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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, OR Wednesday, July 2, 2008
July 12 set for Kerbyville Lodge 150th
By ROGER BRANDT
Kerbyville Masonic
Lodge, officially named the
Western Star Lodge No. 18,
was established shortly after
the beginning of the Oregon
gold rush, when pioneer set-
tlers were moving into S.W.
Oregon, and tensions between
Native Americans and miners
had flared into the Rogue
Indian War.
Various events, espe-
cially gold strikes and estab-
lishment of transportation
Dr. Daniel Holton
routes, played a role in where
Kerbyville Masonic Lodge
would be established.
In 1852, the year after the
first gold strikes in this area,
pack trains began carrying
supplies to Oregon mining
camps from Crescent City,
Calif. The trail forked near
present-day O’Brien with one
branch going to the gold
fields near the former settle-
ments of Waldo and Brown-
town, and the other going
toward Jacksonville in Jack-
son County. The Jacksonville
fork of the trail crossed Illi-
nois River in the approximate
location of present-day
Kerby.
It was in Kerby, in 1853,
that Col. James Kerby estab-
lished a trading post on the
west side of Illinois River.
And in the following year he
filed for a donation land claim
on the east side of the river.
This claim later would be-
come the town site of Kerby-
ville and the future home of
Western Star Lodge No. 18.
In 1856 Dr. Daniel Hol-
ton began promoting the idea
of creating the town of Ker-
byville and moving the Jose-
phine County seat to this lo-
cation because of its
“centralized” location in rela-
tion to the major mining op-
erations around Illinois Val-
ley. The logic apparently
made sense to voters, and
Kerbyville was declared the
county seat in July 1857. Hol-
ton later would become in-
strumental in establishment of
Western Star Lodge No. 18.
The Masons of Kerby-
ville petitioned the-then re-
building is still standing, now
cently formed Warren Lodge
home of the Dovetail Joint,
10 in Jacksonville to sponsor
and lettering at the top of the
formation of a lodge in Ker-
building identifies it as a Ma-
byville. In 1857 they were
sonic Lodge.
granted a dispensation giving
The Masons met in this
the group the authority to
building until 1979 when the
hold meetings to demonstrate
organization purchased the
ability to carry out the respon-
former Kerbyville Union
sibilities of a lodge. These
High School. They renovated
meetings require that three
the interior and donated it to
members from the sponsoring
Rogue Community College
lodge are present to provide
to be used in perpetuity as an
guidance.
educational and community
The three members rode
center. A small portion of the
from Jacksonville on horse-
building is used as the Ma-
back or wagon to attend meet-
sonic Lodge, where members
ings in Kerbyville. A year
continue to meet to this date.
later, in July 1858, the lodge
Within a year after West-
was granted its charter by the
ern Star Lodge No. 18 was
Grand Lodge of Ore-
gon.
The Western Star
had a fairly unglamor-
ous, beginning with
the first meetings held
in a barn. It was used
for two years before
meetings were moved
into a house owned
by Dr. Holton. This
building was on the
southwest corner of
Sixth Street and Hol-
Early day Kerbyville Masonic Lodge
ton Road in Kerby-
ville and was purchased from
established in 1858, a group
Holton by the Masons in Sep-
of Masons requested Western
tember 1859.
Star to sponsor a lodge in
Meetings were briefly
Browntown, a mining com-
moved in April 1861 to a
munity on Althouse Creek in
meeting hall in the second
Illinois Valley.
story of the Morris & Taylor
Browntown began as a
store in Kerbyville, but a fire
mining camp when gold was
destroyed the building in Sep-
discovered in Althouse Creek
tember that year. The Masons
in 1852. Later, the largest
negotiated to find a new loca-
gold nugget in Oregon history
tion, but it is uncertain where
was found near Browntown.
The town quickly became a
point of much importance,
and it is estimated that it had
from 300 to 500 inhabitants.
There probably were another
500 people living in town-
like camps upstream, all of
which were within 5 to 6
miles of Browntown.
By 1854, Browntown, in
the vicinity of today’s Hol-
land Store, was said to have
two bakeries, 10 stores, four
hotels, a bowling alley, seven
Dr. A.M. Belt
saloons, three blacksmith
shops and two “dance or
they met until July 1864 when
fancy houses.”
they purchased a two-story
In March 1859, Western
building from Kendal & Bolt.
Star Lodge agreed to sponsor
This became known in
a lodge in Browntown. It later
later years as the old Kerby-
was chartered as Belt Lodge
ville Masonic Bldg. It was on
No. 26. The lodge was named
the northeast corner of Sixth
in honor of Dr. Belt, a promi-
Street and Hwy. 199.
nent and active Oregon Grand
In 1907 a new lodge was
Masonic Lodge leader. There
constructed across the street
is no record that he ever lived
from the former lodge at the
in or visited Illinois Valley.
northwest corner of Sixth.
