The price of a cord of wood in 1880......

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Shari

Shari

Minister of Fire
Oct 31, 2008
2,338
Wisconsin
I was just reading a letter dated 1933 from a man who was referring to his childhood in the 1880's. He stated they got $2.50 for a cord of cut/split wood and 35 cents for white oak ties for the railroad. Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Of course, eggs were 4 cents a dozen and a butchered hog went for $3.50...

When their township decided to build a new school, each family had to supply two logs for the building.

Shari
 
Hey Shari, I remember that.....

Well, that might be a bit before my time but wood used to be really cheap. In this area most cut buzz piles and then after the corn was all picked farmers would gather like the old threshing bees and all pitch in to buzz the neighbor's wood pile. Then they'd move to the next, etc. Then I also remember that during the late 40's and 50's it seemed there were so many (the rich ones at least) who put in oil burning furnaces. Most would then start talking about how much it cost to heat their homes through the winters and it was almost always below a dollar a day.

When I married we had two space heaters in our house that burned fuel oil. I was outrageous that it cost us so much to fill the tank as it was $.12 per gallon then. Of course, I also complained about our $12 per month electric bill and we paid our phone bill once every 3 months and it was for $10 plus any long distance calls. A couple years after we got married the county decided to clean out a creek quite a ways downstream from us. That stream just cut through the very corner of our property and we were suddenly faced with a $78.00 property tax bill. That really hurt. Oh, and our mortgage payment was $50.00 per month and gasoline was generally between $.20 and $.25 unless they had a price war. The lowest I ever paid for a gallon of gas was $.079. That is not 79 cents, but 7.9 cents per gallon. I filled the tank for less than a dollar.

Yes, times do change a bit and prices continue to rise. The only constant there seems to be in our world is change.
 
My question would be how long would it take the average man to earn $2.50. I'm betting it's a lot longer than it would take any of us to earn $54. When my father returned from Vietnam ('68) I remember him saying he took a job paying just over 5K/yr.

Matt
 
From a CT history page:

Wages in the 1800s

The average wage earner only made $16.00 a week. Some trades only made two, three, four, or six dollars a week. The family above spent $2.50 more a week than the father made, and had nothing left for entertainment or clothing. The men driving the horse drawn streetcars in New York in the 1880's made $1.75 a day working 14 to 16 hr. a day.

http://gometaldetecting.com/cthistory1800s.htm


Matt
 
Some of the figures on prices reminds me of the what my great grandfather use to make cleaning out outhouses. He would make $10 per outhouse and that was what the average person around here would make in a week. Of course he also peddled a lot and would sell vegetables. You can take a guess about what he used to fertilize his vegetable gardens with. :sick:
 
EatenByLimestone said:
My question would be how long would it take the average man to earn $2.50. I'm betting it's a lot longer than it would take any of us to earn $54. When my father returned from Vietnam ('68) I remember him saying he took a job paying just over 5K/yr.

Matt
Click to expand...

The minimum wage law changed in Feb. of 1967 and I got the biggest percentage wage hike of my life. From $0.75 per hour to $1.00 per hour.
 
BrotherBart said:
EatenByLimestone said:
My question would be how long would it take the average man to earn $2.50. I'm betting it's a lot longer than it would take any of us to earn $54. When my father returned from Vietnam ('68) I remember him saying he took a job paying just over 5K/yr.

Matt
Click to expand...

The minimum wage law changed in Feb. of 1967 and I got the biggest percentage wage hike of my life. From $0.75 per hour to $1.00 per hour.
Click to expand...

Just a few years after that, I was earning 15 cents per bushel for picking up potatoes. Six bushels, and I could walk a mile to buy a 45 record by Paul Revere and the Raiders.
 
