MONEY AS A SIGN OF THE TIMES

by Pam North

     Historic accounts of the early days weave an interesting
financial picture of life in this locale.  Costs, while generally much
lower than the modern-day market, surprisingly fall at both ends of
the spectrum, affected by factors such as supply and demand and
conditions of the times.

     In 1864, a miner's daily wage was $3.50.  In 1881, the daily pay
for a railroad laborer was $1.50 to $2.25.  Wagonmakers, blacksmiths,
roofers, carpenters, brakemen, firemen, tinners and foundry moulders
could expect $2 to $3; stonecutters did better at $4.  Chambermaids,
housekeepers, laundresses, waiters and dining room girls earned about
$25 to $30 a month.  The monthly salaries of teachers ranged between
$50 and $70 in 1896, with men at the higher end of the scale, and
women at the lower end.

     In 1874, household water sold for 75 cents a barrel (which
contributed to the fact that people were not avid bathers), and by
1880, drinking water brought 25 cents a bucket as wells dried up from
the ever-deeper mining industry.

     The price of gold from 1859 throughout 1880 was $20 per ounce.
In the mid-1870s, a night's stay at the Teller House in Central City
cost $2, an exhorbitant rate compared to the usual 50-cent charge of
an average hotel.  A glass of whiskey at the bar could be purchased
for a quarter.  A telephone call from Central City to Denver cost 20
cents for three minutes.

     On opening night, in March of 1868, reserved seating at the
Central City Opera House was $1, and gallery seats were 75 cents.

     In the early days, a prospector outfitting himself for stays in
desolate areas could buy oxen at $76 per yoke, and a wood or
wrought-iron axle wagon for $85.  His provisions would ring in at
$3.50 for 100 pounds of flour, 10 cents a pound for bacon, and $4 for
a gallon of brandy.

     Stagelines carried passengers and mail between mining camps.  In
1864, it cost $4 to ride down to Denver, and $5 to get back up, and
the daily stage to Idaho Springs was $1.

     Railroad travel was lengthy in 1879.  Choosing Denver as a
destination point meant travel time of 3 days and 8 hours from New York,
2 daysand 2 hours from Chicago, 1 day and 18 hours from St. Louis.  The
20-mile journey from Denver to Pinecliffe took an hour and a half, but
boasted 28 tunnels in the span of the trip!  First-class meals on the
railways were generally 75 cents on express trains, and 50 to 65 cents
on all others.  Fifty cents was the common charge for a ride from the
railroad depot to the traveler's hotel.

     Livery charges in 1879 were about $3 for a saddle horse, and up
to $10 for a two-horse carriage.

     Public school tuition was $2 per year in the early 1870s; annual
board and tuition at Central City's St. Aloysius Academy was $100.
The sturdy brick Clark School in Central City was built in 1901 for
$20,000.

     The home office of Lincoln Hills, headquartered in Denver's
Quincy building, advertised and sold the north Gilpin County lots for
$5 down and $5 per month, secured by their company note bearing 5%
interest, computed every 6 months, and buyers were informed that
building contractors accepted these notes at face value plus interest.
At the turn of the century, lots ranging from one-quarter to one-half
an acre could be bought for $75 to $200 in the area immediately north
of Pinecliffe.  In the early 1900s, the concept of kit homes was
introduced (Sears was the most well-known producer of these kits,
financing them as well), whereby all the components to build a house
were delivered in two railroad box cars, and the recipient could
transport the contents to his building site and construct a home for a
total price of a few hundred dollars, a fraction of the cost of buying
a ready-built house.  Pinecliffe has one such home, a cabin at the
east edge of the town.

     The "good old days" of costs were not so favorable in other
aspects.  Men routinely worked seven 12-hour days a week, often in
conditions that by modern standards were apalling.  Women struggled to
make decent homes out of crude shacks, raise their children safely,
and deal with the grueling tasks that were part of every days
survival.  Any envy of the comparably tiny prices of this area's early
past is swiftly banished by the reality of what accompanied that
economy.  Despite the inevitable nostalgia for ways of living that
have been lost over the years, there's a lot to be said for the years
of progress that separate us from what once was.