The area later to be Colorado was in 1858 part of four Territories. Auraria was in Kansas Territory and so it was to the Grand Lodge of Kansas that the Brethren in Auraria applied for a dispensation for regular Masonic authority. This was granted and M. W. Bro. Rees of Kansas enthused to his grand session:
“Auraria Lodge is the first advance of Masonry thus far west into the confines of the Rocky Mountains, and it is located within the newly discovered Gold regions of the West and literally amidst the highest hills and lowest valleys, where the sun, reflecting from perpetual snow, warms the rich vale in its constant verdure. Truly, this is an age of penetration and progression, and the genial influence of Masonry, cementing and warming the hearts of its members, keeps pace with the march of civilization.
“To the care of R. W. Bro. D. P. Wallingford of Missouri, I committed this Dispensation, and he has doubtless set the brethren to work in AMPLE FORM in that far-distant land; and we will earnestly pray that they may quarry no stone unfitted for the building, but perform their work in peace and harmony.”
Over forty brethren attended the first regular communication October 1st, 1859. The meeting place was the upper floor of a two-story building just completed on Ferry street by a member of the Lodge, Abraham Jacobs.
The Lodge went to work immediately. At the second meeting, six petitions were presented. The first initiation in Colorado was Dee. 10th, 1859. The first Fellow Craft degree was conferred Jan. 7th, 1860. The first Master Mason was raised Feb. 6th, 1860.
Ferry St. Bldg., Auraria’s First Home The desire for other Lodges spread rapidly. On Nov. 26th, 1859 Auraria U. D. recommended granting of a dispensation for a Lodge at Golden City, twelve miles northwest. M. W. Bro. Rees of Kansas granted this request to Bro. J. E. Hardy and fellow petitioners on Jan. 21st, 1860.
Less than four months later John Milton Chivington, destined to be first Grand Master of Colorado, arrived as presiding elder of the Methodist Church. Grand Chaplain of Nebraska at the time, he supposedly brought blank dispensations for Lodges with him. Dispensations from Nebraska resulted to Summit Lodge at Parkville (near Breckenridge) and Rocky Mountain Lodge at Gold Hill (near Boulder).
The first charter granted was to Golden as No. 34 under Kansas at the latter’s annual communication in October or 1860. As the representatives of Auraria Lodge did not arrive in time to present its charter application, its dispensation was continued for another year. Richard Sopris was named the new Master.
The hardy pioneers who remained for the winter at Nevadaville near Gregory Gulch received a dispensation from Kansas to form U. D. on December 22nd, 1860. Andrew Mason was Master. in the diggings Nevada Lodge.
At the Nebraska Grand Communication June 5th, 1861, charters were issued to Summit Lodge as No.7 and Rocky Mountain as No.8.
Following the recognition of the “Territory of Colorado” by the federal government in February, 1861, sentiment for a local Grand Lodge developed. The three chartered Lodges, Golden City No. 34 of Kansas Jurisdiction; Summit No.7 of Nebraska, and Rocky Mountain No. 8 of Nebraska formed the Grand Lodge of Colorado on August 2nd, 1861.
The officers elected were John M. Chivington, Gold Hill, Grand Master; S. M. Robbins, Parkville, Deputy Grand Master; James Ewing, Parkville, Senior Grand Warden; J. M. Hart, Gold Hill, Junior Grand Warden; Eli Carter, Golden City, Grand Treasurer; and C. A. Whittemore, Parkville, Grand Secretary.
Appointees were C. F. Holly, GoJd Hill, Grand Orator; J. IVl. Ferril, Golden City, Grand Marshal; Joshua Miller, Summit, Senior Grand Deacon; C. W. Smith, Gold Hill, Junior Grand Deacon; D. T. Robley, Summit, Grand Tiler; E. S. Glotfelder, Gold Hill, Grand Steward; J. A. Moore, Golden City, Grand Sword Bearer.
The Grand Lodge of Kansas, seemingly unaware of the formation of the new Colorado grand body due to the slow communications of the time, issued charter No. 36 to Nevada Lodge U. D. and charter No. 37 to Auraria U. D. on October 15th, 1861. Auraria surrendered its charter to Kansas and received a Colorado dispensation from M. W. Bro. Chivington.
