Chap. 6: To Build Thee More Stately Mansions

[College on the Rio Grande: The Story of A Small School was written in 1989, New Mexico Tech's centennial year, by Paige W. Christiansen, emeritus professor of history at New Mexico Tech. It was published in a limited edition and is now out of print. Prof. Christiansen has given his permission for this web edition, to make Tech's history more widely available.

Please acknowledge him if you use material from this book. Please be aware that all references to "the present" in this book refer to 1989. Thank you.]

The governing power of the School of Mines was vested in an appointed board by an act of the New Mexico legislature. This form has been the pattern since the school was founded in 1889. From 1889 to 1949, the board, like so many political bodies in New Mexico history, was often subjected to political maneuvering by a variety of special interests. Terms of office were not set, and political changes in Santa Fe often resulted in a completely new board every two years (the length of a governor's term). During these early hectic days it was not uncommon for boards to push for political appointments for all support jobs on the campus. Fortunately, faculty positions were not particularly affected. In 1949 the state constitution was amended in an attempt to correct this. With the amendment in place, the Board of Regents consisted of five members, each appointed for six years. Appointments were made by the governor with confirmation by the New Mexico State Senate and are staggered so that there are always carry-over members. This allows continuity and consistency in policy making and promotes stability. According to law, there can be no more than three members from a single political party. The board has complete authority for the operation of the Institute.

As a general rule, the Board of Regents is responsible for policy decisions of a broad nature that ensure the legal status of actions of the administration, but in the early history of the school, individual board members played an important role in administrative affairs. The school never had the money to hire adequate administrative personnel, and in many instance members of the board were directly involved in detailed management decisions. In the past 50 years, however, the regents have become more and more a policy group, leaving administration in the hands of a chief administrative officer. It was impossible to choose one, or even a number, of Boards of Regents which stand out as superior to others. There were instances when policy was dictated by purely political motives without taking into account the educational responsibility of the school. Some decisions appeared to have been purely personal in nature and not in the school's best interests. However, the regents of the school must be given credit for keeping the institution from succumbing to the immense problems that it faced during its difficult years. The good years too, have seen the regents actively building whenever the situation warranted.

There is no pattern as to the type of people who were appointed to the Board of Regents. They came from all walks of life -- business men and women, educators, scientists, politicians, lawyers, bankers, housewives. Some were from Socorro, but not every board had local members. Sometimes they came from the mining and petroleum industry, yet many boards were not represented at all by those whom the school served almost exclusively. They came from all parts of the state. There was no special way in which they were selected, nor were there any legal or job requirements.

Appointment was the sole responsibility of the governor. Frequently requests for particular people were made by university administrators, and sometimes these people were appointed. Sometimes special groups, such as the New Mexico Mining Association, made requests, but generally governors are independent fellows who do things in their own time and for their own reasons. Despite the fact that appointments of regents were more often than not political in nature, in general the regents worked toward the best interests of the school. But how does one equate the Board of Regents to the history of the school when there have been so many boards and so many regents? The achievements of the regents can be told best through the activities of the various men appointed to carry out their policies.

December 1945. The Board of Regents meeting in Socorro last week is of the utmost importance for the School of Mines, and for Socorro, because it set plans to continue the operation of the school and planned for future growth. The regents are to be commended for their animated spirit, individually and collectively. The enrollment of the school will double in January (from 15 to 30) and, according to the regents' estimate, the school should reach a total enrollment of 500 over the next decade. They laid plans for increasing the faculty to handle the anticipated growth. The regents and the president, R. H Reece, are to be commended for their efforts to keep the School of Mines operating as a viable educational institution. Every member of the School of Mines Board of Regents has a realizing sense of the school's opportunity and of the privilege he has to write in the educational annals of New Mexico. Putting the School of Mines back on its feet is such an event.

