The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-02-28
PRICES IN 1865.
They We're As High As Those Now
In the Klondike.

Helena Independent: Just now when so
much is said about the high prices of
commodities in the Klondike. it is in
teresting TO kno% that there was once a
day in Helena When prices were received
and paid for the same articles that were
higher in many Instances than the Klon-
dixie schedules that are attracting so
much attention. Alderman Marcus LisS-
ner. who came here in 1865. and whose
memory still retains with wonderful dis
tinctness the incidents of those days, and
who was in business here from the time
he came, recalls some of the examples OF
! the prices of the early days of Last
Chance gulch.
Mr.. Llssner Started a restaurant in
Helena. at what is now the corner Of
State and Main streets, June Il. 1860. From
that time hrs enterprise grew. He en-
larged his establishment into a hotel later
Oh, ana as the camp grew became one OF
the leading business men. ''Lissners
corner. as it was known 80 years ago
and for long time afterward. was the
principal center of the city.
Everything was pretty high those
! days. said Mr.. Lissner last evening.
and remember as an example that l
received $3.50 a. meal or S2i a week for
table board from the time the restaurant
was started Whisky was sold then; of
course and one-of the early Kegs crank
in the camp l had in my place with
little tin cup attached, while the com
mon price of the liquor was 80 cents a
drink. | 2fterward started a lunch house.
where | remember that 1 sold pies at
y each and found the people glad to get
them at that price. Mike Renig and
Charley Cannon, who were here then,
also sold pies. ! remember that they got
higher prices than l did part of the time.
selling them sometimes as high as S1.25
Il bought. the first load of potatoes that
ever came here from Salt Lake CITY for
which l paid $500. There We're two tons.
1 paid $50 for Salt Lake eggs. had
some building to do about that time, and
l paid Junius Sanders. who ran a saw
mill up the gulch $50 a thousand feet for
rough pine lumber. l put lis a billiard
game and paid s1e0 for a set of billiard
balls. The charge was 81 a game and
We had 10 run board with q list of
names registered on it so that men could
play in their turns. so great was the de-
mand for cues at the prevailing price.
Staple groceries We're high. of course,
Beans were 10 csnts a pound bacon was
10 cents a pound, and sugar was $50 for
lO0-pound sack. l once bought a sack
Of flour from man named Stokes. from
Denver. for $ll0 and it was hard to get
at that price / recall one time when we
wanted 100 pounds OF -four to send up the
gulch and had to send five men after it.
because they wouldn't sell more than 20
pounds to man.
''Whitlach. of the whitlach-Union. who
will be remembered by many. was here
then. He completed pavilion at Union
vile in time to give dance July e. 1866.
and he sent an invitation TO the people
of Last Chance to come up. and dance.
whole camp turned out to go up there.
Bugcies were scarce and every means of
conveyance was pressed into service. 1t
cost 81 to ride up In a dead-ax wagon. In
the afternoon a snowstorm came up.
The dance was broken up and the people
had TO walk home through the storm in
five inches of snow. j. G. Sanders. Martin
Hotter and a lot of other Old-timers who
are still in the city trudged home through
the storm. The music was given by a
couple of fidlers; who received from $50
to 81 an hour for playing. That fall |
gave the first Masonic dance ever given
in the camp. up stairs over my place of
business at the corner of Main and State
streets. Tickets were $40 each. After the
dance supper was served at 80 a plate.
We charged SO pint for wine and they
were small pints, too. Three cigars were
sold for 81. Yes prices were even higher
those days than they have been in the
klondike. and nothing was said about
them. either
Wages wero as high as they are up
north. Miners got from $40 to sl5 for
working in drifts. and from 81 to IS for
working on the surface Bricklayers'
wages were SO and stonemasons received
s. day a man named Jim Mason. who
lives here still. got 81 yard for plaster
ing that nav coses Is cents yard. Car
penters were paid SO n day. ! had to
pay my cooks S2GO a month each and
walters were worth $3.50 day and board.
Bartenders received 500 n month. They
sold Kesslers beer for SIS for an eight
gallen key.
wearing apparel was high. too. and as
an instance. ] can remember when I
bought a pair of beaver pants for s2i
that would cost probably 81 today Every
thing else was in due proportion.
M Lissner subsequently acquired the
spring that furnished water to the city
for domestic purposes. The sources of
supply from which some of the city water
is now obtained was then used in mining
and 1t was too muddy to drink The peo-
ple used the mineral water now so much
i'm demand that it is bottled and sold in
smaller quantities without knowing that
IT was as good as afterward IL proved to
be. When the city water was taken from
other sources and the mineral character
of the Lissner spring was discovered the
latter became commercial enterprise
and the bottling works now run in con-
junction with 1t became established and
its business grew.
Some idea of the flush times those
days may be obtained from the fact that
M. Iissner was three times burned out
losing 1900. and that every time he re-
covered and went on as if nothing had
happened.
A Professional Habit.