University of California Berkeley - Blue and Gold Yearbook (Berkeley, CA)

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- Junto Exhibition ! HARMONY HALL, OAKLAND, ae, xoov. OF F-A.R.E. il ' KNIN ; CHORUS. Tb DAY U pwtAnd gone. Followed by grand walk iiruiintl. X,u- n-biHtliiiK tin lie Ml i. IiieiUD. ! LATIN IIIIATHIN .... an . t ' Jnbenim mjtctt ' - Kit., .-! E - O Virgin- ! .jin.ui a d u ' ! ' ' -.. ' -,,. - . . ' . - FORUM SUPORUM. I II iil: YT I 1 ,.., ..... at, r. M. cvMrin:i. i. -,., shin. T S. H. WILLEY. 8tu Muim runr. TKMIM.K. Pmi,,|.cor. K DIKM VIII IDI ' W J1T3VIA.S. f 5 A f s s MODUS OPERAND!. ci I llTriiK li.nl,: 7 . r . - ..T....1 i 1 .-1HI; I-...I i|.. ' SAI.rTAToHY. Still itc ' S:ihiti ' ' ' I ' ll ' 1 . dull-lit !( -i.ltjcfi mi In fit Mm- in-. ( -mit iliil. 1! LTYaniofilqd J.-IMHHH ,!!.. iis.( ' ( ilif, r.Aritw iiii.iiwio,IltrvtnloA. s iiIpnmiiib-ffw.ralifGriiiio A . I ' , ,i,l t PTuriimui. ItakbMbMqM -i l. HI.-I.H-U P IM, ii mm Inuitu uttM Rwte L I ' hn.i. i-t |ir..l ' c inv. nun -mil luiu MpimtH |ii:i ' . |MHltneM. an htc ! u- ' r. f TDWNSKNH. (w MI ' SIC F..m-l. la. -k ,-i.,..- ORATION. T n U:I M- ' I.. .! ' -.- itl ' a}. ' 1iiiui. ' ii| ' ]-ll III- -iilU-r f rt.. siml un ' -V- J j.l.inalii.ii -.f III. ' I-- ' L.-nli ' t.. uii ' l fi i Hi ' I ' dlli- ,- |Hi-l 111.- Ndriiii-i;. . ' lll ' 4 -| .i t-i 1 ill In ' 11 ' In- ' ' ' U ' ' ' -iliupBii DffttorleM lii ' plny, iml -i -..Mii-rlv lniiri.ii: l - li i iT ' l MI t ' ii ' -- ' if tin ihtrv-t f I,.. I. MAKKY. f Ml ' Sll ' Si-miiiiiry jta!-. uinl vi u nmiinif -ul U-ui lit. ' OUATION. ' i-w lH-K ( ' M,ii- KM ]loK. Aln 0iiilin ill h.- d -jrt-i-t nn-U ' i!t ' - ; .itiHuilil.fr 4 with u ili-moiMti ti..u ilnl Oi ijiml.- nm k-il l-i- w l. whik- linMiiiir ttn-ir rlan- : f iliMiili- in-i-lnr-- .! ' ' i iil.mii 1 1) t ill ' 1 Olviiil.Juii i-l ' i ' lJ ' in- . I K it nil ildilltli- ulilllfli ' . i f W. II. IIARWIMHI. 1 J OUATION. f TiicSri-nKNi.ni-UT. I ' l.xiiLri.xH.i IMri.,V,, .] ; nriuloT-.-A 20

