THE BROTHERHOOD THERMOMETER. A big change has taken place among the lodges that appeared in stem of the Thermometer last month, only four remaining this month, with Clybourn Lodge No. 246, as usual, topping the list. Boston Lodge No. 120 is holding its own, claiming second position, with Chicago and Western Indiana No. 146, Eagle Bridge No. 467 and St. Paul No. 142 close up, just a few points separating them. The strangers to make their debut in the Roll of Honor column are St. Paul Star No. 142 and Royal No. 417, which bespeaks very well for them, and still greater gains may be looked for. But you can't keep a good lodge down, and by the time the next month rolls by the secretaries of those lodges that formerly occupied coveted positions will be making strenuous efforts to regain lost laurels. Vermilion Bay Lodge No. 132 has the first position in the bulb, while Kenova Lodge No. 67, which occupied tenth position in the stem, is second. It is to be hoped that the members of those lodges that have taken such a tumble will pay up their dues immediately, thereby restoring confidence in those who have already done so. 76 132. .70 67. .69 87. 76 67 327. Star Light.. .64 75 Local GRAND LODGE OFFICERS. A. B. LOWE. Grand President; Vanol Building, St. Louis, Mo. GRAND VICE-PRESIDENTS. A. F. STOUT, Ivanhoe. Ont. W. S. POWELL, 803 Pearson st.. Greensboro, N. C. JUDGE WM. ZACHRITZ, Solicitor, St. Louis, Mo. J. S. EASTMAN, Chaplain, Pompanoosuc, Vt. WALTER A. SPRINGER, Grand Outer Sentinel, Vanol List of General Chairmen. A., B. & A.-J. D. Holt. G. C.. 701 East Magnolia st., Fitzgerald, Ga.; J. K. Rodgers. Sec'y, Wray, Ga. Bangor & Aroostook-John Turner. Jr.. G. C., 55 Franklin av.. Houlton, Me.; W. S. Neal, Sec'y, RFD 8. Bangor. Me. Boston & Albany-P. F. Quinlan. G. C.. care Y. M. C. A.. Springfield. Mass.; John F. Foley, Sec'y, box 64. Rochdale. Mass. B. & O. S.-W.-Wm. Teepe, G. C.. R. F D. 6. North Vernon. Ind.: E. D. Schleyer, Sec'y, 505 Olive st.. Chillicothe, O. B, & O. Chi. Ter. R. R.-M. B. Owen, G. C., 4531 Sacramento av.. Chicago, Ill. Baltimore & Ohio-W. J. Glenn, Sec'y, 415 Merchant st.. Fairmount. W. Va. Boston & Maine-R. H. Crawford, G. C.. box 62 Melrose. N. Y.; W. S. Kenniston, Sec'y, No. 4 Canadian Northern-F. H. Fljozdal. G. C.. box 294. Canadian Northern in Ontario-G. H. Nason, G. C., Canadian Pacific-Wm. Dorey. G. C.. Woodstock, N. B. D. Campbell. Sec'y for Eastern div.. 10 Thornton ave.. London. Ont.; Geo. Seal. Sec'y for Western div., box 391. Portage la Prairie. Man. Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio-C. C. Williams. G. C., St. Paul, Va.; C. J. Jones, Sec'y. Yuma. Va. Central of Georgia-D. G. Borom, Round Oak, Ga.; P. M. Lesueur. Sec'y., Opelika, Ala. Chesapeake & Ohio-J. B. Pugh. G. C.. RFD 6 box A1. Richmond, Va.; J. W. Brown. Sec'y. Griffith, Va. Chicago Junction-Jno. Baker, G. C.. 5014 Center av.. Chicago, Ill.: Jas. Consodine, Sec'y, 3334 Wood st.. Chicago, Ill. C., M. & St. P.-Jas. Browder, G. C.. R.F.D. 1, box 17 Griggs. Okla. Chi. & W. Ind.-A. M. Ahr, G. c., 2819 5th av., Chicago, Ill. C. & N. W.-Geo. Bleimes. Temp. G. C., 5823 Cedar st., Austin Sta., Chicago. Ill. Delaware & Hudson-George Smith, G. C., Meadowdale, N. Y. Dominion Atlantic-M. Kennedy. G. C.. Waterville, D.. T. & 1.-J. G. Keepers G C.. 143 First st.. Greenfield. O. Esq. & Nan. Ry.-F. Harper. G. C., Maywood P. O. Victoria. B. C.; E. Sketch, Sec'y, Wellington. B.C. Fla. East Coast-O. H. Baggott. G. C. Port Orange, Fla; L. S. Stone. Sec'y. Hobe Sound. Fla. Ga Ry.-J. T. Ivey, G. C., K. F. D. 2. Thomson. Ga. Georgia & Florida-J. T. Massey. G. C., Valdosta Ga.; John Dyall, Sec'y, Douglas, Ga. Grand Trunk Pacific-A.Barker, G.C.. bx 580 Portage la Prairie, Man.; J. Wild, Sec'y. Melville, Sask. G. S. & F. Ry.-M. McCormack, G. C., Arabi. Ga. Halifax & S. W.-Geo. N. Fox. G. C., East Pubnico, N. S.; R. Feener, Sec'y, Bridgewater, N. S. Illinois Central-W. M. Smith, G. C., 3650 Vernon av., Chicago, Ill. Intercolonial & P. E. I.-Geo. W. Murray. G. C., Truro, N. S.; J. McGillivray, Sec'y, 17 Castle st.. Indiana Harbor-J. Bloom, G. C., 111 Broadway, Blue Island Ill.; Frank Schneider, Sec'y, 419 Plummer av., Hammond. Ind. Macon & Birmingham-W. N. Clements, G. C., Thomaston, Ga. Maine Central-C. C. Allen. G. C.. Lincoln Center. Me.; Alex. McMinn. 