The Alaska daily empire., 1920-11-19

funeral oration and in the name ot ! the lodge bade farewell to the his toric document, the match was ap- rlice and the parchment crumbled to ashes in blaze of red fire, while most cheerful funeral ever held in Juneau If there were tears shed last night they were tears of joy.
 Toward midnight a banquet was served in the lodge hall. where three long tables accommodated 150 guests at single sitting. Dancing was indulged in until one o'clock, when the party bro'.e up.
 The committee having the affair n charge consisted of w. L. Martin John Mclaughlin, Frank Wilson. w. r.. Garster and P. J. F. Boivin Tho members worked hard tc make the occasion a memorable one and le1erve much credit for it's success ful outcome.
 Early History of Building
 Reviewing the obstacles which confronted the building committea when they undertook the construc- ten of the lodge building in 1995 and which lasted during and after the period of erection, MT. Forrest gave the following. interesting de tails:
 The building site now owned by the Elks was at the time when we neCotiated for the purchase, the prop arfy of Sam Kaufman The property was offered for $2.000 the only i'm Er5vements being a small residence set high on a bank with stairs lead ing from Front Street and no con meeting street between Front and Second Streets on Franklin Having but $1.50000 in the treasury, we pro ceaded to negotiate for the purchase of the building against great oppo- sition on the part of some brosea because at the time this property was in the center of what was tho 'd nee hall section, and il was freely predicted that the property would never he of yalue NotwithstanGInS jhat view, however. the committee was successful in getting a reduction in tae price and eventually purchased tho property for $150000 This pur- chase depleted our exchequer. and ;n orler to make certain improvements special committees were appointed for the purpose of giving entertain megts and from this source. and the collection of lodge dues, we proceed ed 10 improve Franklin street which nceessitated cutting through a heavy embankment from Front Street and required the use of the hydraulic process.
 Lodge Goes Broke
 After completing the street grade We decided to continue the grading work. as we were able 10 keep about even with the expenses, and as con. sentence we graded the entire To- which made il necessary to erecs I strong bulkhead to hold the hish embankments to save not only the work We had already accomplished. hut also some houses on the adjoin- ing property. By this time our ex chequer had been again completele deuleted and we were Left with some obligations to meet which brought on the necessity of appointing a bu ldine committee to provide ways and means for meeting such obliga- tiols and funds 10 continue the work The committee decided upon a novel idea of raising funds. They hal printed receipts, styled, "Certificatc of Debeuture These certificates were numerically numbered but were moi issued in any fixed denomina- tion. Through the sale of these cer- t'tcates, we were able during the sumner of 1905, 10 start erecting the concrete foundation walls which now support our building. During the time this work Was under prog- ress, we never knew whether we would be able ,o meet our wechl i, payroll, but at the eleventh hour some good brother would come for ward and accept in lieu of cash. one perfectly good certificate that mad no more to recommend its valua as an investment than counterfeit lnon- ey but the investment value was not the point and this very fact made it possible for us to proceed.
 Late in ihe Fan of 1905 wa con pleted the four blank walls or our foundation and not knowing waoa We could aean rrsume our auldlg activities we had wood cap7.nes