Letter from a Freshman, 1940

[Editor's note: The following letter was written in 1940 by Clyde Ickes, then a new freshman at the School of Mines (now New Mexico Tech). He traveled from Berlin, Penn., with classmates Richard Matuszeski, Robert Lane, and Philson Collins. It is interesting to see how much has changed - and how much hasn't! The letter was kindly donated to New Mexico Tech by Bill Ickes III, Clyde's son. The editor has made minor punctuation corrections, but maintained elements of Clyde's style, such as his spelling of "nite."]

Socorro, N.M.
6:00 p.m.
Aug. 20, 1940

Dear Mother and Dad

We arrived Monday evening at 5:00, after traveling over 800 miles on one stretch. We came from Shreveport to Socorro on one jump. We left Shreveport early Sunday morning and got here yesterday. At Mineola, Tex. Ernie noticed a noise in the car so we stopped at Forney, Tex. at the Ford garage and had to get a new universal joint and drive shaft. It held us up about 5 hrs. We crossed the prairie at nite. The real prairie was from Fort Worth to El Paso, about 600 mi. With the exception of an occasional slight curve or unnoticeable grade the road was straight the entire 600 mi. You can't see anything on the prairie except sagebrush - a little bush about 3 ft. high. No grass at all. You could see a little town ahead and think it was about a mile-and-a-half away, but it was actually about 5 or 6. We stopped in El Paso and walked across the bridge into Juarez, Mexico. The Rio Grande at El Paso was muddy, about 2 ft. deep and about 40 ft. wide. It is the only creek around. All others are dried up completely.

Everybody laughs when we ask them where the cowboys are. This morning we saw a few riding into town. When we got here, we felt like turning right around and going right back home, but now we like it very much. We went with Ernie and Bob 40 mi. up as far as Belen when the bus left this morning about 11:00. There, we deposited our money. While we were waiting for a bus to come back, we all got feeling funny. Sort of dizzy. It's because of the climate. It just gets hot about 2 or 3 hrs in the afternoon; at nite it's cool.

We are staying at the Coronado Courts, a tourist camp. The dormitory doesn't open until Thur. We have a room with 2 double beds and shower for $3 a nite. Ernie and Bob stayed last nite and it cost us 60 cents each. We ate at a Spanish restaurant. When we pulled in at the campus, the boy here asked us if we were freshmen. He is also starting. So he showed us around town last nite. It was a big nite. The Governor of N.M. was in town. He is running for reelection. I met a boy from Boston, Mass. He is a sophomore - one who gives the initiation. He told us how to get along. We also met 2 Mexican boys who gave us some tips. They said to call the Mexican, Spaniards.

Practically all the people wear cowboy hats and a few wear the boots. Lane and I tried some chile con carne, but it was so hot we couldn't eat it. Lane ate 1 spoonful and left it to go. I put a half-glass of water and a handful of crackers in mine, but I could only eat about half of it. Then it took about 3 glasses of ice water to cool my throat. We looked at our (dormitory) room. It is the biggest room they have. We can room together. Our trunks and boxes came. We rented a box at the Post Office because the postmaster said the General Delivery is poor. It cost us 21 cents each every 3 months.

They tell us this is the rainy season. We came through a fairly hard shower about 30 mi. south of town. You can see that they have hard rains when it rains because you see ditches and gullies everywhere. Most of the houses are Spanish style. All the country houses are made of mud and straw bricks. Only have 1 room. It is harder to see how they live than those in Arkansas. I think they raise cattle but there isn't any grass around. Every little hut is about 30 ft. square and has about 3 or 4 horses and a big pile of baled hay. The hay is baled in the field. The baler is pulled by a tractor and bales the hay as it goes along. Then the hay is hauled in and stacked. Some stacks look like they have 2 or 3 thousand bales in them. Right around here there isn't any hay, unless it's over by the river where the land is irrigated. It seems funny you see very few cattle. It's hard to understand how the country people live. Just a little mud shack, a corral, a few ponies, and a big stack of baled hay.

The land here is entirely flat prairie land with mountains in the distance. On one side, the mountains are about a mile away, but on the other, about 4 or 5. A man in Belen said the tourists get off the train and see the mountains. They start walking toward them, thinking they are only about 3 mi. away. They are actually about 25 or 26 miles away.

The land is just like a picture of the prairie with the mountains in the background.

We are going into town tonite. It is Spanish nite at the theater. They are showing a Mexican-made film. It is in Spanish. We are going to see it. The movies all through Texas and out here, even in the big cities, are ones we had 5 or 6 months ago. Last nite "The Road to Singapore" was on. It was in Berlin (Pennsylvania) about May.

There are very few flies here.

I can't think of much more to write. Lane wants to go to eat. I marked down every town we came through. There was about 195 of them. We saw 34 different state license plates, plus Mexico and D.C.

We drove 438 miles on Thurs., 504 on Friday, 489 on Sat., and 657 from Sun. morning to Monday morning, and 223 on Monday. 2409 miles in all.

Answer soon.

Bill

P. S. With the exception of the trees on the campus and a few in town we have to go up the road about 30 mi. to see some. Every bush and plant on the campus is irrigated - no grass.