The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1896-03-12
WHENFLOUR WASSCARCE
10 Virginia City Thirty Years Ago 1t
Brought a Very high Price.
WORTH NEARLY As MUCH As GOLD DUST
A Hard Winter when Starvation
stared Many in the Face. Citizens
Take Matters In Their own ha nds
and make Equitable Prices.

There is marked difference between
the price Of -four to-day and the point it
reached one season 10 the early days in
Montana, says the Helena Independent.
There are not SO very many residents OF
the state who were here when -four sold
for $40 per 100 pounds one day and
jumped to 800 per 100 pounds the next
day, going even higher subsequently.
Those who were in the territory remem-
Der that the people took the law in their
own hands, as they had way of doing
in grave emergencies, and that, after
what was termed by the chronicers Of
that period "flour riot" the price came
down. Flour riots are no longer common
in the state Of Montana.
The time referred to was the spring OF
1855, and the place was Virginia City,
which was then the principal city Of the
territory. The preceding winter had
been one Of remarkably deep snow and
cold weather. The chinook winds were
frozen out, apparently for they did not
cross the range into Montana that year,
and when spring came freighting between
the territory and Salt Lake City was al
most suspended altogether. The snow
was 30 deep in the Snake River range
that it was almost impossible for the
heavily laden trains TO cross at all. One
large flour train arrived at the foot OF the
Snake River divide, but the snow was
deep and the cold intense. The oxen
could find no feed and they persisted by
the scores where they were.
In the meantime provisions were get
ting scarcer and scarcer in Virginia City.
Flour came to be boarded like gold dust,
and was almost as precious. Potatoes,
beans, and all the substitutes for -four
we're almost exhausted. A good proper
ton Of the people were then living on
"beef straight" Potatoes were scarce at
% cents per pound, and all other provis-
ions were held at proportionately high
prices.
The latter part of February saw the big
rise in -four. The price jumped from $25
to $40 per 100, and then it climbed to 800
per 100 pounds in another day. That
was in gold, too. For a few days the
price stood at 500, and then it began to
60 up again.
In short time it had reached $3.50 per
100 pounds. There was no fixed price
| during that time, but it fuctuated as
rumors of abundance or the reverse be-
came rife on the streets. A portion OF
the time it could not be purchased for
love or money. The streets were throng
cd with people discussing the situation,
and grave faces were in every knot on
street corner, for the price had then gone
beyond THE reach of most people, and
what to do was the problem of the hour.
There were rumors that designing men
had gotten up -four corner, and deep
mutterings we're heard against the men
who had done 1t.
A few days after the last rise word was
flashed UP and down the gulch that the
citizens were going to rise against the
-four merchants. The crowd did meet in
Leviathan Hall. R. s. Blake was elected
chairman. Hugh McQuaid was nomi-
mated for secretary, but he declined and
the meeting proceeded without one. The
people formed a line, and with a -four
sack nailed to a pole for banner pro-
ceeded up and down the street, amid con-
siderable confusion.
The impression got abroad then, and
there was some excuse for it, that the
town would be sacked. The men in the
| line OF march did look determined, and
as yet there had been no intimation ex-
cept in the hall. of the purpose of the
gathering. They marched up and down
Wallace street. During the beginning of
clothing store and looked at a suit OF
clothes.
eff we see what we want we will take
1t along, guess" one of the trio remark
ed carelessly.
They were men who proposed to take
advantage of the confusion to rob some
Of the stores, but they found they had
made mistake. One of the clerks was
sent out for Neil Howie. one of the chiefs
of the Vigilaute Committee. Mr.. HOWE
resonded promptly. Drawing his revolv-
er, he stepped forward and covered the
three men with the remark:
Gentlemen, this is an uprising to get
a reasonable amount of -four for a reas-
enable price. 1t is not an excuse to sack
the town. The first man caught stealing
will be shot or hanged, and none such
will escape"
The ready made clothing fell from the
hands Of the men addressed, and the
word went around quickly that there
would be no mercy shown for the first
man who was caught stealing.
Then Col. Wilbur F. Sanders and others
then in the city addressed the crowd, adj
yising an orderly search for -four, and
recommending that a reasonable price be
paid for whatever was found, after max
ing an equitable division of it with the
men in whose possession II might be