I remember quite distinctly the first year my W-2 showed $10,000 in earned annual income. It was 1972, I was 24 y/o, and it was my 3rd year of active duty in the Navy. I figured I'd really made it. I bought a big stereo (actually still have those old JBL speakers...they just refuse to die). :coolsmile: Rick
 
EatenByLimestone said:
From a CT history page:

Wages in the 1800s

The average wage earner only made $16.00 a week. Some trades only made two, three, four, or six dollars a week. The family above spent $2.50 more a week than the father made, and had nothing left for entertainment or clothing. The men driving the horse drawn streetcars in New York in the 1880's made $1.75 a day working 14 to 16 hr. a day.

http://gometaldetecting.com/cthistory1800s.htm


Matt
Click to expand...

Interesting information on wages of the time. Assuming a cut/stacked cord at $150 (the going rate around me), $16.00/week is equivalent, in firewood purchasing parity, to a current weekly wage of $960, or an annual salary of just under 50k/year ($16.00 / $2.50 * $150). Not bad when considering there wasn't even income tax at the time. Unfortunately, manufactured goods were considerably more expensive (proportional to income) in 1880's than our present era.
 
Since I wasn't born until 1978 I always find these discussions interesting. My dad's one friend always talk about how he would save up and on a friday night when the guys would get together he felt so rich to flash 10 one dollar bills. I think about it a lot, my parents brought me up to save and think about money - always ask if it's a need or a want and if the want will hurt a need. I read posts from my friends all the time how they hate living paycheck to paycheck - yet they got the latest ipod, iphone, annoying overpriced mufflers on their cars . . . as my dad would say "priorities - if you can't figure them out don't complain about them"
 
n3pro said:
Since I wasn't born until 1978 I always find these discussions interesting. My dad's one friend always talk about how he would save up and on a friday night when the guys would get together he felt so rich to flash 10 one dollar bills. I think about it a lot, my parents brought me up to save and think about money - always ask if it's a need or a want and if the want will hurt a need. I read posts from my friends all the time how they hate living paycheck to paycheck - yet they got the latest ipod, iphone, annoying overpriced mufflers on their cars . . . as my dad would say "priorities - if you can't figure them out don't complain about them"
Click to expand...
+ 1 - you're a smart man.
 
I remember when my dad had to flip down the license plate number in the back to put gas in the Oldsmobile. What I would give to drive a 1970's Olds to a full serve gas station and see how long it takes for a teenage attendant to find where to put the nozzle in. My guess he would walk around the car at least twice.
 
fishingpol said:
I remember when my dad had to flip down the license plate number in the back to put gas in the Oldsmobile. What I would give to drive a 1970's Olds to a full serve gas station and see how long it takes for a teenage attendant to find where to put the nozzle in. My guess he would walk around the car at least twice.
Click to expand...

You could have the same fun with one of the old 50's Cadillacs that had the gas cap underneath a pivoting left tail lamp. Rick
 
fishingpol said:
I remember when my dad had to flip down the license plate number in the back to put gas in the Oldsmobile. What I would give to drive a 1970's Olds to a full serve gas station and see how long it takes for a teenage attendant to find where to put the nozzle in. My guess he would walk around the car at least twice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for making my whiskey and ginger ale almost come out my nose!!
 
Backwoods Savage said:
Hey Shari, I remember that.....

Well, that might be a bit before my time but wood used to be really cheap. In this area most cut buzz piles and then after the corn was all picked farmers would gather like the old threshing bees and all pitch in to buzz the neighbor's wood pile. Then they'd move to the next, etc. Then I also remember that during the late 40's and 50's it seemed there were so many (the rich ones at least) who put in oil burning furnaces. Most would then start talking about how much it cost to heat their homes through the winters and it was almost always below a dollar a day.

When I married we had two space heaters in our house that burned fuel oil. I was outrageous that it cost us so much to fill the tank as it was $.12 per gallon then. Of course, I also complained about our $12 per month electric bill and we paid our phone bill once every 3 months and it was for $10 plus any long distance calls. A couple years after we got married the county decided to clean out a creek quite a ways downstream from us. That stream just cut through the very corner of our property and we were suddenly faced with a $78.00 property tax bill. That really hurt. Oh, and our mortgage payment was $50.00 per month and gasoline was generally between $.20 and $.25 unless they had a price war. The lowest I ever paid for a gallon of gas was $.079. That is not 79 cents, but 7.9 cents per gallon. I filled the tank for less than a dollar.

