Wearing hard hats and gloves to protect themselves from splinters, members of the freshman class worked all day yesterday to complete the 62-tier bonfire structure for tonight's Dartmouth Night Homecoming ceremony.
The bonfire will be set ablaze tonight at the end of the Dartmouth night celebration.
The Class of '99 will have fewer than two days to complete the structure.
By 10 A.M. yesterday morning, the bonfire stood 18 tiers high in the center of the Green.
When construction ended at 6 P.M. last night, the bonfire structure was 49 tiers high.
The 300 landscape ties from Hammond and Sons Construction arrived at 6:45 A.M., and at 8:00 A.M. the '99s began construction.
Upperclass superviser Amanda Nelson '98 said yesterday that things were going "very well. We have a terrific work force out; we're almost ahead of ourselves."
According to safety policy, the wood fill inside the structure must remain within three feet of the top at all times. The fill comes from around the Upper Valley in dump trucks.
Alpha Chi Alpha fraternity members helped with the construction. Brother Jeff Jardin '97 said "we could have been working a lot faster if we didn't have to wait for the fill. We have lots of workers catching on quickly."
Physical Education Director Ken Jones, who oversees the bonfire construction, said that last year the wooden ties were cut too late, making them full of sap and very heavy.
This year, the ties weigh fewer than 100 pounds each, which "makes building so much easier since you're not having to tote those heavy things up and down the side," said Jones. The lighter ties also make construction safer, Jones added.
From atop her ten foot perch on the bonfire structure, Neelu Jain '99 said that working at the top was "totally cool."
The ties "are not that heavy at all," she said. "You have someone helping you and you are supporting it on your shoulders."
To get the large ties to the top of the structure, a rope is attached to both ends of the ties, and students on top hoist them up.
