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I left Friday afternoon for the monthly
meeting at Mariposa Masonic Lodge No. 24.
I stopped for the night in Madera, just
north of town near the airport. When I
got out of my car at the hotel parking lot
at 5:30PM, it was 105 degrees. 
I found the room air conditioner was not on
and the room was over 90. I turned on
the air conditioner and just kept pushing
the temperature down button. I
unpacked and went to dinner. On my
return the room was a tolerable 80. I
fell asleep just after midnight with the air
conditioner laboring away. The sound
of the air conditioner shutting off woke me
just after 530AM. It was very cold.
In my haste to turn on the air conditioner I
had set it to 57 degrees and it had
faithfully worked through the night to
attain that temperature.
In addition to the Monthly meeting this
Saturday morning in Mariposa, we also had
scheduled “Officer’s School of Instruction”
(OSI) for that afternoon. California
Masonic Lodges are organized into
Districts. Every District has an inspector
who convenes a monthly OSI to teach the
Masonic Ritual. Well, a better description
may be that the Inspector observes the
Brothers preforming the ritual in order to
ensure they have been taught correctly.
This Saturday’s OSI involved Brothers
from Mariposa, Merced and Hornitos. And,
Hornitos was the host Lodge.
After the meeting at Mariposa most of the
Brothers retired to the Miner’s Inn across
the road from the Lodge. The Miner’s Inn is
a motel, restaurant and bar located at the
intersection of State Highway 49 and State
Highway 140. We didn’t go there for a room
or to eat. Someplace to pass the time until
we had to leave for Hornitos.
At 1PM we left the Lodge for Hornitos.
I followed several Brothers in a pick-up
truck. They’re locals. They know
the way. Okay, they know their way.
Just past the Mariposa/Yosemite Airport you
turn onto the Old Toll Road. The word
“Old” is an apt description. My car
has racing tires – they are not appropriate
for very old, somewhat paved, mountain
roads. We made the 13 mile trip and
dropped into Hornitos.
Hornitos is Spanish for “Little Ovens.”
Founded around 1848 by Mexican miners, it
grew rapidly to over 6,000 people in the
mid-1850s. By the mid-1870s, over 15,000
people called Hornitos home. Then the gold
ran out. By the middle of the Depression
less than 75 people lived there. Today,
less than 50.
It is the quintessential California Gold
Rush Ghost Town. Chocked with ruins,
an old jail, church and requisite graveyard.
The town holds stories of fame, fortune,
loss and murder. Decades ago, I
walked around the town. Today it was
straight to the Lodge. Hornitos
Masonic Lodge is the smallest operating
Lodge in California. It just under 18
feet wide by under 30 feet long. I
parked out back and watched everyone going
through a back door I did not know existed.
It was a small passage that went down and
under the Lodge. You pass down into a
small, well-lite room that has the feel of a
bomb shelter and ship’s galley. It is
extraordinary clean and well-organized, yet
upon closer inspection you can see that the
well-maintained fixtures are decades old.
We had hot dogs and chips under the low
hanging roof.
In addition to being California’s smallest
Lodge it has the additional historical
significance of having the longest serving
Master of the Lodge. From 1872 to 1901
Worshipful William I. Adams held the
position of Master of the Lodge for 30
consecutive years. He then went on to serve
as Secretary for the next 20 years. In
addition to being Master, Adams served as
County Corner, Public Administrator, Justice
of the Peace, Blacksmith and Wagon Master.
Clearly, he held the Lodge together during
the declining years, but it sounds like the
town, also. I suspect he stopped serving as
Secretary in 1921 because he died at the age
of 88.
The interior of the Lodge is simply a museum
of California Gold Rush Masonry. An amazing
living museum. Still in use today, the OSI
was held in the Lodge room and we practice
the Third Degree of Masonry. For my Masonic
friends, it defines the term “local
conditions” as you move around the room and
re-enact the Legend.
The building didn’t start out as a Masonic
Lodge. In 1855, it was built by Italian
Stone Masons who worked in the nearby
mines. For the building’s first 20 years it
housed a number of businesses; from a
jewelry store to saloon. In 1873, the
Masons bought the building and have held
meeting in it from 1875 to the present.
OSI wrapped up just after 5PM. Down the
mountain, through Cathy’s Valley, La Grange
and then onto the 99 South. Nice evening
drive.
About the Author:
Lieutenant Raymond E. Foster, LAPD (ret.),
MPA
is the author of 11 books including Police Technology (Prentice Hall, 2004) and
Leadership: Texas Hold 'em Style. More information can be found about
Raymond at
Police Consultant.
Israeli expert on
security, protection, operations and prevention of criminal and terror acts;
and, Dr. Reuven Paz, Ph.D., an Israeli expert on militant and radical Islam and
Islamist movements.
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