Tucked away history comes to light with new construction

Thursday, June 3, 1999 | 1:39 a.m.

Nestled in brass boxes encased in stone and mortar, these remnants of the past - cornerstones - are kept for time unknown. One day, some great project will bring them back into the light.

Such awakenings do occur occasionally. Cornerstones placed by the Most Worshipful Grand Lodge of the Free and Accepted Masons have been opened.

The first cornerstone in Nevada was laid at the Methodist Episcopal church in Austin, July 5, 1866. The second resides at the U.S. Branch Mint in Carson City and has never been opened.

"We've never done the stone for the Mint building," Museum Curator Bob Nylen said. "We didn't do the radical reconstruction like they did at the Capitol. I assume it's still there. Someday, at some point someone will open it. I know it holds some interesting and important things."

The Capitol's cornerstone, located in the northeast corner of the original Capitol, was removed in 1978 when the building was retrofitted to withstand earthquakes.

One hundred and nine years after its original placement, it was laid to rest once again.

Articles in the San Francisco Chronicle and the 1979 Nevada Day program commemorated the events surrounding the placement and the temporary loss of the stone.

David Toll, writing for the Chronicle, said 108 years after its placement crews struggled to find the missing stone using X-rays and sonic devices. Eventually, science and persistence prevailed and the treasure trove was located.

The items were put on display during construction, then replaced Nevada Day 1979 following the Masonic ceremonial rules.

Inside the 1870 velvet-lined, brass box are the ceremonial items of the Masons, documents of the still-juvenile state government, newspapers, coins, photographs, specimens from mines, a Wilson Larger Speller, the constitution and bylaws of Liberty Engine No. 1 from Gold Hill and the constitution and bylaws from Eagle Engine No. 3 from Virginia City.

The box was replaced in its original location along with a new box of items from 1979.

Similar ceremonies took place in 1998 when the cornerstone of the Legislative Building was removed and replaced.

The Legislative Building was built and the cornerstone placed June 9, 1970, 100 years to the day after the laying of the Capitol cornerstone. When the Legislature was remodeled, the cornerstone was removed and its contents displayed in the building, Nylen said.

The state cut open the 1870 copper box and built a new one to contain the 1970 items and mementoes from 1998. It was put back June 9, 1998, packed to the point it was almost impossible to close, said Nylen.

Steve Watson, chief deputy director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau, oversaw the removal of the cornerstone and its replacement. Watson, who said it was a fun and interesting project, added 24 more things to the new box.

"I donated an uncirculated Carson City silver dollar from my collection," Watson said. "We didn't have one, but I said we had to have one.

"I also included a CD-ROM. I don't know what these people are going to think, but they'll wonder what this little record is doing in here."

Nylen noted: "The museum will have to collect a machine for the CD-ROM so that whoever opens the cornerstone can read it."

"Cornerstones are fun," Watson said. "They all include a prescribed set of items from the lodge, and then the building owner puts things in."

Similar to cornerstones are time capsules, but time capsules have set days for opening. Cornerstones are only uncovered when a building is substantially changed or torn down, said Watson.

For example, the time capsule buried outside the Nevada State Museum Oct. 31, 1964, by Gov. Grant Sawyer is to be opened Oct. 31, 2064 on the state's 200th birthday, but it is unknown when if ever the museum's cornerstone will be revealed.