Appointed by the regents and subject to their will, yet always playing an important role in development, was the president of the school. His role and the administrative structure of the school varied from time to time. From 1893 to 1927, the president was concerned mainly with problems of education and institutional survival, but after 1927, when the Bureau of Mines was added to the school as a department, he also became responsible for the bureau's activities. The job grew too big for one man to handle, however, and in the late 1930's a separate director of the Bureau of Mines was named, although it still functioned as a department of the college. In 1946 a third major element was added, the Research and Development Division, also with its own director. In that same year the Graduate Program was started as a part of the college. Thus, in 1946, the institution embraced the College Division, the Bureau of Mines, the Research and Development Division, and the Graduate Program. Under the new organizational plan the three major divisions were made separate and distinct, each with its own director while the Graduate Program remained in the College Division. Each division served a different function, yet each contributed to the other. The president was appointed to administer the over-all affairs of the divisions of the institution under the Board of Regents. The new organization seemed to require a new name, and in 1951 the New Mexico School of Mines was renamed the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. The organizational structure was a vast change from earlier years. In 1893, the entire professional staff of the school included a president and one faculty member. By the mid-1960s the professional staff consisted of a president and seventy professional staff members (including those in all three divisions), plus numerous administrative and nonprofessional personnel. In 1977 the Petroleum Recovery Research Center was added as a fourth division, completing the basic administrative structure of the institute as it reached its Centennial year. In that year, 1989, the institution still had a president, 228 professional staff in all divisions, plus 442 nonprofessional employees bringing the total staff to 670 regular employees.

The successful operation of the school was dependent upon the degree of co-operation and confidence that existed between the regents and the president. When this fortunate situation existed, and adequate funds were available from the territory or state, great periods of achievement and growth occurred. When they did not exist, the school stood still, or worse, retreated. Across the century of the school's existence there have been 15 presidents, plus several acting or interim presidents:

Five of these presidents served long terms and put their own special brand on the school: Jones, Wells, Workman, Colgate, and Ford served a total of 64 years. Workman had the longest tour of duty, 19 years. Those who served long terms in office tended to have greater influence on the school, those with less than five years had little time or opportunity to make great changes.

The first president of the school, Floyd Davis, who served from 1893 to 1895, was faced with the discouraging job of getting the school under way. He lacked funds and found himself in the middle of the political battle that raged over the school. In 1895 he was forced to resign because of conflict with the regents and left under a cloud. Any claim to fame must come from being the first president, since the school operated for only one year during his two years in office. There were no students in 1894.

The job of establishing a real college was put into the hands of William H. Seaman, president from 1895 to 1898. Seaman was given nearly adequate funds (there were never totally adequate funds) to hire the necessary staff and to equip the laboratories as teaching facilities. Under his direction, a full four-year curriculum in mining, metallurgy, and chemistry was established. Seaman put together all of the needed elements for degree programs except one: students. Students had not yet discovered the School of Mines and enrollment remained low, hampering further development. The Preparatory Department, or Academy, was added to the school during Seaman's administration. This gave the institution enough students to function while the college developed.

The increased enrollment this year (1916) at the School of Mines has resulted in overcrowding of the drafting room and the shop located in the old engineering building. A new, large addition will help the problem. The new building, which will be known as Engineering Building, is built in the shape of a Greek cross, 60 feet wide by 120 feet long and 24 feet in height. It is of steel and concrete, with concrete roof, steel sash, and heavy three-ply tin doors making the building fireproof. The building was constructed entirely with student labor, and the construction boss was a civil engineering major at the school.

The new building will house a machine shop, power plant, drafting room, and other educational facilities, Only the finest machinery will be installed so that School of Mines students will learn on the most up-to-date equipment.

Fayette Jones, who twice served as president of the School of Mines, first from 1898 to 1902 and later from 1913 to 1917, was responsible for several innovations and important policy decisions. During his first administration, the school experienced its first substantial enrollment growth. This was partly due to the fact that the Preparatory Department, mandated by the Territorial Legislature in 1895, was in full swing. In addition more students entered the college. During his second administration, although enrollment dropped because of manpower demands as the country approached World War I and because the Preparatory Department was dropped from the school, he was able to initiate several important projects. It was during this administration that The Gold Pan, the school newspaper, was founded. Through 1917 Jones was the Editor-in-Chief. Jones also initiated the New Mexico Mineral Resources Survey, which was intended to be a series of scholarly papers devoted to geology, mineral resources, and mining activity in New Mexico. Only three publications resulted, but they were the forerunners of the current New Mexico Bureau of Mines publication series which are known and respected throughout the world. Jones was able to accomplish his work without any financial support from the legislature, which made those early publications a remarkable feat.

