

1911 - Serifs were added to the top and bottom of the Y, giving it its current look.

1924 - Tradition of "lighting the Y" began. Each year during special evenings, mattress batting was placed in buckets and soaked in kerosene. The buckets were then set around the edges of the Y and lit with torches. This ended in 1970 when it was decided that this tradition was hazardous. After being discontinued, a small building was constructed which contains a generator that lights up 14 strands of 25-watt light bulbs which outline the Y.

1960s - BYU began to use a helicopter to carry 1000s of pounds of whitewash to repaint the Y. This is now redone every 5 years.

May 20, 2006 - The 100th anniversary of the Y was celebrated. Many people hiked the Y that day to commemorate the occasion.

Sources

http://www.byucougars.com/athletic_department/spirit/y_mountain.html

http://www.byhigh.org/History/Ymountain/Yletter.html

"Hike the Y 100th Anniversary" pamphlet distributed by BYU Wellness http://wellness.byu.edu/