Page 314 - Cornelius Hedges Story

301 The Cornelius Hedges Story

was referred to me to correspond with the Grand Lodge of Illinois. We
couldgetnosatisfaction.ThisisnotthewaythatwetreatedEurekaLodge
of California. It is not what we understand as the teaching of Masonry,
but rather what St. James calls one of the “spots” in the feast of charity.
The division of the jurisdiction into districts was again urged and
this time answered and the experiment tried with no satisfactory
results. Permission was asked and granted for Valley Lodge, No. 21,
to remove to Townsend, now the county seat of Broadwater County
and on the line of the Northern Pacific Railroad.
Bro. Samuel W. Langhorne was elected Grand Master and
Helena selected as the next meeting place. This matter of the
place of meeting, which in past years had been such a matter of
contention, had lost that character as it involved a considerable tax
upon the local craft, which in spite of protest from Grand Lodge
insisted upon entertainments which were never refused and were
generallyexpected. One of the most far-reaching amendments was
adopted on motion of our Grand Treasurer in reducing mileage to
5 cents by rail, two cents by stage or cayuse, and per diem to $3,
accompanying this the dues were reduced from $3.00 to $2.00.
The first effect of this was to sensibly reduce the revenue of Grand
Lodge. It was at this Communication also that it was finally settled
that no member should cast more than one vote, except as proxy for
one of the three principal officers of a Lodge. A memorial page was
inscribed to the memory of Bro. Ira Bateman, long-time Tyler, who
died five days after returning from Grand Lodge, aged 78 years,
universally respected.
The Twenty-first Annual Communication of the Grand Lodge of
Montana was held in Helena, October 7 - 8, 1885, with Brother
Samuel W. Langhorne officiating as Grand Master.
Prior to the Annual Communication on June 16th, a special
communication of the Grand Lodge was held to lay the corner stone
of the Masonic Temple in Helena, which has been ever since, and
still is, the meeting place of all the Masonic bodies in the city. It was
the fifth place that in their short history the Masons had occupied.
The first was in a log building on the east side of upper Main street,
in a half-story over an auction store, reached by an outside stairway,
where the occupants could only stand erect in the center of the room,
which was carpeted with sawdust and covered overhead with shakes
in lieu of shingles, of which at that time (1865) there were none in
the country.