History of the letters on Franklin Mountain
"See, see, see, the 'E'!" was the popular chant that announced to the audience in RR Jones Stadium that El Paso High's "E" on the mountain had been lit to signify to the community that the proud Tigers were defending Orange & Black on their home field. The lighted collegiate "E", accomplished by placing dozens of oil cans filled with sawdust and kerosine into the form of the "E" on the mountainside near where the KVIA television transmitter is now, was a seasonal expression of the Tiger spirit.
But close by on the mountain was a whitewashed "E", also for El Paso High, which was visible every day throughout the year. The "E" Association, a volunteer aggregation of EPHS students assumed the task of preparing and igniting the "E" during football season and in the spying the intrepid "E" Association members took-on the arduous duty of whitewashing the "E" to keep it well defined on the west side of Mount Franklin.
How these traditions began is the topic of Trish Long's article in the 20 May 2018 El Paso Times: A look back at the history of the letters on El Paso's Franklin Mountains and NMSU's 'A'. The "E" is hardly mentioned, but El Paso High is credited with initiating the concept in the 1920-21 school year; Long's article is mostly about UTEP's "M" and NMSU's "A."
El Paso High's "E" faded from the slope of Mount Franklin in the 1970s because of a city ordinance which forbad such displays; school district regulations, and a general risk aversion pertaining to injuries which may occur while packing gallons upon gallons of whitewash up the mountain and returning back to a safer terrain at a parking area along Scenic Drive. The lighted "E" was prohibited also for much the same reasons, although the flickering, orange glow of the cans afire was a beautiful sight set against the blackness of the night.
Today there is a whitewashed "E" in the vicinity of EPH's original "E." The new "E" first appeared in the Spring of 2015. It was not an "E" but a crude "C". On the second day after the appearance of the "C" the figure had been turned into an "E" by squaring-off the corners of the "C" and adding a center prong. Of course, the suspicion was that new "E" had been painted on the mountainside by El Paso High afficionados, but there was no evidence of that. In fact, the "C" appeared preceding the Cathedral High School Senior Prom. There were, of course, denials from that quarter, too. The owner of that portion of the mountain did, later, admit privately that when the "C" appeared, he arranged for his employees to make the change to an "E" in keeping with tradition. The landowner is an alumnus of Cathedral but has close family ties to "The Lady on The Hill."
On the east side of Mount Franklin, Austin's "A" is still displayed as is an "I" for Irvin. The reason the "A" is still maintained is that the owner of the property permits.
It is that the landowner gained a variance from the city's beautification ordinance which otherwise put an end to whitewashed school letters littering the mountain.
The "E" on the mountain was part of El Paso High traditions for nearly 50 years. In more recent years, the tradition has been literally re-ignited during Homecoming with the
Eve of the "E" Ceremony in RR Jones Stadium. Instead of using sawdust and kerosine in oil cans, the Senior class creates a design featuring the "E" on the field using luminaria lit by battery powered tea lights. It is not quite the same proclamation from atop the mountain, but each succeeding Senior class endeavors to out-do the previous class, so creativity has a larger part than in the past as each Senior class assumes the role of the "E" Association to light the "E" for Tigers' Homecoming.