Foresters Once! Foresters Twice!

Tonight marks the beginning of the 97th Foresters Ball at the University of Montana. Students in the Forestry department take on the incredible task of building a replica logging town in the Auxiliary gyms in the Adams Center in a week. The town is used only two nights and by Sunday, it's all gone, as if it never happened.

A nearly 100 year tradition is rather momentous for a school that is just over 120 years old. In 1905 the US Forest Service was established. With the creation of the Forest Service, forestry courses were offered in a number of schools in order to train Forest Rangers. It wasn't until 1914 that the School of Forestry at UM was established.

February 18th, 1916, the Foresters hosted the first Lumberjack dance. This dance was free and included an orchestra, vaudeville performances by the lumberjacks as well as dinner. In addition to dinner, there was a dress code of flannel, high boots, corduroy and hunting outfits. If the wrong clothes were worn, the wearer was fined .50¢. And so began the tradition of the Forester's Ball.

Another major element of the Forester's Ball is the rivalry between the Law School and the School of Forestry. In 1926, the Forestry's mascot, Bertha, was donated to the school. Not long after, other groups of students began to kidnap Bertha but the Law School was the most successful and there has been a rivalry between the two schools since the 1930s. The kidnapping of Bertha has actually become a tradition. In the fall, Law students steal Bertha and take her out for a drink. The Forestry students, of course, have to retaliate. But come Ball weekend, Bertha takes her place at the Forester's Ball.

http://exhibits.lib.umt.edu/forestry/timeline?destination=forestry/timeline