Welcome to the online home of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows of California’s only official degree lodge, Richard Brouse #190.
Sometimes called “the cave degree” the site known as the Pythian cave sits about 12 miles southeast of the town of Yreka, with a view onto Mount Shasta. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows have been performing live degrees at this location since 1940, with only a few short interruptions.
Named for Richard “Dick” Brouse, our lodge honors a former Department Commander of California for the Patriarchs Militant (an IOOF side order), and long-time champion of live degrees at the cave. Since his retirement, the cave was passed from Yreka #19 to the Grand Lodge of California, which, together with the generous donations of many Odd Fellows throughout the state, has restored the cave and prepared it to hold degree work once again. We believe that it’s exactly what Dick Brouse would have wanted.
Degree work began at the cave in 1925 under the Knights of Pythias, a fraternal order that originally used the cave as their meeting hall before they set up a building in Yreka proper. The KoP eventually permitted the Odd Fellows to use the cave for their own degree work, and in 1962 sold it and the surrounding acres of land to the Odd Fellows for a sum of $10, with the arrangement that the Knights could continue using it each year for their own degree work. The site gained further fraternal activity when the Masons were permitted to use it for their own degree work as well.
2024 Degrees Conferred August 17-18, and September 14-15
Each year in the summer, the Odd Fellows arrange a degree weekend here near the California-Oregon border. The Initiatory and first degrees take place indoors at the Yreka #19 lodge building, and then the second degree is conferred from the cave itself. This ceremony happens at a different date each year, timed to coincide with the moon’s rise over Mount Shasta, bathing the degree candidates in moonlight as they learn the sacred teachings of the second degree, or degree of brotherly love. The following morning, the third degree is conferred on qualified candidates, and then everyone heads home, newly taught in the principles of our Order.
In 2024, the lodge will be formally chartered, and the cave’s reconstruction celebrated, in a special ceremony on July 7th.
The first degrees for Richard Brouse #190 will be conferred on the weekend of August 17-18. Moonrise is Saturday August 17th at 7:15PM. Roughly an hour later, it will hang almost directly over Mount Shasta, from the vantage point of the cave, with the sun having set only minutes before. While we would love to invite all of California and Oregon to be part of this degree, there’s only 44 seats on the bus (not counting the ones already reserved for the degree team). Seats are $20 each, and once they’re gone we can’t sell any more. There just isn’t space at the cave to park multiple busses. However, based on the expected demand, we’re trying something new this year – there will be a second degree weekend on September 14-15, doubling our capacity for this year. If this proves popular, and we hope it does, we may keep it as an option going forward into the future.
You can register for the degree weekends using the links in the main menu. We don’t charge for the degrees themselves, but if you want a seat on the bus, or a meal at the lodge, those tickets will need to be purchased. In order to receive any degrees, a candidate must have a letter from their home lodge, bearing that lodge’s seal, which certifies their eligibility to receive them. This letter may be mailed ahead or carried with a candidate, but we cannot allow candidates to participate in the degrees without it.
Additionally, we have partnered with Barnes Encampment #77 in order to be able to provide the Patriarchal degree on Sunday September 15th. This is a fantastic opportunity to join the encampment branch. The degree will be conferred at the cave again, and to participate candidates will need to purchase an additional ticket to ride the bus, as well as provide a sealed letter from the encampment they plan to join. We are only conferring the first encampment degree. Candidates and their encampments will have to make their own arrangements for how to get the remaining degrees. But if live degrees are what you seek, the Hahn Farm degrees are scheduled for the following weekend, and we’d be delighted to put folks in touch with them. They’re just a few hours’ drive across the Oregon border from Yreka.