Tomorrow's Big Game bonfire at Lake Lagunita, which was almost blown up by Cal students two weeks ago, is a tradition which dates clear back to 1898.

Roble women were responsible for the first bonfire in 1898. The day before Big Game, they became anxious to hold a rally and outdoor "warm-up," so they had the Stanford men collect a pile of barrels for a fire, which was built near Roble.

The scene of the conflagration has shifted many times. It has been located on the baseball field, the field near Branner and the gym, and the present site of Lake Lagunita. In 1911 the blaze was ignited right in the Inner Quad.

In the 'twenties, almost every year a woodpile sabotage was attempted. In 1922 UC students went so far as to drop aerial bombs from an overhead airplane. Other unsuccessful attempts were in '20, '23, and '24.

In 1928 ut was a different story, however. It was Wednesday morning and students were going to their ten o'clock classes. At 9:55 a few observant students noticed flames coming from the direction of Lake Lagunita.

A warning whistle was blown and students and faculty alike forgot about classes and rushed toward the disaster scene. Early arrivals found the blaze rapidly growing while a scant half-dozen frosh guards stood aghast, staring at the rising smoke and fire.

At eleven o'clock the word was passed around, "The bonfire is in ashes."

"Let's rebuild it," cried a freshman as the fire neared its end. The spirit caught on and before any members of the Rally Committee was there to organize it, everybody was at work collecting material for a new and better woodpile.

The problem facing the students was almost staggering. It was less than 36 hours before the traditional rally. A similar occasion had occurred three years before in 1925, but the freshman class had been twice the size of the present one.

Consequently all classes for the rest of Wednesday and all of Thursday were called off and the whole student body pitched in to help. The bonfire was very precisely planned by Farm engineering students.

An appeal for wood was aired over KPO (now KNBC) and the citizens of the area responded magnificently, contributing piles of wood, telephone poles, and even chopped-up outhouses.

By rally time the bonfire was rebuilt and was 60 feet high, 10 feet higher than before the sabotage.

However, the Stanford men haven't been completely free of mischief themselves. In 1904 some ingenious Stanfordites stole the senior fence from the Cal campus and brought it around the Bay to the Farm. Needless to say the fence was one of the principal ingredients of the Big Game Bonfire that year.

The fence was thrown in the flames without ceremony and the Stanford men joined arms and serpentined around the blaze as one of California's most cherished traditions went up in smoke.

In 1929, after the famous Toonerville Trolley made its last run, Stanford students wanted to stage a cremation as part of their bonfire, but they were refused. Instead the Southern Pacific Railroad contributed a huge stack of railroad ties 20 feet long and eight feet high.

During the war years, a new problem was presented. Since there was no game with call, what would happen to the Big Game fire? The students solved this problem by holding their bonfire before the Stanford-Merchant Marine game.

Many traditions have been formed since the first fire was built way back in the year of the Spanish-American war. Each freshman class has striven to build the fire build the fire higher than the class which preceded it.

In 1924 the class of '28 built the pile to a height of 79 feet, a record which stood for many years. Then in 1951 the class of '55 attained the fantastic height of 85 feet.

A new tradition is being started this year. In past years the frosh class has started almost as soon as they were registered in the University. This year the actual building did not start until 48 hours before rally time.

By this new system, the height to which a class builds a fire in 48 hours can be compared fairly with the height to which a following class builds it in the same period of time. Also, much spirit and enthusiasm for building a fire can generated in a short period of time rather than several weeks.

It might be mentioned here that Cal students have a pre-Big Game rally around a fire on Thursday night. However, this fire, built in the Greek Amphitheater, has not the tradition of the Stanford blaze, and there is no striving to build it higher every year, as is done on the Farm.