Jones also did a remarkable job in promoting mining and mineral resources in New Mexico as chairman of the committee planning the New Mexico mining display at the International Exposition in St. Louis in 1904. The New Mexico display was among the most spectacular at the fair, and the School of Mines was prominently promoted. This gave the school a boost into national prominence.

The intense interest that Fayette Jones had in the mineral industry and his personal commitment to the School of Mines made him one of the important figures in the development of the school. His work in promoting mining continued long after he left the presidency of the school. He continued for many years as a consulting mining engineer and did significant work in promoting New Mexico mining and petroleum interests. He was an ardent worker in the interest of the School of Mines, in office as president or as a private citizen.

During the latter part of February (1916) President Jones made a visit to points along the El Paso & South West Railroad and presented each of the high schools at Alamogordo, Tularosa, and Carrizozo with one of the beautiful and instructive mineral cabinets specially prepared by the School of Mines for the various high schools of the state. Stereopticon lectures were given in the evenings and special features concerning the advantages for educational work at the School of Mines emphasized. Crowded houses resulted in every instance.

Charles R. Keyes, who served as president from 1902 to 1905, and who shares with Floyd Davis the dubious distinction of having served the shortest terms in the history of the school's presidency, showed abilities far above those indicated by his short term in office. It was during his tenure in office that the school grew rapidly both in the number of students enrolled and in the number of faculty to teach them. Enrollment reached 127 students, a figure that was not surpassed until the mid-1930s. It must be pointed out, however, that this resulted from high enrollment in the Academy. College enrollment remained relatively low. There was only one graduate from the college each year between 1903 and 1905. The faculty reached a total of 14, a figure not again equaled until the early 1940s.

During the administration of Robert Noble, from 1905 to 1908, there were few notable events. There was a substantial enrollment drop from the, high point of 127 reached in 1905 after Noble took office. The faculty, too, suffered a decrease in numbers and in quality. In 1907 the first plans were laid for a dormitory building, and $15,000 was appropriated by the territorial legislature for this purpose. The building, original Driscoll Hall, was begun in the summer of 1908 and occupied in January 1909. Old Driscoll Hall was renovated many times over the years as a dormitory, classroom building, and again as a dormitory. Later, while serving as a girls' dormitory, it was discovered to be structurally unsound, torn down, and a new women's dormitory built in its place. The new building was also called Driscoll Hall.

Noble's successor, Emmet A. Drake, holds the distinction of having been the only president of the school who was neither an engineer nor a scientist. Drake was the professor of language at the school prior to his elevation to the presidency, although he also had considerable experience in the mining industry. His administration lasted five years. During these years, enrollment remained fairly stable, averaging about 45 students a year. The faculty improved somewhat from previous years, with about one-third holding doctoral degrees.

In 1912, during the Drake administration, New Mexico finally became a state. (The territory had been seeking statehood since 1850.) The structure of financial support changed when statehood was achieved. Whereas a tax levy on territorial property had been one of the main supports of the school, with certain special appropriations when needed, after 1912 the school was supported by annual appropriations of the state legislature. Also, by terms of the Enabling Act under which New Mexico was admitted to statehood, the school became the possessor of 150,000 acres of land. Since statehood, then, the school has been financed by student fees, direct appropriations of state funds, and by its land income. In recent years, funds from research grants and from private sources have added to the available funds of the school. Very little physical growth occurred during President Drake's administration. The second administration of Fayette Jones followed that of Drake.

During the First World War and the immediate postwar years, 1917 to 1921, Alexis X. Illinski served as president of the school. Illinski came to the school as Professor of Chemistry in 1915. With the exception of the war years, 1917-1918, the years of his administration were notable for rising enrollment figures, which accompanied the postwar boom in education. North Dormitory, located just to the northwest of the engineering building (Weir Hall), was completed and occupied in 1918. This later became Bernard Hall, but was always called "The Tin House" by the students. This was the only physical addition to the school during the Illinski administration. The curriculum and general policy of the school remained essentially unchanged.