115 Winter st., Lewiston. Me. Michigan Central-O. Gillett, V. C., Lawton. Mich.; W. Ruess, sec'y., 814N. Park St.. Kalamazoo, Mich. M.. St. P. & S. S. M. (Soo Line)-L. Norby, G. C.. R. F. D. 1. box 4. White Bear Lake, Minn. Mobile & Ohio-J. M. Young. G. C., 1720 N. 3d st., Columbus, Miss.; C. L. Hale, Sec'y Columbus, Ky. Norfolk & Southern-E. D. Piner, G. C., Northwest. Va.; J. T. Phillips, Sec'y, 502 E. 2d st., Washington, N. C. Norfolk & Western-T. H. Gerrey, G. C., R.F.D. 2. box 5, Walnut Cove. N. C.; J. P. Stuart, No. 3. Baldwin ave., Bluefield, W. Va. New Brunswick Southern-B. F. Austin, (acting ch'm), Clinch's Mills. N. B. N. O., M. & C.-H. L. Barfield, G. C., Beaumont, Queen & Crescent-I. Riseden. G. C., Dayton, Tenn. Southern Pacific (G.. H. & S. A. and T. & N. 0.)— Va. Ry.-P. J. Noonan, G.C.. bx 458. Princeton, W. Va. ville, Me.: E. J. Palmer. Sec'y. Whitneyville. Me. Wis. Cen.-P. Rasmussen, G. C., Cylon, Wis.; P. McGee, Sec'y., 322 Court St., Chippewa Falls Wis. MISCELLANY A-Rail Unto the Silent Places. Railroading in Canada north is opening up the silent places. The old frontier ideas which we conjured up when we read of Winnipeg and Edmonton, the pictures of the cowboys and cattle thieves that the mind was apt to frame as we thought of Medicine Hat and of Moose Jaw are sadly out of place, and in their stead today, North-Central Canada, once West Canada before the days when one got west of the Rockies, is a-hum with the whirr of industry and smiling under the tiller's hand. Not content with that, they are opening still more of the silent places. There is one railway in that section which is making for itself the claim of a mile a day for a dozen years and its end is not yet. The goal now set is Hudson Bay. In fact ever since the era of railway development struck Canada West it is remarkable with what ease and comparative comfort one can now get away up beyond the Arctic Circle. One of the most reliable authorities on transportation in the silent places sets this out for us as follows: "Leaving Ottawa," he says, "it is a matter of not exceeding four days by the Canadian Pacific to Calgary, once an outpost of man's advance. One day more and the Calgary and Edmonton Railway has you at Edmonton, the old western frontier of school geography days. "There, then, for a time, you quit the railway. By horse one covers the hundred miles to Athabasca Landing, and, according to weather and condition of the trails, this may take from three to four days. If one times himself to reach the landing June 1st he will catch the steamer Athabascan and can descend to Grand Rapids in this. "Again, then, there are three are four days' travel to McMurray, where the steamer Grahame connects. One day more and it has you at Chipewyan; another and you are at Smith's Landing; a third finds you at Smith's, or, in fact, you might by good luck arrive at this ' last named point the same evening. There, then, the steamer Wrigley leaves bound for McPherson, its time of departure dated about the last of June or the first of July, and needing from a week to eight days for the voyage. The boat will carry one down to the delta or again on to the Arctic coast-not alone this, but along that coast for some ways. . "In brief there-for, it is evident that one can reach the Arctic Ocean from Ottawa in twenty-three days and perhaps less. The return, on the other hand, requires forty. "As to the country, those who know it best summarize it as twelve hundred miles of beautiful prairie country that extends on almost to Athabasca Landing; and from the landing to the Arctic Ocean, something like eighteen hundred miles, there is ordinary river navigation, excepting for a few miles on Lake Athabasca, and again, at the most, say a hundred and twenty miles on Great Slave Lake. "All the way to the Arctic Coast," to quote the cicerone, "there is timber and plant life, as in better known Canada, although the absence of many familiar trees and the increased duration of daylight alone make one realize that he has gone, in all, some four thousand miles of Ottawa-sixteen hundred miles, as the bird flies, to the north of it. "And the cost of the trip, at the maximum, it is say, three hundred dollars. "North of Edmonton," one is advised, "the steamers have no regular time of sailing, being