Yes, times do change a bit and prices continue to rise. The only constant there seems to be in our world is change.
Click to expand...

What . . . and you didn't have to walk uphill both ways to school in the winter? ;) :)

You know Dennis you're pretty hip for an old guy . . . and I'm being serious here . . . there are a few folks here I really want to meet some day and you are most definitely one of them since you truly are a class act . . . as for me . . . I remember when gas was $1.39 and fuel oil was 79 cents a gallon and my monthly mortgage payment is $580.69 . . . obviously I'm a bit younger than you . . . but I'm working on catching up to you . . . I gained a year this past July! ;)
 
fishingpol said:
I remember when my dad had to flip down the license plate number in the back to put gas in the Oldsmobile. What I would give to drive a 1970's Olds to a full serve gas station and see how long it takes for a teenage attendant to find where to put the nozzle in. My guess he would walk around the car at least twice.
Click to expand...

In these parts, that big ol' V8 Olds would run ottta gas driving around town trying to FIND a full service gas station!

Peace,
- Sequoia
 
I can remember a lady pulling into the gas station I just started working at and asked me to check the water on her VW bug (in the year of 1969). My boss told me it was air cooled..oh yeah I remembered. then I professionaly informed the lady that her car didn't use water. I never got a chance to pull that on anyone. By the look on her face i don't think she knew she had. Sweeeeet...
 
when I first started driving gas dropped to $0.97 a gallon, good thing since I only made 4.25/hr, I'm not 40 yet and I miss those prices...
 
Can you imagine that a cord of wood back then was also cut with an axe or a saw. That took quite awhile to accomplish. My wife's grandfather lived til 102 and he would tell stories of buying a suit for a coupld of dollars. I talked to alot of people that bought new cars for $600. I am 55 and can remember 30 cents a gallon for gas.
 
I read in a book that the Shaker Village in Cantebury N.H. put up 400 cord for the winter. There was a picture of the stacks in the book. I believe they had some sort of mechanical ability to help, I think a crude splitter. Talk about work! Not sure what the going rate for a cord was back then. I also think they may have kept the majority of it to heat their community.
 
last year I posted a thread (seems to be missing now) about a house at the battle road National park in Concord, MA, they found that someone recorded needing 15-20 cords of wood to make it through a winter, all of that wood came by ship from Canada as the whole area had no trees left (all under farming). the wood came in log lengths and needed to be cut and split after it was unloaded from the ship. doing all that work with a two man saw and an axe must have been a full time job. And for all that work you got a house that was heated to about 50*...
 
fishingpol said:
I read in a book that the Shaker Village in Cantebury N.H. put up 400 cord for the winter. There was a picture of the stacks in the book. I believe they had some sort of mechanical ability to help, I think a crude splitter. Talk about work! Not sure what the going rate for a cord was back then. I also think they may have kept the majority of it to heat their community.
Click to expand...

Shakers invented the finest wood stoves of the time. Most of the firewood was hand done from stump to stove. Plenty of hard work and time.

Butt Remember: Shakers were celibate.
 
For perspective, money was silver (or gold) coin back then. At current prices, $2.50 face value of US pre-65 half dollars is about $37. On the other hand, a gold $2.50 coin is worth $153--not too awful different than the price of a cord today. Either wood has increased in value or silver has a ways to go to catch up!

http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html
http://www.coinflation.com/gold_coin_values.html


Shari said:
I was just reading a letter dated 1933 from a man who was referring to his childhood in the 1880's. He stated they got $2.50 for a cord of cut/split wood and 35 cents for white oak ties for the railroad. Kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

Of course, eggs were 4 cents a dozen and a butchered hog went for $3.50...

When their township decided to build a new school, each family had to supply two logs for the building.

Shari
Click to expand...
 
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