Worshipful Master's Special Help, The
Name/Title
Worshipful Master's Special Help, TheEntry/Object ID
M14 B35wSecondary Title
A Monitor for the Master of the Lodge; Containing all proper to be published, which is necessary to qualify him for the important duties of his station.Description
Grosgrain hardback book containing useful information for a lodge master.Context
A seemingly ordinary book intended to provide general instruction for the master of a lodge, _The Worshipful Master’s Special Help…_(Third Edition, 1872), sat on our library’s shelf for the general reference of our Valley’s brethren. Like most of our collection, this publication includes an inscription by its owner. On the flyleaf is written in ink, “Wm. L. French WM of Humboldt Lodge no. 17 F. & AM – Unionville, Nevada, Dec – 1873.” There are so many identifiers of this type that there may be a tendency to gloss over them or save them for a later date. Fortunately, I love these little notes. When this title was being re-cataloged, we were struck that the lodge in the inscription bears a low number. We also wondered just where Unionville was. A quick stroke of Google-fu yielded a most exciting discovery: the town, now abandoned with only a handful of neighbors, is located about 133 miles northeast of Reno, between Winnemucca and Lovelock in Humboldt County. A busy silver mining town, it once boasted a population of over a thousand souls and even counted Mark Twain as a brief resident. This number is reasonably small compared to other mining towns. For instance, the California gold mining town of Columbia peaked at about 25,000 residents. Nevertheless, it was a thriving town that featured a newspaper, hotels, saloons, and other commercial businesses. By the time our brother William French inked in his book, the town of Unionville was severely declining, falling prey to diminishing ore, a fire, and the completion of the nearby Central Pacific Railroad that siphoned trade through the new county seat at Winnemucca. What’s left of Unionville today stands in ruins. (Fun fact: Nevada originally had lodges chartered by California) Sources: “Unionville,” Nevada, Western Mining History, https://westernmininghistory.com/towns/nevada/unionville/. “Unionville,” Nevada Expeditions, https://www.nvexpeditions.com/pershing/unionville.php.Collection
ManualsCataloged By
Adam KendallCategory
Degree Manuals, Rituals: General