Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1900-09-20
LYMASONRYIN MONTANA
Cornelius Hedges History Of the Birth Of the
Order in This State.

1redI rams WIN Iorty-SeNen louSeS rep
resented. Among other things an act of
charity was performed in the subscrip-
ton of 500 to the fund for the relief of
the Galveston sufferers. Reports showed
an increase of 40 in the membership of
the order in the state during the past
year bringing the total up to $40. Grand
officers for the ensuing year were elected
as follows:
Grand Master, Theodore f. Brantly
Helena; deputy grand master, George F.
Stack. Missoula; grand senior warden
Frank I. Smith, Lewistown; grand jun
Tor warden, S. H. Heppner, Helena
grand treasurer, H. NJ. Parchen, Helena
and grand secretary, Cornelius Hedges
Helena.
The following article of Corneliuus
Hedges, published in the initial number
of the Rocky Mountain Magazine upon
the subject of Masons in Montana, is OF
interest at this time.
1t is often and justly remarked of Ma
sorry that 1t is the handmade of religion,
requiring as it does of all who cross its
Ft%hreshold a belief in God, recognizing the
Scriptures as the great light of Mason
ry, keeping an ope Bible always upon
Its altar, and constantly enforcing by
precept an deXample, all the recognized
Christian virtues.
1t is not as commonly recognized and
mentioned. but it equally true that Ma
sorry is the ,bodyguard of social virtues
and the power behind the throne" of
law and order and civil government.
Such it has proved itself in many crises
OF history, especially Of our Anglo-Saxon
race and in this country. When society
has been rent from top to bottom as in
the days Of our revolution, when nearly
every community was divided into camps
of patriots and tories; and again in our
civil war there was a division of the
states, and to some extent in every state
into camps of unionists and secessionists,
and there was fear and danger not only
from open enemies but still more from
traitors and spies; at Auch times there
is felt the need of a tie stronger than
protested friendship and apparent inter-
est n conviction an anchor that will
hold when the winds are high and the
given proof of being such a tie. not only
when storms of danger are brewing but
even in the stress of bloody conflict.
There is much in the early history Of
Montana, before civil government was
established or had acquired strength to
be respected, that, if it could be told,
would illustrate this principle. Unlike
other states settled before or after the
civil war, the war times during which
Montana was settled brought together
some Of the worst elements Of both war
ring sections of the country, deserters
from both camps, seeking a cover in the
wilderness beyond the reach Of the civil
or military arm of government, where
they could shoot o fftheir mouths or
guns with comparative impunity.
1t would be rank injustice to assert
that a majority or a large portion OF the
early settlers of Montana We're despera-
does, seeking a field for unrestricted
crime. Rumors of the discovery of rich
and extensive gold mines at any time, in
any part of the world, will attract the
attention of adventurous persons whose
visions of great wealth to be suddenly
acquired only gain increased attractive
ness by reason of distance and interview
ing difficulties and hardships. Such were
the rumors from the gold discoveries at
Bannack, soon followed by better sub
Stimulated reports of richer and more ex-
tensive discoveries in Alder Gulch.
The national government not only ia
vored but aided this rush to the new gold
fields, and Capt. James Fisk under gov
ernment auspices led several trains by
the northern route from Minnesota, made
up of most substantial citizens, during
the years from 1920, into is now
Montana.
The Sioux Indians were giving the gov
eminent much trouble and were stirring
other tribes to take advantage of the
civil war to avenge real and fancied
wrongs and crafty their natural craving
for blood and rapine. The great wal of
the sections disclosed the weakness OF
the tie that bound the young states of
the Pacific coast to the rest of the union.
ny lcdSoll u lilS NdSI ~
ness of mountain and desert, more diff
ficult to cross than to make the voyage
by sea around Cape Horn, the route by
which congressman drew mileage. The
Mormons. settled at Salt Lake, no less
than the Indian tribes caused anxiety to
the national government.
1t was therefore clearly and in every
way desirable to the government to have
the great wilderness separating the east
from the west, broken up, explored and if
possible settled, and the chain made
complete from ocean to ocean.
TIL gold seekers pioneered the way for
the transcontinental railroad which but
shortly before was regarded as an impos-
s1bility.
so it was not only those from the Dor
der states who had been broke up by
the war. but many of best men of
the north who Joined the rush to the
gold fields of Idaho. But it must be adj
mitted that the union element in this
emigration was in G great minority. In
nearly every camp there could be heard
coin and the union. Even after Montana
had been organized as a territory in May
1864, at the first election for a delegate
to congress the party winning by a large
majority was pledged to the immediate
recognition of the southern confederacy
and the lilly flag" Of peace at any
price" was displayed at their meetings
and in professions. Northern "copper"
heads We'd with southern secessionists
In decrying the national government, op-
posing it's administration and insulting
the flag.
In the early organizing history of no
single state in the union were sue rough
discordant elements brought together as
In the case of Montana, and to render
the situation still worse almost the en-
tire population was gathered in a few
camps where the sentiment of the ma
iOritv rppraSante6 the whole.
There was no recognized circulating
medium but gold dust. Greenbacks were
at a discount, when received at all their
only use was for the merchants to send
east to purchase goods. There was no
Sunday as distinguished from other days
except by increased gambling n dissi-
patton. The very ease with which for
tunes were made in the mines encour-
aged recklessness in squandering them
and every sort of dissipation and crime.
In such a DEVILS hot-bed We're scat
tered a few seeds of Masonry. Past
Grand Master N. P. Langford, so we'll
and favorably known by all the early
settlers of Montana, in an address deliv-