COLLBRAN, COLORADO
In 1907 a Mason living in the Collbran area and wishing to go to lodge would be required to travel from 12 to 18 miles, usually on horseback. To remedy this situation a petition to form a new lodge was submitted to but was not granted by M.W. Bro. Joseph A. Davis. He thought it would be better to have one lodge, Plateau Lodge No. 101 at Mesa, on a fair footing than to have two weak lodges.
Undismayed by this turn of events, 17 Master Masons submitted another petition the following year and on June 1, 1908 a dispensation was issued under the name of Grand Mesa Lodge U. D. While the record is not explicit on this point, it appears that the possibility of conflict between Grand Mesa Lodge and Mesa Lodge No. 55 at Grand Junction impelled the issuance of the charter, on September 21, 1908, under the name of Tuscan Lodge No. 131. The lodge was constituted on November 8, 1908 by M.W. Bro. John B. Haffy.
As was true of many Colorado lodges, the founders and early members of Tuscan Lodge were ranchers, cattlemen, farmers, bankers, merchants and school teachers.
After a little more than thirty years of existence, the lodge, through the manual labors of some of its members and by the judicious use of borrowed money, repaid punctually, acquired its own meeting place.
For some time the members have enjoyed an annual picnic for Masons, members of the Eastern Star and their families. When a month has five Mondays it has been the custom for the Masons to hold joint social meetings for entertainment with the members of the Star. Among the projects sponsored was the furnishing of a room at the Plateau Valley Congregational Hospital, to be known as the Mason’s room.
No fewer than four pairs of fathers and sons have served as Masters of the lodge during its more than fifty years of life.
The growth of the lodge has not been spectacular but has been satisfactory, with the latest census showing 81 members.