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School. This transfer included the front blocks of land and the buildings in Oakland together with the site in Berkeley now occupied by the University. Thoughts of edu- cational opportunities went back to the Atlantic Coast. Three days before the opening of the University I received a letter from my mother informing me that the University of California was about to open its doors, and advising me to try the entrance examinations, for a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. etc. I immediately went to the little reddish brown building, put in an application to be permitted to take the entrance examinations, and got a schedule. Then there were a couple of days of heavy cramming to review the subjects required for entrance to the course in Civil Engineering. About thirty young men appeared for the first examination which was in arith- metic, algebra and geometry, and was presided over by a very handsome young man, of perfect military bearing, who had. a few years before, been graduated from the United States Military Academy. You know him. The examinations in grammar, in geography, in history and in other subjects followed. Twenty-five of us survived the tests, and became the first freshmen class in the University of California. There were three other classes that had been adopted from the College of California: a senior class of three, a junior class of five, and a sophomore class of two. Thus the University was launched upon its career with a faculty of ten. and a student body of thirty-five. The first name upon the University roll is that of Clar- ence T- Wetmore, of Oakland; a young man named Baker from San Jose, is second, and your humble servant, registering from Visalia, has the honor of being number three, who at the time of registering was so flustered that he forgot when he was born. A gentleman by the name of Fisher. Professor of Chemistry, was Dean, but Professor Joseph Le Conte (he of blessed memory) supervised the registration, and had a cheery word for each new-comer as he inscribed his name in the great book. I must tell an incident of the coming to college of one of the freshmen: L. L. Hawkins, whose home was in Amador County, and on the other side of the crest of the Sierra. Hawkins had been working all summer, as a cowboy, for a cattle man in the mountains near his home. When the young man decided to come to Oakland to take the entrance examinations for admission to the University, he informed his employer and asked for his pay. Only a part could be paid in coin, so the employer told Hawkins that he might go into his manada of horses and take any one he wished to offset $30 of the account. Hawkins went out among the horses, selected a perfectly built roan four-year-old that had never had a rope on him except when, as a colt, he had been thrown and branded. In speed he was the leader of the band. After some little racing over the hills he was gotten into the corral, lassoed, worked up to the snubbing post, blindfolded, his ears tied down, and the hackamore and saddle put on in proper style. The reatta was released, coiled and tied to the saddle. Hawkins, mounted, released the ears, raised the blind, and found that he was astride of the hardest bucking horse that he had ever ridden. The horse was so strong, however, that he kept his feet. After a few minutes of hard bucking around 19

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the corral he shot out through the opening and the ride to Oakland and the University was begun. The ride lasted four days : the first day only a few miles were made, but by night both man and horse were pretty well done up. The fourth day Hawkins rode from Stockton to Oakland, a distance of eighty miles. The next morning he commenced his entrance examinations. What became of the horse, do you say? He had developed a good case of spring halt, but was used by his master for a year or more, on a newspaper route, for it was as a news-carrier that Hawkins met his expenses during the early part of his college course. Among the twenty-five freshmen, not already mentioned, and who became pretty well known in the State were: James H. Budd. Clay M. Greene. J. B. Reinstein. Frank Otis. George J. Ainsworth. Thos. P. Woodward. E. Scott and Chas. B. Stone. The University spent the first four years of its existence in Oakland. The first year Professor John Le Conte was acting president. The second and third years Henry Durant. who had been president of the College of California, was president. The fourth year Daniel C. Gilman was president. With each year the classes increased in number. 74. ' 75 and ' 76 had entered. The grounds at Berkeley were being planted with cypress and eucalyptus. Frederick Billings, the landscape artist for Central Park. New York, had designed a plan for the future home of the University. My class assisted in the laying of the corner-stone of the Agricultural Building, now called South Hall, and my class set the stakes for the College of Letters Building, now called North Hall. At the time that South Hall was built we had not forgotten the earthquake of 1868. The building is a skeleton of Norway iron rods, built like a bird cage, and then filled in with stone, brick and mortar. North Hall was built of wood for the reason that the University was financially unable to make any other kind of construction. The building of North Hall made a lot of trouble for the University and its friends. In order to get the building ready for occupancy by commencement time in 1873 there was a hurry-up order for its construction. Dr. Samuel Merritt. of Oak- land, a graduate of Bowdoin College, a man of large proportions, and of large interests as well, who was a member of the Board of Regents, and who was very much interested in the University, undertook the building of what was then to be called the College of Letters. He had his own crew of builders, his own lumberyard, and the means for getting from Puget Sound and elsewhere the best of lumber with prompt delivery. He put the building up on time, with a saving to the State of $30.000. and then had a legislative committee on his back for doing what seemed to him and to the other regents to be an emergency call. That was the end of Dr. Merritt ' -i interest in the institution. When the University was first established the number of students was too small for the making of a military department, although required by law. But in 1871. after the classes of ' 74 and ' 75 had entered, the organization of a battalion of four companies was effected. Professor Welcker. the professor of mathematics, a graduate of West Point, and :M