At Colorado’s first annual communication December 10th, 1861, Nevada Lodge surrendered its Kansas charter and asked for a Colorado charter which was issued as Nevada Lodge No.4. The Nevada brethren are said to have delayed until this time to satisfy themselves about jurisdictional regularity.
During this same session Auraria U. D. was chartered as No. U. D. at Central City as Chivington No. 6. The latter lodge later to Central No.6.
Monument Hardly was the Grand Lodge organized until one constituent Lodge had to be dropped from the rolls. At the second annual communication Rocky Mountain No.3, located on shallow and soon worked-out diggings at Gold Hill, surrendered its charter. Secretary John A. Moore reported: “The secretary was in the states the past winter and summer and upon his return found himself all alone in the district, all other members having removed to different sections of the country from which they could not well come here for Masonic labors … Thc Lodge has necessarily slept the past year.”
Denver Brethren survived the bitter strife and controversies of the by an unusual procedure — chartering a Lodge during the Grand Lodge 1863 without it having been tested under dispensation.
The Masons of the Territorial Governor’s staff and the Army were naturally partisan to the North. They found it difficult to fraternize with some members of Denver No.5 who were Southern sympathizers. There was no question of their Masonic abilities so overnight at the third annual communication the idea was conceived to charter their group directly without the formality of a dispensation.
The Lodge was aptly named Union No.7 and S. H. Elbert, Jater governor of the state, became Master.
The two Lodges used the same hall, furniture, and jewels for several years and dwelt together in peace and harmony by meeting on opposite Saturday nights.
Summit Lodge No.2 at Parkville charter in 1865 as the profitable gold estimated 10,000 inhabitants had left.
But three charters were issued that year: to Empire No.8 in Empire, Clear Creek County, Colorado; and two to Lodges outside the territory, Montana Lodge No.9 at Virginia City, Montana and to Helena City No. 10 at Helena City, Montana.
Many of the gold seekers migrated to Montana with the news of the big strikes there and were prominent in establishing Masonry in that area. L. W. Frary, Golden City’s Senior Warden in 1861 and Master in 1865, and Colorado’s Grand Treasurer in 1863, became the first Senior Warden of Montana Lodge No.9 in Virginia City and Grand Master of Montana in 1867.
James R. Boyce, former treasurer of Union No.7 also transferred to this Lodge. He installed the first Grand Lodge officers of Montana and became Montana’s Grand Master in 1872.
The famed Vigilantes, responsible for discouraging lawlessness, are said to have been formed principally from No. 9’s membership. Paris S. Pfouts, first Master of Denver No.5 and Senior Grand Warden in Colorado in 1801, moved to Virginia City, was elected Mayor, and President of the Vigilantes.
Dispensation for the third lodge in the gold regions of Gilpin county was granted by M. W. Bro. Andrew Mason on Feb. 15, 1866. This was to Blackhawk Lodge. It was chartered October 1st, 1866.
Chase Withrow, the Worshipful Master of the new group, was on the same day elected and installed Grand Master of Masons of Colorado.
The Senior Warden was Harper M. Orahood, who in 1876 likewise became Grand Master. Both Withrow and Orahood served as Grand Lecturer for several terms during the next 20 years.
Blackhawk reported 38 Master Masons and two Entered Apprentice affiliates. I t had initiated 17, passed 15, raised 16, and rejected 17.
The chartering of the first lodge south of Denver and to the east of the Rockies was delayed one year when the dispensation for El Paso Lodge at Colorado City was, in 1866, “continued at the Grand Master’s discretion.” While the lodge reported 17 Master Masons, two Fellowcrafts and five Entered Apprentices and that it had initiated 11, passed six and raised five, still the minutes failed to show a constitutional number had been present at any communication. It was approved as No. 13 in 1867.
The second lodge to be chartered from the floor of the Grand Lodge without a period of dispensation was Washington Lodge No. 12 at Georgetown in 1867. The 14 petitioners named Andrew Mason, recently Grand Master, to be the new Worshipful Master. Their application was recommended by Empire Lodge No. 8, Mason’s former lodge.
