Restoring Pleasant Grove’s G A large portion of the history of the G was taken from a series of news articles written by E. Mark Bezzant for The Pleasant Grove Review in 1994 in recognition of the G’s 75th anniversary as well as the Timpanogos Times in 2020 recognizing the 100th anniversary of the G. Bezzant was the debate coach at Pleasant Grove High School in 1979. He and the Varsity Debate Team researched and complied the history of the G. One-hundred and two years! That is how long the G has been on the mountain! In the spring of 1920, the world had just suffered the effects of the Spanish Flu along with the first world war. One can only imagine the insurmountable grief and suffering from both of those historic events. It’s no wonder that David Gourley, then principal of Pleasant Grove High School, had the brilliant idea to try to rally the students. Given the high school was about to get a new building, Gourley asked the student body if they would like to see a letter G placed on
the mountain to coincide with the new school. Back then, the student body called themselves the Grovarians – hence the letter G. Several styles of the G were discussed, but, to keep the same look as the letterman jackets, the block G won the vote. Junius Hayes, a math teacher at the high school, wore many hats as he was also the mayor of Pleasant Grove and an accomplished surveyor. He enlisted the help of the senior class and hiked up the mountain to determine the best placement of the G. They chose to build the G in the middle of “Little Mountain” just above the first flats. Sie Kemp, a local barber and self-taught architect, also helped develop a model of the block G. So, on May 10, 1920, Principal Gourley gave approval of the design and permitted those students who had enough credits to hike up with their picks, axes, shovels and grubbing hoes to clear the site. In only one day, the entire area for this massive letter was cleared. Rocks were placed in the area. According to one senior, Paul Adam-
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son, “The whole mountain was covered with kids carrying rocks.” Charlie Holman, another student at the school, thought it might be better to use wheelbarrows. Ed Warburton took his horse and helped Charlie up the mountain with his wheelbarrow. Principal Gourley loved this idea and directed others to get their wheelbarrows to quicken the work. Pack horses were also used to carry up lime, a barrel and a spray pump. Each year following the establishment of this icon, a day was set aside to go refurbish the block letter. Seniors were given a “sluff” day by the Board of Education for “G Day” to maintain their work of art. The first lighting of the G occurred in the spring of 1927. The high school basketball team was headed into the state tournament led by Coach Harry Richards. Students thought that lighting the G would raise school spirit. They began gathering cans, rags and crankcase oil. Once they arrived at the G, cans were placed around the outer edge of the letter. Some oil and a rag were placed in each can; the rags were intended to act as a wick and the oil was the fuel. They quickly raced down the mountain to see how it looked from below. Since its construction, there have been numerous times the G has had to face repairs. Some people even