The mines on Althouse
The lower part of the building
Creek continued to produce
was used as a store with
gold for half a dozen years,
meetings held by the Masons
and the Browntown area
on the second floor. This
County budget reflects fund lack
(Continued from page 1)
Commission Chairman
Dave Toler stated that he was
the “lone dissenter” during
meetings of the Budget Com-
mittee regarding funding.
“The level of expenditures is
not sustainable,” he said.
“We’re spending our savings
in one year.”
However, he noted that
“decisions are not easy, and
obviously public safety is
number one, so I will support
this budget this time around
and work with JCLI.”
“If we want libraries,
we’ll donate,” she said. “As
libraries are essentially an
educational charity.” Another
speaker stated that libraries
should be privately funded.
Grants Pass resident Mi-
chael Kline said that the
money problems could be
solved, but “we’ve gone
green and gone crazy.” He
stated generally that because
of reductions on timber har-
vesting, and due to restric-
tions on aggregate mining,
“We’ve negated what has
A large crowd and two TV news reporters were among
those attending the June 25 meeting. (Photo by I.V. News)
Regarding libraries, sev-
eral of those pleading for
funding are members of
JCLI. A different view was
given by Grants Pass resident
Rycke Brown. She said that
she is for libraries, but that
there is “no need for commis-
sioners to give money.
always worked.”
GP resident Lyle Wood-
cock said, “We can’t have our
cake and eat it too. We need
to get back to timber harvest-
ing, especially old-growth,
which is going to die and rot.
We need to replant for future
generations.”
A Merlin resident said
that he and his wife would
not have moved to the county
if they had known that librar-
ies would close. He said that
because of that situation, the
county is losing money be-
cause of people not moving
into the county and therefore
not supporting the economy.
He also said that busi-
nesses will not move to the
county because of the closure
of public libraries.
GP resident Dave Mannix
accused the commissioners of
violating the county charter by
not funding libraries. They are
“an absolutely essential public
service,” he said.
JCLI Chairman Bill Pe-
terson told the commissioners
that it’s “important to live up
to your commitments.” He
referred to the board’s state-
ment earlier this year that it
could provide $300,000 in
matching funds. He added
that JCLI is approaching
$200,000 in its fund-raising.
He and others also told
the commissioners that the
county should at least pay for
utilities at the library
branches. However, Toler
noted that the costs are not
nominal.
“There is lots involved,”
he said, “but we will do what
we can to make that happen.”
population remained large
until about 1864, when min-
ing activity along the creek
and in the surrounding moun-
tains was said to have “nearly
winked out.” The town is
assumed to have gradually
faded toward abandonment as
miners left.
With membership in Belt
Lodge diminishing, it was
decided to consolidate it with
the Western Star Lodge, and
in July 1864 the Oregon
Grand Lodge gave permis-
sion for the consolidation. It
was decided that the new,
consolidated lodge would use
part of the names from both
lodges.
From Belt Lodge
No. 26 they took
“Belt” and from West-
ern Star Lodge No.
18, they took “18.”
The new lodge was
named Belt Lodge
No. 18, the name it
continues to carry
today.
After consolidation,
the new lodge’s mem-
bership was spread
over a wider region,
and notices about
meetings became increasingly
difficult to dispense. Due to
the great deal of time that
members needed to invest in
traveling from one side of the
valley to the other it was de-
cided in 1867 that meetings
always would be conducted
Saturday nights on or before
the full moon. The group was
known as the full moon Ma-
sons.
At the time the Belt and
Western Star lodges merged,
plans were being made to
construct a railroad from
Portland to California. By
1879, the railroad had been
constructed from Portland to
Roseburg, and in 1884 con-
struction of the Oregon &
California Railroad reached
Grants Pass. The first passen-
ger train arrived there on
Christmas Eve the same year.
Around the same time
that the railroad reached
Grants Pass, a petition was
submitted to Belt Lodge No.
18 to sponsor a new lodge in
Grants Pass. Sponsorship was
granted, and the new lodge
was chartered in 1885 as
Grants Pass Lodge No. 84. A
year later, the county seat was
moved from Kerbyville to
Grants Pass.
Kerbyville Belt Lodge
No. 18 continues to be active
today providing community
service and scholarships for
Illinois Valley students. In
July 2008 the lodge will cele-
brate its 150th anniversary as
Josephine County’s first and
oldest Masonic Lodge.
* * *
The public can join the
Kerbyville Masons as they
celebrate their 150th anniver-
sary at what’s now the Rogue
Community College Belt
Bldg. at 24311 Redwood
Hwy. in Kerby on Saturday,
July 12. The ceremony will
begin at 11 a.m. with the set-
ting of a Ceremonial Corner-
stone conducted by the Grand
Master of Masons in Oregon
and his Grand Officers.
This is an ancient tradition
perpetuated by Masons for
public buildings. The lodge
will be open to the public, and
various other ceremonies will
be conducted until 1 p.m.
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JuLY 4, 5 & 6
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