Arizona republican., 1913-08-26
WR|E1S
 0F BETS FIND.
Tells of Discovery by Local Man of Practical Use for the Grand Canyon and What It All Means to Masonry in Arizona

| CHarvey) Betts and Harvey Betts las discovered a practical use for
 he Grand Canyon of the Colorado in Arizona. In his Arizona Magazine for August, Editor Scott tells most -nterta!ningly of his achievement, taking no credit to himself but sling Ing it on thick for and in behalf of | Betts. The story is self explanatory. This is the way it goes:
 While adventurers and explorers have been busy securing the utter l most parts of the earth, discovering 1 north and south poles. sealing snow l peaks above the clouds and | penetrating the jungies of the tropics, 1 the purpose of that masterpiece of 1 natures handiwork. the Grand Can l yon of the Colorado, has remained q l mystery to mankind. Scientists of 1 world renown have stood upon it's l awful brink and marveled no less at it's Genesis than at its Revelation. In | of it's majesty, spirit l moving orators have been tongue tied | and descriptive writers have moved | their faltering pens with palsied ! hands. The measured lines of. the pilgrim poet have but emphasized the narrowness of his vision and the fee hleness of his figures, while philoso phy is futile in the presence of such I -grandeur Economists and >utilitarians have mutely pondered the secrets of this mighty chasm and seeking to apply it's potential possi- bilities to practical human purpose, in contemplation of their problem have been humbled by their finite It is just there. in full redemption of all the press notices. more than a mile deep and ten or fifteen miles wide and that is all anybody can say about it.
 Tn one respect A. A. Betts of Phoenix, Arizona. is the most remark able man that ever lived. Outstrip ping the scientist. poet, spenbinder, economist and word painter. he has found a practical use for the Grand Canyon. On his suggestion Leroy Middleton, as Most Worshipful Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons of the jurisdiction of Arizona, has authorized him to summon the brethren to fore gather in that abysmal slit the Sth and 9th of September, for the purpose of conferring the first, second and third degrees in Masonry.
 Betts lays no special claim to greatness. He just happened to hit upon bright idea as most anybody is liable to do at least once in a lifetime and the marvel of it is that the unique appropriateness of it did not occur to others long ago Betts $ a Mason. More than that he is the Worshipful Master of Phoenix Lodge No ? under whose auspices these ceremonials will take place. He has been a Mason a long time but it seems that when one gets into his present office of dignity and respect he is rather more "on the job than usual; else would this idea have ap-
 pealed to him sooner, for the Grand
 Canyon has been there all the time and he has had strong 'pulF' with
 it for several years. through his in
 timat te friend, the Santa Fe railroad.
 'Betts dropped in on the Canyon a
 while back at a time when his head
 was full of squares and compasses and other devices of Masonry, and
 his subjective mentality was ruminat-
 ing on the environment of the elder
 craftsmen. when Hiram slipped over
 from Tyre. gave the high sign to
 Hiram Abiff and getting the pass
 word from King Solomon, winked
 knowingly at the faithful and re-
 paired to some secret place of meet ing where the elect were inducted
 into the Sanctuary of Mysteries
 Times have changed some since then
 when the Masonic temple instead of
 being twenty four stories high in the
 main part of town, was more often q hole in the ground. One had to be as careful about going to lodge in
 those days as twentieth century
 business man has to be in passing a
 stogies to a United States senator, if he did not wish. to incur the dis pleasure of the populace It was more questionable to be in possession
 of a password than to be caught
 packing a slingshot for a sheep
 herder over in the next county.
 Harking back to those days when
 the most distinguished fraternal so- ciety on earth was in it's infancy MT. Betts could think of no finer
 tribute to the founders of the order
 than to hold an impressive session after the manner of the ancients and
 in primitive surroundings. The more
 he thought about it the more he re-
 alized that the Grand Canyon had
 been excavated for this special pur- pose: that nature had been humping
 itself for thousands of years to get the lodge room ready in time for use by Phoenix No. during the reign of
 A. A. Betts the First. Moreover, there
 was precedent in the conclave of the Grand Lodge of Arizona some years ago in d brilliantly lighted cavern in the Copper Queen mine at Bisbee A session in the Grand Canyon would be not only an honor to pristine Ma sonry but in emulation of the Grand Lodge of Arizona, and again prove to the world that Arizona Masons are the most up to- datist' bunch to be found anywhere behind an ante room To think 1t was to do it. so far as pfeliminaries are concerned, and the plan will be carried out early next |