(Special to The Gazette.)
RED LODGE, Oct. 13.-The corner stone of what is to be the imposing I home of the Masonic fraternity in Carbon county was laid today with impressive ceremonies that were participated in by a large number of men prominent in the social as well as the commercial, professional and political life of the city and state.
The structure, which stands in what is fast becoming the business heart of the spreading city, is of generous dimensions and when it shall have been completed will be eye-filling and mind satisfying.
The ceremony was conducted under the Star of West lodge of Masons of this city and aside from its ritualistic and oratorical features, dignified and somber, included a deposit of local historic and other articles within the stone before it was formally sealed. Among these articles were a copy of the by-laws, a list of the local members, copy of the Bible, a copy of the agreement entered into between the coal miners and operators, a Lincoln penny and a nickel coin, a list of the county officers, copies of the Daily Picket and the Republican Picket, a list of Red Lodge city officials, a copy of the city ordinances, a receipt from County Treasurer W. S. Rae and a lodge letterhead of Treasurer Charles Wilson.
The initial address was made by John L. Carroll of Butte, grand master, and the closing address by John G. Bair of Great Falls, grand junior warden. In the course of his address Mr. Bair told the assembled Masons that they were building for the future, that they represented a great institution whose cardinal principles were faith, hope and charity; that Masonry in its past is secure, that there always has been and still are two forces contesting for supremacy, one force represented by ignorance, vice and superstition, the other represented by right, enlightenment and uplifting, under which latter banner Masonry is arrayed.
From the Billings Gazette