President Wells made his first appearance at the New Mexico School of Mines in the fall of 1918, and since that time he has spent his time endeavoring to better this institution in one way or another. His first professorship was in geology and mineralogy. He became president of the school in 1921. He was named as the first State Geologist in 1925 (he retained the presidency of the school), and became the first director of the Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources in 1927 (and still President of the School). He was born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and was educated at the University of North Dakota. During his years in New Mexico, he was one of the main promoters of mining and petroleum development in the state. He did not have a graduate degree, but he was one of those rare people who is able to master academic work without formal training.

Edgar H. Wells, one of the great figures in the history of the New Mexico School of Mines, became president in 1921. His tenure in office spanned eighteen years, to 1939. During his term, the school grew in all respects: in student enrollment, in faculty (both quality and quantity), and in physical plant. The Wells administration spanned two decades, periods as different as day and night on the American scene. The 1920s were years of prosperity and optimism for most Americans. The 1930s witnessed an America deep in depression and pessimism. Yet it was not the 1920s, but the 1930s that saw the major developments at the school.

During President Wells' administration, the physical plant grew almost beyond recognition. In 1921, when Wells took office as president (he had come to the school in 1917 as professor of geology and metallurgy), the campus included Driscoll Hall, The Main Building, Engineering Building, Power Plant, and the Tin House, plus a few service buildings.

In the 1920s three important construction projects were completed. In 1923 a gymnasium was built. It is interesting that there was not enough money available to construct the building, so student labor was used, and the construction materials were purchased with state funds. In 1928 Science Hall (now Cramer Hall) was completed, and in 1929, Brown Hall was built on the site of the Old Main Building which had been destroyed by fire in 1928.

In the 1930s the following buildings appeared: two new dormitories, Fitch and Presidents Halls; an addition to Driscoll Hall; Wells Hall, for petroleum engineering; a new assay laboratory; and a new gymnasium and swimming pool to replace the one built in 1923. A number of service buildings and athletic facilities were also constructed. The five basic buildings on campus in 1921 had increased to 11 by 1939. This was a remarkable achievement and can be attributed to the work of the Board of Regents in co-operation with Edgar Wells.

The building boom of the 1930s was encouraged by the availability of loans and grants by the federal government under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and the Public Works Administration (PWA). These tremendous federal relief efforts were intended to create employment by massive public works building programs. The New Mexico School of Mines took full advantage of the opportunity and completed its building program through use of federal funds. The persistence of Wells and the regents in getting as much financial assistance as possible was critical for the growth of the school. The state did not have the resources to pursue much capital improvement. The fact that a substantial educational plant was created during that time assured the continued growth of the school in later years. At the Centennial year, many of the buildings that were completed during the Wells years were still in use as college facilities. Though many times remodeled or added to, they remain an essential part of the campus. In the dark days of the immediate post-World War II period, when it looked as though the school might have to close, there was reluctance on the part of all concerned to let this tremendous investment in educational capital go to waste.

But physical growth was not the only contribution of the Wells administration. All areas of the school grew to new heights. The enrollment figures, always a good gauge of a school's health, showed substantial increases. The decade 1914-1923 showed an average annual enrollment of 56 students. In the decade 1924-1933, under Wells, the average increased to 94, and the decade of the 1930's saw the average jump to 119. In 1938, enrollment reached 175, highest in the history of the school to that date. There were several reasons for this increase.

The Board of Regents, working closely with President Wells and the faculty, realized that the School of Mines had to expand its curriculum to better serve New Mexico. Mining had declined dramatically in importance in the early decades of the 20th century, and the growth of large-scale copper, potash, coal, and uranium mining was in the future. The petroleum industry, however, had come of age in New Mexico and was booming. Rich new oil fields were being opened in the San Juan and Permian Basins of New Mexico, and they needed trained people. The school at Socorro answered this need by expanding its curriculum. In 1930 the college initiated a petroleum option in its geological engineering program; by 1935, a full curriculum leading to a degree in petroleum engineering was offered.

