Page 285 - Cornelius Hedges Story

For This And Succeeding Generations Gardiner 272

the mines in profusion, men passing constantly from one camp
to another exposed to assassination and robbery, gambling and
drinking were universal and escape for the criminal was easy. We
have seen how hard it was to plant Masonry here conforming to all
the requirements of Masonic law and usage. We will now come to
the attempts that were successful and speedily resulted in a Grand
Lodge of our own.
At the Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of Kansas, held
at Topeka, December 20, 1864, Grand Master Jacob Saqui reports
having granted to Paris S. Pfouts and a requisite number of Masons,
a dispensation to open and form a Lodge at Virginia City, Montana.
Virginia City is located midway of Alder Gulch, which for a length
of twenty-five miles was all rich placer mining ground, probably the
richest gulch ever discovered, having produced $75,000,000 and is
not yet exhausted. Virginia City soon became the center of population
and trade. The brethren there must have been prompt in returning
their dispensation, for at this Communication, December, 1864, a
charter was granted by the Grand Lodge of Kansas to Virginia City
Lodge, No. 43, naming as principal officers, P. S. Pfouts, W. M., J. S.
Fox, S. W., Henry Mittnacht, J. W. Brother John J. Hull, who was our
first Grand Master, was the Senior Deacon, and among the charter
members were Brother W. F. Sanders, our third Grand Master, John
Potter, who was three times Deputy Grand Master, R. T. Kennon,
Junior Grand Warden in 1875, and several other prominent and well-
known Brothers, at least five of whom are still living. That it was an
active Lodge while under dispensation is shown by the fact that 22
were raised and 23 admitted and its members numbered 58. During
1864 I was mining in the gulch above Virginia and visited Virginia
City Lodge only once and was admitted upon examination. I found
the Lodge meeting in the second story of a log building, and upon
my inquiring of some resident where the Masonic hall was, I was
pointed to a building where the light was shining through cracks
between the logs.
The second Lodge was also organized in Virginia City in 1865, under
dispensation from Colorado, signed by the Deputy Grand Master
of that jurisdiction, April 4, 1865, in which the three first officers
named were Brothers H. L. Hosmer, then Chief Justice, L. W. Frary,
S. W. (our second Grand Master who had come from Colorado the
year before, where he was W. M. of Golden City Lodge, No. 1), and
William Gray, J. W. In January, 1865, I had removed from Alder
Gulch to Helena, where the Last Chance mines had been discovered
in September previous and were proving rich and extensive.