Walla Walla University - Mountain Ash Yearbook (College Place, WA)

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pmceed with caution 25

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24 canard pond Tom Rowsell Most monuments and time-honored traditions on college campuses have the character- istic of rarely amounting to much more than fable agreed upon. Walla Walla College harbors one such legend that has been traced, with at least some degree of accuracy, over the span of five decades. The story behind Conard Hall Pond and the ensuing tradition of dunking engaged dorm students is a unique account of human ingenuity and seldom told. The average student iusually plural it seemsi who frequents the area hardly even notices his surroundings when near the concrete pool and usually doesn't bother to wonder about who christened the 10 by 25-foot tank to begin with years ago. However, to the unfortunate victims of a midnight plunge, the question of who started the watery tradition becomes much more relevant. As best can be reestablished, a tWOestory, white board house stood on the present site as early as 1922 when the Ritz family occupied the building. Early in the 1930's the college decided it was time for a new girls' dorm, however, so the white house had to go. Sometime in the fall of 1933 the building was torn down and the basement converted to a fish pond in 1935. ilnterestingly, the huge redbud tree presently in front of Conard Hall once stood next to the pond. When leveling the ground for building, the men dug

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around the tree, boxed in the roots, dug a ditch wide enough, and pulled the tree to its present site.l The earliest record of fish inhabiting the pond dates to 1936 and of throwing in engaged students to around 1938. As to who holds the dubious distinction of being the first thrown in remains a mystery, but the many hundreds who have fol- lowed suit in years since have shed a new light on the ritual and its surroundings. The actual area around the pond has changed only slightly through the years; a former student remembers the pond itself to have also changed little- dirty all the time, how can that be different ? Another alumnus couldn't remember whether goldfish ever did survive very long since the water was usually so murky it was impossible to tell. From witnesses it is evident that sometime during the past decade a stone bench located on the east end of the pond was removed in place of shrubbery, as were a number of the less voluminously covered plants. Nonetheless, a former dean tells how she thought it would be nice if there was a fountain to add a little more beauty to the area: I had the grounds supervisor construct two lily beds in the pool, set lily pads out, and then bore holes in an old shower head for a fountain. This, in turn, put more work on the grounds crew workers who testify that when cleaning the pool an average of one or two dollars in change a year could be recovered from the bottom. They also testify that two or three seasons in the pond is about all a fish can take before departing for Davy Jones' Locker. Maybe a few of the reasons for such a high fish mortality ll odd occurrences that go on in the small 4 rate are the confines of the 250-square-foot pond. An ex-dean vividly remembers watching children saunter up to pull a fish out and walk off with pockets wiggling. A former student tells