governed by the needs of the Hudson Bay Company, and the transport facilities over other parts of the route." That, then, is the transportation of today to the edge of the polar seas. Now, however, from Edmonton the railway is proposed to go on north, perhaps a hundred and fifty miles, to the landing of the Hudson Bay Company on the Athabasca river. Thence navigation by sturgeon boats and flat-bottomed steamers of the H. B. C. should take one to the Arctic Ocean by the Athabasca and the lake, a hundred and eighty-five miles in length, bearing the same name. But, of these railways into the old silent places. One may well begin the exploration of the system with Winnipeg. You leave Duluth in the evening, and your train over the Duluth, Nessabie and Northern will pull out say at nine. It is dark by that time, though day lingers longer up in these latitudes than it would in many parts of the states. In the smoker there is the usual assemblage discussing travel generally, but now ever, eternally, wheat. On these railways, for many and many a mile, we shall hear ever, always, eternally and perpetually the price, the value of wheat. With dawn we are promised to pass this day through the Rainy Lake, Fort Francis and Lake of the Woods districts. We are coming into the domains of the Canada Northern, the railway which is doing most to open up the wilderness of forest and stream hereabouts. We hear folk talk on the platform now of the great development of water-power in this region, the greatest perhaps in all America, and how thousands of horsepower are being harnessed to invite capital to the district. Of Koochiching and International Falls, already places of prominence, of the rare, rugged beauty of the country, passengers dilate. Quarter to seven next morning we are at Rainy Lake and the day is rainy, as befits its name. We see the lake off in the wilds as we breakfast in the diner. An Indiana and a Connecticut man discuss with us the southern fruits, the mackerel from Gloucester, the boiled potatoes come from Michigan, the steak cut from Alberta stock perhaps, the egg and the coffee, as we ride ever on. Think of being on a diner on Rainy Lake, the place you had to locate in the lonely north, wasn't it, only a score of years ago? We are stopping now at a village, frame houses with sharp-pointed roofs that descend to right and to left of the gable. A river with rough rapids indeed is at one side and here, as at New Almaden, away off in California, there is a primitive cable-carrier, a rope, as it were, stretched from poles on either shore. Such was the old form of transportation. We have come now to St. Francis and board the Canadian Northern Railway. We are getting on to the old silent places now. It is rainy here and the flats are covered with the fire-weed. Even were there not the burnt stump land, we should know, by that tell-tale flower, of the great conflagrations which betimes sweep this section. Two rough-looking emigrants, with caps of foreign make and English pipes, are down to see the train. A typical new hamlet, a baby city, is this place the houses two-story with two rooms each on the front. Wild forests hem them in-forests that dissolve in mist. The station of the Duluth, Rainy Lake and Winnipeg Railway is over yonder, and there, too, a group of pioneers are gathered. The Great Northern has its telegraph in this station, one remarks. Posters of the Toronto and the Winnipeg expositions are hung out. Two or three brick houses are off in the fields-abortive suburbs these. The main street stretches off to them-you look vainly, though for its stores. It is a long stop here; 7:10 it is now. You have forty-five minutes for meals if you wish. The diner is a goodly one, five tables at either side the aisle, a private room at the end-it is intended for special parties, they tell you. By and by the wild land seems to be slightly better cleared; you note the birches and the larches and huckleberry chaparral in among the fire-weed. Along the railway there extends a broad ditch, and into this there extends odd squares of the turf or sod, the fire-line for precaution it seems. Green meadows slope away to the horizon. Thanks to the poor coal aboard today, for they can't make the fire burn well for cooking in the diner and breakfast is |