M. W. Bro. Chase Withrow had at first refused a request from Columbia City for a dispensation as it had nominated Past Grand Master Archibald J. Van Deren as Master. He told Withrow he could not and would not serve and besides Columbia City had “no room suitable to the practice of Masonic rites.”
Later the difficulties were removed and the dispensation granted. The lodge had 25 Master Masons, two Fellowcrafts, and five Entered Apprentices. It initiated 19, passed 12, raised 12, and rejected four previous to its chartering October 8th, 1867 as Columbia, No. 14.
In January, 1868, fifteen Valmont brethren likewise obtained a dispensation for a new lodge. The Worshipful Master visited Grand Lecturer Orahood in Blackhawk for two days to receive instruction and later the Grand Lecturer visited Valmont for four days to teach the ritual. He reported to Grand Lodge: “I left them very proficient in the work.”
Their dispensation was surrendered in October of that year when Columbia No. 14 moved from the mountain town of Columbia City to Boulder City in the foothills and they consolidated with Columbia.
A dispensation was issued to G. 13. Frazier and 10 other Masons for a lodge at Canon City, Fremont County in December, 1867 by Grand Master Teller. Though the county had few inhabitants and a very few Masons the dispensation was granted because of the intense interest. Frazier, his two sons, and others were so eager to attend lodge that they traveled 55 miles on hourse back to El Paso Lodge at Colorado City, slept overnight on the lodge floor, and returned to Canon City the next day.
Three dispensations were issued by R. W. Bro. O. A. Whittemore, Deputy Grand Master, during the absence of Grand Master Teller. These were to brethren in Cheyenne, Dakota Territory; Pueblo, Colo.; and Denver, where a third lodge was to be called Germania.
That the spread of Masonry in the Rocky Mountain area was influenced greatly by Colorado Masonry is shown by the naming of W. Bro. James Scott, Past Master of Golden City No.1, to be Worshipful Master of the lodge under dispensation in Cheyenne. It was chartered in October, 1868.
Cornelius J. Hart, later Grand Master, was instrumental in forming Pueblo No. 17, a lodge which was to be instrumental in the rapid spread of Masonry in the southern part of the state. It also received a charter in October, 1868.
The charter application of Denver brethren of Germania Lodge U. D. was refused after M. W. Teller questioned the wisdom of the action “as the memberships of the lodges already chartered there are not large and I fear another lodge will weaken those already established. I would prefer to see a few strong lodges in the jurisdiction rather than to see a large number of feeble ones.” (At that time Chivington Lodge No.6 to which Teller belonged had 123 members, Denver Lodge No.5 had 116, and Union Lodge No.7, 73 members.)
The following year he refused a dispensation to brethren at Granite, Lake county. Among the reasons was a considerable debt incurred by the members. “If there is not sufficient interest to see that the lodge starts out of debt, I think it well to Jet them wait.”
Also, dispensations ,were refused to brethren at Idaho, Clear Creek county, because of the sparseness of population and to brethren at South Park City because the application was received in the month prior to Grand Lodge.
The Masons at Cheyenne lost no time in recommending a dispensation for a lodge at Laramie City, Wyoming. This was granted on January 31st, 1870. Chartering followed at the tenth annual communication on September 27th, 1870 to the Lodge as Laramie No. 16.
Concurrently a charter was issued to Collins Lodge No. 19 at Fort Collins to the lodge known under dispensation as Fidelity. Henry Clay Peterson was the first and several times Master. He was another promoter of Masonry wherever he journeyed. Later he became the organizer and stalwart member of Rio Blanco Lodge No. 80 at Meeker.
Collins No. 19 immediately recommended a dispensation for Occidental Lodge at Greeley as it had 44 petitioners. It was chartered as No. 20 September 26th, 1871.
During this year, a group of Masons at Salt Lake City received dispensation and charter as Argenta No. 21, thus making Utah the fourth state to receive Masonic light from our Grand Lodge. First the mother state of Colorado, then Montana, Wyoming, and Utah.
