The Cook County herald. [volume] (Grand Marais, Minn.) 1893-1909, 1898-09-24
"a GRE & { "a. Y e r N 10 DGE
Arizona Masons Meet il 8 Mann
moth Cave. ss53
Return to the First PrIncIpies OF the
Ancient Order Ms Exempli-
s# fed at sOlomon's
As5asaas 4, I'D Temple.

Il In the written lore Of masonry is told
that the order had, its birth in the cave
quarries beneath Mou Mt Lebanon where
the Workmen of Solomon's temple gain
cred at8night and bound themse Ives
bro herhood, united in the triple cause
Of mutual protection, learning and
truth. In the earlier days Of the guild,
through the persecution that ever is
allotted a cult that is new, the caves
Of Syria, We're the lodge rooms. But
the days when masonry was deemed
allied to the black arts are past, and
not for centuries have the craftsmen
of the order been compelled to hide
their lodges like the foxes. ..v' ~
In Arizona there lis a return to first
principles, for the annual sessions of
the grand lodges of the territory will
be held in cavern. Not in a dismal
quarry, rough strewn with the products
of the chisel and mallet, but in temple
of SURPRISING beauty, a direct gift from
the supreme master, unmarried by touch
of human workman. Large it is as the
largest lodge room, with futed and fres-
pillars, such as mortal could never hew,
the walls the spotless white of purity,
with here and. there a stripe of the blue
of the earth. At the masters right hand
nature has placed a pedestal Of creamy
white, that will ring like bell under
his gavel. On either side the dais are
snowy curtains of purest lime, through
which the lights will shine, only mel
lowed by the barrier. Though the lodge
room is 800 feet below the surface. it
yet will be reached from below; and
we'll guarded it may be, for the ap-
proach for rods is by narrow tunnel.
Then the way leads up a short shaft
and through portal broken in the cav
ern's side.
AT the back, beyond the, masters sta
ton, is another gateway, but one that
only adds to the mystic influence of the
place. Outlet it is, yet no man knoweth
whittier it leads. Though the cavern's
air is sweet and pure, no draft comes
from the Stygian pit. No man has ever
been lowered into its mouth, and Ian
terms swung down show nothing be-
yond the narrow slit, six feet in width,
of unknown length and depth. Stones
thrown within are never heard to strike
the bottom. Such is the rearward boun-
dairy of the lodge room.
The location is at Bisbee, one of the
most unromantic of mining towns, set
in gorge of the Mule mountains, in the
southeastern part of Arizona Down
the narrow valley the shanties struggle
in the usual Notwithstanding way. At
the head are the great smelling fur
naces, surrounded by the growing
mountains of Stag. Below this lies the
lodge room; down a shaft, along a drift
and up an "upraise,' where ,stolid Cor
nish miners broke through the side Of
the chamber. The room is approximate
ly an acre in area and 20 feet in height.
Under foot the white floor is almost
level. Overhead the dripping of lime
water long ago drained has left the most
curious tracery, much as though, it has
been remarked, the cavern were in an
iceberg and not in coarser earth.
The management of the Copper Queen
is not in the mining business for senti-
ment. That the cave has not been dis
turbed is probably owing to the fact
that the copper deposits cease in the
surrounding lime rock. So work has
been prosecuted elsewhere in the 60
miles of drifts and shafts that honey
comb the earth to the depth of 500 feet
Yet the manager of the mine, the senior
of the noted Williams brothers, is not
a man devoid of sensibility of fitness.
He is, withal, a mason. He has offered
the cavern for the grand lodge sessions,
and perhaps the only moderp depar-
ture will be to brilliantly light it by
electricitY=St I.n11is G1nha-Damnora