Between 1930 and 1934, oil development in the Oil Patch and in the nation languished under the most oppressive years of the Depression. Hobbs declined from its boom population of 20,000 to less than 1,000. Similar disasters plagued other oil centers in New Mexico. Drillers, large and small, lost their enthusiasm. With no potential markets and no profits, even a producing oil well was just an expensive hole in the ground. But the oil industry found itself in a favorable position as the depression ground on. Americans began to look to the automobile and the open highway as their means of mobility. During the mid-years of the 1930s, a massive market for petroleum products developed, Also, American industry, always hungry for a cheap source of energy, saw oil, which was selling at a fraction of the cost of coal, as their salvation. Despite the continuance of the depression and its problem, the oil industry was on the threshold of still another boom. From 1934 to the end of the decade, the pace of oil exploration quickened in the Permian Basin of New Mexico. A total of 11 pools were brought into production between 1934 and 1939, two of which became major producers.

There was more demand for people in the petroleum industry, but other industries in the nation and in New Mexico suffered under the weight of the depression. However, rather than causing a decline in student populations, the result was an increase. Qualified people who could not find employment continued their education. And there was another factor. America had reached the stage in her industrial development that required more and more highly trained personnel. Unskilled or semiskilled labor found a diminishing market for its services. Most of the colleges and universities took advantage of this, and one of the big "booms" in college enrollments came during the decade of the Great Depression.

The New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Division is the official state agency responsible by law for original investigations of geology and mineral resources in New Mexico. The bureau investigates, evaluates, and disseminates information on geology, mineral resources, fuels, and metallurgy-with emphasis on finding and harvesting nonrenewable resources for the benefit and well being of the citizens of this state with full consideration of environmental impacts.

Although primarily a technical organization providing counsel to the mineral industry and to state offices and departments, the bureau also series all interested citizens by advancing the understanding of the state's geology and natural resources. Environmental geology is an increasingly important part of the bureau's service and applied research.

More than 10,000 specimens make the bureau's Mineralogical Museum one of the outstanding collections in the United States. Included are exhibits of minerals of New Mexico, the United States, and virtually every foreign land, and displays of fluorescent minerals, ornamental stone, and fossils. The suite of specimens from the Kelly Mining District is the finest collection of its type in the world, and fine specimens of New Mexico's official gemstone, turquoise, are on display.

The petroleum sample library contains more than 3,905,000 individual samples from 11,558 different oil, gas, and water wells drilled in the state. The samples, taken from different levels to show various strata, are valued at more than one million dollars. Collected for more than 40 years, the samples also represent tests for uranium and other minerals. All are available for study. Using these and other samples, the bureau has prepared an evaluation of undiscovered oil and gas prospects in New Mexico.

The information assembled by the bureau staff of scientists and engineers is provided to the public through maps, publications, and direct response to individual inquiries. Publications are received from and distributed throughout the world on an exchange agreement with other geological surveys. These publications are kept for reference in the Tech Library. By furnishing vital scientific information and advice, the bureau aids in the establishment of new mining and petroleum operations and new mineral industries in the state, as well as in the expansion and diversification of existing mineral-resources Industries.

Under President Wells there was a tremendous growth of physical plant, an expansion of the curriculum, and a substantial increase in enrollment, but another addition was also realized during his administration. In 1927, the State Legislature created the New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources as a department of the School of Mines. President Wells was responsible for organizing the bureau and its activities, and he directed the work of the Bureau throughout his administration.

In looking back over the accomplishments of President Edgar Wells and the regents who gave him such excellent support, it is evident that his administration stands out when compared with those of his predecessors. In all respects the school grew; its faculty improved, its prestige increased, and its service to New Mexico broadened. His leadership and devotion to education began the conversion of the School of Mines from a vocational school to a full institution of higher learning. President Wells, this unusual man, must be given a particularly high place in the annals of the school at Socorro. He died on January 7, 1939, from a self-inflicted shotgun wound.