LA VETA, COLORADO
Ten members of Huerfano Lodge 27 living in the vicinity of La Veta joined with five other Masons to petition the Grand Lodge for a lodge in La Veta in January, 1884. As most of them lived about 20 miles from Walsenburg, No. 27’s home, regular lodge attendance was difficult.
“The old timers. . . would endure great hardships to attend the meetings. They would ride twenty miles on horseback in all kinds of weather and seldom missed a stated meeting. After a third degree raising they would retire to the store owned by Alexander Levy for their banquet of cheese and crackers. They would pull some blankets from the shelves, spread them on the counters, sleep until morning, eat some more cheese and crackers, saddle the horses, ride twenty miles back home and go to work.”
The journey on horseback would take four to four and one-half hours, but if they took a wagon to bring back supplies, the trip would require eight to ten hours.
Four of these petitioners had been charter members of Huerfano No. 27, including Henry Daigre, first Worshipful Master of No. 59. He was the first manager of the Vigil-St. Vrain Land Grant which led to the development of the community.
Another was Joseph Kaylor Kincaid, first Senior Warden and Master in 1886. Two of his sons and two grandsons have followed as Master.
The dispensation was granted January 21, 1884 and the charter on September 17, 1884.
The lodge first rented a hall for $100 a year, requiring two ante-rooms to be constructed and the floor to be “deadened” by a sawdust filling between the joists.
First big special event was the St. John’s banquet in 1885. There were two offers to supply the meal which was to consist of meats (chicken, turkey, and ham) with proper salads, vegetables, coffee, tea, with cakes and pie. The lowest bid of thirty five cents per plate was accepted. One hundred eight persons enjoyed the feast and the talk by Rev. R. A. Quillian. His hotel bill of $1 was paid by the lodge.
Several times heavy snows prevented communications of this lodge. Fifty inches of wet snow fell in three days in November, 1946. Two years later the “really big snow” made February communications impossible as it stayed on the ground for about five weeks, stopped train traffic, and cut off La Veta from Walsenburg for the whole period. One night the thermometer registered 25 degrees below zero.
Perhaps the most renowned member of the lodge was “Hi” Vasquez, who when a tot was abducted by Shoshone Indians from his playground near Fort Bridger, Wyoming and raised as a member of the tribe. When he was about nine years old he made his way into a Utah town where he was recognized as a white child and returned to his parents.
Albert E. Jameson of La Veta No. 59 is presently the popular Grand Lecturer of Colorado.
“A vast amount of lodge activity does not appear in the history. But most of the work is routine so there is a sameness from year to year. The actors gradually change but the action remains closely the same. The continuous change of actors prevents monotony.”
